Biography of Teffi. Russian writer and poet Teffi: stories, film adaptations of works. Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya: biography, personal life, creativity. Young years. Sister

Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya, aka Teffi, was born in 1872 under a lucky star.
She was lucky with her family. Father, Alexander Vladimirovich Lokhvitsky, was a famous lawyer, a book lover, and a man with an amazing sense of humor. Mother, Varvara Aleksandrovna Goyer, had French roots and knew European and Russian literature very well. Your love for artistic expression parents passed it on to their children.

Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya was lucky when she entered literature. Early 20th century women's emancipation led to many women taking up the pen. Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Zinaida Gippius and others made themselves known loudly. Men had to make room on the poetic Olympus.

Nadezhda did not want to compete with her older sister Maria (pseudonym Mirra Lokhvitskaya), whose poems had already become a noticeable phenomenon in the poetry of the Silver Age. She took a different route. Along the road that A.P. Chekhov paved with his short stories 80s.
I started with miniatures and feuilletons that were published in newspapers. And then her literary life almost ended, just as it had begun. A.I. Kuprin, who was an unquestioned authority for the young writer, criticized her yuletide story, published in the newspaper "News".
“It’s a very bad story,” he said with conviction. - Stop writing. Such a sweet woman, but you are no writer. Never mind this matter.
Nadezhda Alexandrovna was about to do just that, but… the shoes intervened. She really wanted to buy shoes from Weiss for twelve rubles. I decided to write a story for the last time for the sake of money. I gave it to “Monday”, I thought: no one would notice. After some time I met Kuprin.
- What a good write-up. My dear, clever girl,” he rejoiced noisily.
She believed him and began to write further under the pseudonym Nadezhda Teffi.

Real fame came to her in 1910 after the publication of the first volume of “ Humorous stories».
Why was she noticed? Because Nadezhda Teffi spoke simply, figuratively and very funnyly about something close and understandable to everyone. About love, about service, about art, about money, about religion and much more. The following became fans of the young writer’s work: different people, like Nicholas II and Lenin, Ivan Bunin and Fyodor Sologub.

The second volume of Teffi's Humorous Stories consolidated its success. The two-volume book was reprinted ten times!
It became clear that Russian humor has not only a king, Arkady Averchenko, but also a queen, Nadezhda Teffi. Judging by how willingly Averchenko published Teffi’s stories in his Satyricon, he also understood this.
The next forty years of creative activity proved that Nadezhda Teffi rightfully wears the crown. She prepared more than thirty collections for publication. No one counted reprints, including pirated ones.

Quantity is good, but what is the quality of Teffi’s works?
Let's turn to her famous story"Life and Collar".
It talks about how buying a collar with a yellow ribbon changed the heroine's life. A small object enslaved a woman. He demanded a change of clothing, furniture and even behavior. “She had never been anywhere before, but now the collar stuck around her neck and went on a visit. There he behaved cheekily to the point of indecency and turned her head left and right.” A piece of cloth turned an honest wife into a liar. As a result, "the family boat crashed on" ... the collar.
Fantastic story? Certainly! But the real lesson comes from it: don’t let external forces control your life.
Agree that the idea is very relevant in the 21st century. Only instead of a collar we have mobile Internet.

Teffi does not force her thoughts on the reader. She simply shows life through a funny situation, and he draws his own conclusions. The absence of moralizing and ideological dogmas is a big plus of her humor.
But let’s return to the story “Life and the Collar.” It puts serious content into a light, elegant form. Basic artistic device- irony.
“But one day she went to Gostiny Dvor and, looking at the window of a textile store, saw a starched ladies’ collar with a yellow ribbon threaded through it.
As an honest woman, at first she thought: “They just made it up!” Then I went in and bought it.”
The author describes the spineless Olechka with irony, but good-natured laughter gives way to sarcasm when it comes to her torn collar.
“The student with the collar didn’t pay any attention to her. They drank liquor, spoke vulgarities and kissed.”
To be fair, it should be noted that Teffi rarely resorts to sarcasm. Otherwise it would be satirical stories. She is more characterized by gentle humor. And this is captivating. It even seems that Teffi sympathizes with her ridiculous heroes.

In the story “Dexterity of Hands,” she describes how “the fakir of black and white magic” cannot perform a single trick. This “shabby gentleman” evokes not contempt in us, but pity, because he “everywhere... since the morning... has not eaten.” And we, together with Teffi, are against the public, which intends to “inflate” the unfortunate magician.

And in the work “Repentant Fate,” a young and sentimental actress asks the author of the play to feel sorry for the hero. She says:
- You know what: give him an inheritance. Well, at least a small one, two hundred rubles, so that he could continue his honest life and start some business. I’m not asking for much - only two hundred rubles for the first time - then he will get on his feet, and then there is no longer any fear for him.
A female playwright promises a girl to remake the play and make the loser happy. But at the same time she has a face: “I won’t say which one.”
By the way, Teffi herself, when she was still a girl, wanted to ask Leo Tolstoy not to kill Andrei Bolkonsky. But when meeting with the venerable writer, she was embarrassed to express her request and limited herself to an autograph.

As we can see, Teffi, not only on paper, but also in life, was a kind and pleasant person. Here's how Irina Odoevtseva speaks about her:
“Taffy, who is so rare among comedians, was full of humor and fun in life. “Giving a person the opportunity to laugh,” she explained, “is no less important than giving alms to a beggar. Or a piece of bread. If you laugh, hunger won’t torment you so much...” Not a single meeting with her was complete without laughter, even in the darkest days. Seeing her from afar, I already began to smile - it was always pleasant and fun with her everywhere.”
Even the bilious Ivan Bunin finds kind words for Teffi:
- “... I repeat, I swear to God, I have always, always marveled at you - never in my entire life have I met someone like you! And what a true happiness it is that God let me know you.”
In both word and deed, Teffi helped people. During the First World War, she worked as a nurse at the front. Once in exile, she actively helped her compatriots who found themselves in a difficult situation after fleeing revolutionary Russia. She performed at “helping evenings” and collected money for the F. Chaliapin Foundation.
Goodwill multiplied by talent has always been Teffi’s formula for success in life.
After leaving Russia in 1919, she quickly settled into her new life. Already in 1921, new collections of Teffi’s humorous stories were published in Stockholm, Berlin, and Paris. According to eyewitnesses, the fees allowed her to always remain a “lady.” Fashionable clothes and hairstyle were always the perfect complement to her natural beauty. Teffi's house in Paris "was put on a master's footing."
But to live like this in a foreign country, you had to work a lot.
Teffi's works from the 20s to the 40s can be divided into two groups: about emigration and about life in pre-revolutionary Russia.

