I have a lot of backlog to catch up on with respect to my RMSE reading, which is gonna take a while (partially because of Darth RL, as selenak would say, and partially because my memory is so awful these days that I have to reread to remember what the heck I was going to say). But today I wanted to talk about Pamela! Recall that during RMSE I bribed mildred to write a script to bundle all the Pamela letters together (and machine translate) so that I could read them as a set, because I wanted to see what that would be like. (Mildred will at some point, when she's a little less busy, post this in the library.)
So honestly I would never have guessed this was not a straight series of letters if Magnan hadn't pointed it out. And also there is probably a LOT I'm not getting. (I'm guessing that I'm missing a metric ton of his references and discussion that don't strike me as particularly relevant but in fact are. Buuuuut even that being said, there are definitely things that pop out once one knows about the Pamela background.
-The beginning (Letter 2102, July 1750) is very ... how should I say this, praeludium-like. It does read more like the beginning of a novel or a play than like a random letter. The poem heading it says in its first stanza "It is to you that I am addressing This jumble of prose and verse, This story of my long journey"... and then he even lampshades it: "I am not yet at his court, and we must not anticipate anything: I want order even in my letters." I JUST BET YOU DO VOLTAIRE
-There is definitely some reworking to make through-lines to the letters, like La Mettrie and the orange peel (of course) showing up several times. (I... honestly find myself unwilling to believe he totally made up the orange peel -- it sounds like real emotion to me -- but perhaps he's just a good fiction writer :P )
-And then there's the bit about the rising and setting sun (Voltaire being the setting sun, and his student d'Arnaud being the rising sun). A few letters later, this is tied up neatly: d'Arnaud is kicked out and Voltaire, the setting sun, keeps keeping on with Fritz. ("The rising sun has gone to set.") But of course it's also foreshadowing the blowup Voltaire will have with Fritz...
-Maupertuis, lol. A quarter of the way in he's introduced: ""Maupertuis is not of very engaging ways; he takes my dimensions harshly with his quadrant: it is said there enters something of envy into his data." [Note: mildred sent this quote to me when I asked her for Maupertuis quotes early on in the game, and this particular translation is from Carlyle rather than Google, which mangles it a bit.] And he's mentioned once or twice... and then the whole Koenig thing blows up. [I didn't consciously follow exactly this structure in my fic, but I probably subsconsciously did!]
-Voltaire: "Maupertuis is TOTALLY spreading these STORIES about me saying that whole thing about Fritz's dirty laundry!!" ...huh, I just reread that bit and you know what he doesn't say?! He doesn't say that the dirty laundry story is false! He just, you know, implies and insinuates that it's false. But he doesn't come out outright and say it. Hmmmmmm.
-Koenig: lol, "This Koenig is in love with a geometry problem, like the old paladins of their ladies." That's... one way to describe the principle of least action, Voltaire. (Émilie: It is a really cool geometry problem!) Anyway, Voltaire is like "so, yeah, Maupertuis was Super Mean to Konig" and a few letters later he's like "so, Fritz wrote this pamphlet against Koenig, against me..." and he skips everything in between!... IDK, maybe I missed it, but I don't think it's until a bit later that he slips in "I unfortunately find myself an author too, and in the opposite party." Uh-huh, Voltaire. (I love the phrasing, like, he suddenly found himself having written his own pamphlet without knowing how it had happened! Maybe he wrote it in his sleep!)
-"Coquettes, kings, poets are accustomed to be flattered. Frederic unites these three crowns." LOL FOREVER
-The last letter in the set (2624: July 9, 1753) does also read like the conclusion to a story/tragedy. Voltaire rehashes the Frankfurt incident (which... I wouldn't be surprised if this was what tipped Magnan off to begin with, as it is by far the most suspicious part of the entire thing to me: if this were a real letter ...why would he have recited so carefully the entire story, given that she was, in fact, there?!) , washes his hands of Fritz, and ends: "Farewell; may I die in your arms, ignored by men and kings!"
-Because I was worried about missing letters, I asked mildred to pull a couple more than this, but Letter 2624 is such a clear ending that, well.
-I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising that, given that Voltaire was reworking everything, that so many good quotes/bits are from here. The dictionary for the use of kings! The orange peel! The description of Maupertuis! I suspect basically all the Voltaire quotes historians/biographers pull from these years are in here, because they're so quotable.
