I feel like I will forever find hilarious that Fritz/Voltaire had this crackship going that NO ONE understands :D
Same here. And it's really a universal reaction, no matter whether it's Mitchell in his 7 Years War reports or modern biographers. I think people can just about understand their mutual motives until the big breakup in 1753. It's the fact they then went back to writing each other that slays everyone.
Not gonna lie, I had Voltaire on the brain when I wrote this! He went to Mass any number of times.
So he did, and even built a church. ("To God, from Voltaire", wasn't that the dedication?) And let's not forgot the "I'm sorry if you're insulted" repentenance document to penned on his deathbed (which was accepted by the first priest to have a go at him but not by the indignant Archbishop of Paris).
Same. No matter whether the phrase comes from New Brunswick Ambassador, Wartensleben or Manteuffel himself, it's well put, well put indeed. :)
That's why part of me wants it to have originated with Voltaire! Lol.
On the one hand: this is like later 19th century historians deciding unilaterally that the "she cried, but she took" etc. crack about MT and the first Partitioning of Poland was too good to hail from some minor figur and had to come from Fritz, and nearly every biographer until this day following suit.
On the other hand: Not very scientific, I know! But...Wartensleben overhears it in Cleves, conveys it in his report via super-fast courier to Manteuffel, Manteuffel is Anonymous after all? :P
Sold! Especially since I very much doubt that Voltaire reads anonymous reports sent from Mantteuffel (whoever wrote it) to Brühl and thereafter lingering in the Saxon State Archive. (If you want an argument against Voltaire picking up the bonmot from someone else.)
It's the fact they then went back to writing each other that slays everyone.
"Everyone" needs to read more fanfic. Because my reaction was: "Of course they did!" ;D
"To God, from Voltaire", wasn't that the dedication?
Ahaha, I did not remember that, so I googled, and apparently it was "Deo erexit VOLTAIRE". I like the laconic English version a lot, but also the fact that "Voltaire" was written in the biggest letters. :D (And people wonder why he and Fritz didn't stop writing each other.)
It's the fact they then went back to writing each other that slays everyone.
If they had just made up, I think people would have understood. If they'd been in a cycle of "get back together"/"break up"/"get back together", it would have been popcorn time and people would have thought, "Clearly this isn't working, why can everyone but the two of them see it?"
But two decades of praising each other and making scathing remarks in the same breath confused the hell out of *everyone*. :P It was the simultaneity that made everyone go WTF.
Macaulay: It would probably have puzzled Voltaire himself to say what was his real feeling towards Frederick. It was compounded of all sentiments, from enmity to friendship, and from scorn to admiration; and the proportions in which these elements were mixed changed every moment. The old patriarch resembled the spoiled child who screams, stamps, cuffs, laughs, kisses, and cuddles within one quarter of an hour. His resentment was not extinguished; yet he was not without sympathy for his old friend.
(And the same goes for Fritz; he's just describing Voltaire's decision to try to talk Fritz out of suicide after Kolin.)
So he did, and even built a church. ("To God, from Voltaire", wasn't that the dedication?) And let's not forgot the "I'm sorry if you're insulted" repentenance document to penned on his deathbed
I did not forget! These were all on my mind. :)
On the one hand: this is like later 19th century historians deciding unilaterally that the "she cried, but she took" etc. crack about MT and the first Partitioning of Poland was too good to hail from some minor figur and had to come from Fritz, and nearly every biographer until this day following suit.
I know, that's why I said "Not very scientific." :P My feelings and my methodology are two different things.
I'm still disappointed that that crack turned out not to be Fritz's. That was the one that, 22 years ago this month, in the very first biography of Fritz I picked up, as I was just starting out in the 18th century fandom, turned me from "This guy seems really interesting" to "This guy is my problematic fave FOR LIFE! He's going into my novel!"
Oh, well. :)
(If you want an argument against Voltaire picking up the bonmot from someone else.)
Yeah, I had rejected the idea of Voltaire reading the report. What I think is much more likely is independent observations. All my training in the comparative method teaches me that the same idea cropping up in multiple places is radically more likely to be a single idea that originated once and spread if it's false; if it's something everyone can observe for themselves in reality, multiple people are likely to come up with it on their own. This is why, if you're grading papers and looking for cheating, two students coming up with identical wrong answers is far more diagnostic than identical right answers. (I say this from painful personal experience with having to haul students in front of the Dean for disciplinary action.)
So Wilhelmine and Pöllnitz both calling Major Schack Major "Schenk"? Likely that they had collaborated or had a common source. Two people observing that FW liked tall soldiers and Fritz liked good-looking ones? That's just reality. ;)
Honestly I always imagine them with cowboy hats saying dramatically, "I wish I knew how to quit you!"
