Teffi’s “Memories” and the Women of the Russian Revolution

In 1917, the Russian writer Teffi left her native St. Petersburg, which was experiencing severe shortages of food and fuel, for Moscow. There was bread in Moscow, but she felt that she was watching the city in its death throes, as the newly installed Bolsheviks rounded up their enemies. They were also closing the opposition papers that published her writing. In 1918, when a shady impresario offered her a reading engagement in Odessa, she accepted. Performers had freer access to visas for tours, and theatre companies were swollen with people desperate to emigrate. As she departed, Teffi told herself she’d be back soon; in fact, she would never return to Russia.