Catherine the Great and Diderot come to each other's attention in Diderot's middle age, when she ascends the throne. Like Fritz, she tries to get a bunch of foreign intellectuals to join her court. Like Fritz, she's partially successful. Unlike Fritz, she actually pays.
Diderot and d'Alembert decline her offer, d'Alembert humorously. Some of us have seen this quote before, but I'll repeat it:
D’Alembert quipped that he would have made the trip to Saint Petersburg, but he was too “prone to hemorrhoids, and they are far too dangerous in that country.” This was, of course, a joke made at Catherine’s expense: the Russian government had announced to the world that her late husband had died from complications related to piles, although virtually everybody knew that he had actually been murdered shortly after the coup by Catherine’s lover’s brother.
Wikipedia disagrees that we know that this "actually" happened, but in terms of what d'Alembert believed, certainly.
So Diderot and d'Alembert settle on a compromise of trying to get other famous French intellectuals and artists to go to St. Petersburg without actually going themselves. Do as I say, not as I do.
But one day, Catherine discovers that Diderot is short of money and trying to sell his famous book collection. She agrees to buy it for the asking price, with two additional terms:
1) That the collection remain in Diderot's possession for his lifetime.
2) That he act as her curator of this collection and accordingly accept a stipend from her.
In other words, free gift. Woot!
Catherine: This is how I poach people from Fritz.
But then, the payment gets delayed, and eventually Diderot has to write to Catherine asking what's up with that.
Catherine: Sorry! Incompetent underlings, you know how it goes. But since I don't want this to happen again, how about I pay you for the first fifty years of your curatorship up front? Fifty years from now [Diderot was 52], we can meet again to renegotiate the terms. (Yes, she really wrote that last bit as a joke.)
Diderot: OMG, Catherine is the best! So enlightened, so generous! Maybe I should go to St. Petersburg--just for a visit, mind you--and I can be the intellectual who influences a powerful ruler and gets my ideas put into practice. It'll be just like Socrates and Alcibiades, Seneca and Nero, Voltaire and Fritz!
No, he didn't say the last sentence, but I was reading the previous part thinking, "...Why do I feel like this is going to end badly?"
So Diderot goes to St. Petersburg. On the way, this happens:
Fritz: You should totally stop off in Potsdam on the way! I'd love to meet you in person. *bats eyelashes*
Diderot: I will detour around Potsdam specifically to avoid meeting you. You can't fool me, Old Fritz, it's 1774 and I've heard about you!
Me when I read that: OMG, of *course* he wrote a pamphlet, it's like a reflex at this point. Also, you're not exactly disproving his point, Fritz.
So then Diderot's in St. Petersburg, and it's all informal fun times with the Empress, who really likes him and spends tons of time with him, and they talk about his liberal ideas, and she's totally on board. (This is 1774, so in between Heinrich visits.)
Until he realizes that nothing is actually changing. She's happy to chat philosophy with him all day, but it remains theoretical.
Diderot: Why are you all talk? You could actually change things.
Catherine: [actual quote] All your grand philosophies, which I understand very well, would do marvelously in books and very badly in practice. In your plans for reform, you forget the difference between our two roles: you work only on paper which consents to anything...whereas I, poor empress, work on human skin, which is far more prickly and sensitive.
So Diderot, who's resented for his royal favor by the court nobles, who are all eagerly reading Fritz's pamphlet by now and making life hard on him, becomes disillusioned.
Diderot: Catherine, you're nothing but a despot masquerading as an enlightened monarch! I'm leaving.
Me: Diderot, it's called "enlightened despot" for a reason.
Diderot: *leaves Russia, detours pointedly around Fritz again*
On his way back, he tells Catherine that he has a copy of her (published, at least) book expressing her political thinking, and he's going over it with a red pen with an eye toward publishing his commentary. She has her people break into his room, go through his things, and filch the copy.
It's like Fritz and Voltaire if both had been sane!
Now totally disillusioned, Diderot starts writing more incendiary stuff, much of which (like the "regicide is totally cool") doesn't get published until after his death. One thing that does get published is a satirical manual on ruling (the "mirror for princes" genre) that's full of advice to monarchs, like "only form alliances in order to sow hatred" and never, ever "raise one’s hand without striking." Curran says this satire was aimed mostly at Fritz, but also partly at Catherine. I immediately want to call it the Anti-Anti-Machiavel.
On the flip side of Fritz being terrible, Diderot's co-author, the one who, unlike Diderot, *did* put his name and picture on one of the most incendiary books, the "slavery is bad, colonialism is bad, Europeans are complicit, btw Louis [tu] the French Revolution is coming for you" book, predictably had to flee the country, and he ended up taking refuge in Prussia in 1781.
Fritz: See? "Enlightened" *and* "despot." Why choose, when you could be both?
Oh, speaking of which, the author of this book would have me believe that Voltaire was advocating for Diderot and company to take refuge not just in Cleves in 1766, but in *Potsdam*...in 1758. For those of you who are weak on dates, in 1758, Prussia and France were at war with each other in the Seven Years' War. Citation: letter from Voltaire to the Count de Tressan on February 13, 1758.
Zomg, wait. That's three months after Rossbach! felis or prinzsorgenfrei, do either of you have university access to E-Enlightenment? If not, I'm going to ask Royal Patron (a rl friend of mine with university affiliation), and if he doesn't, gambitten is getting a direct message. ;)
cahn: let me know if you want a refresher on Rossbach.