"To God, from Voltaire"
:D Yes! This I've read! (Though I haven't gotten to his deathbed yet.) “The church I have built is the only one in the entire world dedicated to God alone. All the others are dedicated to saints. I for my part would rather build a church for the Master than for the servants."
man, Orieux and Voltaire are THE BEST. If reading Orieux has taught me anything, it was that Voltaire was the biggest troll of religion and religious people imaginable :D
Well, I just had to, sooner or later - here’s the Fritz and Voltaire saga in emojii form:
🤴🏻 Fritz, a King 👨🏻💻 Voltaire, a writer 👩🏻🎓 Émilie, a lady of science 👨🏻🎓 König, a gentleman of science 👨🏻🚀 Maupertuis, an explorer, later head of the Academy 👨🦱 Fredersdorf, a Consigliere 👩🏻🦰 Madame Denis, a niece 👮🏻♂️ Freytag, a Prussian resident in Frankfurt 👥 Academy members; later, the rest of Europe 👩🏻🦱: Wilhelmine, a sister
ZOMG, I was laughing so hard, you have no idea. This is awesome!
Émilie's face when she's putting the Pucelle under lock and key! Voltaire's shrug! Fritz's Face of Disappointment!
OMG, the juxtaposition of Voltaire's grief and Fritz's "OMG does this mean we can finally be together! Woot!" is just...something else. Fritz at his most self-centered.
TYING THE KNOT AND THE RING OOOOMMMGGGG
The Academy shenanigans! Voltaire's Pinocchio nose when he swears to be good!
Fritz burning books and Voltaire leaving :(
Was Madame Denis a redhead? (I know you're limited as to emojis, so I don't expect hair-color to be historically accurate (Fritz's certainly isn't), but I just realized I don't know.)
I love how the crossed swords and map manage to convey world war so concisely.
Voltaire's snarky cat face when he writes the "Reasons you suck and should not commit suicide" letter to Fritz! The emotional rollercoasters within the same letters! Everyone else going WTAF at them!!
Fritz and Voltaire going "We're too cool for you to understand." :DDDD (Or at least that's my interpretation. :P)
This was truly an epic emoji fic of an epic crackship! I bow to your creative genius.
Your interpretation is utterly correct. :) As for Madame Denis, I don't know, either, but I needed her to be visually distinct from Émilie and Wilhelmine.
OMG, the juxtaposition of Voltaire's grief and Fritz's "OMG does this mean we can finally be together! Woot!" is just...something else. Fritz at his most self-centered.
LOLOLOLOL
Voltaire's snarky cat face when he writes the "Reasons you suck and should not commit suicide" letter to Fritz! The emotional rollercoasters within the same letters! Everyone else going WTAF at them!!
Act 1: lol Voltaire's shrug! Also, this is probably the only thing that is going to get me to snicker at Emilie's death :P :) Voltaire and Fritz putting a ring on it, HEE!
Act 2: I love Maupertuis' icon! omg I laughed so hard at Voltaire being like "sure I'll sign the document saying I'm not going to write any pamphlets but PSYCH"
Act 3: heeeee!
Act 4: Aw, that's my completely and hilariously nonsensical-and-yet-weirdly-not-completely-dysfunctional Voltaire/Fritz relationship <3
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Voltairean Matters
Same here. And it's really a universal reaction, no matter whether it's Mitchell in his 7 Years War reports or modern biographers. I think people can just about understand their mutual motives until the big breakup in 1753. It's the fact they then went back to writing each other that slays everyone.
Not gonna lie, I had Voltaire on the brain when I wrote this! He went to Mass any number of times.
So he did, and even built a church. ("To God, from Voltaire", wasn't that the dedication?) And let's not forgot the "I'm sorry if you're insulted" repentenance document to penned on his deathbed (which was accepted by the first priest to have a go at him but not by the indignant Archbishop of Paris).
Same. No matter whether the phrase comes from New Brunswick Ambassador, Wartensleben or Manteuffel himself, it's well put, well put indeed. :)
That's why part of me wants it to have originated with Voltaire! Lol.
On the one hand: this is like later 19th century historians deciding unilaterally that the "she cried, but she took" etc. crack about MT and the first Partitioning of Poland was too good to hail from some minor figur and had to come from Fritz, and nearly every biographer until this day following suit.