Stories about emigration.

The confusion of people who find themselves in a foreign land is well shown in the story “Ke fer?” (French: What to do?)
This question is asked by an old general who looks at the beauty of Paris and thinks about what he will do here.
The following is a description of emigrant circles. The Lerusse, that is, the Russians, hate each other. And only “mutual repulsion connects them.” What are they doing? Some are selling Russia, while others are saving it. The first one has a better life.
How does Paris feel about Lerusse?
- What about Paris? Paris, it is known, is like a dog on the Seine. What to him! – Teffi concludes bitterly.

The same idea about the isolation of the Russian diaspora in France is repeated in the story “Town”. It's sad to read this miniature.
“The location of the town was very strange. He was not surrounded by fields, not by forests, not by valleys, but by the streets of the most brilliant capital of the world, with wonderful museums, galleries, and theaters. But the residents of the town did not merge or mix with the residents of the capital and did not enjoy the fruits of a foreign culture. They even started their own shops.”
At first the Parisians looked at the newcomers with interest, as if they were Aztecs, but then they stopped.

In the story “Raw Material,” this dissonant word is used to describe soft-bodied Russians who often do not know how to resist circumstances. Reproach is felt in such a generalization.
Agree: the tone of the works has become completely different. If before emigration Teffi’s stories sounded like laughter leading to tears, now it’s laughter through tears. Life made its own adjustments.

However, when it came to the fate of a specific Russian person, the sarcasm disappeared. Sympathetic notes appeared instead.
This is how the story “Markita” talks about the fate of the emigrant Sashenka. She is a single mother. He works in an establishment where the waitresses are “all governor’s daughters.” And although she works tirelessly, her son is still “blue” from malnutrition. Timid, shy Sashenka is tired of struggling with need. She decided to follow the advice of an experienced woman and find herself a protective husband. But she was told that she would only succeed if she was like Carmen.
When a Tatar millionaire became interested in her, Sashenka began to play the role of a fatal beauty.
-Are you capable of madness? – she asked, narrowing her eyes languidly.
- I don’t know, I didn’t have to. I lived in the province.
- Ha ha! I love songs, dancing, wine, revelry. Ho! You don't know me yet!
After this meeting the Tatar disappeared.
- There was a mistake. It’s over,” he explains.
It turns out that he was not looking for a femme fatale, but a good wife and mother. Sasha was exactly like that.

Stories about life in pre-revolutionary Russia.

Teffi herself valued the 1936 collection “The Witch” most of all that she wrote in exile. The name itself suggests that the stories in it are of a mystical nature. The heroes seem to have come out of the pagan past of Rus'.

So in the story “The Witch” the maid Ustinya looks like an evil witch. Everyone perceives the broom she puts down as a threat and an invitation to “get out” of the house. The thirteenth chair placed by Ustya led to panic and the owners abandoning the apartment.

Superstitious fears and mystical coincidences are also shown in the story “The Mermaid”. Corneille's maid behaves strangely and frighteningly while bathing. And when she drowned herself from unhappy love, everyone perceived this step as returning her to her native element.

Yadi’s behavior in the story “Leshachikha” also seems frightening. It seems that this woman with the “mustachioed face” has conjured up misfortune for her father.
These scary stories are more suitable for horror movie lovers.

But at the same time, Teffi wrote in her usual way, softly and cheerfully.
Living on the banks of the Seine, Teffi was mentally transported to the banks of the Neva. She recalled her childhood, her sisters, studying at the gymnasium, her first love interests, her children, even her neighbor and his dog. The titles of the stories speak for themselves: “Happy”, “About Tenderness”, “Love and Spring”... These works are more like lyrical miniatures.

But the collection “All About Love” is an example of real humor. Here we, of course, will not find images of Turgenev’s girls and descriptions of all-consuming love. More often than not, Teffi’s stories are about easy relationships.
The first story in the collection is called “Flirting.”
A hero named Platonov simultaneously woos two women. Both seriously believe that his feelings are sincere. Parting with the captain, he tells her:
- Don't forget my phone number. You don't even have to say your name. I recognize you by your voice.
After some time, she called him and did not introduce herself.
I didn't recognize it! And she silently hung up.
Another story with a promising title, “About Eternal Love.” It happens on a train. Travel companions - he and she. She immediately talks about her love to the grave for her husband. He admits that “eternal love has not yet turned up.” Relationships are still being established. Tired of the passionate love of his lady, he is forced to write a telegram to himself with an order from his wife to urgently return home.

Teffi's story "A Woman's Share" is also very funny.
“Psychologically confused ladies,” that is, women abandoned by men, always resort to the smart Margarita Nikolaevna. She gives everyone one piece of advice:
- Never mind, that’s all.
Helps everyone.

Another group of Teffi's stories deserves attention. These are stories about animals: cats, dogs, a bear. IN recent years throughout her life, and Teffi died in 1952, she most loved to write about little brothers.

Let us remember the story “The Noble Father”.
This St. Petersburg story talks about a poodle named Gavrilych.
“He was not simple, but a scientist. He knew how to do all sorts of poodle things - he jumped, threw a piece of sugar on his nose, served, pretended to be dead, in a word, he was a jack of all trades.”
Gavrilych was even trusted to carry buns in a basket. And suddenly one bun began to disappear. Tracked down: he gave it to suckling puppies. Apparently, my father's conscience jumped into action.
“He stole for some time, and then returned to the path of honor. Obviously, he got his guys back on their feet and stopped paying child support.”

This poodle story is interesting not only in content, but in form. “Laughing words,” - this is what M. Zoshchenko called the lexical secret of Teffi. Her artistic technique is not even a metaphor, not an epithet, not a hyperbole, but something that cannot be defined. Maybe this play on words is based on a paradox, like Kozma Prutkov’s?
The magic of words is felt in the expressions: “jack of all trades”, “collar life”, “demonic woman”, “not drunk, not eaten” and many others.

While we were talking about Teffi as the author of humorous stories, her talent also had other facets.
That's what she wrote literary portraits Lenin, Rasputin, Bunin, Kuprin, Gippius, Merezhkovsky, Balmont and others famous people. She didn’t do it sweetly, but honestly. Some turned out to be short-sighted, some evil, some inattentive, but everyone turned out to be living people with advantages and disadvantages.
Peru Teffi owns the plays " Women's question», « Happy love", "Credited" and others.

