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Subtly Worded
A selection of the finest stories by this female Chekhov
Teffi's genius with the short form made her a literary star in pre-revolutionary Russia, beloved by Tsar Nicholas II and Vladimir Lenin alike. These stories, taken from the whole of her career, show the full range of her gifts. Extremely funny-a wry, scathing observer of society-she is also capable, as capable even as Chekhov, of miraculous subtlety and depth of character.
There are stories here from her own life (as a child, going to meet Tolstoy to plead for the life of War and Peace's Prince Bolkonsky, or, much later, her strange, charged meetings with the already-legendary Rasputin). There are stories of émigré society, its members held together by mutual repulsion. There are stories of people misunderstanding each other or misrepresenting themselves. And throughout there is a sly, sardonic wit and a deep, compelling intelligence.
Pushkin Collection editions feature a spare, elegant series style and superior, durable components. The Collection is typeset in Monotype Baskerville, litho-printed on Munken Premium White Paper and notch-bound by the independently owned printer TJ International in Padstow. The covers, with French flaps, are printed on Colorplan Pristine White Paper. Both paper and cover board are acid-free and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.
Teffi's genius with the short form made her a literary star in pre-revolutionary Russia, beloved by Tsar Nicholas II and Vladimir Lenin alike. These stories, taken from the whole of her career, show the full range of her gifts. Extremely funny-a wry, scathing observer of society-she is also capable, as capable even as Chekhov, of miraculous subtlety and depth of character.
There are stories here from her own life (as a child, going to meet Tolstoy to plead for the life of War and Peace's Prince Bolkonsky, or, much later, her strange, charged meetings with the already-legendary Rasputin). There are stories of émigré society, its members held together by mutual repulsion. There are stories of people misunderstanding each other or misrepresenting themselves. And throughout there is a sly, sardonic wit and a deep, compelling intelligence.
Pushkin Collection editions feature a spare, elegant series style and superior, durable components. The Collection is typeset in Monotype Baskerville, litho-printed on Munken Premium White Paper and notch-bound by the independently owned printer TJ International in Padstow. The covers, with French flaps, are printed on Colorplan Pristine White Paper. Both paper and cover board are acid-free and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.
301 pages, Paperback
First published June 19, 2014
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About the author
Teffi
111 books68 followersTeffi (Тэффи) was a Russian humorist writer. Teffi is a pseudonym. Her real name was Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya (Надежда Александровна Лoхвицкая); after her marriage Buchinskaya (Бучинская). Together with Arkady Averchenko she was one of the most prominent authors of the Satiricon magazine.
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October 1, 2015This was interesting for the contrasting accounts it provided of life among the privileged classes in Russia before the revolution and then the relative poverty of exile in Paris afterwards :
We - les russes - as they call us - live the strangest lives here, nothing like other people’s. We stick together, for example, not like planets, by mutual attraction, but by a force quite contrary to the laws of physics - mutual repulsion. Every lesrusse hates all the others - hates them just as fervently as the others hate him.
Teffi was born Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya in Saint Petersburg in 1872. She adopted her pseudonym from the diminutive of Stefan, Steffi. Writing as the genderless Teffi, she hoped she would catch the public’s attention for the sake of the quality of her writing alone and she did - both Lenin and the Tsar were fans of her early Humourous Stories.
But she didn’t write only humourous pieces, many of her stories have a double edge. In A Radiant Easter she reveals her sharp eye for lampooning society, targeting an obsequious civil servant, bullied by his over-pompous boss, who in a fit of pique takes his frustration out on his wife, who screams at her cook, who pinches the scullery maid, who kicks the cat, which growls at the smaller cat, etc, etc.
In Rasputin, she writes about various literary soirées attended by Rasputin and his entourage. The story seems to be autobiographical as the narrator, who is a guest at the same soirées, is a writer, and the people she mentions are well known writers of the time. It is the most fascinating of the Russian pieces.
Other stories from the Russian section are lighter in theme, almost like the colour pieces you'd find in a magazine: The Hat is simply about how when we imagine we should look well, because, for instance, we’re wearing a new hat, we do look better than usual, but not because of the hat.
Some of my favourite stories were the ones in which she recalled her childhood, especially And Time Was No More which she wrote towards the end of her life when she was taking a lot of morphine. The story describes a person revisiting their childhood home after a lifetime away, and finding everything just as they’d left it. It is really powerful.
In 1945, Teffi was rumoured to have died, and an obituary was published by a New York Journal. This incident gave her the opportunity to write something rare: an obituary-response.
Can someone who is weak, elderly and ailing really be expected to survive the winter - in an unheated building, on a hungry stomach, with the wail of sirens and the roar of bombs, and in a state of grief and despair? - Of course not! Obviously he had died!
She lived on until 1952.
....................................
Edit: October 2015 after reading Pnin.
I have gained a new understanding of the les russes emigrant community Teffi describes in Paris in the 1920s. She says every lesrusse hates all the others - hates them just as fervently as the others hate him. Nabokov's description of social gatherings among his compatriots in Paris, though not phrased in the quite the same terms, echo Teffi's words eerily. The Paris emigrés he describes are mutually antagonistic, either envious of each other's talent or of each other's partners and all equally unpleasant. I had thought Teffi's view jaundiced but Nabokov's confirms it perfectly.
We - les russes - as they call us - live the strangest lives here, nothing like other people’s. We stick together, for example, not like planets, by mutual attraction, but by a force quite contrary to the laws of physics - mutual repulsion. Every lesrusse hates all the others - hates them just as fervently as the others hate him.
Teffi was born Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya in Saint Petersburg in 1872. She adopted her pseudonym from the diminutive of Stefan, Steffi. Writing as the genderless Teffi, she hoped she would catch the public’s attention for the sake of the quality of her writing alone and she did - both Lenin and the Tsar were fans of her early Humourous Stories.