On the other hand:
Not very scientific, I know! But...Wartensleben overhears it in Cleves, conveys it in his report via super-fast courier to Manteuffel, Manteuffel is Anonymous after all? :P
Sold! Especially since I very much doubt that Voltaire reads anonymous reports sent from Mantteuffel (whoever wrote it) to Brühl and thereafter lingering in the Saxon State Archive. (If you want an argument against Voltaire picking up the bonmot from someone else.)
Re: Voltairean Matters
"Everyone" needs to read more fanfic. Because my reaction was: "Of course they did!" ;D
"To God, from Voltaire", wasn't that the dedication?
Ahaha, I did not remember that, so I googled, and apparently it was "Deo erexit VOLTAIRE". I like the laconic English version a lot, but also the fact that "Voltaire" was written in the biggest letters. :D (And people wonder why he and Fritz didn't stop writing each other.)
Re: Voltairean Matters
And people wonder why he and Fritz didn't stop writing each other.
Indeed. This is why this is my favourite Fritz ship, bar none. I'm with Pleschinski: they totally deserved each other!
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If they had just made up, I think people would have understood. If they'd been in a cycle of "get back together"/"break up"/"get back together", it would have been popcorn time and people would have thought, "Clearly this isn't working, why can everyone but the two of them see it?"
But two decades of praising each other and making scathing remarks in the same breath confused the hell out of *everyone*. :P It was the simultaneity that made everyone go WTF.
Macaulay: It would probably have puzzled Voltaire himself to say what was his real feeling towards Frederick. It was compounded of all sentiments, from enmity to friendship, and from scorn to admiration; and the proportions in which these elements were mixed changed every moment. The old patriarch resembled the spoiled child who screams, stamps, cuffs, laughs, kisses, and cuddles within one quarter of an hour. His resentment was not extinguished; yet he was not without sympathy for his old friend.
(And the same goes for Fritz; he's just describing Voltaire's decision to try to talk Fritz out of suicide after Kolin.)
So he did, and even built a church. ("To God, from Voltaire", wasn't that the dedication?) And let's not forgot the "I'm sorry if you're insulted" repentenance document to penned on his deathbed
I did not forget! These were all on my mind. :)
On the one hand: this is like later 19th century historians deciding unilaterally that the "she cried, but she took" etc. crack about MT and the first Partitioning of Poland was too good to hail from some minor figur and had to come from Fritz, and nearly every biographer until this day following suit.
I know, that's why I said "Not very scientific." :P My feelings and my methodology are two different things.
I'm still disappointed that that crack turned out not to be Fritz's. That was the one that, 22 years ago this month, in the very first biography of Fritz I picked up, as I was just starting out in the 18th century fandom, turned me from "This guy seems really interesting" to "This guy is my problematic fave FOR LIFE! He's going into my novel!"
Oh, well. :)
(If you want an argument against Voltaire picking up the bonmot from someone else.)
Yeah, I had rejected the idea of Voltaire reading the report. What I think is much more likely is independent observations. All my training in the comparative method teaches me that the same idea cropping up in multiple places is radically more likely to be a single idea that originated once and spread if it's false; if it's something everyone can observe for themselves in reality, multiple people are likely to come up with it on their own. This is why, if you're grading papers and looking for cheating, two students coming up with identical wrong answers is far more diagnostic than identical right answers. (I say this from painful personal experience with having to haul students in front of the Dean for disciplinary action.)
So Wilhelmine and Pöllnitz both calling Major Schack Major "Schenk"? Likely that they had collaborated or had a common source. Two people observing that FW liked tall soldiers and Fritz liked good-looking ones? That's just reality. ;)
Re: Voltairean Matters
"To God, from Voltaire"
:D Yes! This I've read! (Though I haven't gotten to his deathbed yet.) “The church I have built is the only one in the entire world dedicated to God alone. All the others are dedicated to saints. I for my part would rather build a church for the Master than for the servants."