Teffi also wrote poetry, including humorous ones. For example, the poem “Poor Azra”. It tells how a young maiden mistook an secret police agent for a secret admirer.
Teffi also had lyrical poems. Let us remember the poem “God has a blessed garden in heaven.” The description of God's garden ends with these lines:
And purer than lilies, brighter than a languid rose
Blooms alone, immortal and tall -
Earthly love, desecrated and dark,
Blessed, joyful flower.

It seems that Nadezhda Teffi, the queen of Russian humor, was such an immortal and joyful flower.

Teffi is a writer who has worked in a variety of literary genres. Both the last Russian Tsar and the leader of the world proletariat read her works. Modern Readers They recognize themselves and their friends in shopping-loving philistines and love-sick nobles. The biography of the writer, whose language and characters have not become outdated in 100 years, is full of mysteries and hoaxes.

Childhood and youth

Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya (real name and surname of the most successful “satirist in a skirt”) was born in the city on the Neva in the spring of 1872. There is debate about the exact date of birth, as well as about how many children there were in the family. It is documented that Nadya had one younger (Lena) and three older (Varya, Lida and Masha) sisters and one older brother (Kolya).

The father of the future writer was a specialist in constitutional law and successfully combined the roles of lawyer, professor, and literary popularizer of jurisprudence, i.e., he occupied approximately the same position as 120 years later or. Mother had French roots. When Nadya was 12 years old, the father of the family died.

Teffi during the First World War / Argus Magazine, LiveJournal

Nadine’s great-grandfather Konrad (Kondraty) Lokhvitsky wrote mystical poems, and the family legend told of a magical gift that is passed on only through the male line, and if a lady takes possession of it, she will pay for it with personal happiness. girl with early years she loved books and even tried to change the fate of the characters: in her youth, Nadya went to and asked the writer not to take his life. Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya’s first poems were born while she was studying at the gymnasium.

The girl was not a beauty and married the first suitor. The marriage with Vladimir Buchinsky brought Nadezhda two daughters - Lera and Lena and a son, Yanek, but the “demonic woman” turned out to be an unkind mother. Having lived to the age of 28, Lokhvitskaya left her husband. Buchinsky, in retaliation, deprived Nadya of communication with the children.

Books

Separated from her offspring, Lokhvitskaya, unlike, did not throw herself under the train, but returned to her youthful dream of literature and in 1901 made her debut in the magazine “North” with the poem “I had a crazy and beautiful dream.” By the time the work was published, the aspiring writer’s sister, Maria, was already a famous poetess, working under the pseudonym Mirra Lokhvitskaya. Nadezhda thought about the original literary name.

The Lokhvitskys did not accept the October Revolution. Brother Nikolai became an associate, and Nadezhda Alexandrovna immigrated to Paris through Odessa and Constantinople. Life in a foreign land was not sweet, but Teffi’s gift of foresight and determination probably saved the writer from death in the Bolshevik dungeons.

Personal life

The writer sought to remain a mystery and limited journalists’ access to her personal life, and when asked about her age, she answered that she felt like 13 years old. It is known that the woman was fond of mysticism and was very fond of cats, especially her last pet, who suffered from obesity. IN mature years Teffi tried to establish communication with the older children, but of the three offspring, only the eldest Valeria made contact.

Documentary"Women in Russian History: Teffi"

Readers who were eager to meet the queen of Russian-language humor were disappointed when communicating with Teffi - the idol had a melancholic and irritable character. However, the writer was kind and generous with her fellow writers. Created by Teffi in the French capital literary salon became a center of attraction for Russian emigrants; its regulars were the witty Don Aminado and the prose writer.

The second husband, the son of a former Kaluga manufacturer, Pavel Aleksandrovich Thixton, managed to get along with a lady who knew her worth and was very absent-minded in everyday life. Nadezhda Alexandrovna considered her second husband the best person on earth, and when illness immobilized him, she touchingly looked after her husband. In the last years of the writer’s life, philanthropist S.S. Atran took care of her financial support.

Death

Rumors about the death of Teffi, who survived the fascist occupation of France, were in the air long before Nadezhda Alexandrovna passed away. In the 40s of the 20th century, Mikhail Tsetlin published an obituary in memory of the writer. But Teffi died only in 1952, having managed to create essays about familiar celebrities and a series of stories about animals before passing into eternity.

Wikipedia

The cause of death was an attack of angina pectoris. Nadezhda Teffi's grave is located in the Parisian cemetery of Saint Genevieve.

Bibliography

• 1910 – “Seven Fires”
• 1912 – “And so it became”
• 1913 – “Eight Miniatures”
• 1914 – “Smoke without fire”
• 1920 – “This is how we lived”
• 1921 – “Treasures of the Earth”
• 1923 – “Shamran. Songs of the East"
• 1926 – “Instead of Politics”
• 1931 – “Adventure novel”
• 1931 – “Memories”
• 1936 – “The Witch”
• 1938 – “About Tenderness”
• 1946 – “All about love”
• 1952 – “Earthly Rainbow”

Biography

Teffi (real name - Lokhvitskaya) Nadezhda Aleksandrovna (1872 - 1952), prose writer.

She was born on May 9 (21 n.s.) on her parents’ estate in the Volyn province into a noble professorial family. She received an excellent education at home.

She began publishing in 1901, and in her first literary experiments the main features of her talent were revealed: “she loved to draw caricatures and write satirical poems.”

In 1905 - 07 she collaborated in various satirical magazines and newspapers, publishing poems, humorous stories, feuilletons, which were very popular among the mass reader.

In 1908, from the moment of the founding of the Satyricon magazine by A. Averchenko, Teffi became, together with Sasha Cherny, a permanent contributor to the magazine. In addition, she was a regular contributor to the newspapers Birzhevye Vedomosti and Russkoe Slovo and other publications.

In 1910, two volumes of Teffi’s “Humorous Stories” were published, which had great success with readers and evoked positive responses in the press. This was followed by the collections “And it became so...” (1912); "Smoke without Fire" (1914); "The Unliving Beast" (1916). She wrote both critical articles and plays.

October Revolution did not accept and emigrated in 1920, settling in Paris. Collaborated in newspapers " Latest news", "Renaissance", performed feuilletons denouncing the futility of the existence of emigrants: "Ours abroad" and "Ke-fer?" A. Kuprin, who appreciated Teffi’s talent, noted her inherent “impeccability of the Russian language, ease and variety of turns of speech.” Teffi did not express hostility towards Soviet Union, but did not return to her homeland. She spent her last years in poverty and loneliness. She died on October 6, 1952 in Paris.

