50 more pages. Wilhelmine has arrived in Bayreuth and is not impressed. Oster is arguing that contemporaneous letters she sent to family show that it wasn't as bad as Wilhelmine later recounted in her memoirs. As opposed to Wilhelmine putting a good face on it?
Particularly this letter:
"Everyone's nice to me here, Dad! It would be great, except I miss you so much. Please send $$$, renovations desperately needed."
None of that strikes me as either something that should be taken at face value or as counterevidence to the memoirs.
Also, lol at imagining that letter being written by Wilhelmine the modern AU college student. :P
One essay/lecture that was linked at the Bayreuth website about Wilhelmine goes into those letters after her marriage, and shows Wilhelmine writing to FW, SD and Fritz about the same time but quite differently, tailored to recipient. And yes, FW gets the most polyanna letter. Considering he made her sign a disclaimer that she gave up her right to inheritance from SD just before the marriage as a last minute surprise and that as a result she was financially still very much dependent on him (and that her father-in-law had expected more cash), I think any letter from Wilhelmine to Dad has to be taken with extreme caution as to the veracity. And with SD, SD's general disapproval of the marriage was still hanging over her, so a "see, Mom, at least my husband loves me, and I'm doing well!" argument is ongoing.
Those letters, which you wrote up for us, were exactly what I was thinking of. So far, I haven't been blown away by Oster's scholarship. I mean, Ziebura also trusts Catt, but that seems unavoidable, and I do feel like she did a better job (as far as I can perceive) of deploying the epistolary evidence. I'm still glad I'm reading Oster, of course! Learning a lot, just like with Blanning and MacDonogh. But serious grains of salt.
Just a few pages today, but at least I kept my momentum going. Wilhelmine's daughter has been born, and the Margrave is trying to make sure FW doesn't implicitly take over his principality, by means of asking forgiveness rather than permission regarding the baptism, lol.
OK! A cold is going through our house (fortunately nothing worse!) and as a result I've been bad about reading the last couple of days, and am probably not going to be able to catch up in salon for a couple of days either. (And unlike selenak, this probably doesn't mean I'm going to have lots of amazing reading comments posted :) ) So I'm still a little behind, but am hoping to catch up soon.
18 more pages, Wilhelmine has returned from the 1732-1733 visit to Berlin and sworn never to go back. Her husband is being totally adorable gushing over their kid.
Everyone here seems to be doing better, though I'm still behind as I only read a couple of pages today. (And falling even further behind on comments as I spent tonight doing the work I didn't do while acting as tech support for remote schooling child today.) But I will get caught up eventually, so feel free to read more! :)
Fingers crossed for you and your family. Come back to us soon!
And unlike selenak, this probably doesn't mean I'm going to have lots of amazing reading comments posted
Also, this. Whenever she's like, "I have insomnia, so here's a write-up of a book I just read," I'm like, "I wish my insomnia worked like that." With me, it's like, "I have insomnia, so I'm temporarily illiterate, expect nothing." :P
Detective work I can do on minimal sleep, though; it's kind of amazing the difference between reading and googling. That's exactly why I've been detective and not reader the last year. (I'm having some luck beating my sleep into submission, but it's going to be a ongoing process with fluctuations, we're not there yet.)
All of which is to say, selenak is an international treasure. <3 And also, magical alchemy is the best.
OK! Still behind on reading, but I did some today so I'm hopeful that I can start the catching-up process, and let's see if I can at least bang out a comment or two before bed.
Detective work I can do on minimal sleep, though; it's kind of amazing the difference between reading and googling.
Ha! Both of you are amazing on minimal sleep :) Whereas when I'm on minimal sleep I can read fiction just fine, and ramble on about it, and while that's useful for DW it's not very useful for salon. Oh, but that reminds me: tomorrow I can check out the second Dark Quartet book :D
(I'm having some luck beating my sleep into submission, but it's going to be a ongoing process with fluctuations, we're not there yet.)
Yay!! Not just for salon, that sounds like it will just improve your quality of life in a ton of different ways.
All of which is to say, [personal profile] selenak is an international treasure. <3 And also, magical alchemy is the best.
Another 18 or so pages. The Margrave has just died, and Wilhelmine and her husband are trying to figure out how to run a principality.
Totally unrelated to anything, but I ran across this today and couldn't resist sharing with you guys. It's a comment exchange from the only fic on AO3 tagged Peter Keith that wasn't written by or for me:
Commenter: Actually it is the first time that I read a Friedrich II von Preußen's fic and I truly enjoy it, you let such a powerful and talented man become more colorful and adorable. And there is a funny thing that the way we translate his name(腓特烈) into Chinese is different from other Friedrichs(弗里德里希) haha,as he was of high authority, maybe.😂
Author: wow, this is interesting. I mean, he's not the only king named Friedrich in history xD but I guess he's still considered kinda Special nowadays <3 and well, he's my Baby xD so I appreciate it
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough
Particularly this letter:
"Everyone's nice to me here, Dad! It would be great, except I miss you so much. Please send $$$, renovations desperately needed."
None of that strikes me as either something that should be taken at face value or as counterevidence to the memoirs.
Also, lol at imagining that letter being written by Wilhelmine the modern AU college student. :P
Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough
Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough
Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough
Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough
Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough
18 more pages, Wilhelmine has returned from the 1732-1733 visit to Berlin and sworn never to go back. Her husband is being totally adorable gushing over their kid.
Comments will have to wait.
Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough
Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough
And unlike selenak, this probably doesn't mean I'm going to have lots of amazing reading comments posted
Also, this. Whenever she's like, "I have insomnia, so here's a write-up of a book I just read," I'm like, "I wish my insomnia worked like that." With me, it's like, "I have insomnia, so I'm temporarily illiterate, expect nothing." :P
Detective work I can do on minimal sleep, though; it's kind of amazing the difference between reading and googling. That's exactly why I've been detective and not reader the last year. (I'm having some luck beating my sleep into submission, but it's going to be a ongoing process with fluctuations, we're not there yet.)
All of which is to say,
Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough
Detective work I can do on minimal sleep, though; it's kind of amazing the difference between reading and googling.
Ha! Both of you are amazing on minimal sleep :) Whereas when I'm on minimal sleep I can read fiction just fine, and ramble on about it, and while that's useful for DW it's not very useful for salon. Oh, but that reminds me: tomorrow I can check out the second Dark Quartet book :D
(I'm having some luck beating my sleep into submission, but it's going to be a ongoing process with fluctuations, we're not there yet.)
Yay!! Not just for salon, that sounds like it will just improve your quality of life in a ton of different ways.
All of which is to say, [personal profile] selenak is an international treasure. <3 And also, magical alchemy is the best.
Yes, both of these! :D
Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough
Totally unrelated to anything, but I ran across this today and couldn't resist sharing with you guys. It's a comment exchange from the only fic on AO3 tagged Peter Keith that wasn't written by or for me:
Commenter: Actually it is the first time that I read a Friedrich II von Preußen's fic and I truly enjoy it, you let such a powerful and talented man become more colorful and adorable. And there is a funny thing that the way we translate his name(腓特烈) into Chinese is different from other Friedrichs(弗里德里希) haha,as he was of high authority, maybe.😂
Author: wow, this is interesting. I mean, he's not the only king named Friedrich in history xD but I guess he's still considered kinda Special nowadays <3 and well, he's my Baby xD so I appreciate it
Der Einzige strikes again! Even in China.
Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough