I knew there were some disillusioned remarks about Grumbkow in the last year of FW's life, though not about Seckendorff (who at any rate had to leave years earlier, after the Fritz/EC marriage, I think, and was replaced by his nephew of the same name. In any event, any complaints on FW's side would be hypocritical, because he had written to the old Dessauer during Grumbkow's life time: "I know he is like that, but you need such people to do the business honourable people wouldn't want to soil their hands with. I get more out of him in an hour than I acquit with others in three."
Fritz tried to convince letter-forwarding Katte cousin to acquire horses for the escape attempt? I had missed that. Maybe it was in Hinrichs or Kloosterhuis?
That's in Kloosterhuis, who adds sarcastically that apparantly Fritz' "Apollonian charms" failed with the Katte cousin.
Ziebura thinks FW might have been playing cat-and-mouse with Fritz, abusing him even more to try to provoke him into deserting so he would have an excuse to convict him of desertion and make AW the heir. I'm skeptical? It strikes me as about as likely as the claims that 18-yo abuse victim Fritz deliberately put together an incompetent escape plan in order to get attention from his father.
With you there. It would have been way too risky, for starters; as you pointed out to me, too much resembling a Jacobite sitution, and FW was ever on the alert for English conspiracies. Now, I wouldn't exclude that in the moment when he shouted at Fritz that he'd have killed himself if his father had treated him this way, but Fritz was too dishonorable to do that - that FW at this moment did hope Fritz would kill himself. But not even once he'd calmed down.
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Re: No Pity for the Sons readthrough - FW and young Fritz
Date: 2020-09-10 08:35 am (UTC)Fritz tried to convince letter-forwarding Katte cousin to acquire horses for the escape attempt? I had missed that. Maybe it was in Hinrichs or Kloosterhuis?
That's in Kloosterhuis, who adds sarcastically that apparantly Fritz' "Apollonian charms" failed with the Katte cousin.
Ziebura thinks FW might have been playing cat-and-mouse with Fritz, abusing him even more to try to provoke him into deserting so he would have an excuse to convict him of desertion and make AW the heir. I'm skeptical? It strikes me as about as likely as the claims that 18-yo abuse victim Fritz deliberately put together an incompetent escape plan in order to get attention from his father.
With you there. It would have been way too risky, for starters; as you pointed out to me, too much resembling a Jacobite sitution, and FW was ever on the alert for English conspiracies. Now, I wouldn't exclude that in the moment when he shouted at Fritz that he'd have killed himself if his father had treated him this way, but Fritz was too dishonorable to do that - that FW at this moment did hope Fritz would kill himself. But not even once he'd calmed down.