Teffi Nadezhda Aleksandrovna (1872 - 1952), prose writer, poetess, Russian writer, translator, memoirist. Real name is Lokhvitskaya.

Nadezhda Alexandrovna was born into a noble, professorial family on April 24 (May 6) in the Volyn province. According to other sources, in St. Petersburg. She received a very good education at home at the gymnasium on Liteiny Prospekt. Her first work was published in 1901. The main features of his talent (drawing caricatures and writing satirical poems) could be seen from his first literary experiments.

In 1905-1907 actively collaborated with various satirical newspapers and magazines, in which she published humorous stories, poems, and feuilletons, which were extremely popular among readers. Since the founding of the magazine “Satyricon” (1908), the prose writer, together with Sasha Cherny, has become a permanent collaborator. Teffi was also a regular contributor to many other publications, including the newspapers Russkoe Slovo and Birzhevye Vedomosti.

In 1910, two volumes of “Humorous Stories” were published, which were a success among readers, and, in addition, caused good responses in the press. Later in 1912-1916. The collections “Smoke without Fire”, “And It Became So...” and “The Lifeless Beast” were released. Teffi also wrote critical plays and articles.

In 1920 she emigrated to Paris. Teffi collaborated with such newspapers as “Vozrozhdenie” and “Last News”. With the help of feuilletons, she exposed the absolutely hopeless existence of emigrants: “Ke-fer?” and “Ours Abroad.” She never returned to her homeland. She spent her last years of life alone. In Paris, on October 6, 1952, Nadezhda Alexandrovna died.

Teffi (real name Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya, married Buchinskaya; May 9 (21), 1872, St. Petersburg - October 6, 1952, Paris) - Russian writer and poetess, memoirist, translator, author of such famous stories, like "Demonic Woman" and "Kefer". After the revolution she emigrated. Sister of the poetess Mirra Lokhvitskaya and military leader Nikolai Alexandrovich Lokhvitsky.

Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya was born on May 9 (21), 1872 in St. Petersburg (according to other sources in the Volyn province) in the family of lawyer Alexander Vladimirovich Lokhvitsky (1830-1884). She studied at the gymnasium on Liteiny Prospekt.

French indecency is piquant, but Russian is offensive to the ear.

Teffi Nadezhda Alexandrovna

In 1892, after the birth of her first daughter, she settled with her first husband, Vladislav Buchinsky, on his estate near Mogilev. In 1900, after the birth of her second daughter Elena and son Janek, she separated from her husband and moved to St. Petersburg, where she began literary career.

Published since 1901. In 1910, the first book of poems, “Seven Lights,” and the collection “Humorous Stories” were published by the publishing house “Rosehipnik.”

She was known for her satirical poems and feuilletons, and was a member of the permanent staff of the Satyricon magazine. Teffi's satire was often very original; Thus, the poem “From Mickiewicz” of 1905 is based on the parallel between the well-known ballad of Adam Mickiewicz “The Voivode” and a specific, topical event that occurred recently. Teffi’s stories were systematically published in such authoritative Parisian newspapers and magazines as “The Coming Russia”, “Link”, “Russian Notes”, “Modern Notes”. Nicholas II was a fan of Teffi, and sweets were named after Teffi. At Lenin’s suggestion, stories from the 1920s, which described the negative aspects of emigrant life, were published in the USSR in the form of pirated collections until the writer made a public accusation.

After the closure of the newspaper “Russian Word” in 1918, where she worked, Teffi went to Kyiv and Odessa with literary performances. This trip brought her to Novorossiysk, from where in the summer of 1919 she went to Turkey. In the fall of 1919 she was already in Paris, and in February 1920 in Paris literary magazine Two of her poems appeared, and in April she organized a literary salon. In 1922-1923 she lived in Germany.

From the mid-1920s she lived in a de facto marriage with Pavel Andreevich Thixton (d. 1935).

She died on October 6, 1952 in Paris, two days later she was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris and buried in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.

Teffi(real name Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya, by husband Buchinskaya; April 24 (May 6), 1872, St. Petersburg - October 6, 1952, Paris) - Russian writer and poetess, memoirist, translator, author of such famous stories as "Demonic Woman" And “Ke fer?”. After the revolution - in exile. Sister of the poetess Mirra Lokhvitskaya and military leader Nikolai Alexandrovich Lokhvitsky.

Biography

Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya was born on April 24 (May 6), 1872 in St. Petersburg (according to other sources in the Volyn province) in the family of lawyer Alexander Vladimirovich Lokhvitsky (-). She studied at the gymnasium on Liteiny Prospekt.

She was called the first Russian humorist of the early 20th century, the “queen of Russian humor,” but she was never a supporter of pure humor, always combining it with sadness and witty observations of the life around her. After emigrating, satire and humor gradually ceased to dominate her work, and her observations of life acquired a philosophical character.

Nickname

There are several options for the origin of the nickname Teffi.

The first version is stated by the writer herself in the story "Nickname". She didn't want to sign her texts male name, as contemporary writers often did: “I didn’t want to hide behind a male pseudonym. Cowardly and cowardly. It’s better to choose something incomprehensible, neither this nor that. But - what? We need a name that would bring happiness. Best of all is the name of some fool - fools are always happy.". To her “I remembered one fool, truly excellent and, in addition, one who was lucky, which means that fate itself recognized him as an ideal fool. His name was Stepan, and his family called him Steffy. Out of delicacy, discarding the first letter (so that the fool does not become arrogant)", writer “I decided to sign my play “Taffy””. After the successful premiere of this play, in an interview with a journalist, when asked about her pseudonym, Teffi replied that “this is... the name of one fool... that is, such a surname”. The journalist noticed that he "they said it was from Kipling". Teffi, who remembered Kipling's song “Taffy was a walshman / Taffy was a thief...”(rus. Taffy from Wales, Taffy was a thief ), agreed with this version..

The same version is voiced by researcher Teffi E. Nitraur, indicating the name of the writer’s acquaintance as Stefan and specifying the title of the play - "Women's Question", and a group of authors under the general leadership of A.I. Smirnova, who attribute the name Stepan to a servant in the Lokhvitsky house.

Another version of the origin of the pseudonym is offered by researchers of Teffi’s creativity E.M. Trubilova and D.D. Nikolaev, according to whom the pseudonym for Nadezhda Alexandrovna, who loved hoaxes and jokes, and was also the author of literary parodies and feuilletons, became part of literary game aimed at creating an appropriate image of the author.

