Biography of Teffi Nadezhda Alexandrovna. Sad love of the great Teffi

Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya was born on April 24 (May 6), 1872 in St. Petersburg (according to other sources in the Volyn province) in the family of lawyer Alexander Vladimirovich Lokhvitsky (1830-1884). She studied at the gymnasium on Liteiny Prospekt.

In 1892, after the birth of her first daughter, she settled with her first husband, Vladislav Buchinsky, on his estate near Mogilev. In 1900, after the birth of her second daughter Elena and son Janek, she separated from her husband and moved to St. Petersburg, where she began literary career.

Published since 1901. In 1910, the first book of poems, “Seven Lights,” and the collection “Humorous Stories” were published by the publishing house “Rosehipnik.”

She was known for her satirical poems and feuilletons, and was a member of the permanent staff of the Satyricon magazine. Teffi's satire was often very original; Thus, the poem “From Mickiewicz” of 1905 is based on the parallel between Adam Mickiewicz’s well-known ballad “The Voevoda” and a specific, recent topical event. Teffi’s stories were systematically published in such authoritative Parisian newspapers and magazines as “The Coming Russia”, “Link”, “Russian Notes”, “Modern Notes”. Nicholas II was a fan of Teffi, and sweets were named after Teffi. At Lenin’s suggestion, stories from the 1920s, which described the negative aspects of emigrant life, were published in the USSR in the form of pirated collections until the writer made a public accusation.

After the closure of the newspaper in 1918 Russian word", where she worked, Teffi went to Kyiv and Odessa with literary performances. This trip brought her to Novorossiysk, from where in the summer of 1919 she went to Turkey. In the fall of 1919 she was already in Paris, and in February 1920 in Paris literary magazine Two of her poems appeared, and in April she organized a literary salon. In 1922-1923 she lived in Germany.

From the mid-1920s she lived in civil marriage with Pavel Andreevich Thixton (d. 1935).

She died on October 6, 1952 in Paris, two days later she was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris and buried in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.

She was called the first Russian humorist of the early 20th century, “the queen of Russian humor,” but she was never a supporter of pure humor, she always combined it with sadness and witty observations on surrounding life. After emigration, satire and humor gradually ceased to dominate in her work; observations of life became more philosophical character.

Nickname

There are several options for the origin of the nickname Teffi.

The first version was set out by the writer herself in the story “Pseudonym”. She didn't want to sign her texts male name, as contemporary writers often did: “I didn’t want to hide behind a male pseudonym. Cowardly and cowardly. It’s better to choose something incomprehensible, neither this nor that. But what? We need a name that would bring happiness. The best name is the name of some fool - fools are always happy.” She "remembered<…>one fool, truly excellent and, in addition, one who was lucky, which means that fate itself recognized him as an ideal fool. His name was Stepan, and his family called him Steffy. Having dropped the first letter out of delicacy (so that the fool would not become arrogant),” the writer “decided to sign her play “Taffy.” After the successful premiere of this play, in an interview with a journalist, when asked about the pseudonym, Teffi replied that “this is... the name of one fool... that is, such a surname.” The journalist noted that he was “told it was from Kipling.” Teffi, who remembered Kipling’s song “Taffy was a walshman / Taffy was a thief...” (Russian: Teffi from Wales, Teffi was a thief), agreed with this version..

The same version is voiced by the researcher of creativity Teffi E. Nitraur, indicating the name of an acquaintance of the writer as Stefan and specifying the title of the play - “The Women's Question”, and a group of authors under the general leadership of A. I. Smirnova, attributing the name Stepan to a servant in the Lokhvitsky house.

Another version of the origin of the pseudonym is offered by researchers of Teffi’s creativity E.M. Trubilova and D.D. Nikolaev, according to whom the pseudonym for Nadezhda Alexandrovna, who loved hoaxes and jokes, and was also the author of literary parodies and feuilletons, became part of literary game aimed at creating an appropriate image of the author.

There is also a version that Teffi took her pseudonym because under her real name Her sister, the poetess Mirra Lokhvitskaya, who was called the “Russian Sappho,” was published.

Creation

Before emigration

Since childhood, Teffi has been interested in classical Russian literature. Her idols were A.S. Pushkin and L.N. Tolstoy, she was interested in modern literature and painting, was friends with the artist Alexander Benois. Teffi was also greatly influenced by N.V. Gogol, F.M. Dostoevsky and her contemporaries F. Sologub and A. Averchenko.

Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya began writing as a child, but her literary debut took place only at the age of thirty. Teffi’s first publication took place on September 2, 1901 in the magazine “North” - it was the poem “I had a dream, crazy and beautiful...”.

Teffi herself spoke about her debut like this: “They took my poem and took it to an illustrated magazine without telling me a word about it. And then they brought me an issue of the magazine where the poem was published, which made me very angry. I didn’t want to be published then, because one of my older sisters, Mirra Lokhvitskaya, had been publishing her poems with success for a long time. It seemed to me something funny if we all delved into literature. By the way, that’s how it happened... So - I was unhappy. But when the editors sent me a fee, it made the most gratifying impression on me.”

In 1905, her stories were published in the supplement to the Niva magazine.

During the years of the First Russian Revolution (1905-1907), Teffi composed topical poems for satirical magazines (parodies, feuilletons, epigrams). At the same time, the main genre of all her work was determined - humorous story. First in the newspaper “Rech”, then in “Birzhevye Novosti” every Sunday issue Teffi’s literary feuilletons are published, which soon brought her all-Russian love.

In pre-revolutionary years, Teffi was very popular. She was a regular contributor to the magazines “Satyricon” (1908-1913) and “New Satyricon” (1913-1918), which were headed by her friend A. Averchenko.

The poetry collection “Seven Lights” was published in 1910. The book went almost unnoticed against the backdrop of the resounding success of Teffi's prose. In total, before emigrating, the writer published 16 collections, and throughout her life - more than 30. In addition, Teffi wrote and translated several plays. Her first play, “The Women's Question,” was staged by the St. Petersburg Maly Theater.

Her next step was the creation in 1911 of a two-volume book “Humorous Stories”, where she criticizes philistine prejudices, and also depicts the life of the St. Petersburg “demimonde” and the working people, in a word, petty everyday “nonsense”. Sometimes representatives of the working people with whom the main characters come into contact come into the author’s field of view; this for the most part cooks, maids, painters, represented as stupid and senseless creatures. Everyday life and routine are noticed by Teffi evilly and accurately. She prefaced her two-volume work with an epigraph from Benedict Spinoza’s “Ethics,” which accurately defines the tone of many of her works: “For laughter is joy, and therefore in itself is good.”

In 1912, the writer created the collection “And It Became So,” where she describes social type tradesman, but shows the ordinariness of gray everyday life, in 1913 - the collection “Carousel” (here we see the image common man, crushed by life) and “Eight Miniatures”, in 1914 - “Smoke without Fire”, in 1916 - “Life-Being”, “Inanimate Beast” (where the writer describes the feeling of tragedy and trouble in life; the positive ideal for Teffi here is children, nature, people).

The events of 1917 are reflected in the essays and stories “Petrograd Life”, “Managers of Panic” (1917), “Trading Rus'”, “Reason on a String”, “Street Aesthetics”, “In the Market” (1918), feuilletons “Dog Time” ", "A little about Lenin", "We believe", "We waited", "Deserters" (1917), "Seeds" (1918).

At the end of 1918, together with A. Averchenko, Teffi left for Kyiv, where their public performance, and after a year and a half of wandering around the Russian south (Odessa, Novorossiysk, Ekaterinodar) I reached Paris through Constantinople. Judging by the book “Memoirs”, Teffi did not intend to leave Russia. The decision was made spontaneously, unexpectedly for her: “The trickle of blood seen in the morning at the gates of the commissariat, the slowly creeping trickle across the sidewalk cuts the road to life forever. You can't step over it. We can't go any further. You can turn and run."

Teffi recalls that she was still hopeful of a quick return to Moscow, although her attitude towards October revolution she determined long ago: “Of course, it wasn’t death that I was afraid of. I was afraid of angry mugs with a flashlight pointed directly at my face, of stupid idiotic anger. Cold, hunger, darkness, the sound of rifle butts on the parquet, screams, crying, gunshots and the death of others. I'm so tired of all this. I didn't want this anymore. I couldn't take it anymore."

In exile

Teffi's books continued to be published in Berlin and Paris, and exceptional success accompanied her until the end of her long life. In exile, she published more than a dozen books of prose and only two collections of poetry: “Shamram” (Berlin, 1923) and “Passiflora” (Berlin, 1923). Depression, melancholy and confusion in these collections are symbolized by the images of a dwarf, a hunchback, a crying swan, a silver ship of death, and a yearning crane. .

