Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 30
Sep. 8th, 2021 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnIn which, despite the title, I would like to be told about the English Revolution, which is yet another casualty of my extremely poor history education :P :)
Also, this is probably the place to say that RMSE opened with three Fritz-fics, all of which I think are readable with minimum canon knowledge:
The Boy Who Lived - if you knew about the doomed escape-from-Prussia-that-didn't happen and tragic death of Fritz's boyfriend Hans Hermann von Katte, you may not have known about Peter Keith, the third young man who conspired to escape Prussia -- and the only one who actually did. This is his story. I think readable without canon knowledge except what I just said here.
Challenge Yourself to Relax - My gift, I posted about this before! Corporate AU with my problematic fave, Fritz' brother Heinrich, who's still Fritz's l'autre moi-meme even in corporate AU. Readable without canon knowledge if one has familiarity with the corporate world and the dysfunctions thereof.
The Rise and Fall of the RendezvousWithFame Exchange - Fandom AU with BNF fanfic writer Voltaire, exchange mod Fritz, and the inevitable meltdown. (I wrote this one and am quite proud of the terrible physics-adjacent pun contained within.) Readable without canon knowledge if one has familiarity with fandom and the dysfunctions thereof :P
Also, this is probably the place to say that RMSE opened with three Fritz-fics, all of which I think are readable with minimum canon knowledge:
The Boy Who Lived - if you knew about the doomed escape-from-Prussia-that-didn't happen and tragic death of Fritz's boyfriend Hans Hermann von Katte, you may not have known about Peter Keith, the third young man who conspired to escape Prussia -- and the only one who actually did. This is his story. I think readable without canon knowledge except what I just said here.
Challenge Yourself to Relax - My gift, I posted about this before! Corporate AU with my problematic fave, Fritz' brother Heinrich, who's still Fritz's l'autre moi-meme even in corporate AU. Readable without canon knowledge if one has familiarity with the corporate world and the dysfunctions thereof.
The Rise and Fall of the RendezvousWithFame Exchange - Fandom AU with BNF fanfic writer Voltaire, exchange mod Fritz, and the inevitable meltdown. (I wrote this one and am quite proud of the terrible physics-adjacent pun contained within.) Readable without canon knowledge if one has familiarity with fandom and the dysfunctions thereof :P
Re: FW awfulness reminder
Date: 2021-09-23 06:52 am (UTC)Does he have any takes on Eugene that are worth mentioning?
BTW, speaking of partisanship in authors, as I wrote in my own review of her book, Nancy Goldstone comparing Mary and Anne to Goneril and Regan for siding against Dad James II. also made my eyebrows raise. (Not to mention that having read the Liselotte and Sophie letters (not to each other) referring to James, presenting them as siding with him is true fanwank. Sophie correctly guessed James would lose his crown before he ever did (and that he'd bring it on himself), and Liselotte had no doubt William was way more competent and the better King, despite feeling occasionally sorry for James the exile.
Re: FW awfulness reminder
Date: 2021-09-23 04:47 pm (UTC)See, I don't care if he covers it. It's just that if you're going to write one sentence on a semi-obscure subject on which there are two sides, that one sentence should be more factual and less a statement that you're on Anne's side. If you're going to take sides, there should be some facts presented first.
Anyway. 99% of the stuff in this book is great and informative, don't mind me.
Does he have any takes on Eugene that are worth mentioning?
Not that I recall. Just a casual comment that he was a great general but Marlborough was better, which, sure. He does mention the "Eugenio von Savoie" signature.
One interesting take he does have: he goes 100% with the traditional take on Philip V, in which Philip was totally dominated by his wives because he was sexually insatiable and also too pious to take mistresses. At first I thought this was because Blanning hadn't read Kamen. Remember, Kamen's take is that Philip had mental illnesses and needed moral support, which contemporary ambassadors didn't understand, and that he was more involved in the decision-making than he's gotten credit for. Kamen presents actual evidence and makes a persuasive (to me) case that the traditional, misogynistic, mental-illness-stigmatizing perspective dates back to the 18th century (which is actually consistent with Horowski's repeated reminder that "blame the wife/mistress" was the standard MO in France when you didn't like a king's decision). But Blanning mentions that Kamen is Philip's most recent biographer (yeah, I think the 1990s date miiiight have something to do with the lack of stigmatizing and misogyny), and still manages to avoid engaging with Kamen's reassessment of Philip.
(I am *so* glad I read Kamen. He may be wrong, but he's at least making me think critically instead of just swallowing what I'm told.)