But she didn’t write only humourous pieces, many of her stories have a double edge. In A Radiant Easter she reveals her sharp eye for lampooning society, targeting an obsequious civil servant, bullied by his over-pompous boss, who in a fit of pique takes his frustration out on his wife, who screams at her cook, who pinches the scullery maid, who kicks the cat, which growls at the smaller cat, etc, etc.
In Rasputin, she writes about various literary soirées attended by Rasputin and his entourage. The story seems to be autobiographical as the narrator, who is a guest at the same soirées, is a writer, and the people she mentions are well known writers of the time. It is the most fascinating of the Russian pieces.
Other stories from the Russian section are lighter in theme, almost like the colour pieces you'd find in a magazine: The Hat is simply about how when we imagine we should look well, because, for instance, we’re wearing a new hat, we do look better than usual, but not because of the hat.
Some of my favourite stories were the ones in which she recalled her childhood, especially And Time Was No More which she wrote towards the end of her life when she was taking a lot of morphine. The story describes a person revisiting their childhood home after a lifetime away, and finding everything just as they’d left it. It is really powerful.
In 1945, Teffi was rumoured to have died, and an obituary was published by a New York Journal. This incident gave her the opportunity to write something rare: an obituary-response.
Can someone who is weak, elderly and ailing really be expected to survive the winter - in an unheated building, on a hungry stomach, with the wail of sirens and the roar of bombs, and in a state of grief and despair? - Of course not! Obviously he had died!
She lived on until 1952.
....................................
Edit: October 2015 after reading Pnin.
I have gained a new understanding of the les russes emigrant community Teffi describes in Paris in the 1920s. She says every lesrusse hates all the others - hates them just as fervently as the others hate him. Nabokov's description of social gatherings among his compatriots in Paris, though not phrased in the quite the same terms, echo Teffi's words eerily. The Paris emigrés he describes are mutually antagonistic, either envious of each other's talent or of each other's partners and all equally unpleasant. I had thought Teffi's view jaundiced but Nabokov's confirms it perfectly.
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November 15, 2019Looking at the other reviews, they frequently mention Teffi's non-fiction account of her encounters with Rasputin, which is a bit damming with regard to what we think of her as a writer of fictional short- stories.
Unfortunately the Rasputin piece is the strongest of this volume of work selected from her writings. The collection covers her whole writing life up to her death more or less, my fair warning to anyone reading this review is that she is no Female Chekhov, beyond in the most basic sense of a Russian woman who wrote short stories, a couple of her very earliest pieces reminded me slightly of very early Chekhov stories like 'Fat and Thin', but that was as close as it got, most of the stories seemed to be a single slightly humorous idea that she had spun out for as long as she could - I felt that this was invariably not long enough to really get under my skin, of these I felt that the title story was the best.
The last two stories from the end of her life dealing with death I felt were different and worked well, a couple of the earlier ones had her using a young child as her main character, these were good but lacking something, I liked her ghost story The Dog though I felt she spoiled it by crossing the t's and dotting the i's, leaving some mystery might have made it feel ... mysterious, it's civil war setting though was excellent with echoes of Marina Tsvetaeva I felt in the main character, and as usual in her stories her main character was a snobbish upper class woman, a bit blind to herself and the world around her.
The introduction was one of those less helpful ones which summarised a lot of the stories rather than explaining how she survived as an emigre author in Paris after the Russian civil war - did she continue to publish in Russian, and if so what kind of a market was there for that? While Nabokov adapted and wrote novels set in Germany, then in England and the USA, most of the stories printed here are set in Russia, with only a few set in emigre Paris, she seems only to have emigrated with her feet, her writing hand appears to have stayed in a Russia which was increasing alien to her, but which was the locus of her creativity.
Nice but not world shaking.
Unfortunately the Rasputin piece is the strongest of this volume of work selected from her writings. The collection covers her whole writing life up to her death more or less, my fair warning to anyone reading this review is that she is no Female Chekhov, beyond in the most basic sense of a Russian woman who wrote short stories, a couple of her very earliest pieces reminded me slightly of very early Chekhov stories like 'Fat and Thin', but that was as close as it got, most of the stories seemed to be a single slightly humorous idea that she had spun out for as long as she could - I felt that this was invariably not long enough to really get under my skin, of these I felt that the title story was the best.
The last two stories from the end of her life dealing with death I felt were different and worked well, a couple of the earlier ones had her using a young child as her main character, these were good but lacking something, I liked her ghost story The Dog though I felt she spoiled it by crossing the t's and dotting the i's, leaving some mystery might have made it feel ... mysterious, it's civil war setting though was excellent with echoes of Marina Tsvetaeva I felt in the main character, and as usual in her stories her main character was a snobbish upper class woman, a bit blind to herself and the world around her.
The introduction was one of those less helpful ones which summarised a lot of the stories rather than explaining how she survived as an emigre author in Paris after the Russian civil war - did she continue to publish in Russian, and if so what kind of a market was there for that? While Nabokov adapted and wrote novels set in Germany, then in England and the USA, most of the stories printed here are set in Russia, with only a few set in emigre Paris, she seems only to have emigrated with her feet, her writing hand appears to have stayed in a Russia which was increasing alien to her, but which was the locus of her creativity.
Nice but not world shaking.
February 19, 2017
A collection of short stories by an author I have only recently stumbled across. Teffi was from the Russian middle/upper class and lived from 1872-1952. An émigré from 1919, the work in this collection comprises stories written before, during and after the Russian revolution.
These stories are from the gentle, whimsical end of humour - but often with a real sting in the tail. It took me a little time to get into the pace and style of the writing but once I did I found most of the stories entertaining.