In exile, Teffi wrote stories depicting pre-revolutionary Russia, the same bourgeois life that she described in collections published in her homeland. The melancholic title “So We Lived” unites these stories, reflecting the collapse of emigration hopes for a return to the past, the complete futility of an unattractive life in a foreign country. In the first issue of the newspaper " Last news"(April 27, 1920) Teffi's story "Ke fer?" was published. (French: “What to do?”), and the phrase of his hero, the old general, who, looking around the Parisian square in confusion, mutters: “All this is good... but que faire? Fer-to-ke?”, became a kind of password for those in exile.

The writer was published in many prominent periodicals of the Russian emigration (“Common Cause”, “Renaissance”, “Rul”, “Segodnya”, “Link”, “Modern Notes”, “Firebird”). Teffi published a number of books of stories - “Lynx” (1923), “The Book of June” (1931), “About Tenderness” (1938) - which showed new facets of her talent, as well as plays of this period - “Moment of Fate” 1937, “Nothing of the kind” "(1939) - and the only attempt at a novel - "An Adventure Romance" (1931). But his best book she was reading a collection of short stories called The Witch. Genre affiliation The novel, indicated in the title, raised doubts among the first reviewers: the discrepancy between the “soul” of the novel (B. Zaitsev) and the title was noted. Modern researchers point to similarities with the adventure, picaresque, courtly, detective novel, as well as the mythical novel.

In Teffi's works of this time, sad, even tragic motives noticeably intensify. “They were afraid of the Bolshevik death - and died here. We only think about what is there now. We are only interested in what comes from there,” says one of her first Parisian miniatures, “Nostalgia” (1920). Teffi will only change her optimistic outlook on life in old age. Previously, she called 13 years her metaphysical age, but in one of her last Parisian letters a bitter note slips through: “All my peers are dying, but I am still living for something...”.

The Second World War found Teffi in Paris, where she remained due to illness. She did not collaborate in any publications of the collaborators, although she was hungry and in poverty. From time to time she agreed to give a reading of her works to the emigrant public, which became smaller and smaller each time.

In the 1930s, Teffi turned to the memoir genre. She creates autobiographical stories “First Visit to the Editorial Office” (1929), “Pseudonym” (1931), “How I Became a Writer” (1934), “45 Years” (1950), as well as artistic essays - literary portraits famous people whom she happened to meet. Among them are G. Rasputin, V. Lenin, A. Kerensky, A. Kollontai, F. Sologub, K. Balmont, I. Repin, A. Averchenko, Z. Gippius, D. Merezhkovsky, L. Andreev, A. Remizov, A. Kuprin, I. Bunin, I. Severyanin, M. Kuzmin, V. Meyerhold. When creating images of famous people, Teffi highlights any trait or quality that seems to her the most striking, emphasizing the individuality of a person. Originality literary portraits due to the author’s intention “to tell... simply as about living people, to show how I saw them when our paths intertwined. They have all already left, and the wind is covering their earthly footprints with snow and dust. They have written and will write more and more about the work of each of them, but not many will show them as living people. I want to talk about my meetings with them, about their characters, quirks, friendships and enmities." Contemporaries perceived the book as “almost the best of what this talented and intelligent writer has given us so far” (I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov), as “an epilogue to a past and irrevocable life” (M. Tsetlin).

Teffi planned to write about the heroes of L.N. Tolstoy and M. Cervantes, who were ignored by critics, but these plans were not destined to come true. On September 30, 1952, Teffi celebrated her name day in Paris, and just a week later she died.

In the USSR, Teffi began to be reprinted only in 1966.

