Hi! Mildred invited me to share a journal post I made yesterday for discussion, so here I am. I'm currently reading the Fritz-Voltaire correspondance (pretty slowly, as I keep getting side-tracked) and in my entry I talked about a Fritz letter from February 3rd 1739 that I found rather charming (not least because of the geekiness content to be honest). I'll just repost most of it here, with a few alterations:
First he complains that - because he's still recovering from one of his many health crises - his doctors, more cruel than the disease itself, want him to exercise daily instead of study all the time [sidenote: when was that whole "40 cups of coffee instead of sleep" experiment? earlier probably] and then he immediately finds a connection to his philosophy studies, musing:
Unfortunately the mind seems to be only the accessory of the body; it is disturbed at the same time as the organization of our machinery, and matter cannot suffer without the spirit also feeling it. This union so close, this intimate connection is, it seems to me, a very strong proof of Locke's sentiment. What thinks in us is certainly an effect or a result of the mechanics of our animated machinery. Any sensible man, any man who is not imbued with prejudice or self-esteem, must agree.
After that, he gives Voltaire an update on all the things he's been doing/planning, which include
a) physics experiments with a vacuum pump [although only the first - does a clock keep its pace in a vacuum? - is actually physics in hindsight, the second - does a plant seed grow without air? - is not] b) getting a Berlin astronomer to test his wild theories regarding the causes of winds and air currents
and - That's enough for physics. -
c) fanfic ideas: I made plans for a tragedy; the subject is taken from the Aeneid; the story of the play was to represent the tender and constant friendship of Nisus and Euryale.
[As far as I know, he pretty quickly abandoned the physics interest and he never wrote that Nisus/Euryalus fic tragedy, instead he soon got caught up in writing the Antimachiavell. Nonetheless, he occasionally invoked them in other writings and they did make it into his Temple of Friendship at Sanssouci as one of four homoerotic Greek pairings. I admit that I had to look them up because I was unaware of the story. After reading about it, I could not help but wonder about the emotional background and possible Katte connections behind Frederick's choice of subject/lovers. What with the loyalty and the age difference and the unsuccessfully trying to save one's lover's life after getting caught and everything ending in death. (Except that, of course, Fritz lived and was forced to be present at Katte's execution.) Be that as it may, I certainly think that Fritz, lover of statues, would have very much appreciated this Nisus/Euryalus one.]
Back to the letter, and on a lighter note, following the list of plans is a playful and of course complimentary passage about Voltaire's work output - For you, my dear friend, are an incomprehensible being to me. I doubt that there is a Voltaire in the world; I thought up a system to deny his existence., i.e. a whole academy of people who are writing under the name of Voltaire - which concludes with the request to work less for the sake of his health (the exact thing Fritz isn't doing and complained about at the start of the letter; very much in character).
Voltaire in his February 28th response says that Fritz should take his own health advice, and that perhaps Nisus/Euryalus fic is more suitable during a time of recovery than maths. (Which I can only agree with.)
[Added:] He also tells Fritz that they immediately set up the vaccum pump/clock experiment at Cirey and reports on his findings. Émilie on the other hand, in her own letter dated February 27th, tells Fritz that she's totally delighted by his physics interest - he read her work on fire around that time as well and discussed a couple of points with her before this - and hey, there's this W. Derham guy in London who wrote a whole article about this experiment in 1705, here's the reference if you want to find and read it. (So much for amateurs I guess. :D)
So, yeah, this made me smile. It's also very much a "crown prince Fritz at Rheinsberg" letter, because
-- and this is where I added a couple of mostly non-letter related thoughts, which I'll just put here as well --
still pre-meeting and pre-ascension to the throne, there are a lot of things not present in this letter - the sharp sarcasm for example (which could be very witty, or mocking and hurtful, or both), or the often imperious and short-tempered attitude of King Frederick. Part of what makes reading about all of this so interesting are the constant shifts: One minute I'm laughing out loud because a quote is hilarious or daring or WTF, the next I just can't help being touched or impressed, and the next it's "damn it, you asshole". I certainly see why "enigma" or "contradictory" are terms often used about Frederick, although I think the first one gives the wrong impression of only getting an incomprehensible facade. While he certainly knew - and learned by necessity - how to pretend and how to hide when he wanted (something that's sometimes hard to parse even before you get to the general OTT rococo-ness of the age), I still think there's a lot of insight to be had, it's just that he was indeed quite a mess of contradictions.
Another take-away from my recent reading, particularly the rheinsberg write-ups: siblings! So many sibling feelings, so many complex and heartbreaking relationships.
There's an image from the Lehndorff diaries that unexpectedly stuck with me, from the party after the Seven Years War ended (a war during which Fritz lost both his older sister Wilhelmine, the sibling he was closest to by far, and his next-in-line brother August Wilhelm, whom he'd treated quite horribly before his death):
The King remains at the table until 11 1/7. When he rises and the ladies in waiting and I begin to pass him, he suddenly stops at the door, holding Princess Amalie with one hand, Prince Heinrich with the other, and stands like this for nearly fifteen minutes, gazing into their faces.
Yeah.
