(no subject)

[selenak]

I finally got the right idea about how to fulfill my Multiverse assignment, which together with the second essay I'm writing for idol_reflection leads me to rewatch lots of Star Trek. And oh, my. Is that little Kirsten Dunst in TNG's Dark Page? (Though you'll have to be familiar with theatrical_muse business to understand why this painted a smile on my face.)

Meanwhile, I also listened to an excellent audio version of a selection of letters by Liselotte von der Pfalz. That's the Princess Elisabeth Charlotte to non-Germans. She was Louis XIV.' sister-in-law, married to his younger brother after the later's first wife, Henriette, got poisoned (probably by one of his male lovers). Liselotte was made of sterner stuff. She coped with being forced to change her religion (though she never took to Catholicism), an openly queer husband who additionally was hogging the covers and made her sleep on the edge of the bed so she sometimes fell off (she minded that far more than she minded the male lovers); her home country, the Palatinate, being annexed in her name, which she hated and felt horrible about; the snigger of the court about her blunt manner and temper; and a feud with Madame de Maintenon, Louis' most influential mistress. Her over 4000 letters are immensely entertaining and witty and offer a great intimate look at the French court. They're translated, but the English excerpts I've read miss the vivacity of the original German. Liselotte wasn't writing in a "courtly" manner at all, and often used slang terms, whereas the English translations read far more standoffish. However, here are some links:

A short biography and bibliography in English, which has also some excerpts from her letters.


Excerpts from her letters arranged to form a memoir

And for those of you who do speak German:

Die Briefe.

Comments

[wychwood]

Liselotte - is she "Madame"? She's very cool.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Yes, she's Madame. (You've got to love the French for using Monsieur and Madame for the brother of the king and his wife respectively as the only title.*g*) And she is, isn't she? The recording was done by Christa Berndl, who is a great speaker.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

These are the letters from the Princesse Palatine, right? I always thought they were initially written in French - not so outlandish since many non-French 17th & 18th century Germans did so, including Frederick & Metternich.

(And I agree that they're wonderful!)

[syredronning.livejournal.com]

They were written in French, yes. Just found this link to the scanned originals:

http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/sammlung5/allg/werk.xml?docname=lise

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Not according to the edition I just read or rather, listened to; it says about 300 in French, the rest in German (the rest being the rest of 4000 or so)...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

She wrote both in French and in German, but the majority was in German.

[syredronning.livejournal.com]

Ich wundere mich total, dass diese Briefe nicht Teil des Gutenberg-Projektes o.ae. sind. Da gabs wohl eine Ausgabe von 1895, die muesste dafür doch eine gute Grundlage liefern...?