Francis Skinner
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Francis Skinner (1912-1941) was Ludwig Wittgenstein's homosexual lover.
Francis was a student of Wittgenstein. Skinner molded his life to suit Ludwig's tastes: became a gardener and then mechanic, quit his studies in mathematics and philosophy, travelled to visit Wittgenstein in Norway. They travelled together often.
Francis gave Ludwig his heart and took the blame for all their romantic disagreements.
He wrote: "I'm thinking of you a lot. I also think often how lovely it was cleaning your room with you." And: "I thought of you a lot. I longed to have you with me. The night was very wonderful and the stars looked particularly beautiful. I longed to be able to feel everything in the way I would feel it if I was with you."
In 1934, attracted by John Maynard Keynes' description Short View of Russia, Wittgenstein conceived the idea of emigrating to the Soviet Union with his Skinner. They took lessons in Russian.
From 1936 to 1937, Wittgenstein lived again in Norway, leaving Skinner behind.
From the time of David Pinsent's death in 1918 onward, Wittgenstein became more and more isolated (Wittgenstein had been infatuated with Pinsent).
Skinner died young of polio in October 1941. Rush Rhees reports Wittgenstein's conduct at the funeral as that of a "frightened wild animal".
In winter of 1941, Wittgenstein wrote: "I think a lot about Francis, but always only with remorse over my lovelessness; not with gratitude. His life and death seem only to accuse me, for I was in the last 2 years of his life very often loveless and, in my heart, unfaithful to him. If he had not been so boundlessly gentle and true, I would have become totally loveless towards him."