But a quick google tells me Davidson is a living author, so he doesn't have those excuses
How few excuses he has, let me show you them! Copyright 2010!1 He cites what must be every sexually explicit passage from Voltaire to Madame Denis. I've never read so many mentions of Voltaire's prick2 and her arse!
He has no mention of Pangels, though he admits his biography is select rather than scholarly. I was wondering if that was where he got it from.
He has no citation for Bentinck/Heinrich or Fritz's displeasure at all. This is the passage:
Sophie was much younger than Voltaire and full of gusto, and she may have had love affairs with other men in Berlin – with Prince Henri, younger brother of Frederick (to Frederick’s irritation) and even, most poignantly, with Wilhelm zu Schaumburg-Lippe, the younger (legitimate) son of her dead lover Wolfgang, now in his late twenties – but not with Voltaire.
Just take his word for it, I guess.
"women will do him good, muhahaa"
I was thinking of this! Though apparently, according to your original report of this line, I had to look up the original for that one, and Fritz writes "la femme", singular.
Still.
Another reason?
"Reason." You give him too much credit. :P
Heinrich is still in his mid 20s, and while every gossip must know he likes men, they may not yet have gathered he likes them exclusively.
This makes perfect sense to me.
the publication of the (sexual) Madame Denis letters, though. (Which nixed the whole "poor Voltaire, devoted to a woman who first cheats on him with Maupertuis and then with this St. Lambert guy" story.)
Unless you're Davidson, in which case, poor Voltaire, devoted to a woman who ran him ragged and held him back intellectually and couldn't commit to him, thus finally forcing him to look elsewhere for fulfillment. With her mathematical talent, and her lack of emotional control, she was probably autistic (!!) and couldn't understand how men would perceive her passionate expressions of love.
You know, I'm so glad that Kindle books exist in my time of chronic pain, but I super hate being limited to them, (plus, lately, whatever I can scan and stand to read in very small font on my phone).
The double standard of "she can't commit to one man, could be autism!" is stunning.
To be fair, he does acknowledge that Voltaire's ten year flirtation with Fritz contributed to the deterioration of their relationship in a way that Voltaire was oblivious to, BUT, at no point has he so far pathologized this. Naturally you would want to flirt with Fritz! (And have sex with your niece, I guess.) Especially if Émilie is smothering you with her demands.
Oh, and this is my favorite quote so far. It's the second paragraph of the chapter after Émilie dies:
Émilie had done her best to keep Voltaire away from Potsdam and to rein in his intellectual and creative life, and to some extent she had succeeded: it is striking how little Voltaire produced during the last four years of their life together. With her death he regained his freedom not just to go to Prussia but also to think and to write what he wanted. It was only after her death, and in the relative calm and solitude of Frederick’s court, that Voltaire was finally able to finish Le Siècle de Louis XIV.
Davidson! I can understand pre-1753 Voltaire being frustrated at being caught between Fritz and Émilie and having to choose, but you have the benefit of hindsight!
I haven't yet got to the Fritz/Voltaire breakup, but am super looking forward to seeing how he handles that, and by "looking forward to" I mean "munching popcorn."
(I'm happy to report that my Mr. Pleschinski who translated and edited the Fritz/Voltaire correspondance into Germanin the 1990s thinks Émilie is amazing, as is only proper.)
Indeed, indeed. Pleased to hear it.
1 I would have cut an older biographer some slack on the Émilie-hating. I'm cutting the 1973 Lord Hervey biographer some slack on the one expression of toxic masculinity I've run into so far (I'm only a few pages in, because I had to scan it and thus the font is so small). But 2010!
2My heart and my prick send you the most tender good wishes. This evening I shall surely see you.
Davidson footnotes this with:
As so often, Voltaire wrote to Mme Denis in Italian. In her copy of this letter she heavily crossed out the Italian word for ‘prick’ (cazzo), replacing it with the word spirito.
