Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 20

[cahn]

Yuletide signups so far:
3 requests for Frederician RPF, 2 offers
2 requests for Circle of Voltaire RPF, 3 offers !! :D :D

(I am so curious as to who the third person is!)

Comments

Re: Diderot - Personal Life

[mildred_of_midgard]

Oh, and another quote from the Diderot bio, this one in the context of his and Rousseau's tendency to quarrel with each other:

Even Rousseau's greatest admirers admit that his sense of persecution and emotional volatility helped bring about his own worst nightmare: being abandoned by his friends, particularly Diderot. Throughout his writings, Rousseau had professed a love of humanity that knew no bounds; his real problem was getting along with actual humans, with their foibles, their inconsistencies, and their self-absorption, especially when it got in the way of his own.

Curran then goes on to explain how it was half Diderot's fault for encouraging the paranoia, but I had to share the quote, because I enjoyed the way he phrased the distinction between theory and practice in Rousseau's life. ;)