My favourite is probably the story where a Generals wife walks home from the theatre through the snow, in post revolutionary St Petersburg. She is met part way home and escorted to her door by a gallant elderly gentleman. As they walk, they talk, and discover a shared enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, the theatre. The lady is convinced that she has found "one of her own", a man both cultured and sophisticated - in contrast to the boorish and common Bolsheviks now in power. Only at the journeys end does she realise with a start that the kindly old man had been a theatre attendant, and that in former times she would not have noticed him, let alone talked to him.
A solid 3.49/5 rounded to a 3. In my view the earlier stories are the best.
These stories are from the gentle, whimsical end of humour - but often with a real sting in the tail. It took me a little time to get into the pace and style of the writing but once I did I found most of the stories entertaining.
My favourite is probably the story where a Generals wife walks home from the theatre through the snow, in post revolutionary St Petersburg. She is met part way home and escorted to her door by a gallant elderly gentleman. As they walk, they talk, and discover a shared enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, the theatre. The lady is convinced that she has found "one of her own", a man both cultured and sophisticated - in contrast to the boorish and common Bolsheviks now in power. Only at the journeys end does she realise with a start that the kindly old man had been a theatre attendant, and that in former times she would not have noticed him, let alone talked to him.
A solid 3.49/5 rounded to a 3. In my view the earlier stories are the best.
April 27, 2016
Although, I shouldn't reproach the birds for this garrulousness. Nature gives each bird a single motif: "cock-a-doodle-doo" or "chink-chook" or just plain "cuckoo". Do you think you could get your message across with a sound as simple as that? How many times would you have to repeat yourself? Imagine that we human beings were given a single motif according to our breed. Some of us would say, "Isn't the Dnieper wonderful in the fine weather?" Others would ask, "What time is it? What time is it?" Still others would go on and on repeating that "the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection," Try using a single sentence like that to rhapsodize about the Sistine Madonna, to expound on the brotherhood of nations or to ask to borrow money. Although, maybe this is exactly what we do do and we just never realize it.I've been bandying words about psychological analysis via bibliography business of late, so it's rather nice to pick up a collection of comedic outbursts and instead find something rather more complicated and, near the end, a whole lot more provoking. It was also nice that that each and every of these stories interested in their own way, whether it was through historical reference, charming childhood witticisms, beautiful imagery of landscapes, or tracking the author's own writerly motivations through peacetime, wartime, conspiratorial flight and forlorn abandonment. These days, history is something I wish to learn from those views askew of Georges of the 19th century and The Plum in the Golden Vase of the 17th, and a Wilde-suffused Rasputin-askance Bolshevik sundered viewpoint of previously buried Russian woman of clever humor and no small bite fits the bill entirely.
This general antipathy has given rise to several neologisms. Hence, for example, a new grammatical particle, "that-crook", placed before the name of every lesrusse anyone mentions: "that-crook Alimenko", "that-crook Petrov", "that-crook Savelyev"[...]New arrivals are startled to begin with, even alarmed, by this prefix.If this didn't send you dying of laughter into your keyboards, I'm sorry that my experiences do not transcribe well the effect of reading this work. You should, however, indulge anyway, for not only is this the prettiest little tome I've come across in some time (apologies, NYRB Classics, but the rotund heft of this pleasingly textured edition engages more than the smooth elegance of your flatness ever could), but it is only here that you can read "Duty and Honor" and others in their full. My humor being what it is, I snatch onto what causes me to snort myself into raptures forevermore, and finding two wholes and several partials within the contents of a single work is of note, of that I can assure.
"Why a crook? Who said so? Have they got proof? What did he do? Where?"
And they're even more alarmed by the nonchalant reply.
"What...Where...Who knows? They call him a crook and that's fine by me."
"But what if he isn't?"
"Get away with you! Why ever wouldn't he be?"
And that's right—why wouldn't he?
Besides the fact that the description of Teffi aka Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya as a Russian humorist is quite accurate, this is a peculiarly intriguing work because of all the experience wrapped into it. Teffi's a writer in her own right, so there's no need for me to be too concerned about public interest being limited to a "Oh, unusual woman in an intriguing period that happened to write about some of her strange existence. How quaint," and all that rot. Instead, I'm free to enjoy her (true? exaggerated? spiced up? slimmed down? who knows, they entice the reading) short story treatment of Rasputin, Tolstoy, the Stray Dog Café, the White and the Red, the alive and the dead, matching the publication date to the authorial location and the themes to what existence she must have been dwelling upon then. I wouldn't recommend my methodology to anyone looking to write a quality Teffi bibiliography (someone has got to, though. Lee? Thurman? Strouse? Anyone?) but it's a wonder what historical context will do for my reading delight. For those who enjoy the same, here's one for you.
Just a warning, though. This is a collection that I'd imagine to be far from comprehensive, so what you find at the very end may not match up to the conclusion you expected from the train the editors put together. The intro hinted at it, and maybe I would've picked up on it more had I actually read the titular counterpoint of this "female Chekhov", but the tones turn dark very, very, very fast. It's a type that makes me want to pursue even more of Teffi's work, for it's not as if her previous work didn't dwell at all on aspects of death, hatred, lust, the futility of being. The matter is that, of the five chronological parts these short pieces are composed of, these more morbid and psychologically impacting threads dwell deep in the first three, surface in the fourth, and breach only in the fifth. It only strengthens my belief that if you want the comedy, you have to do the tragedy, and if you want the latter, well. You can't drag them down if you're unfamiliar with the heights they aspire to.
"Not a hair from his head shall fall unless He wills it."
She threw back her head and pushed the black branches even further away. Her eyes swept across the thousand-starred expanse of the incomprehensible and merciless heavens.
"So this is who has surrounded me with a ring of fire!"
She released the branches and turned around. Thoughtfully she lit the lamp and took the small box out of her suitcase.
"So be it. May the scorpion thrust its sting into its own breast."
She smiled bitterly, as if she were weeping, the corners of her mouth turned down.
