Literary and historical notes of a young technician. Teffi - a short biography of the queen of laughter Nickname of Lokhvitskaya Nadezhda Alexandrovna

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

View from the other side

The versatile and bright talent of Nadezhda Alexandrovna Teffi is of great interest to everyone who is not indifferent to the turning point in Russian history in which she happened to live and create. This writer can hardly be attributed to the literary stars of the first magnitude, but the image of the era without her would be incomplete. And of particular interest to us is the view of Russian culture and history from the side of those who found themselves on the other side of its historical divide. And outside of Russia, in a figurative expression, there was a whole 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 background of the era

The literary debut of Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya took place at the beginning of the twentieth century with short poetic publications in the capital's 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 of the Russian Empire. This literary fame acquired in his younger years turned out to be surprisingly stable. Nothing could undermine the public's interest in Teffi's work. Her biography includes wars, revolutions and long years of emigration. The literary authority of the poetess and writer remained indisputable.

Creative alias

The question of how Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya became Nadezhda Teffi deserves special attention. The adoption of a pseudonym was a necessary measure for her, since it was difficult to publish under her real name. Nadezhda's older sister, Mirra Lokhvitskaya, began her literary career much earlier, and her surname has already become famous. Nadezhda Teffi herself, whose biography is widely replicated, mentions several times in her notes about her life in Russia that she chose the name of a familiar fool, whom everyone called "Steffy", as a pseudonym. 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 getting acquainted with the creative heritage of the poetess is the famous saying of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - "Brevity is the sister of talent." The early works of Teffi fully correspond to him. Poems and feuilletons of the regular author of the popular magazine "Satyricon" were always unexpected, bright and talented. The public constantly expected a sequel, and the writer did not disappoint the people. It is very difficult to find another such writer, whose readers and admirers 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 her descendants 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 for several years, can be seen in the stories and essays of the writer. The intention to leave the country did not arise at one moment. At the end of 1918, Teffi, together with the writer Arkady Averchenko, even makes a trip around the country, blazing in the fire of civil war. During the tour, performances in front of the public were planned. But the scale of the unfolding events 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 under their feet was rapidly shrinking. Ahead was only the Black Sea and the way through Constantinople to Paris. It was done together with the retreating units by Nadezhda Teffi. Her biography later continued abroad.

Emigration

Existence far from the Motherland 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. In Paris and Berlin, periodicals were published and books were printed in Russian. Many writers were able to develop at full power only in exile. The socio-political upheavals experienced have become a very peculiar stimulus for creativity, and the forced separation from their native country has become a constant theme of emigre works. The work of Nadezhda Teffi is no exception here. Memories of the lost Russia and literary portraits of the figures of the Russian emigration for many years become the dominant topics of her books and articles in periodicals.

Curious can be called the historical fact that the stories of Nadezhda Teffi in 1920 were published in Soviet Russia on the initiative of Lenin himself. In these notes, she spoke very negatively about the mores of some emigrants. However, the Bolsheviks were forced to consign the popular poetess to oblivion after they got 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 who, by the will of historical circumstances, found themselves outside it, are the pinnacle of Nadezhda Teffi's work. Memories of this kind always attract attention. Memoirs about famous people are simply doomed to success. And Nadezhda Teffi, whose brief biography is conditionally divided into two large parts - life at home and in exile, was personally acquainted with very many prominent figures. And she had something to say about them to descendants and contemporaries. The portraits of these figures are interesting precisely because of the personal attitude of the author of the notes to the depicted persons.

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

The life of Nadezhda Teffi in exile was far from prosperous. Despite the fact that her stories and essays were willingly published, literary fees were unstable and ensured an existence somewhere on the verge of a living wage. During the period of the fascist occupation of France, the life of Russian emigrants became much more complicated. Many well-known figures faced the question of Nadezhda Alexandrovna Teffi belonged to that part of the 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. They began to be massively published in the Soviet periodical press in the late eighties of the twentieth century, during the period of perestroika. The books of Nadezhda Teffi were also published in separate editions. They were well received by the reading public.

