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

[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.