"If that's the way it is, then may Thy will be done."
April 18, 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05ny7p1Description: Teffi's genius with the short form made her a literary star in pre-revolutionary Russia, beloved by Tsar Nicholas II and Vladimir Lenin alike. These stories, taken from the whole of her career, show the full range of her gifts. Extremely funny-a wry, scathing observer of society-she is also capable, as capable even as Chekhov, of miraculous subtlety and depth of character.
There are stories here from her own life (as a child, going to meet Tolstoy to plead for the life of War and Peace's Prince Bolkonsky, or, much later, her strange, charged meetings with the already-legendary Rasputin). There are stories of émigré society, its members held together by mutual repulsion. There are stories of people misunderstanding each other or misrepresenting themselves. And throughout there is a sly, sardonic wit and a deep, compelling intelligence.
1. In Marquita, translated by Robert Chandler, the shy chanteuse and single mother puts more passion into her date with a wealthy Tartar. Does her new approach succeed? Reader Hattie Morahan2. The Hat...
3. ...and My First Tolstoy. Two tales, translated by Anne Marie Jackson, that deal crisply with the vanities of fashion and literary homage. Cautionary tales both!
4. In Heart of a Valkyrie, translated by Anne Marie Jackson, the husband does little as his wife works all hours. The neighbours laugh at him, until a remarkable 'change' takes place..
April 18, 2015
From BBC Radio 4:
A series of tales by Teffi, a literary star in pre-revolutionary Russia who has been published again:
1. In Marquita, translated by Robert Chandler, the shy chanteuse and single mother puts more passion into her date with a wealthy Tartar. Does her new approach succeed?
2. The Hat and My First Tolstoy
Two tales, translated by Anne Marie Jackson, that deal crisply with the vanities of fashion and literary homage. Cautionary tales both !
3. In Heart of a Valkyrie, translated by Anne Marie Jackson, the husband does little as his wife works all hours. The neighbours laugh at him, until a remarkable 'change' takes place..
A series of tales by Teffi, a literary star in pre-revolutionary Russia who has been published again:
1. In Marquita, translated by Robert Chandler, the shy chanteuse and single mother puts more passion into her date with a wealthy Tartar. Does her new approach succeed?
2. The Hat and My First Tolstoy
Two tales, translated by Anne Marie Jackson, that deal crisply with the vanities of fashion and literary homage. Cautionary tales both !
3. In Heart of a Valkyrie, translated by Anne Marie Jackson, the husband does little as his wife works all hours. The neighbours laugh at him, until a remarkable 'change' takes place..
December 11, 2020
Like a Russian Saki, the often humorous stories of the upper classes belie a more savage vein running through them.
Highlights for me were ‘A Radiant Easter’, the tale of how disgruntlement and disappointment are assuaged by venting your frustrations on the person the next rung down all the way to the cat and ‘The Hat’ which deals with the perennial youthful preoccupation of insecurity regarding looking the part.
A rediscovered gem of a writer.
Highlights for me were ‘A Radiant Easter’, the tale of how disgruntlement and disappointment are assuaged by venting your frustrations on the person the next rung down all the way to the cat and ‘The Hat’ which deals with the perennial youthful preoccupation of insecurity regarding looking the part.
A rediscovered gem of a writer.
May 9, 2017
Some of these short stories were very short. Some were real stories from Teffi's life. Some were humorous and some were dark. The book traces life for Russians from pre-revolution days to the late 1940s. I thought the earlier stories were more uplifting while the later ones were more about reflections of lives lived. The autobiographic story of Teffi's meetings with Rasputin was fascinating, unique and insightful.
August 25, 2019
Short stories by a literary star of pre-revolutionary Russia. I enjoyed these - deftly written, with more than meets the eye, and a sense of humour. A window into St Petersburg and Paris literary circles of the time, which is fascinating in itself - not to mention Teffi's (true) stories of meeting Tolstoy and Rasputin
July 25, 2016
Last year I bought Subtly Worded, a collection of short stories by Teffi (a pen name for the Russian author, Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya). I was planning to post this review in August to link up with Biblibio’s Women in Translation event, but I accidentally pressed ‘publish’ while drafting it yesterday! My #WITMonth has started a little early.
Teffi was born in 1872 into an esteemed and cultured St Petersburg family. During her literary career she wrote satirical articles and plays, but by the age of 40 she was publishing mostly short stories. In 1919, in the midst of the Russian Civil War, Teffi left Russia for Europe, eventually settling in Paris where she became a prominent figure in the émigré literary circles.
The stories in Subtly Worded are grouped into five sections covering various periods in Teffi’s life starting with her early stories written before the Russian Revolution through to later stories of life as an émigré in Paris. The collection closes with a series of haunting works from the period prior to her death in 1952. As with other short story collections I’ve reviewed, I’m not going to try to cover each story in turn – rather, my aim is to give a flavour of themes along with some thoughts on the collection as a whole.
Teffi began her literary career by writing a series of satirical pieces and her talent for wit is evident in the early stories included here in Subtly Worded. ‘Will-power’, the story of an alcoholic who puts his inner mettle to the test, is tinged with irony. And in ‘The Hat’, one of my favourite stories from this collection, we are introduced to the poet without any poems:
The poet was someone very interesting.
He had not yet written any poems –he was still trying to come up with a pen name—but in spite of this he was very poetic and mysterious, perhaps even more so than many a real poet with real, ready-made poems. (pg. 35)
‘The Hat’ also offers a sharp and witty insight into the ability of a stylish new hat (or any such article of clothing) to alter a woman’s mood. In this scene, Varenka is admiring herself in her new hat, ‘a deep-blue hat with a deep-blue bow and a deep-blue bird, a true bluebird of happiness.’ She is anticipating the arrival of her friend, the poet with no poems.
