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Frederick the Great discussion post 9
...I leave you guys alone for one weekend and it's time for a new Fritz post, lol!
I'm gonna reply to the previous post comments but I guess new letter-reading, etc. should go in this one :)
Frederick the Great links
I'm gonna reply to the previous post comments but I guess new letter-reading, etc. should go in this one :)
Frederick the Great links
Re: Toppings of all types, continued
That does indeed not speak of his translator skills. Especially since I've never met a male Mimi, and the Fredersdorf letters, which provide a definite gender identification, are so short that he could have easily looked them up to countercheck. (BTW, "Mimi Fighting off Pandurs singlehandedly" should still be a thing).
Palladion: I've seen quotes, too. Presumably a good example of the kind of poems that were in the notebook Voltaire had with him in Frankfurt.
I, personally, don't think Fritz was so sensitive to other people's feelings that he couldn't have written about their orgasms without having participated in any?
Not in general, perhaps, but I think there's a difference in situation. Darget is a librarian showing up after Fritz has already been all-powerful King a couple of years. He's a cultured man, but not a Europe-wide famous intellectual whom everyone wants to have (in one way or another). The Algarotti poem is written when Fritz has only just made it to the throne and Algarotti is at the height of his popularity and success. Algarotti, from Fritz' pov, has a lot of alternatives to settling down in Prussia. Also, he's enchanted by him. Whereas Darget becoming Royal Librarian of Frederick the already Great is sort of the top position to achieve for him at that point?
Anyway, yes, the poem is very complimentary about Algarotti, and that, too, makes a difference. And if it is meant to tantalize Voltaire a bit, hey, Fritz is suposed to be Alcibiades, isn't he?
Incidentally: Hans Pleschinski in his editorial comment on Fritz/Voltaire observes that in his opinion, while Fritz' poetry is nothing to write home about, his prose style (in the letters) really is elegant and witty and totally worth of him getting listed as a great French writing author of the 18th century. I'm not qualified to judge, with my lame school girl French, but the translations of the poetry I've seen so far really do not impress.
(There's a collection of German translated Fritz poetry at Gutenberg. The most groanworthy is a four liner that goes like this:
Recently an envoy of the Turks
Presented the Empress* with a Sword
And the Emperor with some nice jewelry.
Doesn't that say it all, hah hah.
*MT can be "the Empress" in poetry, it seems.)
See, Fritz needed his own Émilie!
Well, he had Fredersdorf, but clearly "do not give your raunchy political poetry to your problematic fave!" was the kind of thing that would have risked an argument, so...
(BTW: if Fritz and Heinrich ever got their own "who is worst" argument going, on the lines of "who has the most terrible taste in problematic faves!", Fritz would of course point out that Heinrich's guys had a tendency of all being expensive cheats, but Heinrich could counter that having to sell paintings to Catherine to bail a rowdy boytoy out was still better than having to send soldiers after Europe's most famous intellectual just to recover some manuscript he shouldn't ever have gotten his hands on in the first place.)
(I also want to know whether when Heinrich reccommended Lady Mary's Letter from Turkey to him as a great book to read it Fritz ever remembered that this was the same Lady Mary who'd had her sights set on Algarotti, but then I doubt him and Algarotti ever talked about her.)
Re: Toppings of all types, continued
Same, but I was way too willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and go, "Maybe in the 18th century it could be?? My knowledge is not broad enough to rule this out?"
(BTW, "Mimi Fighting off Pandurs singlehandedly" should still be a thing).
And it can be, if we play our crackfic cards right! I kind of want her to be a capuchin, but I don't know if it's plausible that he would have a New World monkey.
Do we know anything about what species of monkeys were popular in the 18th century? I'm no expert, but I know a few things about primatology, and it's a casual interest of mine.
and the Fredersdorf letters, which provide a definite gender identification, are so short that he could have easily looked them up to countercheck.
True, but to be fair, I'm not sure it would have occurred to me to countercheck there. What would have occurred to me, and did occur to me, was that "il" referred to "le singe", not to "Mimi", and without someone specifically telling me it was a he, I would have used "it" if my text was ambiguous. Or, you know, "she", because of the name.
Anyway, MacDonogh has his strengths, but attention to detail is not one.
Darget is a librarian showing up after Fritz has already been all-powerful King a couple of years.
