Frederick the Great, discussion post 16

[cahn]

We have slowed down a lot, but are still (sporadically) going! And somehow filled up the last post while I wasn't looking!

...I was asked to start a new thread so that STDs could be discussed. Really! :D

Comments

Re: Voltaire and Fritz

[mildred_of_midgard]

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).

Re: Voltaire and Fritz

[selenak]

True, and "make sure to put the one first waving the banner of independence in his place". (By which he certainly didn't mean AW or Ferdinand.) Or, as Fritz himself would describe it: "You know how carefully I sought your friendship; that I spared neither caresses, nor what can be called advances, to win your heart."

BTW, it just occurs to me that if Heinrich hadn't been married by that point already, then Bentinck could have tried not to not just seduce but to marry him because then Prussia would have been obliged to push her claims against her ex husband for her territory. But since he was married, and couldn't divorce Mina without getting Fritz' permission first, which AW just had failed at getting re: Sophie von Pannewitz/Voss, there was no chance of that.