Oddly, 1787 editor of Suhm letters is translating them from French into English, presumably on the grounds that his audience doesn't know French, but leaves lengthy odes untranslated.
Pleschinski does that too in the main text of the Fritz/Voltaire correspondence, which since these two write poems a lot means, well, the obvious, but at least he delivers prose translations for each poem in the appendix!
Remember when we found the description of the two character portraits of Fritz in 1740, and Suhm's was a few pages and stated at the beginning that he was going to be very careful and stick to what he was sure of, and Manteuffel was like, "I'm going to write a book! In letter format! Whoops, FW died before I could finish it"?
That now looks like a typical case in point for their respective styles. Mind you, I can see why Manteuffel thinks Fritz is worth a book, not just a report, of analysis, even at this age. :) (I can also see why Brühl asked Suhm who could be trusted to deliver the freaking report on time, but then Brühl had gotten reports from Manteuffel on the Prussian court, including Fritz, for years now, so he did have some material.) Unfortunately, Seydewitz doesn't enlighten us what "Fidamire" might be alluding to, either, she just gives the title.
It would have, but, like, Seydewitz, pray tell how many times *you* commited career suicide?
My thoughts precisely. And yes, the likes of Flemming and Manteuffel aren't poor farmers who will starve if they don't have a political career, but the options for a nobleman with brains aren't actually that many at this time. There's always the military, but Manteuffel isn't a soldier, never has been and never wants to be. He can't make being a publishing scholar a full time career, because that's just not on for noblemen in his era (hence his always using pseudonyms for his translations and the occasional essay or pamphlet); even a century later, Byron will be defensive about not earning money with his writings until he goes into exile in Italy. And retiring to the estate and enjoying the agricultural life isn't everyone's thing, either; note that in rl, Manteuffel's wife did most of the estate administration and the financial investments, which she was good at and he was not. Whereas he did have a talent for career diplomacy.
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Re: Le Diable: The Political Biography - A
Date: 2021-03-14 08:54 am (UTC)Pleschinski does that too in the main text of the Fritz/Voltaire correspondence, which since these two write poems a lot means, well, the obvious, but at least he delivers prose translations for each poem in the appendix!
Remember when we found the description of the two character portraits of Fritz in 1740, and Suhm's was a few pages and stated at the beginning that he was going to be very careful and stick to what he was sure of, and Manteuffel was like, "I'm going to write a book! In letter format! Whoops, FW died before I could finish it"?
That now looks like a typical case in point for their respective styles. Mind you, I can see why Manteuffel thinks Fritz is worth a book, not just a report, of analysis, even at this age. :) (I can also see why Brühl asked Suhm who could be trusted to deliver the freaking report on time, but then Brühl had gotten reports from Manteuffel on the Prussian court, including Fritz, for years now, so he did have some material.) Unfortunately, Seydewitz doesn't enlighten us what "Fidamire" might be alluding to, either, she just gives the title.
It would have, but, like, Seydewitz, pray tell how many times *you* commited career suicide?
My thoughts precisely. And yes, the likes of Flemming and Manteuffel aren't poor farmers who will starve if they don't have a political career, but the options for a nobleman with brains aren't actually that many at this time. There's always the military, but Manteuffel isn't a soldier, never has been and never wants to be. He can't make being a publishing scholar a full time career, because that's just not on for noblemen in his era (hence his always using pseudonyms for his translations and the occasional essay or pamphlet); even a century later, Byron will be defensive about not earning money with his writings until he goes into exile in Italy. And retiring to the estate and enjoying the agricultural life isn't everyone's thing, either; note that in rl, Manteuffel's wife did most of the estate administration and the financial investments, which she was good at and he was not. Whereas he did have a talent for career diplomacy.