-I would love to read Magnan's writing on this, if Royal Detective can get her hands on it :D
Cultural references can be a curse if one isn't totally immersed in the culture. And even then - I know about the Aeneid, but I totally would have missed Fritz comparing himself to a left Dido in his angry 1743 letter to Voltaire if Mildred hadn't recognized the quote! At least usually one gets the gist of what's meant, as when Fritz in the Marwitz letters to Heinrich rattles of a couple of similes to, I take it, then popular epics, plays and novels to taunt younger brother with.
Orange peel: I don't think he invented it, either, just like I totally believe in the laundry quote. For the later, we have people referencing the story long before Voltaire's memoirs are published, including such unlikely sources as my guy Boswell in his 1764 diary (having heard a version of it before meeting Voltaire) and MT in her letter to Joseph during the early stage of the War of the Bavarian Succession. For the former, it fits in spirit with something that Fritz did write - remember, when he haggled abouto Voltaire's travelling expenses back in the 1740 day, he actually write "no court jester was ever so expensive" (which brought me up short when coming across it, because for Fritz to use the jester simile when his father isn't dead for a year (and Gundling for nine years, while his successors are luckily still alive but no thanks to FW) is - well, as cold as the orange peel line sounds if you hear it the first time.
He doesn't say that the dirty laundry story is false! He just, you know, implies and insinuates that it's false
Voltaire: clearly still benefitting from excellent education at Louis le Grand, in this case, having read his Tacitus. (Who employed this technique, named insinuatio, a lot; for example, reading Tacitus, you're totally left with the impression he's saying Tiberius and his mother Livia ordered and/or sponsored the death of Germanicus, but if you check the lines word by word, he's never claiming that they did directly. He's just reporting rumors and, well, insinuating.
-"Coquettes, kings, poets are accustomed to be flattered. Frederic unites these three crowns." LOL FOREVER
It is an absolute gem of a line. It's also the kind of characterisation of their hero that 19th and early 20th century nationalist historians absolutely could not stomach, and for which they called Voltaire a liar as much as for his actual fabrications. Conversely, I don't think many a French admirer would have been cool with Fritz' observation that if Voltaire had had armies at his disposal, he totally would have used them to go after his literary enemies. Which, yes. They did see each other very clearly, these two. And that's why I'm shipping them.
if this were a real letter ...why would he have recited so carefully the entire story, given that she was, in fact, there?!
Wow, yes, an "As you know, Bob" letter to Madame Denis does give the game away somewhat. Though it's interesting that Voltaire when reworking and rewriting the letters didn't simply use another correspondant for this last letter (thus avoiding the inconvenience of telling Marie-Louise Denis something she's been a participant of). Presumably friends and relations not Madame Denis (who would have been totally on board with any revenge project for obvious reasons) would not have handed over the original letters? Which, btw, is good to know, since for the early stage of his Prussian adventure (when he's bringing on all the flirtation/wedding/made for each other stuff), we have a letter saying essentially the same thing to his other niece. (The one Orieux actually liked.)
The dictionary for the use of kings!
Your version for mods was another bit that made me scream in delight, btw.
And it bears repeating - titling this entire endeavour "Pamela" is hilarious by itself, due to Richardson's "young virtuous and naive middle class ingenieu"/"debauched aristocratic bastard" constellation in the original Pamela.
he actually write "no court jester was ever so expensive" (which brought me up short when coming across it, because for Fritz to use the jester simile when his father isn't dead for a year (and Gundling for nine years, while his successors are luckily still alive but no thanks to FW)
Oh, whoa! I had forgotten this, and likely when it came up before I hadn't quite internalized all the Gundling etc. context. FRITZ.
But yeah... I get the impression -- which could be totally incorrect, of course -- that at least in these letters Voltaire didn't actually make up anything from whole cloth, though he certainly did a lot of misdirection as to how much blame he should actually get for the whole thing even just given the limited amount (though much more than several months ago!) I know about what actually went down.
(Who employed this technique, named insinuatio, a lot; for example, reading Tacitus, you're totally left with the impression he's saying Tiberius and his mother Livia ordered and/or sponsored the death of Germanicus, but if you check the lines word by word, he's never claiming that they did directly. He's just reporting rumors and, well, insinuating.
