Catherine the Great: Selected Letters by Andrew Kahn and Kelsey Rubin-Detlev (review)

Enlightenment intellectuals were fond of thinking of themselves collectively as a Republic of Letters for a good reason: they were prolific correspondents with other philosophes, diplomats, thinkers, scientists, and shapers of policy. Their literate community transcended national boundaries. One of the most heralded epistolary writers of the Enlightenment, Catherine the Great (1729–1796) penned at least 6,000 letters filled with political wit, irony, allusions to myth and history, and anecdotes from her personal life—stories of intrigue, affection, discontent, and at times love. Letters as a literary genre were considered a respectable art form, and Catherine’s are no exception in their carefully worked and artful framing of whatever information she deemed important.

Not being born Russian—originally Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst—made her acutely aware of suspicions against a foreigner. Her ability to handle conspiracies surrounding the palace and to stifle court whispers and outright challenges to her reign helped establish her as a strong ruler following her coup d’état of 1762, when she succeeded her weak husband Peter III—who died in mysterious circumstances after only a half year as emperor. He was almost certainly assassinated although Catherine was never directly implicated. Through this new volume of selected translated letters, readers can become acquainted with Catherine as a person of indisputable probity and a visionary leader. Her victories over the Ottomans (1768–92) and annexation of Crimea (1783) may not have completely won over the hearts of Russians, but certainly aided in garnering Russia’s respect as well as the acknowledgement of the rest of Europe, including heads of state who were recipients of her letters wherein her policy was meticulously framed and subsequently carried out by her appointed emissaries, bureaucrats, and armies. Extending Russia by nearly 200,000 square miles ensured her reputation as an ambitious ruler, which can also be glimpsed in her letters.

Catherine had studied and admired Classical authors such as Plutarch and Cicero, whose style she often imitated, and knew the work of German authors such as Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (Fables 1759, Laocoön 1767). She corresponded with contemporary luminaries including the mathematician and co-editor of the Encyclopédie, Jean Le Rond d’Alembert; Voltaire (enough letters to fill a volume on their own); linguist and literary critic Baron Friedrich Melchior Grimm; and writer Gabriel Sénac de Meilhan. She penned voluminous letters to royal kin such as her cousins Frederick II of Prussia and Gustav III of Sweden and to Prince Charles-Joseph de Ligne of Belgium, among many other diplomats. Her many letters to Russian confidants and amours like Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin are also revealing both for their guarded intimacy and political shrewdness.

Kahn’s and Rubin-Detlev’s volume of Catherine’s correspondence is ably divided into six chronological sections: Part I Mastering the Court (1743–1762); Part II The Culture of Letters (1762–1768); Part III Philosophy at War (1768–1774); Part IV Domestic Affairs (1775–1780); Part V Empire (1780–1787); and Part VI Embattled (1787–1796). This book is especially useful not only for the translation of her letters but also for the informative front and back matter: at the outset a helpful introduction; notes on text and translation; a select bibliography; a chronology of her life; and excellent explanatory notes following the text—arguably the best anywhere—and a biographical register of all selected correspondents and historical players mentioned in the letters. These added sections complement the letters and on their own add enormous value to this volume. The carefully selected letters in this volume offer valuable insights into Catherine’s immensely influential rule and showcase her intelligence, animated personality, and many-layered state policy.

A great example of her wit is her letter to Voltaire (# 49, Part III, pp. 88–89)—one of my favorites. Assessing other sovereign players during one of her Turkish campaigns, she writes: “Politicking when they ought to be making a profit...