Aleksei Antipovich Potekhin
Aleksei Antipovich Potekhin was a notable 19th-century Russian writer and playwright, born in 1829 in Kineshma, Kostroma province. He emerged from a large family and received an education that culminated in a gold medal graduation from the Demidov Lycée. Initially working as an aide to a provincial governor, Potekhin transitioned to a writing career influenced by the vibrant literary circles in Moscow. His works primarily focused on peasant life, a subject often overlooked in his time, and he is recognized for integrating local color and folklore into his narratives.
Potekhin's first play, "Sud liudskoi—ne Bozhii," published in 1854, centered on peasant protagonists and was notable for its realistic portrayal of serfdom. His contributions also included novels and sketches that reflected similar themes, exemplifying his commitment to depicting the struggles of the lower classes and advocating for women's rights. Despite receiving mixed critical reception, Potekhin's influence reached prominent writers like Leo Tolstoy. Throughout his life, he experienced personal and professional challenges, including a decline in health, but his legacy in Russian literature, particularly regarding peasant drama, remains significant. He passed away in 1908, leaving behind a body of work largely untranslated and less known outside of Russia.
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Aleksei Antipovich Potekhin
Playwright
- Born: July 1, 1829
- Birthplace: Kineshma, Russia
- Died: October 16, 1908
Biography
Aleksei Antipovich Potekhin was born in 1829 at Kineshma, in the Kostroma province in Russia to Antip Makarovich Potekhin and Anfisa Alekseevna (née Iudina). His father was treasurer of the local district court. There were eleven children in this pious and formerly well-born family, and Potekhin was the second son. His mother homeschooled him until he went to a high school in Kineshma. He later attended the Demidov Lycée at Iaroslavl’, graduating in 1849 with a gold medal for his essay on guardianship. Soon after, he married Mariia Petrovna Kondrat’eva, with whom he had seven children.
Potekhin obtained a post as an aide to the provincial governor. A growing interest in writing, developed by frequent visits to Moscow and its literary circles, caused him to resign his post and relocate to Moscow around 1854. He managed to find sufficient employment to begin a writing career, although by the late 1850’s he had obtained a more settled post as estates manager to a mother and daughter in the villages of Gor’ky and Karabikha in Iaroslavl’ province. In 1869 he became a landowner in Mogilev province, where he remained until he was appointed manager of two theater companies in Moscow and St. Petersburg, a job he held until 1886. He then founded the Russian Theatrical Society, serving as its president for ten years. By 1901, Potekhin was a sick man, possibly struck by Parkinson’s disease. He died in 1908.
Potekhin’s writing is little known outside of Russia and remains largely untranslated. His greatest contribution to Russian literature was the promotion of peasant drama. In an age of serfdom, a form of virtual slavery, it was unheard of for playwrights to make peasants protagonists, and a number of Potekhin’s plays were banned for some years because they offended many people’s sensibilities. His first play, Sud liudskoi—ne Bozhii, published in 1854, is set entirely around the lives of peasants and is replete with local color, folklore, superstition, and folk customs. The play is the story of Matrena, whose parents object to her marrying her sweetheart, Ivan. Although her father later publicly repents, Matrena must look after him while Ivan goes off to join the army.
Potekhin wrote other full-length dramas and some, like Chuzhoe dobro v prok neidet (1855), are peasant in their plot and cast. Others, like Mishura (1858), deal with corruption in the bureaucracy, echoing scenes from Nicolai Gogol’s The Inspector General (1836), while others deal with the upper classes, as in Otrezannyi lomot’ (1865), about a tyrannical father. The latter play was banned for fifteen years.
Potekhin’s novels parallel his drama very closely, often reworking the same characters and settings. His first novel, Krest’ianka (1854), is about a serf girl who manages to obtain her freedom, becoming the adopted daughter of a German estate manager. Like Potekhin’s plays, this novel is filled with much local color. The girl’s first lover refuses her because of her social origins; at the end, the girl becomes the governess to the landowner’s children. Potekhin’s longest novel, Krushinsky, was published in 1857. It is about a young man who rises from modest origins to become a brilliant doctor and falls in love with a wealthy young noblewoman. He dies and her family is ruined by a trickster, condemning her to spinsterhood. Here Potekhin shows he can capture middle- and upper-class dialogue as effectively as peasant dialogue. Most of his other novels show a dramatist’s touch in their plots and reliance on dialogue.
Potekhin also wrote a large number of sketches about peasant life; indeed, this is how he came to the attention of the literary world. In 1856, Potekhin and several other writers were invited to take a trip down the Volga River, each being assigned to write about an area along the river. The best of his essays to derive from this trip was “Lov krasnoi ryby v Saratovskoi gubernii” (1857), about catching red fish in Saratov province.
Besides promoting peasant life as a fitting topic for Russian literature, Potekhin also advocated a greater position and freedom for women. Critical opinion is divided as to his literary merits, with some critics considering him a skillful local colorist and others deeming him a plagiarist and literary hack. However, major Russian writers such as Leo Tolstoy trusted Potekhin’s judgments and were influenced by his work.