She can be arch, she can be tempestuous, or dreamy, or haughty. She can be anything – and whatever she does she can carry it off with style. (pg. 36)
This story, which ends on an amusing note, seems to typify much of Teffi’s work from this period
To read the rest of my review, click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2015...
Teffi was born in 1872 into an esteemed and cultured St Petersburg family. During her literary career she wrote satirical articles and plays, but by the age of 40 she was publishing mostly short stories. In 1919, in the midst of the Russian Civil War, Teffi left Russia for Europe, eventually settling in Paris where she became a prominent figure in the émigré literary circles.
The stories in Subtly Worded are grouped into five sections covering various periods in Teffi’s life starting with her early stories written before the Russian Revolution through to later stories of life as an émigré in Paris. The collection closes with a series of haunting works from the period prior to her death in 1952. As with other short story collections I’ve reviewed, I’m not going to try to cover each story in turn – rather, my aim is to give a flavour of themes along with some thoughts on the collection as a whole.
Teffi began her literary career by writing a series of satirical pieces and her talent for wit is evident in the early stories included here in Subtly Worded. ‘Will-power’, the story of an alcoholic who puts his inner mettle to the test, is tinged with irony. And in ‘The Hat’, one of my favourite stories from this collection, we are introduced to the poet without any poems:
The poet was someone very interesting.
He had not yet written any poems –he was still trying to come up with a pen name—but in spite of this he was very poetic and mysterious, perhaps even more so than many a real poet with real, ready-made poems. (pg. 35)
‘The Hat’ also offers a sharp and witty insight into the ability of a stylish new hat (or any such article of clothing) to alter a woman’s mood. In this scene, Varenka is admiring herself in her new hat, ‘a deep-blue hat with a deep-blue bow and a deep-blue bird, a true bluebird of happiness.’ She is anticipating the arrival of her friend, the poet with no poems.
She can be arch, she can be tempestuous, or dreamy, or haughty. She can be anything – and whatever she does she can carry it off with style. (pg. 36)
This story, which ends on an amusing note, seems to typify much of Teffi’s work from this period
To read the rest of my review, click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2015...
September 12, 2022
Great stuff. There’s even a Rasputin encounter !
July 27, 2014
The Russian writer Teffi's satirical short stories, "funny on the outside but tragic" within, remind me of Saki's, but without his cruel streak. Her opening lines often contain an intriguing hook: "The Christmas party was fun.... There was even one boy who had been flogged that day-"
To some extent tracing her own life from inquisitive child, through vivacious girl to philosophical old woman, her themes are varied, but tales from before the Russian Revolution tend to focus on people's characters and situations: the way those who have been badly treated take it out on the next person in the pecking order, ending with the child who kicks the cat which can only "pour out her grief and bewilderment to the dustbin"; the young woman who goes out in a burst of confidence, believing that her new blue hat will make her attractive. Teffi was good at portraying children: the little girl so struck by a toy ram's "quite human... meek face and eyes" that she "sticks his face into a jug of real milk", until an empathetic grown up explains, "Live milk for the living. Pretend milk for the unliving".
I am most impressed by the tales from her exile in Paris, after the Russian Revolution. "Subtly worded", source of the collection's overall title, is particularly clever, revealing how expatriates have to dissemble in letters back home to "guarantee" that their correspondents will "not be arrested and shot" for having received them. Advice is on the lines of "You should have written as a woman. Otherwise your brother will arrested" for his relationship to a man "who has evaded military conscription. Second, you shouldn't mention having received a letter, since correspondence is forbidden. And then you shouldn't let on that you understand how awful things are here."
A thread of the supernatural and folk tradition runs through some tales: Moshka the carpenter, reputed to have been dragged off by the Devil and returned from the dead as one of "the kind that walk". The fact he is Jewish adds a sting to this tale of rural prejudice.
Stories from her final years when she was poor and ailing are poignant, yet still questioning: in "And time was no more" an old woman, modelled no doubt on Teffi herself, observes, "the beauty of flowers attracts the bees that will pollinate them but what purpose does the mournful beauty of sunset serve?" If the stars give a person in pain a sense of his own insignificance, why should he be expected "to find comfort" in this "complete and utter humiliation"? There is something refreshingly honest and enduring in these thoughts.
It is good that the reprinting of these stories goes a little way to restoring her former considerable fame.
To some extent tracing her own life from inquisitive child, through vivacious girl to philosophical old woman, her themes are varied, but tales from before the Russian Revolution tend to focus on people's characters and situations: the way those who have been badly treated take it out on the next person in the pecking order, ending with the child who kicks the cat which can only "pour out her grief and bewilderment to the dustbin"; the young woman who goes out in a burst of confidence, believing that her new blue hat will make her attractive. Teffi was good at portraying children: the little girl so struck by a toy ram's "quite human... meek face and eyes" that she "sticks his face into a jug of real milk", until an empathetic grown up explains, "Live milk for the living. Pretend milk for the unliving".
I am most impressed by the tales from her exile in Paris, after the Russian Revolution. "Subtly worded", source of the collection's overall title, is particularly clever, revealing how expatriates have to dissemble in letters back home to "guarantee" that their correspondents will "not be arrested and shot" for having received them. Advice is on the lines of "You should have written as a woman. Otherwise your brother will arrested" for his relationship to a man "who has evaded military conscription. Second, you shouldn't mention having received a letter, since correspondence is forbidden. And then you shouldn't let on that you understand how awful things are here."
A thread of the supernatural and folk tradition runs through some tales: Moshka the carpenter, reputed to have been dragged off by the Devil and returned from the dead as one of "the kind that walk". The fact he is Jewish adds a sting to this tale of rural prejudice.
