So, here I am asking for context! :D Are these both quotes from the same D'Argental letter? Is this letter available to denizens of salon??
//
I always took the "I had more problems with my play" as a joke in the same spirit of giddy relief
Yeah, I agree, very much reads like a relieved joke and like he admires Emilie for it. But also, a joke he reused, as there are three Voltaire letters from September 4th, which all contain a smiliar description of the birth: the one to d'Argental, with the quote from Cahn's write-up, which is followed by It will be more difficult for me to give birth to my Catilina; one to the Abbé de Voisenon, which tells the same story about the birth and expands a bit on his own work (During the last days of her pregnancy, I did not know what to do, so I began to have a child on my own; I gave birth in eight days to Catilina. [...] I am amazed/delighted [émerveillé] by Madame du Chatelet's childbed, and terrified by mine.); and finally, one to d'Argenson, which has the fatigued quote. It's written in the same vein and context, but it has a more noticable "having kids = way easier than writing books" slant towards the end, so if you only read this one, you might get the wrong impression:
Mme du Châtelet vous mande, monsieur, que cette nuit, étant à son secrétaire, et griffonnant quelque pancarte newtonienne, elle a eu un petit besoin. Ce petit besoin était une fille qui a paru sur-le-champ. On l’a étendue sur un livre de géométrie in-4°. La mère est allée se coucher, parce qu’il faut bien se coucher ; et, si elle ne dormait pas, elle vous écrirait. Pour moi, qui ai accouché d’une tragédie de Catilina, je suis cent fois plus fatigué qu’elle. Elle n’a mis au monde qu’une petite fille qui ne dit mot, et moi il m’a fallu faire un Cicéron, un César ; et il est plus difficile de faire parler ces gens-là que de faire des enfants, surtout quand on ne veut pas faire un second affront à l’ancienne Rome et au théâtre français.
... and then his letters are all sadness only six days later. :((
Speaking of his letters, though, is there a date for the "knaves" incident? Might be worth checking if the French wiki also has the letter in which he talks about it.
Knaves date: over to cahn, I don't have the Voltaire biography with me right now.
Thank you for providing all three letters! BTW, this reminds me of Lady Mary's biographer pointing out that the "Embassy" letters as they were published, while being based on her diaries and some actual letters, were of course a literary creation (same for Algarotti's "Letters from Russia" and for Bielfeld's Letters), because rl letters, like Voltaire's here, repeat information (and sometimes descriptions and jokes) for different correspondents, whereas these published "Letters" books are offering a progressing narrative which never does that. Given that shared friends like the D'Argentals must have been concerned for Émilie, too, and awaiting the news about her giving birth urgently, I'm not surprised he wrote to three different people the same day with the same basic letters set up.
It's written in the same vein and context, but it has a more noticable "having kids = way easier than writing books" slant towards the end, so if you only read this one, you might get the wrong impression:
True, but I'm assumung Zinnsser would have read all Voltaire letters referring to Émilie as part of her research, especially all written in the month of her death, so she did know the context. Let's face it, scholars setting out to prove a theory will who then end up only quoting what they think supports that theory and ignoring everything else are more common than not....
Oh, yeah, I didn't mean to say that Zinsser wouldn't have known the context or didn't pick and choose what suited her best; it was more a general observation.
Aw, that's too bad. They are written from Sceaux, at least: Orieux says that as fallout from the "knave" incident that he and Emilie had to flee, and that he took refuge with the Duchesse du Maine at Sceaux, and spent more than two months there -- and then by February 1748 Emilie had smoothed things over and "he could show himself in public again."
:DD Okay, what I wanted to say last night but didn't have the time: SALON IS THE BEST. I love how I can just be like "so... random Voltaire letter?" and I get both the literary analysis and THREE detective-found letters! :D Thank you!!
