So did he include the whole Lucchesini diary, then? And only selections from Catt because Catt can't be trusted?
Yes and yes.
Less speculatively, it probably wouldn't have been that hard to locate an interpreter?
No, but at this point Fritz wants Voltaire intimidated into doing his bidding, not gone. The status-conscious ancien regime time being what it is, it's one thing if the King's right hand man carries the message, and another if yet another person is involved, possibly a servant. (That's why Wilhelmine isn't so much shocked that SD and Charlotte trash talk EC than that they do so in front of the servants.)
Incidentally, like you, I'm infinitely curious how Fritz imagined the post war botherfree rare Voltaire visits to go. Not that I would consider it impossible to imagine a scenario where they meet again, but no way would have that have been on Prussian soil. If Fritz came to Switzerland, I doubt Voltaire would have been able to resist. Mayyyybe neutral territory, like Brussels, though not once Fritz' niece is Queen there. Aachen then? But not Prussia. Nope.
Also, both Luchesini and Catt have Fritz recounting that Voltaire told him the realm of the mind is a republic, which is as good a summing up of one key problem there as any, to wit: Voltaire, all flattery aside, did see himself as an equal, if not a superior by virtue of being a genius.
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Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
Date: 2020-02-27 02:28 pm (UTC)So did he include the whole Lucchesini diary, then? And only selections from Catt because Catt can't be trusted?
Yes and yes.
Less speculatively, it probably wouldn't have been that hard to locate an interpreter?
No, but at this point Fritz wants Voltaire intimidated into doing his bidding, not gone. The status-conscious ancien regime time being what it is, it's one thing if the King's right hand man carries the message, and another if yet another person is involved, possibly a servant. (That's why Wilhelmine isn't so much shocked that SD and Charlotte trash talk EC than that they do so in front of the servants.)
Incidentally, like you, I'm infinitely curious how Fritz imagined the post war botherfree rare Voltaire visits to go. Not that I would consider it impossible to imagine a scenario where they meet again, but no way would have that have been on Prussian soil. If Fritz came to Switzerland, I doubt Voltaire would have been able to resist. Mayyyybe neutral territory, like Brussels, though not once Fritz' niece is Queen there. Aachen then? But not Prussia. Nope.
Also, both Luchesini and Catt have Fritz recounting that Voltaire told him the realm of the mind is a republic, which is as good a summing up of one key problem there as any, to wit: Voltaire, all flattery aside, did see himself as an equal, if not a superior by virtue of being a genius.