Nadezhda Teffi biography and creativity. Brief biography of Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya

Representations of Russian literature are most often formed in a person by the course of the school curriculum. It can not be said that these knowledge is completely wrong. But they reveal the subject far from full. A lot of significant names and phenomena remained outside the school course. For example, an ordinary student who has even passed an excellent examination for literature on an excellent mark is often completely unaware of who Teffi Nadezhda Alexandrovna is. But quite often these so-called names of the second row deserve our special attention.

A look from the other shore

To the all-round and bright talent of Nadezhda Alexandrovna Teffi with great interest are all those who are not indifferent to the crucial era of Russian history, in which she happened to live and create. Hardly this writer can be attributed to the literary stars of the first magnitude, but the image of the era without it will be incomplete. And especially for us is a look at Russian culture and history from those who found themselves on the other side of its historical breakdown. And outside of Russia, according to figurative expression, there was a whole spiritual continent of the Russian society and Russian culture. Nadezhda Teffi, whose biography was split into two halves, helps us to better understand those Russian people who deliberately did not accept the revolution and were its consistent opponents. They had good reasons for this.

Nadezhda Teffi: biography on the background of the era

The literary debut of Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya took place in the beginning of the twentieth century with short verse publications in the capital periodicals. Basically, these were satirical verses and satirical articles on topics that were of concern to the public. Thanks to them, Nadezhda Teffi quickly gained popularity and became famous in both capitals of the Russian Empire. This literary fame, found in young years, was surprisingly stable. Nothing could undermine public interest in the work of Teffi. Her biography includes wars, revolutions and long years of emigration. The literary authority of the poet and writer remained unchallenged.

Creative nickname

The question of how Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya became Nadezhda Teffi deserves special attention. The adoption of the pseudonym was for her a forced measure, since under the real name it was difficult to publish. The elder sister of Hope, Mirra Lokhvitskaya, began her literary career much earlier, and her name has already become famous. Nadezhda Teffi herself, whose biography is widely propagated, several times in her life notes in Russia mentions that she chose the name of a friend of the fool who was called "Staffy" as a pseudonym. One letter had to be cut so that the person did not have an unreasonable reason for pride.

Verses and humorous stories

The first thing that comes to mind when acquaintance with the creative heritage of the poet, this famous saying Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - "Brevity - the sister of talent." The early works of Teffi correspond to him in full. Verses and satires of the permanent author of the popular magazine "Satyricon" were always unexpected, bright and talented. The audience was always waiting for the continuation, 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 Emperor of the Emperor Nikolai the Second and the leader of the world proletariat Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. It is possible that Nadezhda Teffi would have remained in the memory of descendants as the author of an easy humorous reading, if not for the whirlwind of revolutionary events that covered the country.

Revolution

The beginning of these events, which have changed Russia beyond recognition for a few years, can be seen from the stories and essays of the writer. The intention to leave the country arose not in one moment. At the end of 1918, Teffi, together with writer Arkady Averchenko, even makes a trip around the country, which is blazing in the fire of civil war. During the tour, performances were planned in front of the public. But the scale of the unfolding events was clearly underestimated. The trip dragged on for about a year and a half, and with every day it became more obvious that there was no turning back. The Russian land under your feet was rapidly declining. Ahead was only the Black Sea and the way through Constantinople to Paris. He did it together with the retreating units of the White Army, Nadezhda Teffi. Her biography went on abroad.

Emigration

Existence far from the homeland was not enough for anyone to be simple and problem-free. However, the cultural and literary life in the world of Russian emigration was the key. Periodicals and books were published in Paris and Berlin in Russian. Many writers at full power were able to turn around only in emigration. Experienced socio-political upheavals have become a very peculiar stimulus for creativity, and the forced separation from the native country has become a constant theme of emigrant works. The creativity of Nadezhda Teffi is not an exception here either. Memories of lost Russia and literary portraits of figures of Russian emigration for many years become the dominant themes 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 customs of some emigrants. However, the Bolsheviks were forced to forget the popular poetess after she became acquainted with her opinion about them.

Literary portraits

Notes dedicated to various figures of Russian politics, culture and literature, both those who stayed in their homeland and found themselves at the mercy of historical circumstances beyond its borders, are the pinnacle of Nadezhda Teffi's creativity. Memories of this kind always attract attention. Memoirs about famous people are simply doomed to success. And Nadezhda Teffi, whose brief biography is divided into two large parts - life in the Motherland and in exile, was personally acquainted with so many prominent figures. And she had something to say about them to descendants and contemporaries. Portraits of these figures are precisely those and interesting - the personal attitude of the author of notes to the depicted person.

Pages of memoir prose Teffi give us the opportunity to get acquainted with such historical figures as Grigory Rasputin, Vladimir Lenin, Alexander Kerensky. With outstanding writers and artists - Ivan Bunin, Alexander Kuprin, Ilya Repin, Leonid Andreev, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Zinaida Gippius and Vsevolod Meyerhold.

Return to Russia

The life of Hope Teffi in exile was far from prosperity. Despite the fact that her stories and essays were readily published, literary fees were unstable and provided for existence somewhere on the verge of a subsistence minimum. During the fascist occupation of France, the life of Russian emigrants became much more complicated. Before many famous figures the question of moral choice arose . Nadezhda Alexandrovna Teffi belonged to that part of the Russian people abroad who categorically rejected cooperation with collaborative structures. And such a choice condemned man to utter poverty.

Biography of Nadezhda Teffi was completed in 1952. She was buried in the suburbs of Paris at the famous Russian cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois. In Russia, she was destined to return only in her literary works. They began to be published in mass in the Soviet periodical press in the late eighties of the twentieth century, during perestroika. The books of Nadezhda Teffi also appeared in separate editions. They were well received by the reading public.