There is also a version that Teffi took her pseudonym because her sister, the poetess Mirra Lokhvitskaya, who was called the “Russian Sappho,” was published under her real name.

Creation

Before emigration

Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya began writing as a child, but her literary debut took place at almost thirty years of age. Teffi's first publication took place on September 2, 1901 in the magazine "North" - it was a poem “I had a dream, crazy and beautiful...”

Teffi herself spoke about her debut like this: “They took my poem and took it to an illustrated magazine without telling me a word about it. And then they brought me an issue of the magazine where the poem was published, which made me very angry. I didn’t want to be published then, because one of my older sisters, Mirra Lokhvitskaya, had been publishing her poems with success for a long time. It seemed to me something funny if we all delved into literature. By the way, that’s how it happened... So - I was unhappy. But when the editors sent me the fee, it made the most gratifying impression on me.” .

In exile

In exile, Teffi wrote stories depicting pre-revolutionary Russia, the same bourgeois life that she described in collections published in her homeland. Melancholic title "That's how we lived" What unites these stories is that they reflect the collapse of the emigration’s hopes of returning the past, the complete futility of an unattractive life in a foreign country. In the first issue of the newspaper “Last News” (April 27, 1920), Teffi’s story was published “Ke fer?”(French) "What to do?"), and the phrase of his hero, the old general, who, looking around the Parisian square in confusion, mutters: “This is all good... but que faire? Fer-to-ke?, became a kind of password for those in exile.

The writer was published in many prominent periodicals of the Russian emigration (“Common Cause”, “Renaissance”, “Rul”, “Today”, “Link”, “Modern Notes”, “Firebird”). Teffi has published a number of books of stories - "Lynx" (), "Book of June" (), "About Tenderness"() - which showed new facets of her talent, like the plays of this period - "Moment of Destiny" , "Nothing of the kind"() - and the only experience of the novel - "Adventurous novel"(1931). But his best book she was reading a collection of stories "Witch" . Genre affiliation The novel, indicated in the title, raised doubts among the first reviewers: the discrepancy between the “soul” of the novel (B. Zaitsev) and the title was noted. Modern researchers point to similarities with the adventure, picaresque, courtly, detective novel, as well as the mythical novel.

In Teffi's works of this time, sad, even tragic motives noticeably intensify. “They were afraid of the Bolshevik death - and died here. We only think about what is there now. We are only interested in what comes from there.”, - said in one of her first Parisian miniatures "Nostalgia"(). Teffi’s optimistic outlook on life will only change in old age. Previously, she called 13 years her metaphysical age, but in one of her last Paris letters something bitter slips through: “All my peers are dying, but I’m still living for something...” .

Teffi planned to write about the heroes of L.N. Tolstoy and M. Cervantes, who were ignored by critics, but these plans were not destined to come true. On September 30, 1952, Teffi celebrated her name day in Paris, and just a week later she died.

Bibliography

Publications prepared by Teffi

• Seven lights - St. Petersburg: Rosehip, 1910
• Humorous stories. Book 1. - St. Petersburg: Rosehip, 1910
• Humorous stories. Book 2 (Apes). - St. Petersburg: Rosehip, 1911
• And so it became. - St. Petersburg: New Satyricon, 1912
• Carousel. - St. Petersburg: New Satyricon, 1913
• Miniatures and monologues. T. 1. - St. Petersburg: ed. M. G. Kornfeld, 1913
• Eight miniatures. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1913
• Smoke without fire. - St. Petersburg: New Satyricon, 1914
• Nothing like that, Pg.: New Satyricon, 1915
• Miniatures and monologues. T. 2. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1915
• And so it became. 7th ed. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1916
• Lifeless beast. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1916
• Yesterday. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1918
• Smoke without fire. 9th ed. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1918
• Carousel. 4th ed. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1918
• Black iris. - Stockholm, 1921
• Treasures of the earth. - Berlin, 1921
• Quiet backwater. - Paris, 1921
• This is how we lived. - Paris, 1921
• Lynx. - Paris, 1923
• Passiflora. - Berlin, 1923
• Shamran. Songs of the East. - Berlin, 1923
• Town. - Paris, 1927
• Book June. - Paris, 1931
• Adventure novel. - Paris, 1931
• Witch. - Paris, 1936
• About tenderness. - Paris, 1938
• Zigzag. - Paris, 1939
• All about love. - Paris, 1946
• Earthly rainbow. - New York, 1952
• Life and collar
• Mitenka

Pirate editions

• Instead of politics. Stories. - M.-L.: ZiF, 1926
• Yesterday. Humorous stories. - Kyiv: Cosmos, 1927
• Tango of death. - M.: ZiF, 1927
• Sweet memories. -M.-L.: ZiF, 1927

Collected works

• Collected works [in 7 vols.]. Comp. and preparation texts by D. D. Nikolaev and E. M. Trubilova. - M.: Lakom, 1998-2005.
• Collection Op.: In 5 vols. - M.: Book club TERRA, 2008

Other

• Ancient history / . - 1909
• Ancient history / General history, processed by Satyricon. - St. Petersburg: ed. M. G. Kornfeld, 1912

Criticism

Teffi's works were treated extremely positively in literary circles. The writer and contemporary of Teffi Mikhail Osorgin considered her "one of the most intelligent and sighted modern writers." Ivan Bunin, stingy with praise, called her "clever-wise" and said that her stories, truthfully reflecting life, were written “great, simple, with great wit, observation and wonderful mockery” .

