I have indeed been following at least some of this stuff about the Danish kings and their favorites, and found it interesting, but haven't gotten around to commenting yet! Although I haven't quite kept up with all the comments.
It's all sort of like watching a trainwreck, with the people involved mostly having good intentions, or at least not bad ones? But not the best mental health...
I don't know that I can commit to reading a whole book about it in Danish, though! I mean, I have read a book in Danish once, and it was quite possible for me, but also much more work than reading a book in Swedish. Hmm, I do have a Danish brother-in-law who is interested in history, but he also has two small kids, so I probably couldn't draft him into this...
ETA: And I have received Mildred's list of Finnish sex machine sources! Will eventually report back...
Edited 2023-02-18 21:59 (UTC)
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
It's all sort of like watching a trainwreck, with the people involved mostly having good intentions, or at least not bad ones? But not the best mental health...
It is SUCH a trainwreck! Even Struensee, who had good mental health, made some poor choices with his good intentions, and it's so very train-wrecky.
I don't know that I can commit to reading a whole book about it in Danish, though!
I was not expecting any such thing! That's why I was half-seriously trying to see if I could teach myself Danish based off of German. (Spoiler: it's both easier and harder than expected. Definitely not doable in one day, though!)
Though honestly, the majority of the monograph is probably of less interest. I don't care about Moltke's patronizing of the arts, or his leadership of the Asiatic Company, or his work as an estate owner. I really only care about his personal life. And that has me thinking maybe I should buy the book after all and Google translate just the relevant chapter(s), as I am doing with Holm's magnum opus on Danish history.
The biggest problem is that it wouldn't arrive until March, at which point there's a 90% chance I won't care enough to prioritize it. So thus far I have resisted the urge to buy a copy.
Hmm, I do have a Danish brother-in-law who is interested in history, but he also has two small kids, so I probably couldn't draft him into this...
So while I have 100% discovered that the way to learn history is to draft people (Selena, Felis, you, Prinzsorgenfrei) into reading the things you cannot read or sometimes even the things you don't want to read, I am not asking anyone to read a monograph on Moltke for me! If nothing else, a random stranger probably won't pick up on the parts that are of interest to salon specifically; we'd presumably be better off with Google translate.
But that is very interesting that you have a brother who likes history. What period(s) is he into, and would salon be of any interest to him even without being drafted into reading and writing up a specific book? cahn, who also has two kids, enjoys following the conversations even without doing much reading and reporting back. (God knows even I, without any kids, have to drop out of actively participating in a bunch of conversations, like Louis XIV and Byzantium, no matter how much I enjoy reading along with them.) And he might know random things off the top of his head that we don't know.
ETA: And I have received Mildred's list of Finnish sex machine sources! Will eventually report back...
We look forward to it! But no rush, everyone is busy. I have 3? 4 now? languages I'm trying to study. I might do the thing with Danish that worked so well with French that I'm now doing it with Italian: read one paragraph a day and see what happens.
And I still want to write up the Duke of Parma monograph, especially as the Danish developments made me think of it and want to do a compare-and-contrast!
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
My kids aren't really that small anymore, though! On the other hand, I actually have less time to post in salon as a result -- when salon started, they went to bed a good hour earlier and I had what now seems like SO much more time in the evenings. And E, as she gets older, seems to consume more of my evening hours in other ways -- math team prep easily takes a couple of evenings a week when I let it, and there are a couple of other things like that, whereas at A's age there's not as much stuff like that. (except omg summer camp registration is coming up, ugh.)
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
Er, I take it back about my brother-in-law! I realized that I don't want him to read my fanfic...not that anything terrible would happen, I would just prefer that he didn't.
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
Haha, this is why I gave a talk to my extended family about Frederick the Great but, uh, didn't point them to salon AT ALL. I prefer to keep my fandom life separate from my family... :)
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
Whereas if someone speaks a language I don't, I am willing to direct them here! I have been asking around (unsuccessfully) for French speakers, and I have my eye on a new coworker who majored in Russian and seems intellectually curious, although no background in history.
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
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Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
It's all sort of like watching a trainwreck, with the people involved mostly having good intentions, or at least not bad ones? But not the best mental health...
I don't know that I can commit to reading a whole book about it in Danish, though! I mean, I have read a book in Danish once, and it was quite possible for me, but also much more work than reading a book in Swedish. Hmm, I do have a Danish brother-in-law who is interested in history, but he also has two small kids, so I probably couldn't draft him into this...
ETA: And I have received Mildred's list of Finnish sex machine sources! Will eventually report back...
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
It is SUCH a trainwreck! Even Struensee, who had good mental health, made some poor choices with his good intentions, and it's so very train-wrecky.
I don't know that I can commit to reading a whole book about it in Danish, though!
I was not expecting any such thing! That's why I was half-seriously trying to see if I could teach myself Danish based off of German. (Spoiler: it's both easier and harder than expected. Definitely not doable in one day, though!)
Though honestly, the majority of the monograph is probably of less interest. I don't care about Moltke's patronizing of the arts, or his leadership of the Asiatic Company, or his work as an estate owner. I really only care about his personal life. And that has me thinking maybe I should buy the book after all and Google translate just the relevant chapter(s), as I am doing with Holm's magnum opus on Danish history.
The biggest problem is that it wouldn't arrive until March, at which point there's a 90% chance I won't care enough to prioritize it. So thus far I have resisted the urge to buy a copy.
Hmm, I do have a Danish brother-in-law who is interested in history, but he also has two small kids, so I probably couldn't draft him into this...
So while I have 100% discovered that the way to learn history is to draft people (Selena, Felis, you, Prinzsorgenfrei) into reading the things you cannot read or sometimes even the things you don't want to read, I am not asking anyone to read a monograph on Moltke for me! If nothing else, a random stranger probably won't pick up on the parts that are of interest to salon specifically; we'd presumably be better off with Google translate.
But that is very interesting that you have a brother who likes history. What period(s) is he into, and would salon be of any interest to him even without being drafted into reading and writing up a specific book?
ETA: And I have received Mildred's list of Finnish sex machine sources! Will eventually report back...
We look forward to it! But no rush, everyone is busy. I have 3? 4 now? languages I'm trying to study. I might do the thing with Danish that worked so well with French that I'm now doing it with Italian: read one paragraph a day and see what happens.
And I still want to write up the Duke of Parma monograph, especially as the Danish developments made me think of it and want to do a compare-and-contrast!
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Christian VII