Oh WOW. Thank you for the clarification! (Classics salon: also the best! ;) )
Conversely, I don't think many a French admirer would have been cool with Fritz' observation that if Voltaire had had armies at his disposal, he totally would have used them to go after his literary enemies. Which, yes.
OMG HE SO WOULD
They did see each other very clearly, these two. And that's why I'm shipping them.
*nods* Yes! It's really something, that they could say such scathing things of each other because they did see each other so clearly (and did in fact love each other so much, at least in the friendship sense). I ship them too, as you know :D
Though it's interesting that Voltaire when reworking and rewriting the letters didn't simply use another correspondant for this last letter
It's pretty clever; he passes it off as how agitated he is and wondering if it was a dream, and honestly I would have missed it if I hadn't known about Pamela:
I think it's a dream; I believe that all this happened in the time of Denis of Syracuse. I wonder if it is really true that a lady from Paris, traveling with a passport from the king her master, was dragged through the streets of Frankfurt by soldiers, taken to prison without any form of trial, without a chambermaid, without a servant, having at her door four soldiers with bayonets at the end of the rifle, and forced to suffer that a clerk of Freytag, a villain of the vilest kind, spend the night alone in her room. When Brinvilliers was arrested, the executioner was never alone with her; there is no example of such barbarous indecency. And what was your crime? for having run two hundred leagues to bring a dying uncle to the waters of Plombières, whom you regarded as your father.
(May I also just say here that OMG to Voltaire doctoring all these letters to make it look like he's like a father figure to Mme Denis. GAH Voltaire! That and I bet he had daddy kink going on :P )
Your version for mods was another bit that made me scream in delight, btw.
<3 :D It was so perfect I knew it had to go in!
And it bears repeating - titling this entire endeavour "Pamela" is hilarious by itself, due to Richardson's "young virtuous and naive middle class ingenieu"/"debauched aristocratic bastard" constellation in the original Pamela.
:D And this is the sort of thing I'm probably missing all over the place! :D
Look at you doing scholarly research! This is amazing! :DDD
(Mildred will at some point, when she's a little less busy, post this in the library.)
Oh right! Thank you for the reminder. I will indeed. This weekend I've decided to devote entirely to book-digitizing in hopes of getting it over with sooner rather than later. Poor Peter Keith's ghost is waiting patiently, and now Wilhelmine's travel diary will have to wait a couple weeks before I can start (it mostly seems to be a list of sights seen, so there may not be much exciting material), but I've added Pamela to my post-digitization todo list as well.
-I would love to read Magnan's writing on this, if Royal Detective can get her hands on it :D
Royal Detective looked into this when we first learned about it and came to the conclusion that it would be doable but not cheap. It's totally on my list for when I finish German and move on to French, though. Do you want it now, or are you willing to wait until next year?
ETA:
...huh, I just reread that bit and you know what he doesn't say?! He doesn't say that the dirty laundry story is false! He just, you know, implies and insinuates that it's false. But he doesn't come out outright and say it. Hmmmmmm.
Yes, one of the Fritz or Voltaire biographers I've read, I forget which, says that Voltaire's objection wasn't that the story was false, but that it was passed onto Fritz.
Yeah, I also haven't forgotten I owe you some FamilySearch lookups, but ironically this will have to wait until I am free of... family obligations :) (This week it's my father-in-law visiting!)
Nah, I'll wait until next year for Magnan!
Yes, one of the Fritz or Voltaire biographers I've read, I forget which, says that Voltaire's objection wasn't that the story was false, but that it was passed onto Fritz.
Yeah... although he certainly wants you to think, in that letter, that the story's false. Listen to this:
Maupertuis discreetly spread the rumor that I found the king's works very bad; he accuses me of conspiring against a dangerous power, which is self-love; he silently says that the king having sent me his verses to correct, I replied: "Will he not tire of sending me his dirty laundry to be laundered?" He holds this strange speech in the ears of ten or twelve people...
The first draft of my comment above actually said that Voltaire said Maupertuis was slandering him, and then I thought, let me read that one more time before I press "post comment" on that, and then I was like... hmm...