See also

Notes

1. Nitraur E.“Life laughs and cries...” About the fate and work of Teffi // Teffi. Nostalgia: Stories; Memoirs / Comp. B. Averina; Entry Art. E. Nitraur. - L.: Artist. lit., 1989. - pp. 4-5. - ISBN 5-280-00930-X.
2. Biography of Tzffi
3. The women's gymnasium, opened in 1864, was located on Baseinaya Street (now Nekrasova Street), in house No. 15. In her memoirs, Nadezhda Aleksandrovna noted: “I first saw my work in print when I was thirteen years old. This was an ode I wrote for the anniversary of the gymnasium."
4. Teffi (Russian). Literary encyclopedia . Fundamental Electronic Library (1939). Archived from the original on August 25, 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
5. Teffi. Memories // Teffi. Nostalgia: Stories; Memoirs / Comp. B. Averina; Entry Art. E. Nitraur. - L.: Artist. lit., 1989. - pp. 267-446. - ISBN 5-280-00930-X.
6. Don Aminado. The train is on the third track. - New York, 1954. - pp. 256-267.
7. Teffi. Pseudonym // Renaissance (Paris). - 1931. - December 20.
8. Teffi. Nickname (Russian). Short prose of the Silver Age of Russian literature. Archived from the original on August 25, 2011. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
9. Literature of Russian abroad (“first wave” of emigration: 1920-1940): Tutorial: In 2 hours. Part 2 / A. I. Smirnova, A. V. Mlechko, S. V. Baranov and others; Under general ed. Dr. Philol. sciences, prof. A.I. Smirnova. - Volgograd: VolSU Publishing House, 2004. - 232 p.
10. Poetry of the Silver Age: an anthology // Preface, articles and notes by B. S. Akimov. - M.: Rodionov Publishing House, Literature, 2005. - 560 p. - (Series “Classics at School”). - P. 420.
11. http://shkolazhizni.ru/archive/0/n-15080/
12. L. A. Spiridonova (Evstigneeva). Teffi
13. TEFFY, NADEZHDA ALEXANDROVNA | Online Encyclopedia Around the world
14. Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya - Biography of Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya
15. Briefly about Teffi (`Women's Monthly Book`)
16. About Teffi (`Vanzas of the Century`)
17. About Teffi

Composition

Teffi is the pseudonym of Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya, who was born in 1872 in the family of a famous lawyer. Alexander Vladimirovich, the writer’s father, was engaged in journalism and is the author of many scientific works. This family is completely unique. Two of Nadezhda Alexandrovna’s sisters became writers, like her. The eldest, poetess Mirra Lokhvitskaya, was even called “Russian Sappho.” The elder brother Nikolai became a general of the Izmailovsky regiment.
Despite her early passion for literature, Teffi began publishing quite late. In 1901, her first poem was published for the first time. Subsequently, in her memoirs, Nadezhda Ateksandrovna would write that she was very ashamed of this work, and she hoped that no one would read it. Since 1904, Teffi began to be published in the capital's "Birzhevye Vedomosti" as the author of feuilletons. It was here that the writer honed her skills. In the process of working in this publication, Nadezhda Alexandrovna’s talent was fully revealed to find an original interpretation of a long-worn topic, and also to achieve maximum expressiveness using minimal means. In the future, in Teffi’s stories there will remain echoes of her work as a feuilletonist: a small number of characters, a “short line”, the author’s peculiar speech, smile-inducing from readers. The writer gained many admirers, among whom was Emperor Nicholas I himself. In 1910, the first book of her stories was published in two volumes, which successfully sold out in a matter of days. In 1919, Teffi emigrated abroad, but until the end of her days she did not forget her homeland. Most of the collections published in Paris, Prague, Berlin, Belgrade, and New York are dedicated to Russian people.
Many contemporaries considered Teffi exclusively a satirist writer, although she goes far beyond just a satirist. In her stories there is neither denunciation of specific high-ranking officials, nor “generally obligatory” love for the junior janitor. The writer strives to show the reader such ordinary situations where he himself often acts funny and absurd. Nadezhda Aleksandrovna practically does not resort to sharp exaggeration or outright caricature in her works. Without deliberately inventing a comic situation, she knows how to find humor in the ordinary, outwardly serious.
You can remember the story “Love”, where the little heroine really liked the new employee. Teffi very comically told a seemingly simple situation. Ganka both attracts the girl to her and frightens her with her folk manners: “Ganka... took out a piece of bread and a head of garlic, rubbed the crust with garlic and began to eat... This garlic definitely pushed her away from me... It would be better if fish with a knife..." The main character learns that in addition to the fact that she secret love eats garlic, she is also “acquainted with a simple uneducated soldier... horror.” However, the cheerful disposition of the worker attracts the girl like a magnet. The main character even decides to steal an orange for Ganka. However, the uneducated worker, who had never seen an overseas fruit, did not appreciate the unexpected gift: “she bit off a piece right with the skin, and suddenly opened her mouth, and, all ugly wrinkled, spat out and threw the orange far into the bushes.” It's over. The girl is offended in her best feelings: “I became a thief to give her the best thing I knew in the world... But she didn’t understand and spat.” This story involuntarily makes you smile at the naivety and childish spontaneity of the main character, but it also makes you wonder if adults sometimes do the same thing in an effort to attract the attention of someone?
Teffi’s colleagues in writing, the authors of Satyricon, often based their works on the character’s violation of the “norm.” The writer refused this technique. She strives to show the comedy of the “norm” itself. A slight sharpening, a deformation that is hardly noticeable at first glance, and the reader suddenly notices the absurdity of the generally accepted. So, for example, the heroine of the story, Katenka, reflects on marriage with childish spontaneity: “You can get married to anyone, this is nonsense, as long as there is a brilliant match. For example, there are engineers who steal... Then, you can marry a general... But that’s not what’s interesting at all. I wonder who you will cheat on your husband with.” At the core, the main character’s dreams are quite natural and pure, and their cynicism is explained only by time and circumstances. The writer in her works skillfully intertwines the “temporary” and the “eternal”. The first, as a rule, immediately catches the eye, while the second only barely shines through.
Of course, Teffi’s stories are fascinatingly naive and funny, but behind the subtle irony there is noticeable bitterness and pain. The writer realistically reveals the vulgarity of everyday life. Sometimes the real tragedies of little people are hidden behind the laughter. You can recall the story “Agility of Hands,” where all the magician’s thoughts were concentrated on the fact that he “in the morning has one bun for a penny and tea without sugar.” IN later stories Many of Teffi's heroes have a childish, infantile perception of life. Emigration plays an important role in this - an unsettled state, the loss of something unshakable and real, dependence on the benefits of philanthropists, and often the lack of opportunity to somehow earn money. These themes are most clearly presented in the writer’s book “Town”. There is already harsh irony here, somewhat reminiscent of the sharp tongue of Saltykov-Shchedrin. This is a description of life and everyday life in a small town. Its prototype was Paris, where Russian emigrants organized their state within a state: “the inhabitants of the town loved it when one of their tribe turned out to be a thief, a swindler or a traitor. They also loved cottage cheese and long conversations on the phone...” - According to Aldanov, Teffi is complacent and unkind towards people. However, this does not prevent the reader from loving and honoring the talented writer for many years. Nadezhda Alexandrovna has many stories about children. All of them perfectly reveal the artless and entertaining world of a child. Moreover, they make adults think about their educational capabilities and aspirations.