Teffi is a writer who has worked in a variety of literary genres. Her works were read both by the last Russian tsar and the leader of the world proletariat. Modern readers recognize themselves and their friends in shoppers and love-stricken noblemen. The biography of the writer, whose language and heroes have not become outdated for 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 are disputes about the exact date of birth, as well as about how many children there were in the family. It is documented that Nadia 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 role of a lawyer, professor, literary popularizer of jurisprudence, that is, he occupied approximately the same position as 120 years later or. Mother had French roots. When Nadia was 12 years old, the father of the family died.

Teffi during the First World War / Argus Magazine, LiveJournal

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

The girl was not a beauty and married the first applicant. Marriage with Vladimir Buchinsky brought Nadezhda two daughters - Lera and Lena and son Janek, but the mother of the "demonic woman" turned out to be unkind. Having lived to the age of 28, Lokhvitskaya left her husband. Buchinsky, in retaliation, deprived Nadia of communication with children.

Books

Separated from her offspring, Lokhvitskaya, in contrast, did not throw herself under the train, but returned to her youthful dream of literature and in 1901 made her debut in the Sever magazine with the poem “I had a crazy and beautiful dream.” By the time the work was published, the sister of the novice writer, Maria, was already a well-known poetess who worked 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 tried to remain a mystery and limited journalists' access to her personal life, and answered questions about her age that she felt like a 13-year-old. It is known that the woman was fond of mysticism and was very fond of cats, especially the last pet, who suffered from obesity. In her mature years, Teffi tried to establish communication with grown-up children, but of the three offspring, only the eldest Valeria made contact.

Documentary "Women in Russian History: Taffy"

Readers who were eager to get acquainted with 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. The literary salon created by Teffi in the French capital became the center of attraction for Russian emigrants, its regulars were the wit Don Aminado and the prose writer.

The second spouse, the son of the former Kaluga manufacturer Pavel Aleksandrovich Tikston, 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 the disease immobilized him, she touchingly looked after her husband. In the last years of the writer's life, the philanthropist S. S. Atran took care of her material support.

Death

Rumors about the death of Teffi, who survived the Nazi occupation of France, hovered long before the departure of Nadezhda Alexandrovna from life. 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 cycle of stories about animals before leaving for eternity.

Wikipedia

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

Bibliography

• 1910 - "Seven Lights"
• 1912 - "And it was so"
• 1913 - "Eight Miniatures"
• 1914 - "Smoke without fire"
• 1920 - "So they lived"
• 1921 - Treasures of the Earth
• 1923 - “Shamran. Songs of the East"
• 1926 - "Instead of politics"
• 1931 - "Adventurous Romance"
• 1931 - "Memories"
• 1936 - The Witch
• 1938 - "About tenderness"
• 1946 - "All about love"
• 1952 - "Earth Rainbow"

The remarkable Russian writer Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya, who later took the pseudonym Teffi, was born on May 21, 1872 in St. Petersburg. In this article we will tell you her brief biography.

So, Teffi was born in a noble, highly educated family, consisting of a father-lawyer, a mother with French roots and four children, where everyone was passionate and fascinated by literature. But the literary gift manifested itself especially brightly in two sisters, Mirra and Nadezhda. Only the elder sister has a poetic one, and Nadezhda has a humorous one. Her work is characterized by both laughter through tears and laughter in its purest form, but there are also completely dramatic works. The writer admitted that she, like in ancient Greek theatrical frescoes, 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 took only an autograph.

Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya is a master of the miniature story, a very difficult literary genre. Because of its brevity and capacity, every phrase, every word has to be verified in it.

The beginning of the creative path

The debut of the young writer took place in 1901, when relatives took the initiative and took one of her poems to the editors of the weekly illustrated magazine Sever. She did not quite like the act of her relatives, but she was very pleased with the first fee. Three years later, the first prose work, The Day Has Passed, was published.