Oh, also, in February 1758, Voltaire has only been speaking to Fritz again for about 6 months. I reeeeally want to see this letter.
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Diderot and Catherine
Date: 2020-10-26 02:09 am (UTC)Diderot and d'Alembert decline her offer, d'Alembert humorously. Some of us have seen this quote before, but I'll repeat it:
D’Alembert quipped that he would have made the trip to Saint Petersburg, but he was too “prone to hemorrhoids, and they are far too dangerous in that country.” This was, of course, a joke made at Catherine’s expense: the Russian government had announced to the world that her late husband had died from complications related to piles, although virtually everybody knew that he had actually been murdered shortly after the coup by Catherine’s lover’s brother.
Wikipedia disagrees that we know that this "actually" happened, but in terms of what d'Alembert believed, certainly.
So Diderot and d'Alembert settle on a compromise of trying to get other famous French intellectuals and artists to go to St. Petersburg without actually going themselves. Do as I say, not as I do.
But one day, Catherine discovers that Diderot is short of money and trying to sell his famous book collection. She agrees to buy it for the asking price, with two additional terms:
1) That the collection remain in Diderot's possession for his lifetime.
2) That he act as her curator of this collection and accordingly accept a stipend from her.
In other words, free gift. Woot!
Catherine: This is how I poach people from Fritz.
But then, the payment gets delayed, and eventually Diderot has to write to Catherine asking what's up with that.
Catherine: Sorry! Incompetent underlings, you know how it goes. But since I don't want this to happen again, how about I pay you for the first fifty years of your curatorship up front? Fifty years from now [Diderot was 52], we can meet again to renegotiate the terms. (Yes, she really wrote that last bit as a joke.)
Diderot: OMG, Catherine is the best! So enlightened, so generous! Maybe I should go to St. Petersburg--just for a visit, mind you--and I can be the intellectual who influences a powerful ruler and gets my ideas put into practice. It'll be just like Socrates and Alcibiades, Seneca and Nero, Voltaire and Fritz!
No, he didn't say the last sentence, but I was reading the previous part thinking, "...Why do I feel like this is going to end badly?"
So Diderot goes to St. Petersburg. On the way, this happens:
Fritz: You should totally stop off in Potsdam on the way! I'd love to meet you in person. *bats eyelashes*
Diderot: I will detour around Potsdam specifically to avoid meeting you. You can't fool me, Old Fritz, it's 1774 and I've heard about you!
Fritz: *writes sour-grapes pamphlet trashing Diderot's literary career*
Fritz: *sends numerous copies to St. Petersburg*
Me when I read that: OMG, of *course* he wrote a pamphlet, it's like a reflex at this point. Also, you're not exactly disproving his point, Fritz.
So then Diderot's in St. Petersburg, and it's all informal fun times with the Empress, who really likes him and spends tons of time with him, and they talk about his liberal ideas, and she's totally on board. (This is 1774, so in between Heinrich visits.)
Until he realizes that nothing is actually changing. She's happy to chat philosophy with him all day, but it remains theoretical.
Diderot: Why are you all talk? You could actually change things.
Catherine: [actual quote] All your grand philosophies, which I understand very well, would do marvelously in books and very badly in practice. In your plans for reform, you forget the difference between our two roles: you work only on paper which consents to anything...whereas I, poor empress, work on human skin, which is far more prickly and sensitive.
So Diderot, who's resented for his royal favor by the court nobles, who are all eagerly reading Fritz's pamphlet by now and making life hard on him, becomes disillusioned.
Diderot: Catherine, you're nothing but a despot masquerading as an enlightened monarch! I'm leaving.
Me: Diderot, it's called "enlightened despot" for a reason.
Diderot: *leaves Russia, detours pointedly around Fritz again*
On his way back, he tells Catherine that he has a copy of her (published, at least) book expressing her political thinking, and he's going over it with a red pen with an eye toward publishing his commentary. She has her people break into his room, go through his things, and filch the copy.
It's like Fritz and Voltaire if both had been sane!
Now totally disillusioned, Diderot starts writing more incendiary stuff, much of which (like the "regicide is totally cool") doesn't get published until after his death. One thing that does get published is a satirical manual on ruling (the "mirror for princes" genre) that's full of advice to monarchs, like "only form alliances in order to sow hatred" and never, ever "raise one’s hand without striking." Curran says this satire was aimed mostly at Fritz, but also partly at Catherine. I immediately want to call it the Anti-Anti-Machiavel.
On the flip side of Fritz being terrible, Diderot's co-author, the one who, unlike Diderot, *did* put his name and picture on one of the most incendiary books, the "slavery is bad, colonialism is bad, Europeans are complicit, btw Louis [tu] the French Revolution is coming for you" book, predictably had to flee the country, and he ended up taking refuge in Prussia in 1781.
Fritz: See? "Enlightened" *and* "despot." Why choose, when you could be both?
Oh, speaking of which, the author of this book would have me believe that Voltaire was advocating for Diderot and company to take refuge not just in Cleves in 1766, but in *Potsdam*...in 1758. For those of you who are weak on dates, in 1758, Prussia and France were at war with each other in the Seven Years' War. Citation: letter from Voltaire to the Count de Tressan on February 13, 1758.
Zomg, wait. That's three months after Rossbach!
Oh, also, in February 1758, Voltaire has only been speaking to Fritz again for about 6 months. I reeeeally want to see this letter.