Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 19

[cahn]

Yuletide nominations:

18th Century CE Federician RPF
Maria Theresia | Maria Theresa of Austria
Voltaire
Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Ernst Ahasverus von Lehndorff
Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802)
Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758)
Anna Amalie von Preußen | Anna Amalia of Prussia (1723-1787)
Catherine II of Russia
Hans Hermann von Katte
Peter Karl Christoph von Keith
Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf
August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758)

Circle of Voltaire RPF
Emilie du Chatelet
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson (Madame de Pompadour)
John Hervey (1696-1743)
Marie Louise Mignot Denis
Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu
Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
Armand de Vignerot du Plessis de Richelieu (1696-1788)
Francesco Algarotti

Comments

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[mildred_of_midgard]

So you and selenak were both there close enough in time to see the same heart-shaped potato? Or did you just see hers via her picture? Regardless, it's a pity you two didn't have the chance to coordinate!

When I was there, someone had left a framed picture. (Just barely visible behind the flowers.)

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[prinzsorgenfrei]

We were, apparently! I was there on September 5th :'D

My friend and I used the heart shaped potato to weigh down our note.
We forgot to bring potatoes and wanted to leave something and after that we kinda formed a new tradition. Heinrich got the longest and prettiest letter with a little portrait which lead to a very nice conversation with some elderly tourists who asked whether it was the German translation of the writing on the pyramid.

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[mildred_of_midgard]

I was there on September 5th :'D

So close! She was there August 12.

Aww! What did you put in the notes?

(I'll admit, I have a half-serious fantasy of leaving a copy of "Diffugere nives" with Katte.)

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[prinzsorgenfrei]

The only letter that was serious in tone was the one we left at the grave of Heinrich von Kleist... :'D

For Fritz, it was something along the lines of "Dear Friech, we drew a dog for you! Delivering greetings from Wust: Annabelle and Jana" and the one for Heinrich started with "Dearest Henri! King of our hearts and baddest bitch of Berlin!", so... Die of old age and you get a letter written in a way I write my text messages, die in a horrific way and you get a letter with tear stains. For Katte I might just buy a bouquet too, BOY am I emotionally attached to this man

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[mildred_of_midgard]

Love both of them!

Die of old age and you get a letter written in a way I write my text messages, die in a horrific way and you get a letter with tear stains. For Katte I might just buy a bouquet too, BOY am I emotionally attached to this man

<3

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[cahn]

"Dearest Henri! King of our hearts and baddest bitch of Berlin!"

<3333 Henri is the king of my heart too :D

...oh whoops, wrong Henri, but he sounds great too :D

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[prinzsorgenfrei]

You got the right Henri, that line is from the letter we left in Rheinsberg! :D We also called him a peacock in that letter.

Heinrich von Kleist died tragically and my friend is as emotionally attached to him as I am to Katte, so he (and Henriette Vogel, who also died tragically and is buried there as well) got a rather heartfelt letter about how we had a wonderful day in Potsdam that could only be completed by paying him a visit as well. The visit was a bit strange. There was a child racing around the grave on a tiny bike and when we were quiet for a minute an exploding sound was heard from the lake.

While on the subject of Heinrich von Kleist: My favourite book is a historical fiction novel about a bunch of poets and Alexander von Humboldt on a secret mission against Napoleon and the author has Kleist (who might have been bi) and Humboldt (who was probably gay) have feelings for each other. Why am I mentioning this? I just remembered that Kleist tells Humboldt that he never wants to marry but instead be all the family Humboldt could ever want to have (which is a slightly changed quote from a letter he wrote) and then "calls forth the image of their most formidable compatriot, the great Friedrich, in who's heart no woman ever found as much space as his bosom friend and confidant, the Lieutenant Katte" :'D I love how the author just went as all out on the queer people in history front as he possibly could.

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[mildred_of_midgard]

This book sounds familiar. Did you review it, selenak?

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[prinzsorgenfrei]

It's Das Erlkönig-Manöver by Robert Löhr! It dragged me into another historical fandom that I have drawn fanart for and got me to go to my local bookstore twice to order the audiobook and pick it up. Only to then notice that the whole Kleist/Humboldt subplot and some of my favourite jokes had been cut.

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[selenak]

I did indeed: https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1386291.html

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[mildred_of_midgard]

Aha! And you even reviewed it in a post that you made after I started following you (yay Lehndorff!), so that's definitely where I'm remembering it from.

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[selenak]

Poor Kleist. Though I got to say, I feel even sorrier for his sister Ulrike, because first your knock yourself over help your little brother throughout his life, including a stint of personally saving him from French imprisonment, and otherwise dedicate your life to him, then he writes to your mutual cousin in his last but one letter before offing himself that you were too cold, and then he writes one last letter to you saying "sorry about that bit in the letter to our cousin where I essentially blamed you for my impending suicide , I didn't mean it, truth is you did all you could und das mir auf Erden nicht mehr zu helfen war, farewell! If he hadn't tragically killed himself, you'd want to slap him with a cold fish from here to eternity for that. Well, I would.

(I still greatly enjoyed Löhr getting him laid by Humboldt in his novel, though.)

On to lighter things, I do love those letters and applaud your Heinrich salutation. :) Or, as our fellow fan Fontane put it about Heinrich in the Wanderungen: wenn er in seinen Antworten auch nicht dem Richard Löwenherz glich, der mit seinem Schwert ein zolldickes Eisen zerhieb, so glich er doch dem Saladin, der mit seiner Halbmondklinge das in die Luft geworfene Seidentuch im Niederfallen durchschnitt.

Re: The Pop Art Thing I mentioned

[prinzsorgenfrei]

I agree, Uli is the real hero here. Are you even reading about Kleist if you DON'T want to punch him half of the time? :'D Though not half as much as I wanted to punch Fontane for his commentary on Die Marquise von O, that thing probably sparked the most rage-filled German exam I've ever had.