person
Yelizaveta Alekseyevna Naryshkina
Naryshkina
also: Нарышкина, Е. А. Нарышкина
Yelizaveta Alekseyevna Naryshkina, a lady of the Petersburg court circle (a former maid of honor / lady-in-waiting to the Empress) whom Chekhov and Koni planned to visit together to ask her to intercede with the Empress on behalf of a shelter for children on Sakhalin. (where Chekhov reports receiving Koni's letter proposing the Sakhalin conversation) and (where Chekhov later regrets not having called on her, preferring to wait until his Sakhalin book is out).
Reading notes
- To the Chekhovs, 18 January 1891. Petersburg. §3 Naryshkina, to ask her to speak to the Empress about the Sakhalin children
Yelizaveta Alekseyevna Naryshkina was a lady of the Petersburg court circle whose access to the Empress made her a useful intermediary for Chekhov's ongoing campaign, alongside the jurist Koni, to raise support and funding for Sakhalin's children in the wake of his 1890 journey there. (Chekhov's receipt of Koni's letter proposing the visit) and (a later letter in which Chekhov regrets not having called on her after all).
- To A. F. Koni, 26 January 1891. Petersburg. §6 I am sorry I did not call on Madame Naryshkina
A change of plan from (\S3), where Chekhov and Koni had arranged to call together on Yelizaveta Alekseyevna Naryshkina to enlist her in approaching the Empress about a shelter for Sakhalin's children; here Chekhov explains he preferred to put the visit off until his Sakhalin book is out and he can speak of the material with more command.