cahn | Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 20

:D

It looks like if I read slowly so I can do some of it in German, I can get through about 6 months a day, so let's say... 4 years in a week :) I know it depends largely on how much he writes per year, but I'm going to assume that it is at least roughly constant -- and in fact as far as my personal idiosyncratic reading is concerned, it probably is, because if he starts writing paragraphs and paragraphs then I just skip directly to English and read it faster :P

Lol, it is extremely not constant, as it goes:

1750: 6 pages
1751: 7 pages
1752: 15 pages
1753: 100 pages
1754: 60 pages
1755: 52 pages
1756: 80 pages
1757: 65 pages
1758: 30 pages
1759: 33 pages
1760: 5 pages
1761: 11 pages
1762: 1 page
1763: 24 pages
1764: 2 pages
1765: 6 pages
1766: 5 pages
1767: 3 pages
1768: 2 pages
1769-1775: 10 pages

:P

Ha! Okay, well, then... my rough estimate is that I can probably do about 150 pages/week (mostly in English, some in German)?
Years are WAY easier for me than pages, so...
-by the end of this weekend I should be at the end of 1754
-by the end of next weekend I should be at the end of 1756
-the week after that, the end of 1761
-then I should be done

...let's see how far I get this week. I am not sure how rough that is in either direction! if I get stuck on German I may be reading a lot more in English (and so get more read), whereas if I start reading more in German I may be a lot slower than that!

Anyway, right now I'm at 25 May 1753, so you can track :)

Okay, I doubt very much I can do 150 pages a week if I'm only doing it on weekends and I'm providing commentary, so you're either going to get ahead of me (you're already ahead of me) and proceed without commentary, or you're going to have to slow down. Your choice!

Oh, actually this is great! That number was basically the largest number I thought I could potentially do if I skipped all but the simplest lines in German. (Yesterday I learned "Geburstag"! :D ) If I actually stop and try to cross-reference all the English with German, including the long paragraphs (which would definitely be far better for my German), I will be going at an extremely slow rate which I guarantee even in a full week will be slower than whatever you can do on weekends with commentary. Let's do that, and then if I'm still slower than you I'll just catch up in English when I need to :)

And, lol, I just remembered you were way ahead of me and was trying to catch up, and I see I went too far :D

Excellent! I want you to stay far behind me so I have time to comment and you have a chance to practice your German!

More comments coming this weekend; Krockow practice for me until then. I suggest you go back and reread some German between now and then. ;)

"Geburtstag": a relevant word for me today!

I'm excited I'll have the chance now to go back and finish Oster, which I STILL have not finished *facepalm* And maybe even get caught up on comments, who knows!

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! :) (okay, yes, I did look that up, it not being something Lehndorff feels the need to say to his diary)

But Lehndorff writes it with phosphor on the wallpaper of his flat when he has invited the love of his life to dine with him there on the occasion of his birthday. While I cannot quite declare Mildred to be die Würdigste der Sterblichen, - for if I did, would not this call Cahn less worthy? - I do salute you mit viel Glück und viel Segen auf all deinen Wegen!

<33 and also AWWW and also LOLOL, you two!

Vielen dank! <-- about the extent of my active German :D

<33 :D

Okay, my active German is much worse than mildred's and I had to use google, refer to past comments, and guess, so don't laugh (too hard) if this is totally incorrect, but -- perhaps she could be die würdigste Detektivin der Sterblichen? :)

She could indeed, and your German does not fail you!

<3

No words, in English or in German, can express my pleasure at the new title with which I have been gifted for my birthday by my fellow salonistes.

Gott bewahre...*googles*...darn, "euch" is the same in dative and accusative.

Gott bewahre dir und auch dir!

(I have an excellent active mastery of Fritzian German. It's easy to make all kinds of mistakes and sound authentically fritzisch! :P)

Oh, goodness, yes, finish Oster! I didn't realize you hadn't. And definitely stop trying to keep up with me in Lehndorff! If you want commentary, I need you to stay way behind. :D We'll just accept that Lehndorff's not going to be done by Yuletide, but maybe I'll be able to read some Horowski after I finish Krockow, while we move slowly through Lehndorff (and have fun reading it, because omg, AW setting trees on fire, LOOOL).

Hee, thank you! (And lol.)

lololol! Staying behind I am great at! :P *made headway on Oster, still did not finish*

Oh MAN, that AW setting trees on fire, that was hilarious!

Let me add here that part of 1759, 1760-1762 also are mostly editorial comments, because Schmidt-Lötzen decided to cut summarize massively. Hence nearly nothing about Lehndorff's decision to get married, his first wife, difficulties with her mother and his mother, the death of his first child in volume 1, and his visits to Heinrich only summed up, not quoted. The later 7 Years War frettings and then juibilation when the news of the Second Miracle arrive, and then six months later the ZOMG! Murder in St. Petersburg! What now? reactions - all not there All material that shows up in volume 2.

Now as I said before, on the one hand, I understand, because the original volume was published to give readers a best of selection and overview, evidently not anticipating the eager reaction, and of course publishing with pre WWI censorship laws still in place. But I'm still surprised more of, say, Lehndorff's 1754 peacetime Prussian court stories made the cut than of his later 7 Years Wars entries, when those are reports on the biggest national drama.

evidently not anticipating the eager reaction

but Lehndorff is so great, yet again I salute you original readers for clamoring for all the rest of the material!

Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 20

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