man, Orieux and Voltaire are THE BEST. If reading Orieux has taught me anything, it was that Voltaire was the biggest troll of religion and religious people imaginable :D
Re: Voltairean Matters
🤴🏻 Fritz, a King
👨🏻💻 Voltaire, a writer
👩🏻🎓 Émilie, a lady of science
👨🏻🎓 König, a gentleman of science
👨🏻🚀 Maupertuis, an explorer, later head of the Academy
👨🦱 Fredersdorf, a Consigliere
👩🏻🦰 Madame Denis, a niece
👮🏻♂️ Freytag, a Prussian resident in Frankfurt
👥 Academy members; later, the rest of Europe
👩🏻🦱: Wilhelmine, a sister
🤴🏻: 💌 👨🏻💻
👨🏻💻: 💌 🤴🏻
🤴🏻: 📖📝👐😇❓
👩🏻🎓: 🤨🗝❗️
👨🏻💻: 🤷🏻♂️
🤴🏻: 😣
🤴🏻: 💌🧳🏰❓
👨🏻💻: 👩🏻🎓❤️👨🏻💻🧳❓
🤴🏻: 👨🏻💻❗️👩🏻🎓❌
👨🏻💻: 😶
👩🏻🎓: 🤔
👩🏻🎓: ⚰️
👨🏻💻: 😭
🤴🏻: 🤩🧳🏰❓
👨🏻💻: 👣🏰
🤴🏻👨🏻💻: 🪢💍
Act 2:
👨🏻🚀: 🥸👥
👨🏻🎓: 🖕
👨🏻🚀: 💪🏻🦶🏻👥
👨🏻💻: 😈👅👨🏻🚀
🤴🏻: ❗️🤐❗️
👨🏻💻: 🤥😇; 📝😈
🤴🏻: ⁉️📝🗞
👨🏻💻: 🖕🗞📕📗📘👅
👥: 😯
🤴🏻: 💥🔥📚
👨🏻💻: 🧳
Act 3:
🤴🏻: 📖⁉️🤫
👨🦱: ✉️👮🏻♂️
👨🏻💻👩🏻🦰: 🧳🏤
👮🏻♂️: ⛓👩🏻🦰👨🏻💻
👥: 😱
👨🏻💻: 🤬📖🔙👮🏻♂️
🏤: 💶❗️
👨🏻💻: 😤💶✔️
👨🏻💻👩🏻🦰: 🧳
👨🏻💻: 😡💔
🤴🏻: 😡💔
Act 4:
🤴🏻: ⚔️🗺😰
👩🏻🦱: ✉️ 👨🏻💻👐
👨🏻💻: ✉️ 😼🤴🏻
🤴🏻: ❗️😍😡📩
👨🏻💻: 😍😡📩
👨🏻💻🤴🏻: 💌👅💌👅⏳
👥: 🤯
🤴🏻👨🏻💻: 😎
Re: Voltairean Matters
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Émilie's face when she's putting the Pucelle under lock and key! Voltaire's shrug! Fritz's Face of Disappointment!
OMG, the juxtaposition of Voltaire's grief and Fritz's "OMG does this mean we can finally be together! Woot!" is just...something else. Fritz at his most self-centered.
TYING THE KNOT AND THE RING OOOOMMMGGGG
The Academy shenanigans! Voltaire's Pinocchio nose when he swears to be good!
Fritz burning books and Voltaire leaving :(
Was Madame Denis a redhead? (I know you're limited as to emojis, so I don't expect hair-color to be historically accurate (Fritz's certainly isn't), but I just realized I don't know.)
I love how the crossed swords and map manage to convey world war so concisely.
Voltaire's snarky cat face when he writes the "Reasons you suck and should not commit suicide" letter to Fritz! The emotional rollercoasters within the same letters! Everyone else going WTAF at them!!
Fritz and Voltaire going "We're too cool for you to understand." :DDDD (Or at least that's my interpretation. :P)
This was truly an epic emoji fic of an epic crackship! I bow to your creative genius.
Re: Voltairean Matters
Re: Voltairean Matters
LOLOLOLOL
Voltaire's snarky cat face when he writes the "Reasons you suck and should not commit suicide" letter to Fritz! The emotional rollercoasters within the same letters! Everyone else going WTAF at them!!
Yesssss
This was just soooo awesome!
Re: Voltairean Matters
Act 1: lol Voltaire's shrug! Also, this is probably the only thing that is going to get me to snicker at Emilie's death :P :) Voltaire and Fritz putting a ring on it, HEE!
Act 2: I love Maupertuis' icon! omg I laughed so hard at Voltaire being like "sure I'll sign the document saying I'm not going to write any pamphlets but PSYCH"
Act 3: heeeee!
Act 4: Aw, that's my completely and hilariously nonsensical-and-yet-weirdly-not-completely-dysfunctional Voltaire/Fritz relationship <3
Re: Voltairean Matters
Well, since Voltaire himself gifted us with descriptions where his heart is beating nervously on the way to the altar, I just had to. :)
Re: Voltairean Matters
I laughed! I always imagine them singing a duet of that song I put in our playlist, "That's All", especially these bits:
I could leave but I won't go
It'd be easier I know.
Truth is, I love you
More than I wanted to
There's been no-one who
Makes me feel like you do
Say we'll be together till the end
Always the same, it's just a shame, that's all.