Voltaire’s instinct to bow and scrape to despots, even allegedly enlightened despots, remained with him for ever. Just as he did not want to tell ‘odious truths’ about Peter
Given his 1730s letters to Fritz and his evolving awareness of just how bad Peter's bad side was, this strikes me as having less to do with awe of despots and more to do with not wanting to confront the fact that his problematic fave is problematic. Possibly not wanting to glorify that kind of behavior, but also just super uncomfortable with admiring the guy. Think of all the Fritz depictions that stop with 1730. ;)
More fun from today's Davidson reading:
* Voltaire gets accused of selling illegal books. He writes a letter:
"Who, me?? I would never do such a thing! I am a poor, innocent, harmless old man. I deserve your pity!"
Davidson, pulling no punches: It is a pitiful, wretched letter, full of lies and half-truths, pathetic denials and abject snivelling; it is very Voltaire. For if Voltaire was spiritually bold, he was not personally brave at all.
* Voltaire in 1766, in trouble with the law (see above), wants to start up a colony of exiled philosophes in...Cleves. Fritzian territory, in other words. He went as far as trying to get other philosophes involved, telling them how great living in Fritz territory was and how supportive of this project Fritz would be and how much they could accomplish in a place with a free press, instead of groveling before the censors in Paris.
Diderot was the first to say, "I'll take my chances with the censors, thanks." prompting an indignant response from Voltaire.
...Looks like Fritz wasn't the only one with delusions of utterly bother-free visits from his ex?
Re: Random things
Given his 1730s letters to Fritz and his evolving awareness of just how bad Peter's bad side was, this strikes me as having less to do with awe of despots and more to do with not wanting to confront the fact that his problematic fave is problematic. Possibly not wanting to glorify that kind of behavior, but also just super uncomfortable with admiring the guy. Think of all the Fritz depictions that stop with 1730. ;)
More fun from today's Davidson reading:
* Voltaire gets accused of selling illegal books. He writes a letter:
"Who, me?? I would never do such a thing! I am a poor, innocent, harmless old man. I deserve your pity!"
Davidson, pulling no punches: It is a pitiful, wretched letter, full of lies and half-truths, pathetic denials and abject snivelling; it is very Voltaire. For if Voltaire was spiritually bold, he was not personally brave at all.
* Voltaire in 1766, in trouble with the law (see above), wants to start up a colony of exiled philosophes in...Cleves. Fritzian territory, in other words. He went as far as trying to get other philosophes involved, telling them how great living in Fritz territory was and how supportive of this project Fritz would be and how much they could accomplish in a place with a free press, instead of groveling before the censors in Paris.
Diderot was the first to say, "I'll take my chances with the censors, thanks." prompting an indignant response from Voltaire.
...Looks like Fritz wasn't the only one with delusions of utterly bother-free visits from his ex?