Моя летопись

In pre-revolutionary Russia, the name of the "queen of humor" Teffi (Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya, 1872-1952) enjoyed great fame. Newspapers and magazines, where she collaborated, were obviously "doomed to success." Even perfumes and Teffi candies were produced. Among the admirers of her talent were people of all ages and classes. It is no coincidence that when a jubilee collection dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the reign of the Romanov dynasty was being prepared, and the tsar was asked which of the modern writers he would like to see in it, Nicholas II resolutely replied "Teffi! Only her! No one but her is needed. One Taffy!" Her witticisms, funny phrases and catchphrases of her characters were picked up and spread throughout Russia, becoming winged with lightning speed. Although Teffi wrote mainly humorous stories and feuilletons, that is, prose of the so-called "light genre", her work was highly appreciated by Ivan Bunin and Alexander Kuprin, Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Fyodor Sologub.

In 1920, Teffi left Russia forever and lived in France for the rest of her life, remaining one of the favorite writers of Russian Paris. Shortly before her death, she wrote: "Jokes are funny when they are told. And when they are experienced, it is a tragedy. And my life is a continuous anecdote, that is, a tragedy."

This volume includes "Memoirs" by Teffi - a bitter and self-ironic story about leaving Russia, as well as memoir essays about A. Kuprin and L. Andreev, A. Tolstoy and A. Averchenko, F. Sologub and K. Balmont, D. Merezhkovsky and Z. Gippius, A. Akhmatova and N. Gumilyov, I. Severyanin and B. Panteleymonov, as well as short-term cooperation in the Bolshevik newspaper "New Life", about meetings with G. Rasputin and much more. Teffi collected them in the book "My Chronicle", but did not have time to publish it during her lifetime...