Comptez qu’on ne vaut pas mieux à Berlin qu’à Paris, et qu’il n’y a de bon que la liberté.
Uh, yeah, that sounds like Voltaire's saying *not* to go to Berlin. I'm side-eyeing the Diderot biographer!
J’ai reçu depuis peu une lettre du cacouac roi de Prusse ; mais j’ai renoncé à lui comme à Paris, et je m’en trouve à merveille.
For those who, like me, might be wondering, French Wikipedia tells me:
Cacouac is an anti-enlightenment term coined around 1757 by the opponents of the Enlightenment philosophers, with a view to mocking more particularly the authors of the Encyclopedia. This neologism combines the Greek adjective kakos (bad) and the word quack, and means wicked...Delighted with this opportunity to exercise their sense of derision, the Encyclopedists were quick to take up the term for themselves.
They were indeed, since Wikipedia tells me "the word made its first appearance in October 1757," and Voltaire's letter is from March 1758!
A bit more context from Voltaire's letter:
All the cacouacs should compose a pack; but they separate, and the wolf eats them. I recently received a letter from the cacouac King of Prussia; but I have given up on him like Paris, and I am very happy with that.
Again, sounds like he's saying not to go to Prussia (but is giving Fritz membership in the pack of scorned Enlightenment proponents, aww).
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Re: Diderot and Catherine
Date: 2020-10-29 10:13 pm (UTC)Uh, yeah, that sounds like Voltaire's saying *not* to go to Berlin. I'm side-eyeing the Diderot biographer!
J’ai reçu depuis peu une lettre du cacouac roi de Prusse ; mais j’ai renoncé à lui comme à Paris, et je m’en trouve à merveille.
For those who, like me, might be wondering, French Wikipedia tells me:
Cacouac is an anti-enlightenment term coined around 1757 by the opponents of the Enlightenment philosophers, with a view to mocking more particularly the authors of the Encyclopedia. This neologism combines the Greek adjective kakos (bad) and the word quack, and means wicked...Delighted with this opportunity to exercise their sense of derision, the Encyclopedists were quick to take up the term for themselves.
They were indeed, since Wikipedia tells me "the word made its first appearance in October 1757," and Voltaire's letter is from March 1758!
A bit more context from Voltaire's letter:
All the cacouacs should compose a pack; but they separate, and the wolf eats them. I recently received a letter from the cacouac King of Prussia; but I have given up on him like Paris, and I am very happy with that.
Again, sounds like he's saying not to go to Prussia (but is giving Fritz membership in the pack of scorned Enlightenment proponents, aww).