Frederdorf would just not have been able to catch up on any Fritz satisfying level.
This is all very true. He was never going to be a native speaker, and while he might well get up to enough proficiency to equal or surpass Fritz's awkward German, the process of getting there in that environment would have been painful, good point, and the end result wasn't going to be worth walking across those coals.
So much of his life was about Fritz that I think insisting on German as their language was something like insisting on alchemy, and his own medication, despite Fritz constantly telling him otherwise. It was a way of of saying "This is me, not you; I love you, but I exist apart from you". Maintaining that core of self probably allowed him to remain sane and have no nervous breakdowns.
Good counterpoint requires two qualities: (1) a meaningful or harmonious relationship between the lines, and (2) some degree of independence or individuality within the lines themselves.
And not only asserting his identity, but knowing that Fritz loved him enough to accept communicating in German with him, not just to conduct business like the rest of his German communications, but to carry on a close personal relationship.
And again, that Fritz accepted the language instead of doing a "my way or no way" here remains as powerful a testimony as the open tenderness of those letters.
Indeed. They're such a good ship. <3 I share cahn's joy that we've found no evidence for that unsourced embezzlement allegation.
Re: He said, she said, they said: on partitioning Poland and other matters
This is all very true. He was never going to be a native speaker, and while he might well get up to enough proficiency to equal or surpass Fritz's awkward German, the process of getting there in that environment would have been painful, good point, and the end result wasn't going to be worth walking across those coals.
So much of his life was about Fritz that I think insisting on German as their language was something like insisting on alchemy, and his own medication, despite Fritz constantly telling him otherwise. It was a way of of saying "This is me, not you; I love you, but I exist apart from you". Maintaining that core of self probably allowed him to remain sane and have no nervous breakdowns.
I like this a lot. Like that quote
Good counterpoint requires two qualities: (1) a meaningful or harmonious relationship between the lines, and (2) some degree of independence or individuality within the lines themselves.
And not only asserting his identity, but knowing that Fritz loved him enough to accept communicating in German with him, not just to conduct business like the rest of his German communications, but to carry on a close personal relationship.
And again, that Fritz accepted the language instead of doing a "my way or no way" here remains as powerful a testimony as the open tenderness of those letters.
Indeed. They're such a good ship. <3 I share