Lastly, I observe that fix-it scenarios don't seem quite as satisfying in a historical fandom. Pesky reality getting in the way. (Not that I won't read them regardless. There are a lot of things one might be compelled to fix here.)
Early Fritz letter to Voltaire / Random Thoughts
First he complains that - because he's still recovering from one of his many health crises - his doctors, more cruel than the disease itself, want him to exercise daily instead of study all the time [sidenote: when was that whole "40 cups of coffee instead of sleep" experiment? earlier probably] and then he immediately finds a connection to his philosophy studies, musing:
Unfortunately the mind seems to be only the accessory of the body; it is disturbed at the same time as the organization of our machinery, and matter cannot suffer without the spirit also feeling it. This union so close, this intimate connection is, it seems to me, a very strong proof of Locke's sentiment. What thinks in us is certainly an effect or a result of the mechanics of our animated machinery. Any sensible man, any man who is not imbued with prejudice or self-esteem, must agree.
After that, he gives Voltaire an update on all the things he's been doing/planning, which include
a) physics experiments with a vacuum pump [although only the first - does a clock keep its pace in a vacuum? - is actually physics in hindsight, the second - does a plant seed grow without air? - is not]
b) getting a Berlin astronomer to test his wild theories regarding the causes of winds and air currents
and - That's enough for physics. -
c) fanfic ideas: I made plans for a tragedy; the subject is taken from the Aeneid; the story of the play was to represent the tender and constant friendship of Nisus and Euryale.
[As far as I know, he pretty quickly abandoned the physics interest and he never wrote that Nisus/Euryalus
fictragedy, instead he soon got caught up in writing the Antimachiavell. Nonetheless, he occasionally invoked them in other writings and they did make it into his Temple of Friendship at Sanssouci as one of four homoerotic Greek pairings.I admit that I had to look them up because I was unaware of the story. After reading about it, I could not help but wonder about the emotional background and possible Katte connections behind Frederick's choice of subject/lovers. What with the loyalty and the age difference and the unsuccessfully trying to save one's lover's life after getting caught and everything ending in death. (Except that, of course, Fritz lived and was forced to be present at Katte's execution.)
Be that as it may, I certainly think that Fritz, lover of statues, would have very much appreciated this Nisus/Euryalus one.]
Back to the letter, and on a lighter note, following the list of plans is a playful and of course complimentary passage about Voltaire's work output - For you, my dear friend, are an incomprehensible being to me. I doubt that there is a Voltaire in the world; I thought up a system to deny his existence., i.e. a whole academy of people who are writing under the name of Voltaire - which concludes with the request to work less for the sake of his health (the exact thing Fritz isn't doing and complained about at the start of the letter; very much in character).
Voltaire in his February 28th response says that Fritz should take his own health advice, and that perhaps Nisus/Euryalus fic is more suitable during a time of recovery than maths. (Which I can only agree with.)
[Added:] He also tells Fritz that they immediately set up the vaccum pump/clock experiment at Cirey and reports on his findings. Émilie on the other hand, in her own letter dated February 27th, tells Fritz that she's totally delighted by his physics interest - he read her work on fire around that time as well and discussed a couple of points with her before this - and hey, there's this W. Derham guy in London who wrote a whole article about this experiment in 1705, here's the reference if you want to find and read it. (So much for amateurs I guess. :D)
So, yeah, this made me smile. It's also very much a "crown prince Fritz at Rheinsberg" letter, because
-- and this is where I added a couple of mostly non-letter related thoughts, which I'll just put here as well --
still pre-meeting and pre-ascension to the throne, there are a lot of things not present in this letter - the sharp sarcasm for example (which could be very witty, or mocking and hurtful, or both), or the often imperious and short-tempered attitude of King Frederick. Part of what makes reading about all of this so interesting are the constant shifts: One minute I'm laughing out loud because a quote is hilarious or daring or WTF, the next I just can't help being touched or impressed, and the next it's "damn it, you asshole".
I certainly see why "enigma" or "contradictory" are terms often used about Frederick, although I think the first one gives the wrong impression of only getting an incomprehensible facade. While he certainly knew - and learned by necessity - how to pretend and how to hide when he wanted (something that's sometimes hard to parse even before you get to the general OTT rococo-ness of the age), I still think there's a lot of insight to be had, it's just that he was indeed quite a mess of contradictions.
Another take-away from my recent reading, particularly the
There's an image from the Lehndorff diaries that unexpectedly stuck with me, from the party after the Seven Years War ended (a war during which Fritz lost both his older sister Wilhelmine, the sibling he was closest to by far, and his next-in-line brother August Wilhelm, whom he'd treated quite horribly before his death):
The King remains at the table until 11 1/7. When he rises and the ladies in waiting and I begin to pass him, he suddenly stops at the door, holding Princess Amalie with one hand, Prince Heinrich with the other, and stands like this for nearly fifteen minutes, gazing into their faces.
Yeah.
Lastly, I observe that fix-it scenarios don't seem quite as satisfying in a historical fandom. Pesky reality getting in the way. (Not that I won't read them regardless. There are a lot of things one might be compelled to fix here.)