Vignettes of an Emotional Exodus
Reviewed:
Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea
by Teffi
Translated by Robert Chandler
NYRB Classics, 296 pp., $19.95 (paper)
Publication Date: 5/3/16
Caught in the midst of violent turmoil, the prominent humorist Teffi recounts her daring and mercurial journey fleeing the dual-sided terror that followed the Bolshevik Revolution in her memoir, Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea. Nadezhda Alexandrovna Lokhvitskaya, better known by her pseudonym Teffi, captures the internecine warfare as it erupts across the Slavic empire, quickly collapsing moral conventions and giving rise to both benevolent saviors and sinister barbarism. Teffi’s storytelling conveys the frantic instability of the time through keen observation, lively characters, and her naturally witty humor.
Tossed about by the “mercy of a whirlwind,” her emigration begins when the ever-resourceful impresario Gooskin conveniently organizes a public reading for her in Kiev, facilitating a timely escape from Moscow. Alongside her friend and fellow writer Arkady Averchenko, she is swiftly swept away from the madness engulfing the city. Yet their stay in Kiev offers no respite from the chaos, as they scramble to Odessa, Novorossiysk, and beyond. The pattern of fear, panic, and imminent danger begins to desensitize her to the point of boredom: “Now we were only too used to it all. Everything had become boring, boring to the point of revulsion. It was all just coarse, dirty, and stupid.”
Exhausted by the omnipresence of terror, Teffi manages to lean on her adaptability and humor to keep her spirits from being cast into a desolate abyss. Throughout her journey, she’s introduced to a diverse array of travel companions — from good Samaritans to ruthless, vengeful survivors — each of whom she observes with intrigue and restrained judgment. Some of her fellow Russians find a semblance of peace amidst the horror, like Serafima Semyonovna, who preserves her feminine identity through a gauze-constructed dress. Meanwhile, abhorrent stories and traumatized victims of both the Red and White armies continue to pile up, creating monsters like Colonel K, who endlessly repeats the torture inflicted upon his family. Normalcy and sanity are all but lost in an environment shaped by senseless killing: “For him, what he's doing is entirely normal. You see, after all he's been through, it would be very, very strange if he were to act in a more ordinary way. That really would be insane. There's a limit to what the soul can take, to what human reason can endure.”
Although portraying the lived nightmare of millions — including herself — Teffi often drifts away from the grim details and harrowing aspects of the historical moment. The memoir occasionally digresses into superfluous accounts and childhood memories that are too shallow to leave a lasting impression on readers. Despite this, her literary prowess sustains interest throughout, leading to a conclusion rich with profound reflection.
In the end, Teffi’s memoir restores personhood to an inhumane, impersonal stain on humanity — a period largely neglected or forgotten by Western audiences. Weaving in and out of a swath of disorder, she lifts the shroud of darkness for readers with hopeful characters and humorous dialogue. Through this work and others, she has cemented her place as a vital voice for the survivors of the Russian Civil War.