The first draft of my comment above actually said that Voltaire said Maupertuis was slandering him, and then I thought, let me read that one more time before I press "post comment" on that, and then I was like... hmm...
:) Yep, it's all a matter of phrasing. (Hey, Voltaire had experience with law suits by then!) At no point does he deny having said it. Incidentally, since La Mettrie was the source Voltaire names for the orange peel quote, I looked up again what Nicolai claims D'Argens told him re: his fellow knights of the Sanssouci Table Round (reminder: in summation, that none of them loved Fritz and were worthy the way D'Argens was) , and it is this:
De La Mettrie wasn't really held in high regard by the King. Instead, (Fritz) regarded him as a clown who could amuse him entre deux vins now and then. De La Mettrie behaved very undignified towards the King; not only did he blab everywhere in Berlin about everything that was talked about at the King's table, he also narrated everything twistedly, with malicious addenda.
Though Nicolai doesn't say so directly, I do suspect that refers to the orange peel quote, and if so, note the La Mettrie put down doesn't claim La Mettrie invented stories, just that he "narrated everything twistedly". And so you don't have to look it up at Rheinsberg, here's D'Argens-via-Nicolai on Maupertuis and Voltaire:
Maupertuis, whom the King esteemed for his scientific abilities and pleasant manners, was full of quirks and pretensions, and envious of everyone for whom the King had as much as a kind word, for he thought he'd lose whatever the other gained. He was never satisfied, and consequently caused great irritation to the King whom he annoyed with his quirks and who would have liked to see him content.
Voltaire, although the greatest writer of them all by far, was the most ungrateful towards the King. He was jealous of everyone whom the King preferred. His utmost bitterness resulted from believing the King didn't distinguish him enough from the other scholarly favourites. Full of pride and petulance, he often when everyone was in great spirits lashed out against the others in the King's company, which displeased the King himself not a few times; two times, when Voltaire had been too insolent, the King had to speak as a King, and Voltaire, as proud as he'd been, was now immediately humbled. But he avenged himself through impudent and partially false stories he spread behind the King's back.
(Footnote from Nicolai here: D'Argens once told me with the vivaciousness of a Provence man about Voltaire: Le Bastard a de l'esprit come trente, mais il est malicious come un vieux singe.)
As I said in my original Nicolai write up - partially false? I note you never enlighten us which parts you and D'Argens think weren't false, Nicolai.
Yeah, I also haven't forgotten I owe you some FamilySearch lookups, but ironically this will have to wait
Yes, please wait! I have at least 2 more weeks of book-digitizing to go! Then you can do all the family searching for me in the world.
Nah, I'll wait until next year for Magnan!
Sounds good! It's definitely high on my list, assuming I manage to get to a good stopping point with German by the time I'm still in this fandom and motivated to study French.
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Pamela
So honestly I would never have guessed this was not a straight series of letters if Magnan hadn't pointed it out. And also there is probably a LOT I'm not getting. (I'm guessing that I'm missing a metric ton of his references and discussion that don't strike me as particularly relevant but in fact are. Buuuuut even that being said, there are definitely things that pop out once one knows about the Pamela background.
-The beginning (Letter 2102, July 1750) is very ... how should I say this, praeludium-like. It does read more like the beginning of a novel or a play than like a random letter. The poem heading it says in its first stanza "It is to you that I am addressing This jumble of prose and verse, This story of my long journey"... and then he even lampshades it: "I am not yet at his court, and we must not anticipate anything: I want order even in my letters." I JUST BET YOU DO VOLTAIRE
-There is definitely some reworking to make through-lines to the letters, like La Mettrie and the orange peel (of course) showing up several times. (I... honestly find myself unwilling to believe he totally made up the orange peel -- it sounds like real emotion to me -- but perhaps he's just a good fiction writer :P )
-And then there's the bit about the rising and setting sun (Voltaire being the setting sun, and his student d'Arnaud being the rising sun). A few letters later, this is tied up neatly: d'Arnaud is kicked out and Voltaire, the setting sun, keeps keeping on with Fritz. ("The rising sun has gone to set.") But of course it's also foreshadowing the blowup Voltaire will have with Fritz...
