18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 33

[cahn]

And, I mean, it doesn't have to be just 18th century characters, either!

(also, waiting for Yuletide!)

Comments

Re: Diderot, Catherine, and Fritz

[mildred_of_midgard]

And hey, absolutely ic for Fritz to expect Diderot to show up regardless of insult.

I was thinking of prinzsorgenfrei's "What do you mean people feel insulted when you insult them?"

And after all, the Fritz-Voltaire moving in together started *after* Voltaire had tried to spy on Fritz for France and Fritz had tried to get Voltaire exiled from France, and they knew this about each other and still decided getting married living together was just the thing!

And if Diderot was okay with Catherine's brand of enlightened despotism, I bet Fritz was confused about what exactly Diderot found objectionable about his...

I've been trying to figure out what exactly's so much better about Catherine, because it sure isn't an absence of neighbor-invading or failure to treat her heir like shit, and the only things I can come up with are 1) more generous with her money, 2) less scapegoat-y (I think), 3) understands that people are insulted when you insult them less sarcastic.

But hey, (1) means she just bought Diderot's library for a huge sum of money and allowed him to keep it, in France, during his lifetime and gave him a salary as her librarian! This despotism is obviously more enlightened than "No court jester was ever so expensive" (Fritz about Voltaire in 1740, for those who've forgotten)!

ETA: Also,

Do not worry, Diderot, hatching Fredericks demand a very special constellation of parents and circumstances to become fully fledged!

made me laugh. :D It also made me think of this poem:

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.

(And that means try not to be as a father to your siblings and nephews either, Fritz.)

Re: Diderot, Catherine, and Fritz

[selenak]

Fritz: But Ulrike said I was wonderful at it!

And yes, I was thinking of good old Larkin, too. Re: Diderot going with Catherine as his enlightened despot of choice, yeah, I think it's a case of money, dear boy. (Though Catherine being less prone to confuse friendly banter with insults probably didn't hurt.) Also, Russia is far away and wasn't France's enemy in the 7 Years War. Now I have no idea whether this would have mattered to Diderot, you know him far better than I do. But Maupertuis definitely got trouble from fellow French philosophes for not resigning from his Academy President office when the war began, and Voltaire got bad press for his entire thing with Fritz as well, despite the Frankfurt scandal.