#non-amrev

[your-disobedient-servant]

[Desfontaines], too, had a talent for annoying and he had a powerful weapon: Observations sur les écrits modernes, a literary review of which he was the editor. Voltaire, who so loved teasing, was himself a very satisfactory subject for it; he never failed, as schoolboys say, to rise. Not for him the curled lip and contemptuous silence; nobody has ever been so easily aroused to rage. He enjoyed a battle. He liked all forms of human relationship and in some ways his enemies were more necessary to him than his friends. Literary enmities were never lacking.

Voltaire in Love, Nancy Miterford

[your-disobedient-servant]

...mustard and peppercorns, what the actual fuck Fritz

[your-disobedient-servant]

@tabellae-rex-in-sui I’m not one of the anons but the whole affair made me laugh so hard in the morning I couldn’t not

sweatpants would explain why his portraits are from the waist up

[your-disobedient-servant]

Alright so I started reading Voltaire in Love because a light nonfiction book about a certain 18th century attention whore of epic proportions seemed like nothing but fun and so it is (the endless cycle of “is a dick -> exile or prison -> release -> repeat” is giving me life), but then I looked up Émilie du Châtelet and...she’s genuinely incredibly awesome all on her own and deserves to be talked about more? 

Like, just from wikipedia:

natural philosopher and mathematician

first woman to have a paper published by the Paris Academy

second woman member of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna

predicted infrared radiation

made a contribution to the study of kinetic energy

translated Newton's Principia into French, a translation still used today

wrote a critical analysis of the Bible

advocated for women’s education (duh)

etc etc

...and according to the book, she also had a pretty interesting personal life with multiple lovers. Which, to me, just adds to the interest. Either way I need to read more about her.

[your-disobedient-servant]

@twice-told-tales I’m so sorry

[your-disobedient-servant]

The first guest from the outside world to stay there for any length of time was a twenty-three-year-old Venetian, Algarotti. He had decided that he wished to live among eminent folk and to this end had wisely acquired a knowledge of science which opened doors to him all over Europe. His attraction for both sexes did the rest.

Voltaire in Love, Nancy Mitford

this one did me in, holy shit

[your-disobedient-servant]

Voltaire was allowed to go back to Paris at the end of March 1735. The Chief of Police, who had been at school with him, sent him this leave, and begged him, in future, to behave like a grown-up person.

Voltaire in Love, Nancy Miterford

Like two pages later: “Eschewing the advice of the Chief of Police and other friends to behave like a grown-up person...” 🤡🤡🤡

[your-disobedient-servant]

Voltaire engaged [Thieriot], on Frederick’s behalf, to write a regular letter of literary gossip to Berlin. As this did entail a little work and trouble he did it badly, though he kept it up in a desultory way for years. He never failed to include anything disagreeable that appeared about Voltaire, keenly gathering up all the most damaging libels against his old friend and benefactor in order to post them off to Frederick. Voltaire was aware of this, and sometimes said how pleased he would be if Thieriot would include the good things that were written about him. They were generally forgotten. It was understood that Frederick would pay Thieriot for his trouble, not at once, but on his accession to the throne. He never did.

Voltaire in Love, Nancy Mitford

they were a bunch of absolute clowns and I love them

(I’d also like to note Voltaire boasted about Fritz’s letters and shared them around, cause look a king noticed me, but corrected his terrible spelling...which he praised in the replies)