Is this the source of the bear story, or was this just something that everyone kinda knew about
The first Gundling life, and the one which most people later drew their information from until the later 19th century, was unfortunately the subsequently printed funeral speech by his rival and successor David Fassmann (who, as Stratemann notes in his dispatches, subsequently discovered having this office is unbearable and fled Prussia one and a half years later), which I take it depicts him as an idiot who had it coming, which is why I haven't read it yet. But it might be in there, too. Morgenstern is the first source I've seen who mentions the bears were declawed, though, which probably explains why Gundling survived that encounter. In any event Morgenstern didn't witness these events, of course, he was still in Halle back then, so he must have heard about them later. The first non-Fassmann biographical write-up on Gundling was published in 1795, i.e. after Morgenstern's death, so he really must have had other non-Fassmann sources for this sympathetic depiction of Gundling and what he had to put up with. Mind you, since he seems to have been sharp tongued himself, I can imagine some members of the tobacco parliament trying to intimidate him by telling him in detail about the Gundling era and what was done to Gundling.
BTW I have read Martin Stade's novel now, which is very good, but I'm still waiting for another non-fiction book before doing my write-up.
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Re: He's just a soul whose intentions were good: Morgenstern on FW. - B
Date: 2021-03-14 07:16 am (UTC)The first Gundling life, and the one which most people later drew their information from until the later 19th century, was unfortunately the subsequently printed funeral speech by his rival and successor David Fassmann (who, as Stratemann notes in his dispatches, subsequently discovered having this office is unbearable and fled Prussia one and a half years later), which I take it depicts him as an idiot who had it coming, which is why I haven't read it yet. But it might be in there, too. Morgenstern is the first source I've seen who mentions the bears were declawed, though, which probably explains why Gundling survived that encounter. In any event Morgenstern didn't witness these events, of course, he was still in Halle back then, so he must have heard about them later. The first non-Fassmann biographical write-up on Gundling was published in 1795, i.e. after Morgenstern's death, so he really must have had other non-Fassmann sources for this sympathetic depiction of Gundling and what he had to put up with. Mind you, since he seems to have been sharp tongued himself, I can imagine some members of the tobacco parliament trying to intimidate him by telling him in detail about the Gundling era and what was done to Gundling.
BTW I have read Martin Stade's novel now, which is very good, but I'm still waiting for another non-fiction book before doing my write-up.