Heh, yeah, that third letter if I had read out of context and only that letter, I might have formed a rather less good opinion of Voltaire :P And in all three letters it is definitely all about him too, but I expect no less from Voltaire :) and as you both say, it is clearly meant as a relieved joke and that he admires Emilie a lot! Gah, Zinsser :P
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timeasmymeasure
Re: My reading of Orieux
Date: 2021-04-10 08:09 pm (UTC)//
I always took the "I had more problems with my play" as a joke in the same spirit of giddy relief
Yeah, I agree, very much reads like a relieved joke and like he admires Emilie for it. But also, a joke he reused, as there are three Voltaire letters from September 4th, which all contain a smiliar description of the birth: the one to d'Argental, with the quote from Cahn's write-up, which is followed by It will be more difficult for me to give birth to my Catilina; one to the Abbé de Voisenon, which tells the same story about the birth and expands a bit on his own work (During the last days of her pregnancy, I did not know what to do, so I began to have a child on my own; I gave birth in eight days to Catilina. [...] I am amazed/delighted [émerveillé] by Madame du Chatelet's childbed, and terrified by mine.); and finally, one to d'Argenson, which has the fatigued quote. It's written in the same vein and context, but it has a more noticable "having kids = way easier than writing books" slant towards the end, so if you only read this one, you might get the wrong impression:
Mme du Châtelet vous mande, monsieur, que cette nuit, étant à son secrétaire, et griffonnant quelque pancarte newtonienne, elle a eu un petit besoin. Ce petit besoin était une fille qui a paru sur-le-champ. On l’a étendue sur un livre de géométrie in-4°. La mère est allée se coucher, parce qu’il faut bien se coucher ; et, si elle ne dormait pas, elle vous écrirait. Pour moi, qui ai accouché d’une tragédie de Catilina, je suis cent fois plus fatigué qu’elle. Elle n’a mis au monde qu’une petite fille qui ne dit mot, et moi il m’a fallu faire un Cicéron, un César ; et il est plus difficile de faire parler ces gens-là que de faire des enfants, surtout quand on ne veut pas faire un second affront à l’ancienne Rome et au théâtre français.
... and then his letters are all sadness only six days later. :((
Speaking of his letters, though, is there a date for the "knaves" incident? Might be worth checking if the French wiki also has the letter in which he talks about it.
Re: My reading of Orieux
Date: 2021-04-11 05:03 am (UTC)Thank you for providing all three letters! BTW, this reminds me of Lady Mary's biographer pointing out that the "Embassy" letters as they were published, while being based on her diaries and some actual letters, were of course a literary creation (same for Algarotti's "Letters from Russia" and for Bielfeld's Letters), because rl letters, like Voltaire's here, repeat information (and sometimes descriptions and jokes) for different correspondents, whereas these published "Letters" books are offering a progressing narrative which never does that. Given that shared friends like the D'Argentals must have been concerned for Émilie, too, and awaiting the news about her giving birth urgently, I'm not surprised he wrote to three different people the same day with the same basic letters set up.
It's written in the same vein and context, but it has a more noticable "having kids = way easier than writing books" slant towards the end, so if you only read this one, you might get the wrong impression:
True, but I'm assumung Zinnsser would have read all Voltaire letters referring to Émilie as part of her research, especially all written in the month of her death, so she did know the context. Let's face it, scholars setting out to prove a theory will who then end up only quoting what they think supports that theory and ignoring everything else are more common than not....
Re: My reading of Orieux
Date: 2021-04-11 06:42 pm (UTC)Re: My reading of Orieux
Date: 2021-04-11 05:14 am (UTC)Re: My reading of Orieux
Date: 2021-04-11 11:39 am (UTC)Re: My reading of Orieux
Date: 2021-04-12 05:00 am (UTC)Re: My reading of Orieux
Date: 2021-04-12 04:52 am (UTC)Heh, yeah, that third letter if I had read out of context and only that letter, I might have formed a rather less good opinion of Voltaire :P And in all three letters it is definitely all about him too, but I expect no less from Voltaire :) and as you both say, it is clearly meant as a relieved joke and that he admires Emilie a lot! Gah, Zinsser :P