Stories from her final years when she was poor and ailing are poignant, yet still questioning: in "And time was no more" an old woman, modelled no doubt on Teffi herself, observes, "the beauty of flowers attracts the bees that will pollinate them but what purpose does the mournful beauty of sunset serve?" If the stars give a person in pain a sense of his own insignificance, why should he be expected "to find comfort" in this "complete and utter humiliation"? There is something refreshingly honest and enduring in these thoughts.
It is good that the reprinting of these stories goes a little way to restoring her former considerable fame.
November 3, 2015
Never having heard of this author, I started reading this book with no real idea what to expect. But I'm so glad that I took the gamble and bought this book. Teffi is a very talented writer, and these short stories showcase her skills. Such a wide variety of stories - everyone would be able to find at least one that they like - and I enjoyed all of them. I think my favourite would have to be 'The Lifeless Beast', a poignant tale of a small girl neglected by her parents who finds comfort in her toy ram. And I loved reading Teffi's account of her meetings with Rasputin. He's such a famous historical figure and it was interesting to find out what he was like in everyday life. This book is well worth the read.
May 31, 2017
I'd never heard of Teffi but it turns out that's my bad. Any Russian author whose fans included both Nicholas II and Lenin can't be ignored.
Theres a lot to admire in her work especally if like me, you are into satire. Her work is simple, straightforward and quite sharp; a combination, I'd say, of Juvenal (ancient Rman satirist), with occassional dashes of what Raymond Carver would later do (show-don't-tell minimalism) and O'Henry. For fans of Russian history, the story of Rasputin's aggressive effort to seduce a female writer (who, in this based on-life-story, was, actually, Teffi herself) is not to be missed. The title story, "Subtly Worded" may seem simplistic at first glance but it's actually one of the sharpest pieces inthe collection.
The drawbacks, to me, are Teffi's last works. Maybe I'd have appreciated them more has I encountered them separately from this collection, but as I read them, they seeemd annoyingly at variance with and more self consciosuly artsy than those that make up the bulk of the collection.
Theres a lot to admire in her work especally if like me, you are into satire. Her work is simple, straightforward and quite sharp; a combination, I'd say, of Juvenal (ancient Rman satirist), with occassional dashes of what Raymond Carver would later do (show-don't-tell minimalism) and O'Henry. For fans of Russian history, the story of Rasputin's aggressive effort to seduce a female writer (who, in this based on-life-story, was, actually, Teffi herself) is not to be missed. The title story, "Subtly Worded" may seem simplistic at first glance but it's actually one of the sharpest pieces inthe collection.
The drawbacks, to me, are Teffi's last works. Maybe I'd have appreciated them more has I encountered them separately from this collection, but as I read them, they seeemd annoyingly at variance with and more self consciosuly artsy than those that make up the bulk of the collection.
May 18, 2017
A brilliant collection. Teffi takes you to a different world - from a child's real-life nightmare, to a dinner party with Rasputin or a witty observation of émigré life in Paris, giving each story real feeling and a true sense of being in that moment/ place / time. An excellent translation, finding parallels in English for Russian wordplay and irony. Expert storytelling and very quotable...
"...Once you made out that there are five doors through which one can escape the terror that is life: religion, science, art, love and death."
"Yes, I think I did. But do you realize that there is a dreadful force that only saints and crazed fanatics can defeat? This force closes all these doors; it makes man revolt against God, scorn science for its impotence, turn a cold shoulder to art and forget how to love... it makes death, that eternal bogeyman, come to seem welcome and blessed. This force is pain. Torturers the world over have always known this."
"...Once you made out that there are five doors through which one can escape the terror that is life: religion, science, art, love and death."
"Yes, I think I did. But do you realize that there is a dreadful force that only saints and crazed fanatics can defeat? This force closes all these doors; it makes man revolt against God, scorn science for its impotence, turn a cold shoulder to art and forget how to love... it makes death, that eternal bogeyman, come to seem welcome and blessed. This force is pain. Torturers the world over have always known this."
April 16, 2017
Mostly a collection of vignettes rather than short stories, with the emphasis on a finely-described examination of people's reactions to the world around them. This collection includes the best pen-portrait of Rasputin that I've ever read.
December 4, 2017
OOF!!!
July 17, 2022
This is a collection of short stories and some non-fiction by Teffi the pen name of Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya. It feels slightly surreal to me that she met both Tolstoy and Rasputin and we get an account of both, but the fiction pieces are remarkable too whether she's writing from the perspective of a young child forgotten in her parents' divorce or instructions on how to write various letters. 'A Radiant Easter' is a parody of the sort of moralistic Easter stories I luckily haven't had too much exposure too, but it was a funny way to start my introduction to Teffi.
Translated from the Russian by Anne Marie Jackson with Robert and Elizabeth Chandler, Clare Kitson, Irina Steinberg and Natalia Wase.
Translated from the Russian by Anne Marie Jackson with Robert and Elizabeth Chandler, Clare Kitson, Irina Steinberg and Natalia Wase.
January 1, 2018
I skipped around a lot in this book, which I wanted to love more. What kept me coming back, other than my interest in Russian emigres fleeing the revolution, was the luscious detail. This was especially true of the last story, with prose so gorgeous I nearly copied out the whole thing.
December 16, 2019
4 stars, I really liked it
After reading this, I can understand why I couldn't quite get into Nabokov as many others.
After reading this, I can understand why I couldn't quite get into Nabokov as many others.
January 16, 2018
Teffi is an incredible story teller. Some, written in the days before and after the Russian Revolution of 1917, strike a sad chord with me in the U.S. now. But my rating of the quality of her writing is not based upon this. She is just very much worth reading! What I wonder - why didn't we read her in college classes?
May 18, 2015
I definitely would not have picked this up but for my 2015 reading challenge. It is a book of short stories by Teffi, a Russian writer and humorist who was extremely popular in her day. There were definitely some gems in the mix, particularly The Lifeless Beast. I am going to add that to my repertoire of good single short stories to recommend. I also enjoyed her account of meeting Rasputin, the titular story "Subtly Worded," and "My First Tolstoy." Unfortunately my interest flagged by the end of the book. I'm not sure if it's because of the subjects of the pieces or me wanting to be done with the book. Probably both.
