Sidenote: of course they don't. More seriously, I do think it's the result of having had parents who made love to one of them a zero sum game, of having been each other's primary sources for affection in their horrid childhood, Sonsine and Keyszerlingk not withstanding, and SD in regards to Fritz.
Sadly, I agree. Both these children got emotionally damaged in different ways. Ugh. :(
(Imagine anyone later to be familiar with King Fritz getting a mighty coughing fit here.)
Before I saw your comment, I started having my own coughing fit. More seriously, some people do the opposite of what was done to them; some repeat history.
"He does me all the little services he can do" - calming Dad down?
Calming Dad down, possibly; passing on information, possibly; asking for favors or even money, possibly.
What things, enquiring minds want to know?
Gossipy sensationalists need to know!
Re: Temple of Friendship, that is actually a phrase Fritz uses in a poem he writes to Wilhelmine in the 1730s, which the audio selection had in fact taken its title from "As long as we are two in our temple of friendship". Ten years later, in a letter from July 26th 1749 (sidenote: this is when he engaged in the latest round of Bringing Heinrich To Heel and for the first time arguing with AW for that reason), he names exactly the friendship pairs he'll later put in the temple as being impossible examples.
Oh, wow, did not know either of these things! *mental note*
As with Fritz making himself Pylades, not Orestes in the letter to Suhm, it's fascinating that he names himself Pirithous, not Theseus. Also: the two of them as prisoners in the underworld, having tried to abduct a goddess (until Heracles frees Theseus) is my main association here.
Agreed, and same. I think what's going on here is Fritz trying to reassure his loved ones he won't forget them, just because he's king or lives very far away. Because that's the context in which he writes Suhm about Pylades ("Dad's dying but I will love you just as faithfully as ever when I'm king"), and we know being forgotten is Wilhelmine's number one fear.
It's a rare example of Fritz putting himself in someone else's shoes, realizing they have needs, and trying to meet those needs. He normally doesn't have the emotional maturity to deal with people having the exact same needs he has. As the beginning of this comment showed, with "Look, Fritz, I've read your own complaints when someone doesn't pay not enough attention to you and doesn't express enough devotion."
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Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine Correspondance, Trier Version - I: Greek myths and living Italians
Date: 2020-01-19 11:01 pm (UTC)Sidenote: of course they don't. More seriously, I do think it's the result of having had parents who made love to one of them a zero sum game, of having been each other's primary sources for affection in their horrid childhood, Sonsine and Keyszerlingk not withstanding, and SD in regards to Fritz.
Sadly, I agree. Both these children got emotionally damaged in different ways. Ugh. :(
(Imagine anyone later to be familiar with King Fritz getting a mighty coughing fit here.)
Before I saw your comment, I started having my own coughing fit. More seriously, some people do the opposite of what was done to them; some repeat history.
"He does me all the little services he can do" - calming Dad down?
Calming Dad down, possibly; passing on information, possibly; asking for favors or even money, possibly.
What things, enquiring minds want to know?
Gossipy sensationalists need to know!
Re: Temple of Friendship, that is actually a phrase Fritz uses in a poem he writes to Wilhelmine in the 1730s, which the audio selection had in fact taken its title from "As long as we are two in our temple of friendship". Ten years later, in a letter from July 26th 1749 (sidenote: this is when he engaged in the latest round of Bringing Heinrich To Heel and for the first time arguing with AW for that reason), he names exactly the friendship pairs he'll later put in the temple as being impossible examples.
Oh, wow, did not know either of these things! *mental note*
As with Fritz making himself Pylades, not Orestes in the letter to Suhm, it's fascinating that he names himself Pirithous, not Theseus. Also: the two of them as prisoners in the underworld, having tried to abduct a goddess (until Heracles frees Theseus) is my main association here.
Agreed, and same. I think what's going on here is Fritz trying to reassure his loved ones he won't forget them, just because he's king or lives very far away. Because that's the context in which he writes Suhm about Pylades ("Dad's dying but I will love you just as faithfully as ever when I'm king"), and we know being forgotten is Wilhelmine's number one fear.
It's a rare example of Fritz putting himself in someone else's shoes, realizing they have needs, and trying to meet those needs. He normally doesn't have the emotional maturity to deal with people having the exact same needs he has. As the beginning of this comment showed, with "Look, Fritz, I've read your own complaints when someone doesn't pay not enough attention to you and doesn't express enough devotion."