Frederick the Great discussion post 11

[cahn]

In our last installment, our heroes found that Henri de Catt's memoirs, a major source for current biographers of Frederick the Great, are not to be trusted!!

rheinsberg

Comments

Re: Fritz as a writer: an early Victorian take

[mildred_of_midgard]

Also, I've always thought one of the best and most underrated lines from Voltaire's memoirs is this one, from immediately after the 1753 breakup:

Leaving my palace of Alcina, I went to pass a month with the Dutchess of Saxe-Gotha, the best of Princesses, full of gentleness, discretion, and equanimity, and who, God be thanked, did not make verses.

I remember laughing out loud when I first read it, and it still has the power to make me dissolve into helpless sniggering.

Re: Fritz as a writer: an early Victorian take

[cahn]

HAHAHAHAHAHA omg VOLTAIRE!

Re: Fritz as a writer: an early Victorian take

[selenak]

It's a golden sentence. I've just read a very short novella (in German) about the Voltaire-Emilie-Fritz triangle which somehow manages to make this great story bland, so can't rec it, but the author does quote that sentence as well.