a whole academy of people who are writing under the name of Voltaire
Naturally, my mind went to the Oxfordians, cursed by their name, and other Anti-Stratfordians in Shakespeare scholarship. :) I'd like to see someone pull off a spoof of the snobby Shakespeare authorship debate along the following lines:
- "There was no Voltare! This hint in Fritz' letter is a confession of the truth disguised as a joke."
- No bourgois notary's son could have written and done all that "Voltaire" did. Clearly, what TRULY happened was that SOMEONE hired Francois Arouet as an actor to escape censorship/disguise their activities from their fellow nobles, but who?
- Possible candidates: Émilie for the Newton book, in order to be taken seriously as author, schoolfriend Richelieu for the early drama and the poetry, in order not to piss off the Regent and then the King, but deflect the heat on "Voltaire", and then (the ultimate insult in terms of rl) Fritz for the later drama, historical works and poetry, in order for his works to be regarded impartially; the Voltaire/Fritz fallout from 1750 - 1753 happened because the actor Arouet demanded more and more money; as for the correspondance, clearly, Fritz wrote both sides, hence all the praise.
Nisus and Euryalus: considering I have, alas, not yet read the complete Aeneid but only retellings (and at first the bowlderized one by Gustav Schwab), I had to look them up as well back in the day. But yes, one can see the attraction.
Interest in physics: may be been especially vivid in 1739 because that was when he met Algarotti whose main claim to fame at that point was Newtonian in nature, too.
when was that whole "40 cups of coffee instead of sleep" experiment? earlier probably
As far as I know, it was in 1737 when Suhm had translated Wolff for him into French. But Mildred should have the exect dates.
Another take-away from my recent reading, particularly the rheinsberg write-ups: siblings! So many sibling feelings, so many complex and heartbreaking relationships.
I must admit this gladdens my heart, because the siblings angle was the one I brought to this fandom, while Mildred is the boyfriends expert. (Though she succeeded in getting me interested in the boyfriends as well while I succeeded in getting her interested in the siblings.) And yes, the handholding with Heinrich and Amalie at the end of the post-war party as something that stuck into my mind in particular, too. (The other physical Fritzian gesture re: Heinrich in the 7 Years War years that struck observers, in this case not Lehndorff but Heinrich's AD Henckel von Donnersmarck, was the post- defeat at Kolin meltdown complete with hug, kiss and "I want to die" outburst, where you have Henckel in his diary going "WTF? Did he ever kiss him before? How screwed are we?").
History AU fixits: I know what you mean, and I speak as someone who actually wrote one, though being me, I "fixed" things by killing Fritz himself of. (Well, Mildred did ask for "Katte lives" scenarios. :) ) They're still enjoyable to read, but it's harder to buy completely into them the way you can in a fictional canon whose characters never lived.
Re: Early Fritz letter to Voltaire / Random Thoughts
a whole academy of people who are writing under the name of Voltaire
Naturally, my mind went to the Oxfordians, cursed by their name, and other Anti-Stratfordians in Shakespeare scholarship. :) I'd like to see someone pull off a spoof of the snobby Shakespeare authorship debate along the following lines:
- "There was no Voltare! This hint in Fritz' letter is a confession of the truth disguised as a joke."
- No bourgois notary's son could have written and done all that "Voltaire" did. Clearly, what TRULY happened was that SOMEONE hired Francois Arouet as an actor to escape censorship/disguise their activities from their fellow nobles, but who?
- Possible candidates: Émilie for the Newton book, in order to be taken seriously as author, schoolfriend Richelieu for the early drama and the poetry, in order not to piss off the Regent and then the King, but deflect the heat on "Voltaire", and then (the ultimate insult in terms of rl) Fritz for the later drama, historical works and poetry, in order for his works to be regarded impartially; the Voltaire/Fritz fallout from 1750 - 1753 happened because the actor Arouet demanded more and more money; as for the correspondance, clearly, Fritz wrote both sides, hence all the praise.
Nisus and Euryalus: considering I have, alas, not yet read the complete Aeneid but only retellings (and at first the bowlderized one by Gustav Schwab), I had to look them up as well back in the day. But yes, one can see the attraction.
Interest in physics: may be been especially vivid in 1739 because that was when he met Algarotti whose main claim to fame at that point was Newtonian in nature, too.
when was that whole "40 cups of coffee instead of sleep" experiment? earlier probably
As far as I know, it was in 1737 when Suhm had translated Wolff for him into French. But Mildred should have the exect dates.
Another take-away from my recent reading, particularly the
I must admit this gladdens my heart, because the siblings angle was the one I brought to this fandom, while Mildred is the boyfriends expert. (Though she succeeded in getting me interested in the boyfriends as well while I succeeded in getting her interested in the siblings.) And yes, the handholding with Heinrich and Amalie at the end of the post-war party as something that stuck into my mind in particular, too. (The other physical Fritzian gesture re: Heinrich in the 7 Years War years that struck observers, in this case not Lehndorff but Heinrich's AD Henckel von Donnersmarck, was the post- defeat at Kolin meltdown complete with hug, kiss and "I want to die" outburst, where you have Henckel in his diary going "WTF? Did he ever kiss him before? How screwed are we?").
History AU fixits: I know what you mean, and I speak as someone who actually wrote one, though being me, I "fixed" things by killing Fritz himself of. (Well, Mildred did ask for "Katte lives" scenarios. :) ) They're still enjoyable to read, but it's harder to buy completely into them the way you can in a fictional canon whose characters never lived.