Frederick the Great, discussion post 6

[cahn]

...I think we need another one (seriously, you guys, this is THE BEST) and I'd better make it now before I disappear into the wilds of music performance.

(also, as of this week there are two Frederician fics in the yuletide archive and eeeeeeeeeee)
(huh, only one of them is actually tagged with Frederick the Great even though two with Maria Theresia and Wilhelmine, eeeeeee this is awesome I CAN'T WAIT)

Frederick the Great masterpost

Comments

Re: Fritz and Voltaire

[mildred_of_midgard]

More Voltaire crackfic material!

Remember when selenak reported a conspiracy theory that all accusations of homosexuality against Fritz were from a Voltaire being paid by Austrian agents to slander him? And she wrote:

As centuries old conspiracy theories go, this is a new one, at least to me. I mean: how MT would have hired Voltaire to spread gossip about Fritz' sex life (as opposed to Voltaire doing it out of spite), I don't know, but I'm sure Voltaire would have taken the money if he was annoyed and broke enough at the time, principles be damned. It's just that given MT's general opinion on French freethinking philosphers suspected of denying god, he'd probably run once he saw an Austrian agent.

Well, just because Voltaire's ENTIRE LIFE is a crackfic, I have figured out how that would work! Immediately after the whole Frankfurt explosion, Fritz wrote to Marischal that Voltaire "has petitioned the queen of Hungary to enter into her service. She has sent an ingenious reply that there was room for Voltaire only on Mount Parnassus, and as that was not in Vienna, they couldn’t receive him in the manner due. On learning this the poet wrote to the king my uncle, asking him for a pension of £800 a year."

And yes, I have the actual letter where Fritz says this. Now, is Fritz necessarily a reliable source on Voltaire? No, but he's attributing a retort to MT that he calls ingenious, so maybe that's genuine. Or he's just trying to make it look like Voltaire is consorting with his enemies. But I like to think Voltaire asked her and she made that quip.

Voltaire *sitting on a street corner holding up a cardboard sign*: Will Satirize Fritz for Money
Voltaire *sotto voce*: Will also do it on my own time, unpaid.

Re: Fritz and Voltaire

[cahn]

I...

I am not even sure Fritz/Voltaire is a thing a fic could do justice to. It's one of those things where you're like, "but who could really get more crackfic improve on canon?!"

OMG LOL, I am laughing both at Voltaire and at Fritz saying something nice about MT. (Also: MT, I still love you lots!)

Re: Fritz and Voltaire

[mildred_of_midgard]

It's like when someone asked for Alcibiades crackfic for Yuletide and back when I still thought I might be able to write fics before Dec 25, I was like, "I don't have to write a crackfic, I just have to describe what happened!"

MT was too smart to invite Voltaire to her court, but we--or at least I--still wish she had. :P Fritz wasn't, and look at all the comedy = tragedy + time that resulted!