Yeah, I had gone looking for the letter in Trier and not found it. However, I found the whole thing just now! It's a letter that was previously unpublished, but the original letter turned up in Voltaire's hand, and was published, with commentary, in a journal article in 1928. I've uploaded the pdf into the library, in the "Une lettre inédite de Voltaire à Frédéric II.pdf" file.
Futhermore, French wiktionary turned up "pour tout potage," which is evidently an idiom meaning "only", "without anything else." Also, Voltaire's original phrasing was "un grand homme pour tout potage," not Catt's "un héros pour tout potage." The word "héros" does turn up later in the sentence, which makes sense if Catt is reproducing this from memory.
Furthermore, Catt's "un assassin de génie" is Voltaire's "génie universel," which is a little bit different!
The 1928 article tells me that Fritz's reply had already been published, and I've tracked it down to this one.
Detective work complete: Voltaire's letter, Fritz's reply, French idiom. :D
Also it's really easy to get distracted, because Voltaire and Fritz at this point in their relationship are really damn enjoyable to read, what with the needling and complimenting in perfect balance.
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Re: Henri de Catt - or rather, Voltaire
Date: 2020-02-05 04:46 am (UTC)Yeah, I had gone looking for the letter in Trier and not found it. However, I found the whole thing just now! It's a letter that was previously unpublished, but the original letter turned up in Voltaire's hand, and was published, with commentary, in a journal article in 1928. I've uploaded the pdf into the library, in the "Une lettre inédite de Voltaire à Frédéric II.pdf" file.
Futhermore, French wiktionary turned up "pour tout potage," which is evidently an idiom meaning "only", "without anything else." Also, Voltaire's original phrasing was "un grand homme pour tout potage," not Catt's "un héros pour tout potage." The word "héros" does turn up later in the sentence, which makes sense if Catt is reproducing this from memory.
Furthermore, Catt's "un assassin de génie" is Voltaire's "génie universel," which is a little bit different!
The 1928 article tells me that Fritz's reply had already been published, and I've tracked it down to this one.
Detective work complete: Voltaire's letter, Fritz's reply, French idiom. :D
Also it's really easy to get distracted, because Voltaire and Fritz at this point in their relationship are really damn enjoyable to read, what with the needling and complimenting in perfect balance.
I bet!