Very true. Those first five years from "wet behind the ears" to "Frederick the Great" made a lot of difference.
And if it is meant to tantalize Voltaire a bit, hey, Fritz is suposed to be Alcibiades, isn't he?
Laughed out loud.
the translations of the poetry I've seen so far really do not impress.
I don't think I've seen anyone, Fritz included, say he was a great poet.
his prose style (in the letters) really is elegant and witty and totally worth of him getting listed as a great French writing author of the 18th century.
Well, that's good to know! I am less qualified to judge than you, so will defer to the opinions of those more knowledgeable.
Well, he had Fredersdorf, but clearly "do not give your raunchy political poetry to your problematic fave!" was the kind of thing that would have risked an argument, so...
I was thinking exactly this! Catt tried talking him out of it on the grounds of "Didn't you JUST SAY he was the literal worst?" and it didn't work. Émilie donned the pants and put it under lock and key, but that's not the kind of thing you could do with Fritz. I don't see Fredersdorf touching this one with a ten-foot-pole. Boss says to get the book back, get it back. The end.
still better than having to send soldiers after Europe's most famous intellectual just to recover some manuscript he shouldn't ever have gotten his hands on in the first place.
To which Fritz would retort "One, that situation got out of hand through no fault of my own, two, Voltaire is a GOD among men and not subject to the same standards as mere mortals. He is the literal worst, of course. Nothing that happened to him in Frankfurt was either by my orders nor nearly as bad as he said. OMG WHAT'S THIS? A letter!! Should I send him my latest incriminating poem? I should! *sparkly hearts*"
And Fredersdorf would take Heinrich aside for a quiet word that this is a lost cause.
but then I doubt him and Algarotti ever talked about her
Normally I would say no, but since Fritz was one of the most vocal early proponents of inoculation, it's just possible they did.
Re: Toppings of all types, continued
"wet behind the ears"
This reminds me: it won't surprise you that one of the 27 honored on the Obelisk is Kurt Christoph von Schwerin.
"One, that situation got out of hand through no fault of my own, two, Voltaire is a GOD among men and not subject to the same standards as mere mortals. He is the literal worst, of course. Nothing that happened to him in Frankfurt was either by my orders nor nearly as bad as he said. OMG WHAT'S THIS? A letter!! Should I send him my latest incriminating poem? I should! *sparkly hearts*"
LOL forever, but so true. All kidding aside, though, while contemporaries - and Voltaire himself - were most scandalized/upset by the Frankfurt arrest, something that strikes my 21st century self as worse is what happened earlier and triggered Voltaire's departure, i.e. the book burning. Granted, I'm a German who associates book burnings with the worst, but even leaving anything after the 18th century aside, it's something, as a gesture, that's worse than just forbidding the pamphlet. It has that autodafé association - and precisely because theirs was a falling in love with each other's minds, burning the product of Voltaire's mind, even if it's just a satiric pamphlet motivated by pure pettiness, is an incredible betrayal on that level.
Re: Toppings of all types, continued
I agree!
This reminds me: it won't surprise you that one of the 27 honored on the Obelisk is Kurt Christoph von Schwerin.
Nope. For those of you just joining/in need of a refresher, this is the experienced general (field marshal) who talked Fritz into leaving his first battlefield (Mollwitz), on the grounds that the Prussians were losing and it would be even worse if Fritz were captured. And then in addition to the humiliation of abandoning his troops to save his own skin, Fritz had to deal with the embarrassment of Schwerin turning things around and winning the battle without him.
"NEVER AGAIN," Fritz swore, and he never quite forgave Schwerin for either part, the talking him into leaving or the winning without him.
So Schwerin is definitely going to be high on Heinrich's list of "underappreciated/screwed over by a dramatically overestimated Fritz who hogs all the glory for himself."
Book burning: agree, and I feel like I've read somewhere, I don't remember where or if it was reliable, that Fritz later regretted his impulsive action. (Fritz often regretted the tone but not the content of what he'd said.)
Re: Toppings of all types, continued
Found it: Catt, memoirs, v.1, p. 29. I don't see it in the account of this episode in the diary, although it may be elsewhere, or Catt may be writing down something he remembered in the memoirs, or Catt may be making things up, either because he believed Fritz was sorry or thought that he should be.
Only slightly less of a betrayal than book-burning: book falsification. Curse you, Catt!