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BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week
'Wonderfully idiosyncratic, coolly heartfelt and memorable' William Boyd
'One of the great writers of early 20th Century Russia' Simon Sebag Montefiore
'A remarkable memoir . . . both potent and endearing' Erica Wagner, New Statesman
The writer and satirist Teffi was a literary sensation in Russia until war and revolution forced her to leave her country forever. 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 immortalised 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 times, and an essential writer for ours.
Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.
Translated by Robert Chandler, Elizabeth Chandler, Anne Marie Jackson and Irina Steinberg.
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. Among other selections from her work, Pushkin Press publishes Subtly Worded, a collection of her short stories, and Rasputin and Other Ironies, which includes her best non-fiction.
