Memories - From Moscow to the Black Sea - Hardcover

Teffi

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1782271694 ISBN 13: 9781782271697

Publisher: Pushkin Press, 2016

Synopsis

BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week

'Wonderfully idiosyncratic, coolly heartfelt and memorable' William Boyd

'I never imagined such a memoir could be possible... enthralling' Antony Beevor

'A vividly idiosyncratic personal account of the disintegration of Tsarist Russia after the Revolution, as alive to the farcical and the ridiculous as it is to the tragic; a bit like what Chekhov might have written if he had lived to experience it' Michael Frayn

The writer and satirist Teffi was a literary sensation in Russia until war and revolution forced her to leave her country for ever. Memories is her blackly funny and heartbreaking account of her final, frantic journey into exile across Russia-travelling by cart, freight train and rickety steamer-and the 'ordinary and unheroic' people she encounters. From refugees setting up camp on a dockside to a singer desperately buying a few 'last scraps' of fabric to make a dress, all are caught up in the whirlwind; all are immortalized by Teffi's penetrating gaze.

Fusing exuberant wit and bitter horror, this is an extraordinary portrayal of what it means to say goodbye, with haunting relevance in today's new age of diaspora. Published in English for the first time, it confirms the rediscovery of Teffi as one of the most humane, perceptive observers of her time, and an essential writer for ours.

About this title

Review

'Teffi is one of the great writers of early 20th century Russia... Pushkin Press as done literature a service by rediscovering and publishing Teffi's brilliant works' -- Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs

'Wonderfully idiosyncratic, coolly heartfelt and memorable' William Boyd, The Sunday Times

'Light, witty and elegiac all at once - I found it captivating' -- John Gray, Observer's Best Books of 2016

'Darkly funny... she did write in this very charming, humorous and light way that allowed her to slip in these satirical points in a way that was acceptable' BBC Radio 4 Open Book

'Memories might have been relentlessly bleak if it were not for its humour and Teffi's indestructible positivity... Teffi's world becomes somewhere we do not want to leave' Guardian

'Highly readable... she is not afraid to look into the depths of what human beings can do to one another and what happens when civilisation breaks down' Financial Times

'Pushkin Press deserves our thanks for bringing Teffi to a much wider audience' Spectator

'She always finds the funny but never loses sight of the sadness in the madness. Awesome' Big Issue

'Given the refugee crisis that dominates Europe today, Pushkin Press's publication... could not be timelier... the passage of time has done little to diminish with the pathos of the stories, or the ingenuity of Teffi's prose' The National

'[Teffi] succeeds in conveying the sense of claustrophobia and disorientation that are the refugee condition' The New York Times Book Review

'[A] remarkable memoir... perhaps this is the essence of Teffi, the quality that makes her writing both potent and endearing: she pitches in' New Statesman

'[Teffi's] wit and insight prove timeless' Radio Times

'Pushkin Press should be applauded for publishing her astonishingly vivid memoir' Country Life

'An astonishing work that... deserves to be turned into a film' Literary Review

'Memories is a timely reminder that refugees are not a 21st-century invention' The New Internationalist

'By bringing together [Memories and Rasputin and Other Irones]... the editors present a different Teffi - a chronicler of the tragedy of the Russian revolution' The World Today

'Teffi can write in more registers than you might think, and is capable of being heartbreaking as well as very funny. I wish she were still alive, and I could have met her... I can't recommend her strongly enough' Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

'Her range is as broad as her prose is buoyant' New Statesman

'Teffi paints a portrait of a unique historical moment that also resonates with contemporary horrors' BBC Culture Ten 'Lost' Books You Should Read

'There are shades of Chekhov in the elegant and enthralling prose of this Russian female émigré writer, whose once much-fêted work is happily now being rediscovered' Bookseller

'A gifted satirist and social observer' Eileen Battersby Irish Times

'Teffi's brilliance at capturing the dark comedy of her milieu should no longer prevent her from being recognized as an important European writer' TLS

'Fascinating under any circumstances, but... has special poignancy now' --New Yorker

'[Conveys] Teffi's characteristic mixture of precision comic timing and evasiveness' Times Literary Supplement

'I never imagined such a memoir could be possible, especially about the Russian Civil War. Teffi wears her wisdom lightly, observing farce and foible amid the looming tragedy, in this deceptive and enthralling book' Antony Beevor

'A vividly idiosyncratic personal account of the disintegration - moral, political, strategic - of Tsarist Russia after the Revolution, as alive to the farcical and the ridiculous as it is to the tragic; a bit like what Chekhov might have written if he had lived to experience it' Michael Frayn

'Teffi was not only a great wit and an impeccable stylist, but one of the twentieth century's most perceptive and clear-headed observers' --PEN Atlas

About the Author

Teffi (1872-1952) wrote poems, plays, stories, satires and feuilletons, and was renowned in Russia for her wit and powers of observation. Following her emigration in 1919 she settled in Paris, where she became a leading figure in the émigré literary scene. Now her genius has been rediscovered by a new generation of readers, and she once again enjoys huge acclaim in Russia and across the world. Her short-story collection Subtly Worded is also published by Pushkin Press, and the non-fiction collection Rasputin and Other Ironies will also be published in May 2016.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pushkin Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1782271694
• ISBN 13: 9781782271697
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352