-Maupertuis, lol. A quarter of the way in he's introduced: ""Maupertuis is not of very engaging ways; he takes my dimensions harshly with his quadrant: it is said there enters something of envy into his data." [Note: mildred sent this quote to me when I asked her for Maupertuis quotes early on in the game, and this particular translation is from Carlyle rather than Google, which mangles it a bit.] And he's mentioned once or twice... and then the whole Koenig thing blows up. [I didn't consciously follow exactly this structure in my fic, but I probably subsconsciously did!]
-Voltaire: "Maupertuis is TOTALLY spreading these STORIES about me saying that whole thing about Fritz's dirty laundry!!"
...huh, I just reread that bit and you know what he doesn't say?! He doesn't say that the dirty laundry story is false! He just, you know, implies and insinuates that it's false. But he doesn't come out outright and say it. Hmmmmmm.
-Koenig: lol, "This Koenig is in love with a geometry problem, like the old paladins of their ladies." That's... one way to describe the principle of least action, Voltaire. (Émilie: It is a really cool geometry problem!) Anyway, Voltaire is like "so, yeah, Maupertuis was Super Mean to Konig" and a few letters later he's like "so, Fritz wrote this pamphlet against Koenig, against me..." and he skips everything in between!... IDK, maybe I missed it, but I don't think it's until a bit later that he slips in "I unfortunately find myself an author too, and in the opposite party." Uh-huh, Voltaire. (I love the phrasing, like, he suddenly found himself having written his own pamphlet without knowing how it had happened! Maybe he wrote it in his sleep!)
-"Coquettes, kings, poets are accustomed to be flattered. Frederic unites these three crowns." LOL FOREVER
-The last letter in the set (2624: July 9, 1753) does also read like the conclusion to a story/tragedy. Voltaire rehashes the Frankfurt incident (which... I wouldn't be surprised if this was what tipped Magnan off to begin with, as it is by far the most suspicious part of the entire thing to me: if this were a real letter ...why would he have recited so carefully the entire story, given that she was, in fact, there?!) , washes his hands of Fritz, and ends: "Farewell; may I die in your arms, ignored by men and kings!"
-Because I was worried about missing letters, I asked mildred to pull a couple more than this, but Letter 2624 is such a clear ending that, well.
-I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising that, given that Voltaire was reworking everything, that so many good quotes/bits are from here. The dictionary for the use of kings! The orange peel! The description of Maupertuis! I suspect basically all the Voltaire quotes historians/biographers pull from these years are in here, because they're so quotable.
-I would love to read Magnan's writing on this, if Royal Detective can get her hands on it :D
Re: Pamela
Orange peel: I don't think he invented it, either, just like I totally believe in the laundry quote. For the later, we have people referencing the story long before Voltaire's memoirs are published, including such unlikely sources as my guy Boswell in his 1764 diary (having heard a version of it before meeting Voltaire) and MT in her letter to Joseph during the early stage of the War of the Bavarian Succession. For the former, it fits in spirit with something that Fritz did write - remember, when he haggled abouto Voltaire's travelling expenses back in the 1740 day, he actually write "no court jester was ever so expensive" (which brought me up short when coming across it, because for Fritz to use the jester simile when his father isn't dead for a year (and Gundling for nine years, while his successors are luckily still alive but no thanks to FW) is - well, as cold as the orange peel line sounds if you hear it the first time.
He doesn't say that the dirty laundry story is false! He just, you know, implies and insinuates that it's false
Voltaire: clearly still benefitting from excellent education at Louis le Grand, in this case, having read his Tacitus. (Who employed this technique, named insinuatio, a lot; for example, reading Tacitus, you're totally left with the impression he's saying Tiberius and his mother Livia ordered and/or sponsored the death of Germanicus, but if you check the lines word by word, he's never claiming that they did directly. He's just reporting rumors and, well, insinuating.
-"Coquettes, kings, poets are accustomed to be flattered. Frederic unites these three crowns." LOL FOREVER
It is an absolute gem of a line. It's also the kind of characterisation of their hero that 19th and early 20th century nationalist historians absolutely could not stomach, and for which they called Voltaire a liar as much as for his actual fabrications. Conversely, I don't think many a French admirer would have been cool with Fritz' observation that if Voltaire had had armies at his disposal, he totally would have used them to go after his literary enemies. Which, yes. They did see each other very clearly, these two. And that's why I'm shipping them.
if this were a real letter ...why would he have recited so carefully the entire story, given that she was, in fact, there?!