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 Teffi. When she first got her hands on chocolates in colored wrappers with her name and portrait, she felt her all-Russian glory 🙂 and gorged herself on sweets to the point of nausea 🙂 .

Her work was highly appreciated 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". In them, as in two mirrors, from the first to the last issue, the creative path of a talented writer was reflected. Teffi's creative pen was distinguished by wit, good-naturedness and compassion for ridiculous characters.

Personal life

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

The first husband of the bright and spectacular Nadezhda was the Pole Vladislav Buchinsky, who graduated from the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. For some time they lived in his estate near Mogilev, but in 1900, having already two daughters, they parted. This was followed by a happy civil union with the former St. Petersburg banker Pavel Andreevich Tikston, 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 was unable to accept the revolution in Russia, and therefore, in 1920, together with numerous emigrants, she ended up in Paris. Although in a foreign country the writer suffered a lot of troubles and sufferings, the talented environment in the person of Bunin, Gippius, Merezhkovsky gave strength to live and create further. Therefore, far from the Motherland, Teffi continued to be successful, although humor and laughter in her works practically disappeared.

In such stories as "Gorodok", "Nostalgia" Nadezhda Alexandrovna expressively described the broken life of the majority of Russian emigrants who could not assimilate with a foreign people and traditions. Foreign stories Teffi published in leading newspapers and magazines in Paris, Berlin, Riga. And although the Russian emigrant remained the main character of the stories, the children's theme, 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 does not like cats could never be 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, Earth's Rainbow, in New York, where the idea sounded that all her peers had already died, and her turn would never reach her. In her playful manner, she asked the Almighty to send the best angels for her soul.

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

Teffi herself died at the age of 80 and was buried in the Russian cemetery next to her adored Bunin. The name of this talented woman-humorist is inscribed in golden letters in the history of Russian literature.

Article provided by Marina Korovina.

Other biographies of writers:

It is difficult to find a female writer in pre-revolutionary Russia more popular than Nadezhda Teffi. Her funny stories from the life of ordinary people won the hearts of all segments of the population and generations. She wrote about what is close. About love, betrayal, intrigues, awkward situations between friends and acquaintances, theater, advertising, family quarrels and much, much more. Readers who recognized themselves, their relatives and acquaintances in Teffi's characters, laughed heartily at simple stories and looked forward to new creations by a talented comedian.

Born into the family of a successful lawyer, Nadezhda could not care about the future, but simply expect a good marriage, raise children. But there was some peculiarity in her family. Two daughters grew up very restless and talented. Most likely, the mother, Varvara Alexandrovna, nee Goyer, who had French roots, instilled in her daughters a love of literature.

The first attempts at writing Nadezhda Tefii belong to adolescence. Starting to create while still a schoolgirl, she gradually made writing her life's work. Teffi's biography is full of unexpected twists and turns and incredible events, you can read it with the same interest as any of the stories of Nadezhda Alexandrovna. Here are some interesting facts from her life:

1. The real name of Nadezhda Teffi is Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya. The writer herself told the story of its origin in different ways. Either she said that this or something similar was the name of the local fool, then she correlated it with the name of the mythical robber. I had to take a pseudonym, because by the time Nadezhda began to storm the writer's Olympus, her surname was already very famous in the country.
2. The famous poetess Mirra Lokhvitskaya is the native (older) sister of Nadezhda Teffi. Mirra early became famous as the author of sensual poems. She was called the forerunner of Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva. The woman died at the age of 35. She had a bad heart. Surprisingly, the researchers were unable to establish the exact number of children in the Lokhvitsky family. Supposedly Taffy had one brother and four sisters.
3. Nadezhda Tefii began her professional literary career after her divorce from her husband, as a mature woman with two, and according to some reports, three children.
4. During the First World War, Nadezhda Teffi worked as a nurse and was at the front. Several front-line photographs of the writer have been preserved, where she poses in uniform and even with a rifle in her hands.
5. In 1919 she emigrated to Paris. She had to travel a long way through Kyiv and Odessa, and then Turkey. Apparently, the writer is quickly accustomed to the new environment. Her first French publications date back to the beginning of 1920.
6. She always retouched her own photos, hid her age and said she felt like she was thirteen. The researchers found that when Nadezhda Alexandrovna emigrated, filling out the documents, she reduced her fifteen years. There is every reason to believe that no one managed to find out before her death. Due to the fact that Nadezhda Alexandrovna always dressed with taste, looked after herself very carefully, skillfully used cosmetics and tinted her hair, no one doubted her "reduced", comfortable age.
7. Nadezhda Aleksandrovna lived for 80 years and died in Paris on September 30, 1952. Just a week after my own birthday. She was buried in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.
8. Throughout her life, Nadezhda Alexandrovna wrote poetry, but became famous thanks to small humorous stories. Teffi herself said that she loves poetry very much, but a comedian feeds her.
9. Teffi was very fond of cats and even dedicated poems to them. The writer said that she always treats people who do not like cats with suspicion.
10. Teffi was very absent-minded in everyday life. Relatives recalled that she could light the stove, and put the kettle on the next hot burner, sending money to relatives to write her own address on the envelope, and then rejoice at the unexpected receipt of a large sum.
11. In the last years of her life, Nadezhda Alexandrovna's health deteriorated greatly. She suffered from neuritis of the left hand, only injections of morphine allowed her to relieve pain and fall asleep. Nadezhda Teffi was also prone to angina attacks and was afraid to die during one of them.
12. Teffi dreamed of writing a story or several works about minor characters in famous books. She especially wanted to describe the adventures of Sancho Panza.

Nadezhda Alexandrovna Teffi had a wide social circle and many friends, even after she left her homeland. She never boasted of her status as a famous writer and had among her friends and acquaintances both famous writers (Bunin, Kuprin) and aspiring journalists and neighbors. She knew how to find kind words for everyone and had a habit of gifting each guest with something. It could be a trinket, a book or money.

With all this, the kindest person of all whom she knew, Teffi herself considered her second husband, Pavel Andreevich Tikston. The marriage was not officially registered. Thixton was delighted with his beautiful and talented companion and was happy to remain in the shadows providing her with a happy, comfortable existence. Unfortunately, Pavel Andreevich died quite early, unable to bear the loss of his fortune as a result of the economic crisis of the 19030s. After his death, Nadezhda Alexandrovna never married again and even made attempts to leave literature.

Teffi met the Second World War already at an advanced age, with poor health. She was forced to live very hard in occupied Paris, but thanks to her friends and family, she coped with this.

The whole life of this talented woman is 80 years of intrigue, secrets and coquetry. Until now, many points regarding her personal life are not known. Teffi herself constantly “fed” different versions to fans and journalists. Like the retouched photograph that Taffy loved so much, her official life seems smooth and vibrant, but once you look behind the beautiful cover, you can see a lot of trials, grief and even personal tragedies.

Nadezhda Alexandrovna LOKHVITSKAYA,

in marriage - BUCHINSKAYA

9(21).V.1872, St. Petersburg, according to other sources - in the estate in the Volyn province - 6.X.1952, Paris

The famous Lokhvitsky sisters: the eldest Mirra wrote poetry and was awarded the title "Russian Sappho", the youngest, Nadezhda, composed humoresques and feuilletons and became the most popular "humorist" in Russia. To be different from her sister, she took a pseudonym from Kipling - Teffi.

Teffi herself explained the adoption of a pseudonym in this way: “... Why does a Russian woman sign her works with some kind of anglicized word? Well, if you wanted to take a pseudonym, you could choose something more resonant or, at least, with a touch of ideology, like Maxim Gorky, Demyan Poor, the Wanderer. These are all allusions to some poetic suffering and wins over the reader... I didn't want to hide behind a male pseudonym. Cowardly and cowardly. It is better to choose something incomprehensible, neither this nor that. But what?.."

