Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 23

[cahn]

aaaaaand it's time for a new discussion post! :D (you guys are so fast!)

Comments

Re: Tidbits from Hanbury Williams

[selenak]

So he was, and certainly after Catherine Williams is the most crushed upon person in the memoirs, but I do think it remained platonic, not least because to my knowledge there are no other possibly m/m relationships in Poniatowski's life which were gossiped about, and as he had more than his share of enemies and was gossipped about a lot, that's saying something. Also his relationship with Catherine demonstrates that Poniatowski was a) willing to take insane risks when in love and b) despite good intentions, failing at discretion. I doubt he'd have managed to keep a boyfriend secret. And, for what it's worth, he never had syphilis, when Williams was already infected (and had infected his wife) the first time he and Poniatowski met. So the way it came across to me was like young (18, I think) Stanislaus arriving in Berlin as an unhappy, shy nerd ("overeducated" is term used in two books I'ver read) who as the youngest son of a big family hever got much attention from Dad and meets CHW who comes across as a man of the world who has lots of time and affection for him in this city where Stanislaus doesn't know anyone, and provides him with the social savoir faire (dancing, gambling, chit chat) that Poniatowski has from this point onwards. It's not a question of wanting either a Dad or an erastes, he might have wanted a bit of both in the state he was in, but without being conscious of the second. Let's not forget, the same young man is a bit shocked at all the forwardness of the Berlin ladies and their Voltaire mania. (Little does he know...)

As for CHW, that homoerotic poem the authors of the Fritz of Wales & Hervey essay quote is pretty drastic and explicit, so he definitely was acting bi in his younger years, and Poniatowski was a beautiful man (so both Catherine and Lehndorff testify!). Otoh, Williams was also old enough to look for a son/protegé figure. And if he wanted an in to one of the big influentual political families of Poland, for whatever reason, who were, lest we forget, VERY Catholic, infecting their offspring with syphilis was not the way to do it. So even if his feelings weren't just paternal, he probably restrained himself.

Re: Tidbits from Hanbury Williams

[mildred_of_midgard]

I don't disagree, *but*, I'm just going to point to this. ;)

selenak: Btw, did you notice in the earlier write up that Lehndorff mentions Kaphengst having "the French sickness" courtesy of several theatre people?

Fritz: No surprise there. Clearly, that's yet another reason why I told Heinrich to dump him. Heinrich would be dead already if I didn't try to look out for his health out of the goodness of my fraternal heart.

Heinrich: There are ways of having sex with someone who has STD which allow you to remain safe. As someone who actually does get laid on a regular basis would know. I would like to point out here that even the most unflattering accounts of me never accuse me of a) having STD myself, or b) impotence.

(I have never stopped laughing over that last sentence of Heinrich BURN, btw.)

Re: Tidbits from Hanbury Williams

[selenak]

LOL, well, that's true enough, so I suppose it comes down to whether or not we believe Poniatowski himself who was quite explicit on the point that flirtations not withstanding, he was a virgin until Catherine.