BTW, this is also why I doubt he and Fritz outside of crack fic would have worked as a couple.
So having read Blanning's book on Vienna Joe, I found myself on almost every page going, "Wow, no, they would never have worked as a couple. Oh, god, this would have been a nightmare. Ommmgggg, no, they're too much alike. And their politics are just opposite enough in enough places that they would have spent the entire time at each other's throats."
Meeting in Neisse for a couple days was def the way to go. :) As is crack fic, of course.
She's also good at pointing out the fierce inner Catholic debates - pro and contra Jansenism, for example - which tend to be overlooked by Protestant contemporary sources.
Blanning doesn't go into a *whole* lot of detail on this, but it's definitely very much a thing and gets at least a few pages.
Anyway: also an interesting book, but darker and more depressing than the travel-oriented one.
And also in English, which helps compensate for me. ;) This one's also on Kindle for a reasonable price, so I've downloaded the sample and will check it out, thanks!
I found myself on almost every page going, "Wow, no, they would never have worked as a couple. Oh, god, this would have been a nightmare. Ommmgggg, no, they're too much alike. And their politics are just opposite enough in enough places that they would have spent the entire time at each other's throats."
Hard same. It's worse than the similarities between Fritz and Voltaire, eben, because at least Voltaire is king in another domain, i.e. literature. Fritz/Joseph would have been like SD/FW in marital harmony. Alas Joseph never had a Fredersdorf. Or a Franz Stephan. (Of course, as far as Joseph knew he had been happily married to Isabella for those few years, but alas that was because she never told him how she truly felt.) However:
Meeting in Neisse for a couple days was def the way to go. :)
The travel book naturally includes this and mentions the 16 hours marathon. (Just for politics' sake, Mom, honest!) Also, when Fritz & Co. wore the white Austrian uniform, which this book says was on the second meeting (at Neustadt), not the first at Neissse, fate offered a hilarious comment in the form of heavy rainfall on the second summit day which because Fritz didn't have enough alternate clothing along meant he was drenched (and muddy).
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Re: Update on Vienna Joe
So having read Blanning's book on Vienna Joe, I found myself on almost every page going, "Wow, no, they would never have worked as a couple. Oh, god, this would have been a nightmare. Ommmgggg, no, they're too much alike. And their politics are just opposite enough in enough places that they would have spent the entire time at each other's throats."
Meeting in Neisse for a couple days was def the way to go. :) As is crack fic, of course.
She's also good at pointing out the fierce inner Catholic debates - pro and contra Jansenism, for example - which tend to be overlooked by Protestant contemporary sources.
Blanning doesn't go into a *whole* lot of detail on this, but it's definitely very much a thing and gets at least a few pages.
Anyway: also an interesting book, but darker and more depressing than the travel-oriented one.
And also in English, which helps compensate for me. ;) This one's also on Kindle for a reasonable price, so I've downloaded the sample and will check it out, thanks!
Re: Update on Vienna Joe
Hard same. It's worse than the similarities between Fritz and Voltaire, eben, because at least Voltaire is king in another domain, i.e. literature. Fritz/Joseph would have been like SD/FW in marital harmony. Alas Joseph never had a Fredersdorf. Or a Franz Stephan. (Of course, as far as Joseph knew he had been happily married to Isabella for those few years, but alas that was because she never told him how she truly felt.) However:
Meeting in Neisse for a couple days was def the way to go. :)
The travel book naturally includes this and mentions the 16 hours marathon. (Just for politics' sake, Mom, honest!) Also, when Fritz & Co. wore the white Austrian uniform, which this book says was on the second meeting (at Neustadt), not the first at Neissse, fate offered a hilarious comment in the form of heavy rainfall on the second summit day which because Fritz didn't have enough alternate clothing along meant he was drenched (and muddy).