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: August 17

[selenak]

cahn has the unerring instinct of a pathfinder in the wilderness, a gold seeker in Alaska, a Fritz in search of serious boyfriends! All hail to thee, most kind hostess!

And what a year this has been. To think that a year ago, I could have named just three (at most!) of Fritz' siblings without knowing much of their personalities beyond Wilhelmine (and that Heinrich was the other one with military gifts and gayness) and did not know Lehndorff existed. I knew Fredersdorf had existed, but not much more. Algarotti and Suhm? Never heard of them. (All hail Mildred, expert on Frederician boyfriends!) Voltaire, sure, heard of him, but those hilarious letters (fake and real)? Nope. Émilie I knew by name, but nothing more. And so forth.

...I learned so much through you two, and you are the most delightful of friends! <33333

Re: August 17

[cahn]

You guys are SO AMAZING. I'm kind of in awe that you guys let me hang out with you and benefit from all your awesomeness! :D

A year ago I knew about Katte (and that only because selenak told me), and... that was it. I didn't even know whether Fritz had any siblings!

a Fritz in search of serious boyfriends!

heeeee! Well, that's a compliment!

Re: August 17

[mildred_of_midgard]

But we wouldn't be nearly as awesome without you! Do you think *I* was going to ask who Lehndorff was? I was not!

a Fritz in search of serious boyfriends!

heeeee! Well, that's a compliment!

My reaction exactly! <3

Re: August 17

[mildred_of_midgard]

Oh, another moment of greatness from cahn: I had halfheartedly mentioned trying to write an interface with Google translate, but when I realized it would cost money and be slightly complicated to write, I shrugged and put it to the side.

Only when cahn offered to commission a Wilhelmine correspondence translation, did I actually dig into what it would take, discover the free trial¹, and actually produce the necessary algorithms! Suhm would not be ranked among the boyfriends without those algorithms, I would not be learning German (and cahn's German learning would be more impaired), and I don't believe Selena would have the all-important Heinrich-Fritz correspondence (unless you've since found it in German? I mean, beyond Ziebura's all-important citations.).

See, cahn? You make the awesomeness possible!

¹ Which ends in January, after which the translation itself will cost money, above the book costs and the Mildred-labor costs if the translation isn't intended for me. Otoh, I accept Fritzian books as a currency, so everyone benefits. :)

Re: August 17

[cahn]

I knoooow and this is so great, I just suggest something and then magically it happens! :DDDDD

well we just have to find a bunch of text before January then, I guess

Re: August 17

[mildred_of_midgard]

that shouldn't be a problem at this rate :P

Btw, just to be clear, it's not unlimited text between now and January, it's $118 worth, which is a little less than half of the $300 total for the free trial. I suspect we'll get through our $300 by the time January rolls around, though if it's November and we've still got a ways to go, I'll do what I can to take advantage of the free translation services remaining.

I knoooow and this is so great, I just suggest something and then magically it happens! :DDDDD

Alchemy! Detective + algorithms + reader + German speaker + Germany traveler + asker of the right questions = GOLD.

Why am I not in bed? Go to bed, self. Do you want to be miserably tired again tomorrow and not do German? BED.

Re: August 17

[mildred_of_midgard]

To think that a year ago, I could have named just three (at most!) of Fritz' siblings without knowing much of their personalities beyond Wilhelmine (and that Heinrich was the other one with military gifts and gayness)

Same!

did not know Lehndorff existed.

Same!

I knew Fredersdorf had existed, but not much more.

Yeah, we both knew he was in the "six most loved" and a candidate for possible lover, but that was about it.

Algarotti and Suhm? Never heard of them.

Algarotti I knew only thanks to mobster AU, where he ends up being Fritz's long-term partner. Suhm: no idea.

Voltaire: I knew they corresponded passionately, lived together briefly, then had a messy breakup that both were responsible for, then resumed correspondence, but no details at all!

Émilie I knew by name, but nothing more.

Same, and only from mobster AU. If we go back and ask me 14 months ago, I can't name any Fritz siblings, I only know he had a brother who predeceased him but not before fathering FW2, haven't heard of Fredersdorf, Algarotti, or Émilie. (In the same sense that I had never heard of Lehndorff: the names got mentioned in bios I had read, but left no mark whatsoever in my memory.)

Between 14 and 12 months ago, I read MacDonogh and Blanning, some of Wilhelmine's memoirs, all the AO3 fanfic I could stand to read, and some Wikipedia and tumblr, then started chatting with cahn. By the time you came along, I was a good deal more prepared to chat than I would have been just two months before.

But now!

I wanted to write fic back then, but I didn't know any of the players outside of Fritz, Wilhelmine, FW, SD, and Katte, and I had no idea about the lives of even these people other than the major high points, of which there are generally only one or two a year. But in the last two months, I was able to knock out fic about Lehndorff and Peter on short notice!

Which brings me to: a year ago, there was no AO3 tag for Fredersdorf, and now he has 9 fics, 4 of which he stars in! <3 Not to mention all the other characters who now have fic for the first time, such as Heinrich.