person
Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin
Potemkin
also: Потемкин, Potyomkin
Prince Grigory Potemkin (1739-1791), the eighteenth-century Russian statesman, military commander, and favorite of Catherine the Great. Not a contemporary of Chekhov's and not otherwise a figure in this correspondence; invoked only for a one-off bilingual pun in this letter (\S5), where Chekhov jokes that Potekhin wants to prove to Shcheglov that "I am not Chekhov, but Potemkin," playing on the near-rhyme between his own surname and the prince's, to suggest self-deprecatingly that he is being flattered or promoted beyond his due. Distinct from the playwright Alexei Potekhin, the actual subject of the sentence, whose name is the pun's other half.
Reading notes
- To I. L. Leontyev, 18 February 1889. Moscow. §6 I am no Potemkin, but a Cincinnatus.
Potemkin, the grandiose, luxury-loving favorite of Catherine the Great, is set against Cincinnatus, the legendary Roman farmer-statesman who twice returned to his plow rather than keep power -- Chekhov casts himself as the latter, content with rural simplicity over theatrical glory. See also in this same entry.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 20 February 1889. Moscow. §4 that's a certainty, since I'm a Potemkin
A bilingual near-rhyme pun on Chekhov's own surname and that of Prince Grigory Potemkin, reused here as a stock self-mocking flourish of grandiose (and plainly ironic) confidence about winning a lottery; compare the same pun's earlier appearances at (\S5, "I am not Chekhov but Potemkin") and (\S6, "I am no Potemkin, but a Cincinnatus") -- see allusions.json for the cross-letter pattern.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 11 April 1889. Moscow. §3 Prince Potemkin
Chekhov opens in a running private persona with Suvorin, addressing him as "Your Excellency" and casting himself as the historical Prince Grigory Potemkin, Catherine the Great's grandee favorite -- a joke on Suvorin's teasing that Chekhov's growing literary success has made him grand and unreachable. The same persona closes the letter with the signature "Potemkin." (\S13).
- To I. L. Leontyev, 6 May 1889. Sumy. §14 Potemkin.
The letter's mock-signature, reusing the established comic "Potemkin" persona -- the bilingual near-rhyme pun on Chekhov's own surname against Prince Grigory Potemkin, Catherine the Great's eighteenth-century favorite -- first set up at and recurring as a stock self-mocking sign-off at, and. Reuses the existing entity; no new entity created for this recurrence of the running joke.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 14 May 1889. Sumy. §13 Your Potemkin.
Chekhov's own recurring joking signature in letters to Suvorin, already attested elsewhere in this corpus; an ironic self-styling as a grandee after Catherine the Great's favorite Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin, not a literal reference to any contemporary.
- To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 14 September 1889. Moscow. §13 Your Antoine, otherwise known as Potemkin.
The recurring comic "Potemkin" sign-off -- see allusions.json for the fuller running-joke history across this correspondence (established with Suvorin, here redeployed with Pleshcheyev). "Antoine" is Chekhov's own name Frenchified, continuing the mock-grandee affectation begun by the closing pun.
- To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 14 September 1889. Moscow. §14 Address: Tavrida, the bedchamber of Catherine II.
The punchline of the Potemkin joke: a mock mailing address placing Chekhov, in his assumed Potemkin persona, in the private bedchamber of Catherine the Great (Екатерина II) -- alluding to Potemkin's historical status as Catherine's favorite and, by extension, presumed lover. "Таврида" (Tavrida/Tauris) refers to the Tauride Palace (Таврический дворец) in St. Petersburg, built for and granted to Potemkin by Catherine in commemoration of his 1783 annexation of Crimea (ancient Tauris); see allusions.json for the fuller historical gloss.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 20 December 1889. Moscow. §2 a life of Potemkin
"житие Потемкина" ("a life of Potemkin"), one of the miscellaneous commissioned/hack pieces Chekhov lists dismissively among his own output; almost certainly a reference to a commissioned biographical piece on Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin (1739--1791), the eighteenth-century statesman and favorite of Catherine the Great, already established elsewhere in this corpus (first appearance) -- not a personal acquaintance of Chekhov's, and not to be confused with the racehorse mentioned in a different, unrelated 1889 letter.