She chose Taffy. A short, sonorous word, and when it came into fashion, the Teffi perfume appeared in honor of the writer, with a unique original smell. Teffi began to publish in the newspapers "Birzhevye Vedomosti" and "Rus", and then became a regular contributor to "Satyricon" and "New Satyricon". In 1910, Teffi's poetry collection Seven Lights and two volumes of Humorous Stories were published.

As Irina Odoevtseva notes, Teffi's fame in pre-revolutionary Russia was enormous. She was read and admired. When, while compiling the anniversary collection dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the reign of the Romanov dynasty, the tsar was respectfully asked which of the contemporary Russian writers he would like to see included in it, Nicholas II resolutely said:

Taffy! Only her. There is no need for anyone but her. One Taffy!

And with obvious displeasure, after much persuasion, the tsar agreed that the names and portraits of other poets and writers, led by Gippius and Merezhkovsky, appear in the anniversary collection.

How did Teffi take readers? An amazing combination of funny and sad, pairing of anecdote and tragedy, the accuracy of everyday details ("hardly the most observant of our writers" - this is how Georgy Adamovich assessed Teffi), an elegant banter over petty-bourgeois mores and tastes. And also the fact that she owned, in the words of Mikhail Zoshchenko, "the secret of laughing words." And, of course, excellent Russian. So, Alexander Kuprin noted her inherent "impeccability of the Russian language, ease and variety of speech turns of speech."

Two examples:

“The theme was the most original: one young girl fell in love with one young man and married him. This thing was called “Hieroglyphs of the Sphinx” ”(Teffi’s story“ Talent ”).

“... Then they sat down to dinner. Ate seriously and for a long time. They talked about some kind of chicken that was eaten somewhere with some kind of mushrooms. Ivan Petrovich was angry. Occasionally he tried to start a conversation about the theater, literature, city news. They answered him casually and again returned to the familiar chicken ... ”(“ Vacation ”).

Wrote Teffi and poetry. As Nikolai Gumilyov defined them, "genuine, elegantly simple fairy tales of the Middle Ages." Here is the Black Dwarf:

Your black dwarf kissed your feet,

He was so affectionate with you and so sweet,

All your rings, your earrings, brooches -

He collected and kept in a chest.

But on a terrible day of sadness and anxiety

Your dwarf suddenly got up and grew up -

Now you would kiss his feet,

And he left ... and took the chest away ...

Salonno? Is it cutesy? Yes. But Teffi also wrote on the topic of the day; so, in October 1905, she nailed General Trepov for his textbook order “Do not spare cartridges” in the poem “Cartridges and cartridge”, where at the end it was said:

Trepov! Is it not of good will?

Did you have to leave the place?

You yourself have deigned to teach,

So as not to spare the cartridges!

And yet the main thing in Teffi's work is not poetry, but her prose, or rather, her humor. Before the revolution, her numerous collections were published: "Carousel", "Smoke without Fire", "Miniatures and Monologues", "Life-Being" and others. Teffi remained fruitful even in emigration, it is enough to name such books as "East" (Shanghai, 1920), "Quiet Backwater" (Paris, 1921), "Black Iris" (Stockholm, 1921), "Book of June" (Belgrade, 1931 ), "About tenderness" (Paris, 1938), "All about love" (Paris, 1946). Memories (1931) about those whom the writer knew at the time of the sparkle of the Silver Age stand apart. And also the book "The Witch" (Paris, 1936) about the ancient Slavic gods - this book was highly appreciated by Bunin, Kuprin and Merezhkovsky.

Emigration did not break Teffi, but she failed to avoid acute nostalgia for her homeland. In 1920, Teffi left Russia. In one of her last essays, written in Odessa, she wrote: “A trickle of blood seen in the morning at the gates of the commissariat ... cuts off the road of life forever. You can't get over it. You can't go any further. You can turn around and run." Teffi and "ran" - through Constantinople to Paris. On the ship, looking at the restless waves of the Black Sea, Teffi wrote a poem, which Alexander Vertinsky later included in his repertoire:

To the cape of joy, to the rocks of sorrow,

To the islands of lilac birds,

No matter where we land,

Do not raise our tired eyelashes ...

