I don't get this, does this mean that he loved FW so much that he felt like he was dying too?
I didn't get it, either, but I literally translated what was there "...der danach zweimal starb". No further explanation in the text. Did he fake his death? Was his death misreported? Did he have a heart attack and an almost death? Your guess is as good as mine.
Wooooow. Yeah, either Morgenstern had to be the most naive person ever (but then whence all the secret agent stuff?) or he was writing that sentence with a lot of angry humor.
The biographical background info does make a difference to my own estimation, too. Though I do think he meant all the praise for FW the hard worker and reformer, and Leineweber pointed out to me there are a few subtle Fritz disses in the text, too, as when he says that FW's money was as good as his word (remember the coin-clipping during the 7 Years War as well was Fritz' economical relationship to the truth?). But yes, he'd have to be a fan on the Zimmermann level to mean all "no one had more pity with the victims of his rage than FW" stuff, and learning more about him swayed me to the side of "he just wasn't".
Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier -- I snorted a bit there; there are so many ways they legit killed babies back then (like bleeding them for measles, omg) and salute shooting is the best he could come up with? :P
"Fiekchen, if you die, I'm going to remarry within the family. I'm going to marry your brother's daughter. Luckily, she's not like her father at all. She takes after her mother, only she's not pretty."
Wooooow. There are so many things wrong with that, I don't even know where to begin. FW!
Presumably he was joking, because given his state of health and SD's, it was at this point obvious who was likely to survive whom. Not to mention that a widowed Anne wasn't likely to take him as a husband, either, especially if her father had any say in this. But jokes with FW usually have a kernel of truth. Whether or not he found Anne attractive (and a less pretty version of Caroline), he really liked the Netherlands. In some of his retirement fantasies, which were about as realistic as Fritz' retirement fantasies decades later but which he did have and voiced, he wondered about going to the Netherlands and living there in his old age. (Remember, he wasn't actually that old when he died.) And maybe there was something to Morgenstern's claim of FW wishing William of Orange had made him his heir or at least gotten him elected Stateholder of the Netherlands if not King of GB. In theory, if he'd married a widowed Anne, this still could have happened.
Although that's kind of an awful story about Charlotte!
Poor lady. And what is it about homosocial men complaining how women smell? (Philippe d'Orleans the first, Fritz, FW...)
Incidentally, Morgenstern being able to write about a vagina - "source of all joy" euphemism not withstanding - tells you a lot about the 18th century vs the 19th. Would have never passed censorship or bowlderization then, not in the German states or in Britain or the US.
Re: He's just a soul whose intentions were good: Morgenstern on FW - A
1.) Abt, who then died twice.
I don't get this, does this mean that he loved FW so much that he felt like he was dying too?
I didn't get it, either, but I literally translated what was there "...der danach zweimal starb". No further explanation in the text. Did he fake his death? Was his death misreported? Did he have a heart attack and an almost death? Your guess is as good as mine.
Wooooow. Yeah, either Morgenstern had to be the most naive person ever (but then whence all the secret agent stuff?) or he was writing that sentence with a lot of angry humor.
The biographical background info does make a difference to my own estimation, too. Though I do think he meant all the praise for FW the hard worker and reformer, and Leineweber pointed out to me there are a few subtle Fritz disses in the text, too, as when he says that FW's money was as good as his word (remember the coin-clipping during the 7 Years War as well was Fritz' economical relationship to the truth?). But yes, he'd have to be a fan on the Zimmermann level to mean all "no one had more pity with the victims of his rage than FW" stuff, and learning more about him swayed me to the side of "he just wasn't".
Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier -- I snorted a bit there; there are so many ways they legit killed babies back then (like bleeding them for measles, omg) and salute shooting is the best he could come up with? :P
Especially since according to according to this entry by F1's master of the ceremonies on Fritz' birth salutes were shot and bells were rung as well, and baby Fritz survived.
"Fiekchen, if you die, I'm going to remarry within the family. I'm going to marry your brother's daughter. Luckily, she's not like her father at all. She takes after her mother, only she's not pretty."
Wooooow. There are so many things wrong with that, I don't even know where to begin. FW!
Presumably he was joking, because given his state of health and SD's, it was at this point obvious who was likely to survive whom. Not to mention that a widowed Anne wasn't likely to take him as a husband, either, especially if her father had any say in this. But jokes with FW usually have a kernel of truth. Whether or not he found Anne attractive (and a less pretty version of Caroline), he really liked the Netherlands. In some of his retirement fantasies, which were about as realistic as Fritz' retirement fantasies decades later but which he did have and voiced, he wondered about going to the Netherlands and living there in his old age. (Remember, he wasn't actually that old when he died.) And maybe there was something to Morgenstern's claim of FW wishing William of Orange had made him his heir or at least gotten him elected Stateholder of the Netherlands if not King of GB. In theory, if he'd married a widowed Anne, this still could have happened.
Although that's kind of an awful story about Charlotte!
Poor lady. And what is it about homosocial men complaining how women smell? (Philippe d'Orleans the first, Fritz, FW...)
Incidentally, Morgenstern being able to write about a vagina - "source of all joy" euphemism not withstanding - tells you a lot about the 18th century vs the 19th. Would have never passed censorship or bowlderization then, not in the German states or in Britain or the US.