though I guess the Potsdam Giants are standing in for David‘s original purpose of distracting the King from his gloom in that case.
HAHAHA. It had occurred to me that the David-Saul relationship is missing from this parallel, but the Potsdam Giants quip is awesome. I guess this Saul sent for Goliath instead of David!
Oh, get this. The version of Katte's final letter to FW that I put in Rheinsberg has an ellipsis in it. Quite by accident, I ran across a fuller version, in French, yesterday, and I saw what was in the ellipsis. Paraphrase: "Saul, David, and Manasseh were all great sinners, and *they* repented, and God gave them grace. You too can be like God, FW!"
So here, Katte's comparing *himself* to both Saul and David, which is interesting.
I do wonder whether FW ever saw that particular letter, or whether Müller‘s mail to Hans Heinrich got respected because man of god, bereft father, etc.?...Did he believe that his letter, unlike the Pastor‘s letter, would be read and might be shown to the King?
Ooh, those are interesting questions! Especially given:
Did he believe that his letter, unlike the Pastor‘s letter, would be read and might be shown to the King?
Yesss. I like it. Maybe both of them were hedging their bets. Although the Jonathan comparison is a little surprising if you're actively worried about the King reading your mail.
I can see not flaunting the fact that Fritz got to say goodbye, and what the final words were, though, but given that all the foreign envoys knew within 5 days, and all of Cologne within a couple months, it's difficult to imagine anyone could keep FW from finding out. I guess neither Schack nor Besser would have taken the fall for that if they were worried about punishment (Münchow and Lepel being the decision makers), so just omitting the fact from their letters would be sufficient to protect them.
Anyway, you may be onto something about the omissions.
Re: Blanning 2
HAHAHA. It had occurred to me that the David-Saul relationship is missing from this parallel, but the Potsdam Giants quip is awesome. I guess this Saul sent for Goliath instead of David!
Oh, get this. The version of Katte's final letter to FW that I put in Rheinsberg has an ellipsis in it. Quite by accident, I ran across a fuller version, in French, yesterday, and I saw what was in the ellipsis. Paraphrase: "Saul, David, and Manasseh were all great sinners, and *they* repented, and God gave them grace. You too can be like God, FW!"
So here, Katte's comparing *himself* to both Saul and David, which is interesting.
I do wonder whether FW ever saw that particular letter, or whether Müller‘s mail to Hans Heinrich got respected because man of god, bereft father, etc.?...Did he believe that his letter, unlike the Pastor‘s letter, would be read and might be shown to the King?
Ooh, those are interesting questions! Especially given:
Did he believe that his letter, unlike the Pastor‘s letter, would be read and might be shown to the King?
Yesss. I like it. Maybe both of them were hedging their bets. Although the Jonathan comparison is a little surprising if you're actively worried about the King reading your mail.
I can see not flaunting the fact that Fritz got to say goodbye, and what the final words were, though, but given that all the foreign envoys knew within 5 days, and all of Cologne within a couple months, it's difficult to imagine anyone could keep FW from finding out. I guess neither Schack nor Besser would have taken the fall for that if they were worried about punishment (Münchow and Lepel being the decision makers), so just omitting the fact from their letters would be sufficient to protect them.
Anyway, you may be onto something about the omissions.
I *still* want to know what Fontane's source was.