Tag: Teffi

‘Kishmish’ by Nadezhda Teffi, translated by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler

Teffi’s short stories are often backgrounded by elements of religion and/or superstition. Sometimes she takes religion and superstition seriously, but sometimes she adds that little touch of satire which turns the whole thing around and reminds us that life is best lived when sprinkled with a bit of humour. ‘Kishmish’ is the nickname of an eight-year old girl who is at the stage in life when she’s wondering what she could be when she grows up. A strongman. A brigand. An executioner. All seem to her to be marvellous ideas, but Kishmish makes her final decision after a visit to the church. She wants to become a saint. “But how could she become a saint? She would have to work miracles – and Kishmish had not the slightest idea how to go about this. Still, miracles were not where you started. First, you had to lead a saintly life”. Kishmish’s idea of leading a saintly life made me laugh out loud, and this almost never happens to me. It’s best if you discover by yourself if she does become a saint or not, but let me just say this: her efforts, sincere and funnily misguided poke fun at the absurdities of adult expectations and shine a light on the grit of everyday reality.

First published in English in Slav Sisters, ed. Natasha Perova, Dedalus Books, 2019

‘Rasputin’ by Teffi/Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya, translated by Anne Marie Jackson

Like Silvina Ocampo, the Russian writer, Teffi, is another relatively recent discovery for me. During her literary career Teffi wrote satirical articles and plays, but by the age of forty 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. Rasputinis one of Teffi’s most memorable pieces, a piercing account of her personal encounters with this legendary figure. While Rasputin is immediately drawn to Teffi, the feeling is far for mutual. As a consequence, the great mystic simply cannot understand why Teffi fails to respond to his charms – he is not accustomed to meeting such resistance from anyone, let alone a woman. For her part, Teffi detects something profoundly unpleasant and chilling about the atmosphere surrounding Rasputin: ‘the grovelling, the collective hysteria – and at the same time the machinations of something dark, something very dark beyond our knowledge.’ There is the sense that one could quite easily fall under his hypnotic spell and never be able to break free from it.

Collected in Subtly Worded, Pushkin Press 2014