Ideas about Russian literature are most often formed in a person through the course school curriculum. It cannot be argued that this knowledge is completely wrong. But they do not reveal the subject fully. Many significant names and phenomena remained outside the scope of the school course. For example, an ordinary school student, even who has passed an exam in literature with an excellent mark, is often completely unaware of who Teffi Nadezhda Aleksandrovna is. But quite often these so-called second-tier names deserve our special attention.

View from the other side

The versatile and bright talent of Nadezhda Alexandrovna Teffi is viewed with great interest by everyone who cares about the turning point in Russian history in which she happened to live and work. This writer can hardly be considered a literary star of the first magnitude, but the image of the era without her will be incomplete. What is especially interesting for us is the view of Russian culture and history from those who found themselves on the other side of its historical divide. And outside Russia, to use a figurative expression, there was an entire spiritual continent of Russian society and Russian culture. Nadezhda Teffi, whose biography turned out to be split into two halves, helps us to better understand those Russian people who consciously did not accept the revolution and were its consistent opponents. They had good reasons for this.

Nadezhda Teffi: biography against the backdrop of the era

Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya's literary debut took place at the beginning of the twentieth century with short poetic publications in metropolitan periodicals. Basically, these were satirical poems and feuilletons on topics that worried the public. Thanks to them, Nadezhda Teffi quickly gained popularity and became famous in both capitals Russian Empire. This literary fame acquired in his youth turned out to be surprisingly stable. Nothing could undermine the public's interest in Teffi's work. Her biography includes wars, revolutions and for many years emigration. The literary authority of the poetess and writer remained indisputable.

Creative pseudonym

The question of how Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya became Nadezhda Teffi deserves special attention. Adopting a pseudonym was a necessary measure for her, since it was difficult to publish under her real name. Nadezhda’s elder sister, Mirra Lokhvitskaya, began her literary career much earlier, and her surname had already become famous. Nadezhda Teffi herself, whose biography has been widely circulated, mentions several times in notes about her life in Russia that she chose as a pseudonym the name of a fool she knew, whom everyone called “Steffy.” One letter had to be shortened so that a person would not have an unreasonable reason for pride.

Poems and humorous stories

The first thing that comes to mind when meeting with creative heritage poetesses, this famous saying Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - "Brevity is the sister of talent." Early works Teffi corresponds to him fully. The poems and feuilletons of the regular author of the popular magazine "Satyricon" were always unexpected, bright and talented. The public was constantly expecting a continuation, and the writer did not disappoint the people. It is very difficult to find another such writer, whose readers and fans were such different people as the Sovereign Emperor Autocrat Nicholas II and the leader of the world proletariat Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. It is quite possible that Nadezhda Teffi would have remained in the memory of posterity as the author of light humorous reading, if not for the whirlwind of revolutionary events that covered the country.

Revolution

The beginning of these events, which changed Russia beyond recognition over the course of several years, can be observed in the stories and essays of the writer. The intention to leave the country did not arise overnight. At the end of 1918, Teffi, together with the writer Arkady Averchenko, even made a trip around the country, which was burning in flames. civil war. During the tour, performances in front of the public were planned. But the scale of the events that unfolded was clearly underestimated. The trip dragged on for about a year and a half, and every day it became more and more obvious that there was no turning back. The Russian land underfoot was rapidly shrinking. Ahead there was only the Black Sea and the path through Constantinople to Paris. This was done by Nadezhda Teffi together with the retreating units. Her biography subsequently continued abroad.

Emigration

Existing far from the homeland has turned out to be simple and problem-free for few people. However, cultural and literary life in the world of Russian emigration was in full swing. Periodicals were published in Paris and Berlin and books were published in Russian. Many writers were able to develop to their full potential only in emigration. The experienced socio-political upheavals became a very unique stimulus for creativity, and the forced separation from home country became a constant theme in emigrant works. The work of Nadezhda Teffi is no exception here. Memories of lost Russia and literary portraits of figures of the Russian emigration became the dominant themes of her books and articles in periodicals for many years.

One can be called curious historical fact that the stories of Nadezhda Teffi were published in 1920 Soviet Russia on the initiative of Lenin himself. In these notes, she spoke very negatively about the morals of some emigrants. However, the Bolsheviks were forced to consign the popular poetess to oblivion after they became acquainted with her opinion about themselves.

Literary portraits

Notes dedicated to various figures of Russian politics, culture and literature, both those who remained in their homeland and those who found themselves beyond its borders due to historical circumstances, are the pinnacle of Nadezhda Teffi’s creativity. Memories of this kind always attract attention. Memoirs about famous people are simply doomed to success. And Nadezhda Teffi, short biography which is conventionally divided into two large parts - life at home and in exile, I was personally acquainted with many prominent figures. And she had something to say about them to her descendants and contemporaries. The portraits of these figures are interesting precisely because of the personal attitude of the author of the notes towards the persons depicted.

The pages of Teffi's memoir prose give us the opportunity to get acquainted with such historical figures as Vladimir Lenin, Alexander Kerensky. With outstanding writers and artists - Ivan Bunin, Alexander Kuprin, Ilya Repin, Leonid Andreev, Zinaida Gippius and Vsevolod Meyerhold.

Return to Russia

Nadezhda Teffi's life in exile was far from prosperous. Despite the fact that her stories and essays were readily published, literary fees were unstable and ensured an existence somewhere on the verge of the subsistence level. During the period of the fascist occupation of France, the life of Russian emigrants became significantly more difficult. Many well-known figures faced the question: Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Teffi belonged to that part of Russian people abroad who categorically rejected cooperation with collaborationist structures. And such a choice doomed a person to complete poverty.

The biography of Nadezhda Teffi ended in 1952. She was buried in the suburbs of Paris at the famous Russian cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois. She was destined to return to Russia only in her own clothes. They began to be published en masse in the Soviet periodicals at the end of the eighties of the twentieth century, during the period of perestroika. Books by Nadezhda Teffi were also published in separate editions. They were well received by the reading public.

Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya (1872-1952) appeared in print under the pseudonym “Taffy”. Father is a famous St. Petersburg lawyer, publicist, and author of works on jurisprudence. Mother is a literature connoisseur; sisters - Maria (poet Mirra Lokhvitskaya), Varvara and Elena (wrote prose), younger brother - all were literary gifted people.

Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya began writing as a child, but her literary debut took place only at the age of thirty, according to a family agreement to enter literature “one by one.” Marriage, the birth of three children, and moving from St. Petersburg to the provinces also did not contribute to literary studies.

