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Teffi was a phenomenally popular writer in pre-revolutionary Russia - a favourite of Tsar Nicholas II and Vladimir Lenin alike. She was born in 1872 into a prominent St Petersburg family and emigrated from Bolshevik Russia in 1919. She eventually settled in Paris, where she became an important figure in the emigre literary scene, and where she lived until her death in 1952.Robert Chandler is an acclaimed and award-winning translator of Russian literature. As well as translating works by Teffi for Pushkin Press, he has edited three anthologies for Penguin Classics and translated a number of books by Vasily Grossman and Andrey Platonov.
'Heartbreaking as well as very funny. I wish she were still alive, and I could have met her... I can't recommend her strongly enough' - Guardian 'Teffi is one of the great writers of early 20th century Russia, from Nicholas II's reign to the Revolution afterwards. Her writing, whether stories or reportage or memoir is witty, elegant, fantastical, yet sharp and acute and playful' - Simon Sebag Montefiore 'One of the great twentieth-century writers. At their best her short stories are to my mind the equal of Chekhov's' - John Gray '[Teffi's work is] amazingly modern, as easy to devour as, well, a box of chocolates' - Observer 'Pushkin Press deserves our thanks for bringing Teffi to a much wider audience' - Spectator