I read this for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge! Task 19: A book that was originally published in another language! And technically I already read one originally published in another language (The Strange Library), I'm trying not to double dip.
I read this for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge! Task 19: A book that was originally published in another language! And technically I already read one originally published in another language (The Strange Library), I'm trying not to double dip.
May 20, 2019
Any time I read things like this, the little things always stand out to me. For instance, her off-hand comment about how upper-class Russian women often had a lisp in Russian, because they so often were taught French or English first. That's a detail that would otherwise be lost.
I do wonder if these would have survived and been re-issued had it not been for her Rasputin encounters. Those are as creepy and intriguing as you'd hope they'd be.
I do wonder if these would have survived and been re-issued had it not been for her Rasputin encounters. Those are as creepy and intriguing as you'd hope they'd be.
Read
October 6, 2016While the many wonderful stories in this collection are in fact subtly worded as advertised, caveat emptor: the numbering in it is anything but subtle. For example, every story ends with a single year. Where's the annual ambiguity? Is a duration not delicate too? Yes, I work with numbers for a living, why do you ask?
October 25, 2021
I’ll be honest, I had never even heard of Teffi until very recently. As this collection started a bit slowly for me with her early work starting from 1910, I was initially thinking that as a whole it would only be mildly amusing. Then I came to ‘The Lifeless Beast’ (1916), the marvelous story of a marriage falling apart told from a child’s perspective with just the right touch, and knew that I was on to something. From there it just gets better.
You see Teffi’s evolution as an author and political critic in the stories after the Revolution, with ‘One Day in the Future’ (1918) pillorying the idea that the intelligentsia are replaceable with the unskilled in a communist state. Then you hit the 45-page ‘Rasputin’ (1932), an absolutely stunning story of a couple of meetings Teffi had with the legendary mystic who wheedled his way into Tsar Nicholas II’s inner circle. She brilliantly captures everything from his mannerisms to his contradictory, somewhat bizarre essence, as well as the ways in which he tried to impose his will on others. I was spellbound and fascinated by such a unique account, which is easily five stars on its own.
Her stories written as an émigré in Paris, including ‘Subtly Worded’ (1920), about how letters had to be written to loved ones still in Russia to avoid the censor, as well as ‘My First Tolstoy’ (1920), about her meeting as a child with the legendary author, are precious. Her stories about the difficulties of love, including ‘The Dog (A Story From a Stranger)’ (1936), with the faithfulness of an unrequited lover taking on supernatural proportions, and ‘Thy Will’ (1952), about the difficulty of truly letting go of a failed love affair, are also first-rate.
The last story, ‘And Time Was No More’ (1949), about the thoughts a woman has while she is dying, is an absolute masterpiece, also easily five stars. It’s poetic, philosophical, and incredibly well written. Teffi was 77 at the time and only a few years away from her own death, and it’s apparent that it encapsulates her own thoughts looking back on life.
Bravo to Pushkin Press for assembling this collection. Apparently Teffi’s pre-Revolution popularity waned not only in Russia, which is understandable given her political views and subsequent immigration, but also in the West, because among many the early Soviet state was looked on somewhat favorably as an idealistic experiment. There are some real gems here, and she deserves to be better known.
Quotes, all from ‘And Time Was No More’:
On death:
“This is how I feel about the world soul, and this, therefore, is how I feel about death. Death is a return to the whole, a return to oneness.”
“…this is all there is to death: it is something tiny, indivisible, a mere point, the moment when the heart stops beating and breathing ceases, and someone’s voice says, ‘He is dead now.’ That’s eternity for you. And all the elaborations of a life beyond the grave, with its agonies of conscience, repentance and other torments – all this is simply what we experience while we’re alive. There is no place for such trivial nonsense in eternity.”
On snow, and peace:
“Nothing on earth creates a sense of peace and calm like falling snow. Maybe because when something falls it’s usually accompanied by some noise, by a knock or a crash. But snow – this pure and almost unbroken white mass – is the only thing that falls without any sound. And this brings a sense of peace. Often now when my soul feels restless, I think of falling snow, of silently falling snow.”
On the universe:
“We look up at the starry sky the way a little mouse looks through a chink in the wall at a magnificent ballroom. The music, the lights, the sparkling apparitions. Strange rhythmical movements, in circles that move together and then apart, propelled by an unknown cause towards an incomprehensible goal. It’s beautiful and frightening – very, very frightening. We can, if we like, count the number of circles made by this or that sparkling apparition, but it’s impossible to understand what the apparition means – and this is frightening. What we can’t understand we always sense as a hostile force, as something cruel and meaningless. Little mouse, it’s a good thing that they don’t see us, that we play no role in their magnificent, terrible and majestic life.”
You see Teffi’s evolution as an author and political critic in the stories after the Revolution, with ‘One Day in the Future’ (1918) pillorying the idea that the intelligentsia are replaceable with the unskilled in a communist state. Then you hit the 45-page ‘Rasputin’ (1932), an absolutely stunning story of a couple of meetings Teffi had with the legendary mystic who wheedled his way into Tsar Nicholas II’s inner circle. She brilliantly captures everything from his mannerisms to his contradictory, somewhat bizarre essence, as well as the ways in which he tried to impose his will on others. I was spellbound and fascinated by such a unique account, which is easily five stars on its own.
Her stories written as an émigré in Paris, including ‘Subtly Worded’ (1920), about how letters had to be written to loved ones still in Russia to avoid the censor, as well as ‘My First Tolstoy’ (1920), about her meeting as a child with the legendary author, are precious. Her stories about the difficulties of love, including ‘The Dog (A Story From a Stranger)’ (1936), with the faithfulness of an unrequited lover taking on supernatural proportions, and ‘Thy Will’ (1952), about the difficulty of truly letting go of a failed love affair, are also first-rate.