Bibliography

Publications prepared by Teffi

• Seven lights - St. Petersburg: Rosehip, 1910
• Humorous stories. Book 1. - St. Petersburg: Rosehip, 1910
• Humorous stories. Book 2 (Apes). - St. Petersburg: Rosehip, 1911
• And so it became. - St. Petersburg: New Satyricon, 1912
• Carousel. - St. Petersburg: New Satyricon, 1913
• Miniatures and monologues. T. 1. - St. Petersburg: ed. M. G. Kornfeld, 1913
• Eight miniatures. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1913
• Smoke without fire. - St. Petersburg: New Satyricon, 1914
• Nothing like that, Pg.: New Satyricon, 1915
• Miniatures and monologues. T. 2. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1915
• And so it became. 7th ed. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1916
• Lifeless beast. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1916
• Yesterday. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1918
• Smoke without fire. 9th ed. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1918
• Carousel. 4th ed. - Pg.: New Satyricon, 1918
• Black iris. - Stockholm, 1921
• Treasures of the earth. - Berlin, 1921
• Quiet backwater. - Paris, 1921
• This is how we lived. - Paris, 1921
• Lynx. - Paris, 1923
• Passiflora. - Berlin, 1923
• Shamran. Songs of the East. - Berlin, 1923
• Town. - Paris, 1927
• Book June. - Paris, 1931
• Adventure novel. - Paris, 1931
• Witch. - Paris, 1936
• About tenderness. - Paris, 1938
• Zigzag. - Paris, 1939
• All about love. - Paris, 1946
• Earthly rainbow. - New York, 1952
• Life and collar

Pirate editions

• Instead of politics. Stories. - M.-L.: ZiF, 1926
• Yesterday. Humorous stories. - Kyiv: Cosmos, 1927
• Tango of death. - M.: ZiF, 1927
• Sweet memories. -M.-L.: ZiF, 1927

Collected works

• Collected works [in 7 vols.]. Comp. and preparation texts by D. D. Nikolaev and E. M. Trubilova. - M.: Lakom, 1998-2005.
• Collection Op.: In 5 vols. - M.: Book club TERRA, 2008

Other

• Ancient history / General history, processed by Satyricon. - St. Petersburg: ed. M. G. Kornfeld, 1912

Criticism

To Teffi's works literary circles were extremely positive. The writer and contemporary of Teffi, Mikhail Osorgin, considered her “one of the smartest and most sighted modern writers" Ivan Bunin, stingy with praise, called her “clever and wise” and said that her stories, truthfully reflecting life, were written “great, simply, with great wit, observation and wonderful mockery.”

Although Teffi’s poems were scolded by Valery Bryusov, considering them too “literary,” Nikolai Gumilyov noted about this: “The poetess speaks not about herself and not about what she loves, but about what she could be, and about that she could love. Hence the mask she wears with solemn grace and, it seems, irony.” In addition, her work was highly appreciated by Alexander Kuprin, Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Fyodor Sologub.

Literary encyclopedia 1929-1939 reports about the poetess in an extremely vague and negative way:

Culturologist N. Ya. Berkovsky: “Her stories are similar to her contemporaries, Bunin and Sologub, just as ugly, sick, terrible life, but in Teffi she is also funny, which does not destroy the overall aching impression. The stories about children who always have to endure the suffering of adults (the abominations of adults) in Taffy’s stories are unpleasant: children are a hangover at someone else’s feast. What does it say about small in stature of this writer, with all her talents, this is a sick feeling evoked by her writings. I firmly believe that there is no art without optimism.”

Difficult in pre-revolutionary Russia find a female writer more popular than Nadezhda Teffi. Her funny stories from life ordinary people conquered the hearts of all segments of the population and generations. She wrote about what was close. About love, betrayal, affairs, awkward situations between friends and acquaintances, theater, advertising, family quarrels and much, much more. Readers who recognized themselves, their relatives and friends in Teffi’s characters laughed heartily at simple stories and looked forward to new creations by the talented humorist.

Born into the family of a successful lawyer, Nadezhda could not worry about the future, but simply expect have a good marriage, to raise children. But there was something special in her family. The two daughters grew up very restless and talented. Most likely, a love of literature was instilled in her daughters by her mother, Varvara Alexandrovna, whose maiden name was Goyer, who had French roots.

Nadezhda Tefiya’s first attempts at writing dates back to adolescence. Having started creating while still a high school student, she gradually made writing her life’s work. Teffi's biography is complete unexpected turns And incredible events, you can read it with the same interest as any of Nadezhda Alexandrovna’s stories. Here are some interesting facts from her life:

1. Nadezhda Teffi's real name is Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya. The writer herself presented the story of its origin in different ways. Either she said that this or something similar was the name of the local fool, then she correlated it with the name of a mythical robber. I had to take a pseudonym, because by the time Nadezhda began to storm the literary Olympus, her last name was already very well known in the country.
2. The famous poetess Mirra Lokhvitskaya is Teffi’s dear (elder) sister. Mirra became famous early on as the author of sensual poems. She was called the forerunner of Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva. A woman aged 35 died. She had a bad heart. Surprisingly, the researchers were unable to establish exact amount children in the Lokhvitsky family. Presumably Teffi had one brother and four sisters.
3. Nadezhda Tefii began a professional literary career after a divorce from her husband, being a mature woman with two, and according to some reports, three children.
4. During the First World War, Nadezhda Teffi worked as a nurse and was at the front. Several front-line photographs of the writer have survived, where she poses in uniform and even with a rifle in her hands.
5. In 1919 she emigrated to Paris. She had to travel a long way through Kyiv and Odessa, and then Turkey. Apparently, the writer quickly gets used to the new environment. Her first French publications date back to the beginning of 1920.
6. She always retouched her own photographs, hid her age and said that she felt like thirteen years old. Researchers found out that when Nadezhda Aleksandrovna emigrated, filling out documents, she reduced herself to fifteen years. There is every reason to believe that no one managed to find out this before her death. Thanks to the fact that Nadezhda Aleksandrovna always dressed tastefully, took very good care of herself, skillfully used cosmetics and tinted her hair, no one doubted her “reduced” age, which was comfortable for her.
7. Nadezhda Alexandrovna lived 80 years and died in Paris on September 30, 1952. Just a week after my own name day. She was buried in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.
8. Throughout her life, Nadezhda Aleksandrovna wrote poetry, but became famous thanks to her short humorous stories. Teffi herself said that she loves poetry very much, but she is fed by a comedian.
9. Teffi loved cats very much and even dedicated poems to them. The writer said that she always treats people who don’t like cats with suspicion.
10. Teffi was very absent-minded in everyday life. Relatives recalled that she could light the stove and put the kettle on the next burnt burner, sending money to relatives to write her own address on the envelope, and then rejoice at the unexpected receipt of a large sum.
11. IN last years During her life, Nadezhda Alexandrovna’s health deteriorated greatly. She suffered from neuritis of her left arm; only morphine injections allowed her to relieve the pain and fall asleep. Nadezhda Teffi was also prone to angina attacks and was afraid of dying during one of them.
12. Teffi dreamed of writing a story or several works about minor characters famous books. She especially wanted to describe the adventures of Sancho Panza.

Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Teffi had wide circle communication and many friends, even after leaving my homeland. She never boasted of her status as a famous writer and had among her friends and acquaintances both famous writers (Bunin, Kuprin) and aspiring journalists and neighbors. She knew how to find warm words for everyone and had the habit of giving each guest something. It could be a trinket, a book or money.

With all this the most kind person Of all the people she knew, Teffi herself considered Pavel Andreevich Thixton to be her second husband. The marriage was not officially registered. Theakston was delighted with his beautiful and talented companion and happily remained in the shadows, providing her with a happy, comfortable existence. Unfortunately, Pavel Andreevich died quite early, unable to bear the loss of his fortune as a result of the economic crisis of the 19030s. After his death, Nadezhda Alexandrovna did not remarry and even made attempts to leave literature.

Second World War I met Teffi at an old age, with poor health. She had to live very hard in occupied Paris, but thanks to her friends and family she managed to cope with this.

This whole life talented woman- 80 years of intrigue, secrets and coquetry. Many aspects regarding her personal life are still unknown. Teffi herself constantly “fed” fans and journalists different versions. Like the retouched photographs that Teffi loved so much, her official life seems smooth and bright, but if you look behind the beautiful cover and look closely, you can see many trials, grief and even personal tragedies.

Teffi (real name Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya, married Buchinskaya; May 9 (21), 1872, St. Petersburg - October 6, 1952, Paris) - Russian writer and poetess, memoirist, translator, author of such famous stories as “The Demonic Woman” " and "Kefer". After the revolution she emigrated. Sister of the poetess Mirra Lokhvitskaya and military leader Nikolai Alexandrovich Lokhvitsky.

Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya was born on May 9 (21), 1872 in St. Petersburg (according to other sources in the Volyn province) in the family of lawyer Alexander Vladimirovich Lokhvitsky (1830-1884). She studied at the gymnasium on Liteiny Prospekt.

French indecency is piquant, but Russian is offensive to the ear.

