Voltaire's entire slander against Fritz (since according to no one other than Voltaire EVER accused Fritz of being gay) is due to getting his heart broken, since he really truly loved Ulrike.
Oh, sheesh. "No one other than Voltaire EVER accused Fritz of being gay" is in MacDonogh, but I don't remember him saying anything about it being related to his true love for Ulrike. *facepalm*
Davidson at least says sth to the effect of, "People have claimed his supposed homosexuality was just a canard put out by Voltaire, but...regardless of his sexuality, he was clearly gay in some sense and obviously in a way that colored his feelings for Voltaire." Which I agree with: even if Fritz had a low sex drive, which I'm undecided about, he was obviously homoromantic and sexually *attracted* to men. You can be attracted to someone without "I want to drop what I'm doing and get down and dirty with them right now" immediately following. And so I will defend Fritz as gay regardless of intensity of sex drive.
Of course, with our luck we'll discover six weeks later there is indeed a Fritz letter in which he complains about Bentinck/Heinrich.
Indeed! "Citation needed...citation found!" is the story of our fandom. I remember "There stands one who will avenge me" as a stellar example.
But until I see it, I'm going with Bentinck/Voltaire as the far more likely cause of his irration.
I did at least proceed to find the quote where Fritz was annoyed at Voltaire's political interference in that situation. So it could be. Fritz could also have been annoyed if he felt Heinrich was siding with her politically (whether or not he was--this is "watch out for intriguing princes of the blood!" political testament time from Fritz).
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Re: Voltaire and Fritz
Date: 2020-07-25 05:59 pm (UTC)Oh, sheesh. "No one other than Voltaire EVER accused Fritz of being gay" is in MacDonogh, but I don't remember him saying anything about it being related to his true love for Ulrike. *facepalm*
Davidson at least says sth to the effect of, "People have claimed his supposed homosexuality was just a canard put out by Voltaire, but...regardless of his sexuality, he was clearly gay in some sense and obviously in a way that colored his feelings for Voltaire." Which I agree with: even if Fritz had a low sex drive, which I'm undecided about, he was obviously homoromantic and sexually *attracted* to men. You can be attracted to someone without "I want to drop what I'm doing and get down and dirty with them right now" immediately following. And so I will defend Fritz as gay regardless of intensity of sex drive.
Of course, with our luck we'll discover six weeks later there is indeed a Fritz letter in which he complains about Bentinck/Heinrich.
Indeed! "Citation needed...citation found!" is the story of our fandom. I remember "There stands one who will avenge me" as a stellar example.
But until I see it, I'm going with Bentinck/Voltaire as the far more likely cause of his irration.
I did at least proceed to find the quote where Fritz was annoyed at Voltaire's political interference in that situation. So it could be. Fritz could also have been annoyed if he felt Heinrich was siding with her politically (whether or not he was--this is "watch out for intriguing princes of the blood!" political testament time from Fritz).