person
Lavretsky (Suvorin's pen name)
Lavretsky
also: Лаврецкий
A pen name Aleksei Suvorin used for his own fiction, including the "frightening" horror-tale genre discussed in this letter. Chekhov urges Suvorin to sign an upcoming story with his real name rather than this pseudonym, predicting it will read better and sell better under "A. Suvorin" than under "Lavretsky." Distinct from (Fyodor Ivanych Lavretsky, the protagonist of Turgenev's A Nest of Gentlefolk) and from (Nikolai Alexandrovich Lavretsky, born Rakshanin, an unrelated critic's pen name); the surname is shared by coincidence across all three, not by allusion.
Reading notes
- To A. S. Suvorin, 15 December 1891. Moscow. §3 Lavretsky
Suvorin's pen name for his own fiction, including the "frightening" tale genre under discussion here. Chekhov urges him to sign his real name, A. Suvorin, instead -- predicting a wider readership and a salable book from a dozen such stories. Coincidentally shares its surname with Turgenev's Fyodor Ivanych Lavretsky and with the unrelated critic's pseudonym, first attested at; neither connection is implied here.