Given what happened to Lehndorff's diary, I have to ask: are we 100% sure this was in her handwriting?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Voltaire and Émilie
Date: 2020-07-23 06:20 am (UTC)How few excuses he has, let me show you them! Copyright 2010!1 He cites what must be every sexually explicit passage from Voltaire to Madame Denis. I've never read so many mentions of Voltaire's prick2 and her arse!
He has no mention of Pangels, though he admits his biography is select rather than scholarly. I was wondering if that was where he got it from.
He has no citation for Bentinck/Heinrich or Fritz's displeasure at all. This is the passage:
Sophie was much younger than Voltaire and full of gusto, and she may have had love affairs with other men in Berlin – with Prince Henri, younger brother of Frederick (to Frederick’s irritation) and even, most poignantly, with Wilhelm zu Schaumburg-Lippe, the younger (legitimate) son of her dead lover Wolfgang, now in his late twenties – but not with Voltaire.
Just take his word for it, I guess.
"women will do him good, muhahaa"
I was thinking of this! Though apparently, according to your original report of this line, I had to look up the original for that one, and Fritz writes "la femme", singular.
Still.
Another reason?
"Reason." You give him too much credit. :P
Heinrich is still in his mid 20s, and while every gossip must know he likes men, they may not yet have gathered he likes them exclusively.
This makes perfect sense to me.
the publication of the (sexual) Madame Denis letters, though. (Which nixed the whole "poor Voltaire, devoted to a woman who first cheats on him with Maupertuis and then with this St. Lambert guy" story.)
Unless you're Davidson, in which case, poor Voltaire, devoted to a woman who ran him ragged and held him back intellectually and couldn't commit to him, thus finally forcing him to look elsewhere for fulfillment. With her mathematical talent, and her lack of emotional control, she was probably autistic (!!) and couldn't understand how men would perceive her passionate expressions of love.
You know, I'm so glad that Kindle books exist in my time of chronic pain, but I super hate being limited to them, (plus, lately, whatever I can scan and stand to read in very small font on my phone).
The double standard of "she can't commit to one man, could be autism!" is stunning.
To be fair, he does acknowledge that Voltaire's ten year flirtation with Fritz contributed to the deterioration of their relationship in a way that Voltaire was oblivious to, BUT, at no point has he so far pathologized this. Naturally you would want to flirt with Fritz! (And have sex with your niece, I guess.) Especially if Émilie is smothering you with her demands.
Oh, and this is my favorite quote so far. It's the second paragraph of the chapter after Émilie dies:
Émilie had done her best to keep Voltaire away from Potsdam and to rein in his intellectual and creative life, and to some extent she had succeeded: it is striking how little Voltaire produced during the last four years of their life together. With her death he regained his freedom not just to go to Prussia but also to think and to write what he wanted. It was only after her death, and in the relative calm and solitude of Frederick’s court, that Voltaire was finally able to finish Le Siècle de Louis XIV.
Davidson! I can understand pre-1753 Voltaire being frustrated at being caught between Fritz and Émilie and having to choose, but you have the benefit of hindsight!
I haven't yet got to the Fritz/Voltaire breakup, but am super looking forward to seeing how he handles that, and by "looking forward to" I mean "munching popcorn."
(I'm happy to report that my Mr. Pleschinski who translated and edited the Fritz/Voltaire correspondance into Germanin the 1990s thinks Émilie is amazing, as is only proper.)
Indeed, indeed. Pleased to hear it.
1 I would have cut an older biographer some slack on the Émilie-hating. I'm cutting the 1973 Lord Hervey biographer some slack on the one expression of toxic masculinity I've run into so far (I'm only a few pages in, because I had to scan it and thus the font is so small). But 2010!
2 My heart and my prick send you the most tender good wishes. This evening I shall surely see you.
Davidson footnotes this with:
As so often, Voltaire wrote to Mme Denis in Italian. In her copy of this letter she heavily crossed out the Italian word for ‘prick’ (cazzo), replacing it with the word spirito.
Given what happened to Lehndorff's diary, I have to ask: are we 100% sure this was in her handwriting?