Having experienced the bitterness of emigre life, Teffi made a mournful confession: “They were afraid of the Bolshevik death - and died the death here ... The soul facing the east withers. We think only about what is now THERE. We are only interested in what comes from there.”

Not everything was smooth in his personal life. In her younger years, Teffi married lawyer Vladislav Buchinsky. After the birth of her second daughter, Elena divorced him in 1900, that is, at the age of 28. And then one? Here is what Irina Odoevtseva wrote about this in her memoirs “On the Banks of the Seine”:

“Women's successes gave Teffi no less, and perhaps more pleasure than literary ones. She was extremely attentive and condescending to her fans.

Nadezhda Alexandrovna, how can you listen to N.N.'s stupidest compliments for hours? Because he's an idiot! her friends were outraged.

Firstly, he is not an idiot, since he is in love with me, - she reasonably explained. “And secondly, I’m much more pleased with an idiot in love with me than the most intelligent smart guy who is indifferent to me or in love with another fool.”

This answer is all Taffy. In Paris, fate brought her to P. Tikson, with whom they lived together until his death. However, their marriage was not registered. The last man Teffi was seriously ill, and the writer gently looked after him and continued to write her funny stories. The audience loved the laughing Taffy. She paid money for her laughter. Teffi understood this very well and did not change her tone.

Galina Shakhovskaya recalls in her memoirs: “Teffi, in essence, was the only “lady” of literary Paris - not a “literary lady”, but a charming, well-mannered and “capital” lady. Maybe a little dry and extremely smart, Teffi, it seems to me, was not interested in politics or world affairs. She was interested in human types, children and animals, but she not only understood the tragic fate of all living things, but also felt it on her own, first of all, experience.

Satirists and humorists (with the exception of Myatlev) are almost all hypochondriacs, from Gogol to Don Aminado and Zoshchenko. Like all of them, Teffi laughed with a “bitter laugh”, without malice, but with the utmost vigilance, noting, and for clarity, increasing them, the absurdities of life and human weaknesses.

When I knew her, her health already required painkillers, and sometimes stimulants, and I had to see her either brilliant and witty, or completely extinct, overcoming herself and life. And suddenly, because someone was next to her, the spark lurking in her flared up again, and well-aimed remarks, witty stories, vivid memories scattered like fireworks.

I loved N.A. balls and exits, watched her appearance, dressed as best she could, elegantly, I never saw her unkempt and unkempt ... "

And here is what Irina Odoevtseva recalled: “... Both then and after the war, Teffi was very poor. In recent years, she was seriously ill for a long time, but even before her death she did not lose her amazing gift - a sense of humor. She turned to her friends for financial help like this: “I'll forgive you for the last time. I promise that I will not stay long on this earth. And you, please, give me now the money that you will spend on flowers anyway when you come to my funeral.

Shortly before her death, Nadezhda Alexandrovna Teffi, looking back at her life, noted: “I belong to the Chekhov school, and I consider Maupassant to be my ideal. I love Petersburg, I loved Gumilyov very much, he was a good poet and a good person. The best period of my work was still in Russia.

Teffi managed to celebrate her 80th birthday and left forever, as she put it, the "island" of her "memories". About death, as about Charon, she wrote in advance:

He will sail at night on black sails,

A silver ship with a purple border!

But people will not understand that he sailed for me,

And they will say: "Here is the moon playing on the waves" ...

Like a black seraph with three paired wings,

He will throw up sails over the starry silence!

But people won't understand that he sailed away with me

And they will say: “Here she died today.”

So, the silver ship took one of the brightest representatives of the Silver Age, Nadezhda Teffi, to the silver distance ...