Teffi Nadezhda Alexandrovna

In 1892, after the birth of her first daughter, she settled with her first husband, Vladislav Buchinsky, on his estate near Mogilev. In 1900, after the birth of her second daughter Elena and son Janek, she separated from her husband and moved to St. Petersburg, where she began her literary career.

Published since 1901. In 1910, the first book of poems, “Seven Lights,” and the collection “Humorous Stories” were published by the publishing house “Rosehipnik.”

She was known for her satirical poems and feuilletons, and was a member of the permanent staff of the Satyricon magazine. Teffi's satire was often very original; Thus, the poem “From Mickiewicz” of 1905 is based on the parallel between Adam Mickiewicz’s well-known ballad “The Voevoda” and a specific, recent topical event. Teffi’s stories were systematically published in such authoritative Parisian newspapers and magazines as “The Coming Russia”, “Link”, “Russian Notes”, “Modern Notes”. Nicholas II was a fan of Teffi, and sweets were named after Teffi. At Lenin’s suggestion, stories from the 1920s, which described the negative aspects of emigrant life, were published in the USSR in the form of pirated collections until the writer made a public accusation.

After the closure of the newspaper “Russian Word” in 1918, where she worked, Teffi went to Kyiv and Odessa with literary performances. This trip brought her to Novorossiysk, from where in the summer of 1919 she went to Turkey. In the fall of 1919 she was already in Paris, and in February 1920 two of her poems appeared in a Parisian literary magazine, and in April she organized a literary salon. In 1922-1923 she lived in Germany.

From the mid-1920s she lived in a de facto marriage with Pavel Andreevich Thixton (d. 1935).

She died on October 6, 1952 in Paris, two days later she was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris and buried in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.

Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Lokhvitskaya (1872-1952) appeared in print under the pseudonym “Taffy”. Father is a famous St. Petersburg lawyer, publicist, and author of works on jurisprudence. Mother is a literature connoisseur; sisters - Maria (poetess Mirra Lokhvitskaya), Varvara and Elena (wrote prose), younger brother- all were literary gifted people.

Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya began writing as a child, but her literary debut took place only at the age of thirty, according to a family agreement to enter literature “one by one.” Marriage, the birth of three children, and moving from St. Petersburg to the provinces also did not contribute to literary studies.

In 1900 she separated from her husband and returned to the capital. She first appeared in print with the poem “I Dreamed a Dream...” in 1902 in the magazine “North” (No. 3), followed by stories in the supplement to the magazine “Niva” (1905).

During the years of the Russian Revolution (1905-1907) he composed topical poems for satirical magazines (parodies, feuilletons, epigrams). At the same time, the main genre of Teffi’s work was determined - a humorous story. First in the newspaper “Rech”, then in “Birzhevye Novosti” regularly - almost weekly, in every Sunday issue - Teffi’s literary feuilletons are published, which soon brought her not only fame, but also all-Russian love.

Teffi had the talent to speak on any topic easily and gracefully, with inimitable humor, and knew “the secret of laughing words.” M. Addanov admitted that “people from all walks of life agree on their admiration for Teffi’s talent.” political views and literary tastes."

In 1910, at the peak of his fame, a two-volume collection of Teffi’s stories and the first collection of poems, “Seven Lights,” were published. If the two-volume work was reprinted more than 10 times before 1917, the modest book of poetry went almost unnoticed against the backdrop of the resounding success of the prose.

Teffi’s poems were criticized by V. Bryusov for being “literary”, but N. Gumilyov praised them for this. “The poetess speaks not about herself and not about what she loves, but about what she could be and what she could love. Hence the mask that she wears with solemn grace and, it seems, irony,” Gumilyov wrote.

Teffi’s languid, somewhat theatrical poems seem designed for melodic recitation or created for romance performance, and indeed, A. Vertinsky used several texts for his songs, and Teffi herself sang them with a guitar.

Teffi had a great sense of the nature of stage conventions, she loved the theater, worked for it (wrote one-act and then multi-act plays - sometimes in collaboration with L. Munstein). Finding herself in exile after 1918, Teffi most regretted the loss of the Russian theater: “Of all that fate deprived me of when it deprived me of my Motherland, my greatest loss is the Theater.”

Teffi's books continued to be published in Berlin and Paris, and exceptional success accompanied her until the end of her long life. In exile, she published about twenty books of prose and only two collections of poetry: “Shamram” (Berlin, 1923), “Passiflora” (Berlin, 1923).