In 1900 she separated from her husband and returned to the capital. She first appeared in print with the poem “I had a dream...” in 1902 in the magazine “North” (No. 3), followed by stories in the supplement to the magazine “Niva” (1905).

During the years of the Russian Revolution (1905-1907) he composed topical poems for satirical magazines (parodies, feuilletons, epigrams). At the same time, the main genre of Teffi’s creativity was determined - humorous story. First in the newspaper “Rech”, then in “Birzhevye Novosti” regularly - almost weekly, in every Sunday issue - Teffi’s literary feuilletons are published, which soon brought her not only fame, but also all-Russian love.

Teffi had the talent to speak on any topic easily and gracefully, with inimitable humor, and knew “the secret of laughing words.” M. Addanov admitted that “people from all walks of life agree on their admiration for Teffi’s talent.” political views and literary tastes."

In 1910, at the peak of his fame, a two-volume collection of Teffi’s stories and the first collection of poems, “Seven Lights,” were published. If the two-volume work was reprinted more than 10 times before 1917, the modest book of poetry went almost unnoticed against the backdrop of the resounding success of the prose.

Teffi’s poems were criticized by V. Bryusov for being “literary”, but N. Gumilyov praised them for this. “The poetess speaks not about herself and not about what she loves, but about what she could be and what she could love. Hence the mask that she wears with solemn grace and, it seems, irony,” Gumilyov wrote.

Teffi’s languid, somewhat theatrical poems seem designed for melodic recitation or created for romance performance, and indeed, A. Vertinsky used several texts for his songs, and Teffi herself sang them with a guitar.

Teffi had a great sense of the nature of stage conventions, she loved the theater, worked for it (wrote one-act and then multi-act plays - sometimes in collaboration with L. Munstein). Finding herself in exile after 1918, Teffi most regretted the loss of the Russian theater: “Of all that fate deprived me of when it deprived me of my Motherland, my greatest loss is the Theater.”

Teffi's books continued to be published in Berlin and Paris, and exceptional success accompanied her until the end of her long life. In exile, she published about twenty books of prose and only two collections of poetry: “Shamram” (Berlin, 1923), “Passiflora” (Berlin, 1923).

The remarkable Russian writer Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya, who later took the pseudonym Teffi, was born on May 21, 1872 in St. Petersburg.

In a highly educated noble family, consisting of a lawyer father, a mother with French roots and four children, everyone was passionate and fascinated by literature. But the literary gift was especially evident in two sisters, Mirra and Nadezhda. Only the older sister’s is poetic, and Nadezhda’s is humorous. Her work is characterized by laughter through tears and pure laughter, but there are also completely sad works. The writer admitted that, like in ancient Greek theatrical frescoes, she has two faces: one laughing, the other crying.

Her love for literature is evidenced by the fact that, as a thirteen-year-old teenager, she went to her idol Leo Tolstoy, dreaming that in “War and Peace” he would leave Andrei Bolkonsky alive. But at the meeting, she did not dare to burden him with her requests and only took his autograph.

Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya is a master of miniature stories, very difficult literary genre. Due to its brevity and capacity, it is necessary to verify every phrase, every word.

The beginning of a creative journey

The young writer’s debut took place in 1901, when relatives took the initiative and took one of her poems to the editorial office of the weekly illustrated magazine “North”. She didn’t quite like the behavior of her loved ones, but she was very pleased with the first fee. Three years later the first one was released prose work"The day has passed."

In 1910, after the publication of the two-volume “Humorous Stories”, the writer became so famous that they began to produce perfumes and sweets called “Taffy”. When she first got her hands on chocolates in colored wrappers with her name and portrait, she felt her all-Russian fame and ate too much of the sweets to the point of nausea.

Her work was highly valued by Emperor Nicholas II himself, and she deservedly bore the title of “Queen of Laughter.” For ten years (1908-1918) Teffi was published in the magazines “Satyricon” and “New Satyricon”. They, like two mirrors, reflected the creative path from the first to the last issue talented writer. Teffi's creative pen was distinguished by wit, good-naturedness and compassion for absurd characters.

Personal life

Teffi kept her personal life behind seven seals and never covered it in her memoirs, so biographers know only a few facts.

The first husband of the bright and spectacular Nadezhda was the Pole Vladislav Buchinsky, who graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. For some time they lived on his estate near Mogilev, but in 1900, having already two daughters, they separated. This was followed by a happy civil union with the former St. Petersburg banker Pavel Andreevich Theakston, which was interrupted due to his death in 1935. Some researchers of Teffi’s life and work suggest that this extraordinary woman had tender feelings for the writer Bunin for many years.

She was distinguished by high demands in relation to the opposite sex, she always wanted to please everyone and saw only a worthy man next to her.

Life in exile

The noblewoman Teffi could not accept the revolution in Russia and therefore, in 1920, along with numerous emigrants, she ended up in Paris. Although the writer suffered a lot of troubles and suffering in a foreign country, her talented environment in the person of Bunin, Gippius, and Merezhkovsky gave her strength to live and create further. Therefore, far from her homeland, Teffi continued to be successful, although the humor and laughter in her works practically disappeared.

In stories such as “Town” and “Nostalgia,” Nadezhda Aleksandrovna expressively described the broken life of the majority of Russian emigrants, who were never able to assimilate with foreign people and traditions. Teffi's foreign stories were published in leading newspapers and magazines in Paris, Berlin, and Riga. And although the Russian emigrant remained the main character of the stories, children's themes, the animal world, and even the “undead” were not ignored.

As the writer herself admitted, she had accumulated a whole volume of poems about cats alone. A person who doesn't like cats could never become her friend. Based on meetings with famous people(Rasputin, Lenin, Repin, Kuprin and many others) she created their literary portraits, revealing their characters, habits, and sometimes quirks.

Before leaving

Shortly before her death, Teffi published her last book“Earthly Rainbow”, where the idea sounded that all her peers had already died, but her turn still wouldn’t come. In her joking manner, she asked the Almighty to send her best angels for her soul.

Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya remained faithful to Paris until the end of her days. She survived the hunger and cold of the occupation and refused to return to her homeland in 1946. Millionaire Atran assigned her a modest pension for charitable purposes, but with his death in 1951, the payment of benefits ceased.

Teffi herself died at the age of 80 and was buried in a Russian cemetery next to her beloved Bunin. The name of this talented female comedian is written in golden letters in the history of Russian literature.

Article provided by Marina Korovina.

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