The last story, ‘And Time Was No More’ (1949), about the thoughts a woman has while she is dying, is an absolute masterpiece, also easily five stars. It’s poetic, philosophical, and incredibly well written. Teffi was 77 at the time and only a few years away from her own death, and it’s apparent that it encapsulates her own thoughts looking back on life.
Bravo to Pushkin Press for assembling this collection. Apparently Teffi’s pre-Revolution popularity waned not only in Russia, which is understandable given her political views and subsequent immigration, but also in the West, because among many the early Soviet state was looked on somewhat favorably as an idealistic experiment. There are some real gems here, and she deserves to be better known.
Quotes, all from ‘And Time Was No More’:
On death:
“This is how I feel about the world soul, and this, therefore, is how I feel about death. Death is a return to the whole, a return to oneness.”
“…this is all there is to death: it is something tiny, indivisible, a mere point, the moment when the heart stops beating and breathing ceases, and someone’s voice says, ‘He is dead now.’ That’s eternity for you. And all the elaborations of a life beyond the grave, with its agonies of conscience, repentance and other torments – all this is simply what we experience while we’re alive. There is no place for such trivial nonsense in eternity.”
On snow, and peace:
“Nothing on earth creates a sense of peace and calm like falling snow. Maybe because when something falls it’s usually accompanied by some noise, by a knock or a crash. But snow – this pure and almost unbroken white mass – is the only thing that falls without any sound. And this brings a sense of peace. Often now when my soul feels restless, I think of falling snow, of silently falling snow.”
On the universe:
“We look up at the starry sky the way a little mouse looks through a chink in the wall at a magnificent ballroom. The music, the lights, the sparkling apparitions. Strange rhythmical movements, in circles that move together and then apart, propelled by an unknown cause towards an incomprehensible goal. It’s beautiful and frightening – very, very frightening. We can, if we like, count the number of circles made by this or that sparkling apparition, but it’s impossible to understand what the apparition means – and this is frightening. What we can’t understand we always sense as a hostile force, as something cruel and meaningless. Little mouse, it’s a good thing that they don’t see us, that we play no role in their magnificent, terrible and majestic life.”
December 7, 2019
This collection of stories by Teffi was a fantastic way to get into her work, which I will definitely be reading more of. From what I've gathered Teffi kind of a hidden gem in the world of Russian Literature, which tends to focus on the very masculine 'great novels' by authors like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. Teffi is sometimes called 'the female Chekov' by some (which I find problematic), nevertheless they are right in their allusion to her having a place among the masters of the short story.
What makes this edition of her works so accessible is that they are split up into digestible periods of her writing, e.g. pre-Revolution, Paris in the 1920s and 30s, etc.. This also shows her development as a writer and the themes that preoccupied her during various periods of her life. The introduction outlining Teffi's life was interesting in itself and her many experiences enrich the flavour of her writing. She has a lot to say about Rasputin (who she met a few times) and the experience of being a Russian emigre in Paris after the Revolution.
I'm so glad I was able to discover Teffi's writing and I am keen to read some of her memoirs.
What makes this edition of her works so accessible is that they are split up into digestible periods of her writing, e.g. pre-Revolution, Paris in the 1920s and 30s, etc.. This also shows her development as a writer and the themes that preoccupied her during various periods of her life. The introduction outlining Teffi's life was interesting in itself and her many experiences enrich the flavour of her writing. She has a lot to say about Rasputin (who she met a few times) and the experience of being a Russian emigre in Paris after the Revolution.
I'm so glad I was able to discover Teffi's writing and I am keen to read some of her memoirs.
August 17, 2021
It so matched my psychology nowadays. Asli had recommended this book some years ago. Having read the Romanovs this year, I thought it would be nice to continue reading about the period around the revolution. Before the war she was writing more comical stories which became more cynical during WWI and after the revolution. Her Paris years were also amusing but reminiscent of pre-war Russia. Her recounting of Rasputin was great. It gave a very good sense of the political atmosphere at around that time. The last stories written after WWII were very saddening since she was approaching her death. Now that I don’t want to but have to return to Istanbul and observing my parents aging, which makes me pensively think about my own old days to come and what meaning my life would have after they go, I resonated with some of the stories.
June 18, 2023
Teffi was a prolific Russian writer during the 20th century who fled Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution and spent the rest of her life in France. Her works are just now being translated into English. This is the third book I've read about or by Teffi, and this is the first actual collection of her works. Presented in chronological order, her early stories I found some difficult to follow, tied to Russian history and folklore prior to the Bolshevik Revolution. The rest of her works, both biographical and fiction, were much easier to follow, and a pleasure to read. Some are funny, others quirky, and even others philosophical. I'm looking forward to reading the few additional volumes in English available.
March 30, 2019
There's some good stuff in here, but this collection has partially been superseded by Rasputin and Other Ironies, also from Pushkin Press. There's some overlap, particularly the excellent piece on Rasputin himself. Teffi's early works and those from the revolutionary period are very interesting, but I found her later stories of emigre life in France rather less compelling. Teffi's most interesting work is Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea, however - now, that is essential reading. I seem to have read everything of Teffi's in print in English, in book form at least, but I'm also keen to read the recent biography by Edythe Haber.
June 15, 2021
Teffi’s stories are delightful. I finished the book in two sittings, unfortunately. I see it as another window into everyday Russian life during tumultuous times in history, similar in that way to “A Gentleman in Moscow”. Wrapping together all of this history, confusion, love, culture, fear, and insight, and blessing it with humor- that’s what Teffi’s stories did for me. An entertaining, life-enriching book.
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