Wow, yes, an "As you know, Bob" letter to Madame Denis does give the game away somewhat. Though it's interesting that Voltaire when reworking and rewriting the letters didn't simply use another correspondant for this last letter (thus avoiding the inconvenience of telling Marie-Louise Denis something she's been a participant of). Presumably friends and relations not Madame Denis (who would have been totally on board with any revenge project for obvious reasons) would not have handed over the original letters? Which, btw, is good to know, since for the early stage of his Prussian adventure (when he's bringing on all the flirtation/wedding/made for each other stuff), we have a letter saying essentially the same thing to his other niece. (The one Orieux actually liked.)
The dictionary for the use of kings!
Your version for mods was another bit that made me scream in delight, btw.
And it bears repeating - titling this entire endeavour "Pamela" is hilarious by itself, due to Richardson's "young virtuous and naive middle class ingenieu"/"debauched aristocratic bastard" constellation in the original Pamela.
Re: Pamela
Same!
Re: Pamela
Oh, whoa! I had forgotten this, and likely when it came up before I hadn't quite internalized all the Gundling etc. context. FRITZ.
But yeah... I get the impression -- which could be totally incorrect, of course -- that at least in these letters Voltaire didn't actually make up anything from whole cloth, though he certainly did a lot of misdirection as to how much blame he should actually get for the whole thing even just given the limited amount (though much more than several months ago!) I know about what actually went down.
(Who employed this technique, named insinuatio, a lot; for example, reading Tacitus, you're totally left with the impression he's saying Tiberius and his mother Livia ordered and/or sponsored the death of Germanicus, but if you check the lines word by word, he's never claiming that they did directly. He's just reporting rumors and, well, insinuating.
Oh WOW. Thank you for the clarification! (Classics salon: also the best! ;) )
Conversely, I don't think many a French admirer would have been cool with Fritz' observation that if Voltaire had had armies at his disposal, he totally would have used them to go after his literary enemies. Which, yes.
OMG HE SO WOULD
They did see each other very clearly, these two. And that's why I'm shipping them.
*nods* Yes! It's really something, that they could say such scathing things of each other because they did see each other so clearly (and did in fact love each other so much, at least in the friendship sense). I ship them too, as you know :D
Though it's interesting that Voltaire when reworking and rewriting the letters didn't simply use another correspondant for this last letter
It's pretty clever; he passes it off as how agitated he is and wondering if it was a dream, and honestly I would have missed it if I hadn't known about Pamela:
I think it's a dream; I believe that all this happened in the time of Denis of Syracuse. I wonder if it is really true that a lady from Paris, traveling with a passport from the king her master, was dragged through the streets of Frankfurt by soldiers, taken to prison without any form of trial, without a chambermaid, without a servant, having at her door four soldiers with bayonets at the end of the rifle, and forced to suffer that a clerk of Freytag, a villain of the vilest kind, spend the night alone in her room. When Brinvilliers was arrested, the executioner was never alone with her; there is no example of such barbarous indecency. And what was your crime? for having run two hundred leagues to bring a dying uncle to the waters of Plombières, whom you regarded as your father.
(May I also just say here that OMG to Voltaire doctoring all these letters to make it look like he's like a father figure to Mme Denis. GAH Voltaire! That and I bet he had daddy kink going on :P )
(original French text: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Correspondance_de_Voltaire/1753/Lettre_2624 )
Your version for mods was another bit that made me scream in delight, btw.
<3 :D It was so perfect I knew it had to go in!
And it bears repeating - titling this entire endeavour "Pamela" is hilarious by itself, due to Richardson's "young virtuous and naive middle class ingenieu"/"debauched aristocratic bastard" constellation in the original Pamela.
:D And this is the sort of thing I'm probably missing all over the place! :D
Re: Pamela
(Mildred will at some point, when she's a little less busy, post this in the library.)
Oh right! Thank you for the reminder. I will indeed. This weekend I've decided to devote entirely to book-digitizing in hopes of getting it over with sooner rather than later. Poor Peter Keith's ghost is waiting patiently, and now Wilhelmine's travel diary will have to wait a couple weeks before I can start (it mostly seems to be a list of sights seen, so there may not be much exciting material), but I've added Pamela to my post-digitization todo list as well.
