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: Addenda re: Madame Denis in all three books and Voltaire's backstory in Zinsser

[selenak]

Nope, I see nothing. I didn't remember it, and I rescanned the passage just now, and nothing.

Okay, since this biographer was the one who informed us on the Madame Denis 50 - 53 letters and thus is up to date with the recent research, I'm assuming he'd know. So now I wonder whether the reason Zinsser doesn't provide a footnote to "historians have suggested" is that what she means is "my theory is that..."

And God yes, this assumption that you become gay from an unwanted approach, let alone molestation, is incredibly annoying.

On a lighter note: though I suppose it's possible it crossed Voltaire's mind that he might end up being expected to do more than kiss hands) doesn't make you gay!

Quite, and for those of us just joining us, here's the glorious quote for the trashy tell all memoirs again: He was accuſtomed to very singular demonstrations of tenderness to younger favourites than I, and forgetting for a moment I was not of their age and had not a fine hand, he seized it and imprinted a kiss, I took his, returned his salute, and signed myself his slave.

Re: Addenda re: Madame Denis in all three books and Voltaire's backstory in Zinsser

[mildred_of_midgard]

Okay, since this biographer was the one who informed us on the Madame Denis 50 - 53 letters and thus is up to date with the recent research, I'm assuming he'd know.

I don't trust him quite that much, but it is a definite mark against Zinsser having any source at all.

Also, something I ran across today: props to MacDonogh, 1999, for saying that "recent research has cast some doubt on the [orange peel] episode", though he gives you absolutely no indication who or why, and it's very easy to miss.

I'm starting to think his scholarship is very uneven: sometimes better than you'd expect, sometimes worse.