Welp, I guess Mundt counts as another "thank you for reading this so we don't have to."
I’m not claiming Heinrich was in love with Mina, mind, just that he saw marrying her just as Fritz saw marrying EC, as his ticket to more personal freedom and a better budget. Which was a good thing to him! Ergo, he didn’t feel pressured by Fritz.
Wait, but, what--what is pressure, if not that? Lack of personal freedom counts as pressure in my book!
Fritz had flaws, too, but he wasn’t the one at fault in this situation
I had to stop while reading this and just stare at the screen for a while.
Well, none of this is worse than MacDonogh, disciple of Pangels and hater on all the siblings. You should see what he says about Ferdinand! :P
Actually, I meant that rhetorically, but I'm going to make it literal. Lest you think I'm being unfairly selective, here are 100% of the mentions of Ferdinand in that book:
The last of the brood, Ferdinand, was not born until 1730.
Ferdinand was born later that year.
Frederick and his ten-year-old brother Ferdinand were to walk behind the cortège in their uniforms.
The freemason Bielfeld was created a baron and put in charge of the education of little Ferdinand, Frederick’s ten-year-old brother, the ‘trouser-trumpeter’, a boy of legendary incontinence.
The third brother, Ferdinand, was a sly individual who never showed any fondness for his eldest brother and communicated his black thoughts on that score to his brother Henry alone. He was still only fifteen when the Second Silesian War ended. Jordan had been his governor. After the bibliophile’s death, he was granted to Bielfeld. He showed no aptitude for letters either. Frederick treated him politely, but distantly, observing that he had inherited one particular taste from his father: ‘My brother Ferdinand hunts for the whole family.'
There were little armies dressed as Romans, Carthaginians, Persians and Greeks, led by the princes William, Henry and Ferdinand and the margrave Charles of Schwedt.
Henry, and to a much lesser extent Ferdinand, were thorns in Frederick’s side.
Ferdinand had little charm for his contemporaries. He was described as ‘sly and exceedingly drunken. Everyone avoids him.’ Hitching him up to a suitable bride proved less difficult than it had been in Henry’s case. He married the daughter of his sister Sophia of Brandenburg-Schwedt, whose father had something of the same nasty character as the groom. Frederick described the marriage as à la juive, as it remained in the family. Frederick was pleased to see an early pregnancy: ‘Ferdinand is putting down roots; you will see a whole tribe spring from his nuptual [sic] bed.'"
Frederick was to sack his brother William and spurn his brother Ferdinand because they were inadequate.
Frederick was anxious to square his family. To his unlovely little brother Ferdinand he said, ‘the sword must bring our enemies to reason’.
People spoke of a broken heart, and the frondeurs in Frederick’s family, Henry, Ferdinand and Amalia, used it as a stick to beat him with.
Henry’s hatred for Frederick emerges chiefly in the letters between him and his brother Ferdinand.
Yep, that's it, that's Ferdinand.
MacDonogh has many strong points, but unbiased sibling assessment is not one of them.
Re: No homo! The sequel.
I’m not claiming Heinrich was in love with Mina, mind, just that he saw marrying her just as Fritz saw marrying EC, as his ticket to more personal freedom and a better budget. Which was a good thing to him! Ergo, he didn’t feel pressured by Fritz.
Wait, but, what--what is pressure, if not that? Lack of personal freedom counts as pressure in my book!
Fritz had flaws, too, but he wasn’t the one at fault in this situation
I had to stop while reading this and just stare at the screen for a while.
Well, none of this is worse than MacDonogh, disciple of Pangels and hater on all the siblings. You should see what he says about Ferdinand! :P
Actually, I meant that rhetorically, but I'm going to make it literal. Lest you think I'm being unfairly selective, here are 100% of the mentions of Ferdinand in that book:
The last of the brood, Ferdinand, was not born until 1730.
Ferdinand was born later that year.
Frederick and his ten-year-old brother Ferdinand were to walk behind the cortège in their uniforms.
The freemason Bielfeld was created a baron and put in charge of the education of little Ferdinand, Frederick’s ten-year-old brother, the ‘trouser-trumpeter’, a boy of legendary incontinence.
The third brother, Ferdinand, was a sly individual who never showed any fondness for his eldest brother and communicated his black thoughts on that score to his brother Henry alone. He was still only fifteen when the Second Silesian War ended. Jordan had been his governor. After the bibliophile’s death, he was granted to Bielfeld. He showed no aptitude for letters either. Frederick treated him politely, but distantly, observing that he had inherited one particular taste from his father: ‘My brother Ferdinand hunts for the whole family.'
There were little armies dressed as Romans, Carthaginians, Persians and Greeks, led by the princes William, Henry and Ferdinand and the margrave Charles of Schwedt.
Henry, and to a much lesser extent Ferdinand, were thorns in Frederick’s side.
Ferdinand had little charm for his contemporaries. He was described as ‘sly and exceedingly drunken. Everyone avoids him.’ Hitching him up to a suitable bride proved less difficult than it had been in Henry’s case. He married the daughter of his sister Sophia of Brandenburg-Schwedt, whose father had something of the same nasty character as the groom. Frederick described the marriage as à la juive, as it remained in the family. Frederick was pleased to see an early pregnancy: ‘Ferdinand is putting down roots; you will see a whole tribe spring from his nuptual [sic] bed.'"
Frederick was to sack his brother William and spurn his brother Ferdinand because they were inadequate.
Frederick was anxious to square his family. To his unlovely little brother Ferdinand he said, ‘the sword must bring our enemies to reason’.
People spoke of a broken heart, and the frondeurs in Frederick’s family, Henry, Ferdinand and Amalia, used it as a stick to beat him with.
Henry’s hatred for Frederick emerges chiefly in the letters between him and his brother Ferdinand.
Yep, that's it, that's Ferdinand.
MacDonogh has many strong points, but unbiased sibling assessment is not one of them.