-I would love to read Magnan's writing on this, if Royal Detective can get her hands on it :D
Royal Detective looked into this when we first learned about it and came to the conclusion that it would be doable but not cheap. It's totally on my list for when I finish German and move on to French, though. Do you want it now, or are you willing to wait until next year?
ETA:
...huh, I just reread that bit and you know what he doesn't say?! He doesn't say that the dirty laundry story is false! He just, you know, implies and insinuates that it's false. But he doesn't come out outright and say it. Hmmmmmm.
Yes, one of the Fritz or Voltaire biographers I've read, I forget which, says that Voltaire's objection wasn't that the story was false, but that it was passed onto Fritz.
Re: Pamela
Nah, I'll wait until next year for Magnan!
Yes, one of the Fritz or Voltaire biographers I've read, I forget which, says that Voltaire's objection wasn't that the story was false, but that it was passed onto Fritz.
Yeah... although he certainly wants you to think, in that letter, that the story's false. Listen to this:
Maupertuis discreetly spread the rumor that I found the king's works very bad; he accuses me of conspiring against a dangerous power, which is self-love; he silently says that the king having sent me his verses to correct, I replied: "Will he not tire of sending me his dirty laundry to be laundered?" He holds this strange speech in the ears of ten or twelve people...
(https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Correspondance_de_Voltaire/1752/Lettre_2398)
The first draft of my comment above actually said that Voltaire said Maupertuis was slandering him, and then I thought, let me read that one more time before I press "post comment" on that, and then I was like... hmm...
Re: Pamela
:) Yep, it's all a matter of phrasing. (Hey, Voltaire had experience with law suits by then!) At no point does he deny having said it. Incidentally, since La Mettrie was the source Voltaire names for the orange peel quote, I looked up again what Nicolai claims D'Argens told him re: his fellow knights of the Sanssouci Table Round (reminder: in summation, that none of them loved Fritz and were worthy the way D'Argens was) , and it is this:
De La Mettrie wasn't really held in high regard by the King. Instead, (Fritz) regarded him as a clown who could amuse him entre deux vins now and then. De La Mettrie behaved very undignified towards the King; not only did he blab everywhere in Berlin about everything that was talked about at the King's table, he also narrated everything twistedly, with malicious addenda.
Though Nicolai doesn't say so directly, I do suspect that refers to the orange peel quote, and if so, note the La Mettrie put down doesn't claim La Mettrie invented stories, just that he "narrated everything twistedly". And so you don't have to look it up at Rheinsberg, here's D'Argens-via-Nicolai on Maupertuis and Voltaire:
Maupertuis, whom the King esteemed for his scientific abilities and pleasant manners, was full of quirks and pretensions, and envious of everyone for whom the King had as much as a kind word, for he thought he'd lose whatever the other gained. He was never satisfied, and consequently caused great irritation to the King whom he annoyed with his quirks and who would have liked to see him content.
Voltaire, although the greatest writer of them all by far, was the most ungrateful towards the King. He was jealous of everyone whom the King preferred. His utmost bitterness resulted from believing the King didn't distinguish him enough from the other scholarly favourites. Full of pride and petulance, he often when everyone was in great spirits lashed out against the others in the King's company, which displeased the King himself not a few times; two times, when Voltaire had been too insolent, the King had to speak as a King, and Voltaire, as proud as he'd been, was now immediately humbled. But he avenged himself through impudent and partially false stories he spread behind the King's back.
(Footnote from Nicolai here: D'Argens once told me with the vivaciousness of a Provence man about Voltaire: Le Bastard a de l'esprit come trente, mais il est malicious come un vieux singe.)
As I said in my original Nicolai write up - partially false? I note you never enlighten us which parts you and D'Argens think weren't false, Nicolai.
Re: Pamela
Yes, please wait! I have at least 2 more weeks of book-digitizing to go! Then you can do all the family searching for me in the world.
Nah, I'll wait until next year for Magnan!
Sounds good! It's definitely high on my list, assuming I manage to get to a good stopping point with German by the time I'm still in this fandom and motivated to study French.