-Ugh, Dorothea von Marwitz. I realize that we only really have Wilhelmine's view of it, but seriously, to beg (successfully) your lover's wife to help you stay near her husband? That's pretty cold.
-It's really interesting to me that Wilhelmine and AW became so close during this time when Fritz was being a jerk :( I mean, you mentioned this before, it's just interesting to me (and sad) to see it happen in the letters, complete with Wilhelmine writing letters for AW to pass on to Fritz.
-I'm glad you discussed Sonsine because Google funked this, leaving out the verb "died" from the translation (which... what? It's so weird to me how google gets some really tricky things right and then has what seem to me to be super random mistakes.)
-* Aww, the most beautiful skeleton in Europe. I remember that. It's touching and sad at the same time.
Yeah -- it makes me think that (a) I would have really liked Wilhelmine if I'd met her -- she seems like she was really witty in a sweet and self-deprecating way, also in those other letters that you mentioned, Selena, like the one where she was talking about the her visit to Italy and was joking about the Pope -- and (b) it's super sad :( But also (c) I bet Fritz felt sorry he'd been so mean to her then :P
-I probably wouldn't have followed the Swedish politics anyway, but it is hilarious to me that Google translated both Hüte and Mützen as "hat," so there was "the party of the 'hats'...and that of the 'hats'."
Don't the Anglosaxons wear Mützen in winter, then? :)
Dorothea von Marwitz: indeed. It is of course entirely possible that the Margrave - who was the most powerful person in Bayreuth - was not just the one doing the seducing; maybe he pressured her into the relationship, for all we know. But: in that case, one would have expected her to take the opportunity and return to Prussia when her father wanted her and her other sister to do so, after sister No.3's marriage. It's also possible that Wilhelmine, like Fritz, could be a trial to serve for a longer time - all that emotional intensity, and then she's often sick. She also has the family talent for mockery. So who knows, maybe female Marwitz from her pov simply made the best of a bad situation, i.e. having lost her virginity which naturally would have impuned her marriage chances had she returned to Prussia, she went for broke, became the Maitresse en titre for a while and got herself a husband of good social rank and a retirement fund. Maybe she didn't feel Wilhelmine had any claim on her loyalty because she had given it before, she'd come with her to this boring place in the middle of nowhere where people spoke a weird dialect and had put up with all the second hand Hohenzollern melodrama, the migraines, the illnesses - and Wilhelmine hadn't managed to protect her from her husband's molestatation. Fact is: we just don't know.
...or she was exactly as she comes across in the letters: a ruthless go-getter looking out for number 1. See above: we just don't know.
Agreed, it's good to get a reminder that women were often stuck in really awful situations with limited options, and when that happens, you do what you gotta do to survive. Not unlike "I love you, bro, you're totally the best! Tell me everything Dad is saying about me." Maybe Marwitz deserves to be cut similar slack, we can't know.
okay, now we need to find Marwitz's letters
Lol! The wishlist, like the reading list, grows ever longer.
Ha, I was assuming that Marwitz, being a random woman associated with only a sister of someone famous, probably wouldn't have had her letters saved. But I guess one never knows :)
-I'm glad you discussed Sonsine because Google funked this, leaving out the verb "died" from the translation (which... what? It's so weird to me how google gets some really tricky things right and then has what seem to me to be super random mistakes.)
I meant to spell that out for you, sorry! I highlighted it in my German text as I was reading, but when I got to that passage, I had forgotten the English file (since I'm not reading the interleaved one) had a problem. I only remembered that I was mad at Fritz. :P
Yeah, it just left out "starb" and ended the sentence without any punctuation and then continued onto the next sentence. This is weird! I kind of suspect race conditions, but I'm not sure.
it is hilarious to me that Google translated both Hüte and Mützen as "hat," so there was "the party of the 'hats'...and that of the 'hats'."
That also made me laugh, and I didn't say anything because I imagined you would have gone "WTF" and checked the German.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: AW readthrough: The in-laws
Date: 2020-09-03 05:07 am (UTC)-It's really interesting to me that Wilhelmine and AW became so close during this time when Fritz was being a jerk :( I mean, you mentioned this before, it's just interesting to me (and sad) to see it happen in the letters, complete with Wilhelmine writing letters for AW to pass on to Fritz.
-I'm glad you discussed Sonsine because Google funked this, leaving out the verb "died" from the translation (which... what? It's so weird to me how google gets some really tricky things right and then has what seem to me to be super random mistakes.)
-* Aww, the most beautiful skeleton in Europe. I remember that. It's touching and sad at the same time.
Yeah -- it makes me think that (a) I would have really liked Wilhelmine if I'd met her -- she seems like she was really witty in a sweet and self-deprecating way, also in those other letters that you mentioned, Selena, like the one where she was talking about the her visit to Italy and was joking about the Pope -- and (b) it's super sad :( But also (c) I bet Fritz felt sorry he'd been so mean to her then :P
-I probably wouldn't have followed the Swedish politics anyway, but it is hilarious to me that Google translated both Hüte and Mützen as "hat," so there was "the party of the 'hats'...and that of the 'hats'."
Marwitz (Female)
Date: 2020-09-03 01:36 pm (UTC)Dorothea von Marwitz: indeed. It is of course entirely possible that the Margrave - who was the most powerful person in Bayreuth - was not just the one doing the seducing; maybe he pressured her into the relationship, for all we know. But: in that case, one would have expected her to take the opportunity and return to Prussia when her father wanted her and her other sister to do so, after sister No.3's marriage. It's also possible that Wilhelmine, like Fritz, could be a trial to serve for a longer time - all that emotional intensity, and then she's often sick. She also has the family talent for mockery. So who knows, maybe female Marwitz from her pov simply made the best of a bad situation, i.e. having lost her virginity which naturally would have impuned her marriage chances had she returned to Prussia, she went for broke, became the Maitresse en titre for a while and got herself a husband of good social rank and a retirement fund. Maybe she didn't feel Wilhelmine had any claim on her loyalty because she had given it before, she'd come with her to this boring place in the middle of nowhere where people spoke a weird dialect and had put up with all the second hand Hohenzollern melodrama, the migraines, the illnesses - and Wilhelmine hadn't managed to protect her from her husband's molestatation. Fact is: we just don't know.
...or she was exactly as she comes across in the letters: a ruthless go-getter looking out for number 1. See above: we just don't know.
Re: Marwitz (Female)
Date: 2020-09-05 05:28 pm (UTC)okay, now we need to find Marwitz's lettersRe: Marwitz (Female)
Date: 2020-09-05 10:08 pm (UTC)okay, now we need to find Marwitz's lettersLol! The wishlist, like the reading list, grows ever longer.
Re: Marwitz (Female)
Date: 2020-09-07 04:19 am (UTC)Re: AW readthrough: The in-laws
Date: 2020-09-03 08:37 pm (UTC)I meant to spell that out for you, sorry! I highlighted it in my German text as I was reading, but when I got to that passage, I had forgotten the English file (since I'm not reading the interleaved one) had a problem. I only remembered that I was mad at Fritz. :P
Yeah, it just left out "starb" and ended the sentence without any punctuation and then continued onto the next sentence. This is weird! I kind of suspect race conditions, but I'm not sure.
it is hilarious to me that Google translated both Hüte and Mützen as "hat," so there was "the party of the 'hats'...and that of the 'hats'."
That also made me laugh, and I didn't say anything because I imagined you would have gone "WTF" and checked the German.