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: Derek Beales: Joseph II, Volume 1: In the Shadow of Maria Theresia 1741 - 1780

[selenak]

That's how I see it, too. Which is ironic given that one of the most common complaints about him from his contemporaries was that he wasn't emo enough. (But then, it was an emo century, aka the age where men couldn't just cry and hug, it was expected of them, and the 19th century definition of stiff upper lip = masculinity had not yet struck.) A wittier complaint, aiming at Joseph's tendency to piss off so many people via sarcasm, was the Viennese saying "Emperor Joseph is a philanthropist, he just can't stand people". (In Viennese dialect, it's funnier: "Der Kaiser Joseph ist ein Menschenfreund, er mog bloss dera Leut net leiden.")

(To which Old Fritz would say: Same here.)

But he does come across as so very human in the way love and grief works on him, and also, in a less noble vein, in his awkwardness ("I feel like you belong to me" = only not worst pass by an 18th century monarch ever because there's always FW & Fräulein von Pannewitz) and conviction that OF COURSE, people will be happy about his reforms - they make sense, they're progress, what's not to love? And why should he bother with a PR campaign, he's an absolute monarch, Mom is dead, he doesn't need to explain himself to anyone!

(If I were an absolute monarch, and raised as one, I very much fear I'd go "my way or the highway", too. Born mediators are rarely heirs to absolute thrones.)

Re: Derek Beales: Joseph II, Volume 1: In the Shadow of Maria Theresia 1741 - 1780

[mildred_of_midgard]

"Emperor Joseph is a philanthropist, he just can't stand people".

A less concise version, applied to Rousseau, makes it into that biography of Diderot I read a while back, and it made me laugh.

Throughout his writings, Rousseau had professored a love of humanity that knew no bounds; his real problem was getting along with actual humans, with their foibles, their inconsistencies, and their self-absorption, especialy when it got in the way of his own.

If I were an absolute monarch, and raised as one, I very much fear I'd go "my way or the highway", too. Born mediators are rarely heirs to absolute thrones.

Oh, god, I don't *fear* I would, I know I would! I've already gotten feedback at work about being too rigid and abrasive. I don't understand why everyone doesn't jump for joy at my proposed reforms. :P