‘Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea,’ by Teffi - The New York Times- Masha Gesen reviwer 20150515

"‘Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea,’ by Teffi - The New York Times
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It is brave of Julian Barnes to take on Shostakovich’s puzzle, and his
tragedy, in which so many people and factions have a stake. Barnes’s
short new novel, “The Noise of Time,” doesn’t just tell the composer’s
story; it presumes to channel him. Much of it is written in a Joycean
interior monologue, like at the beginning, where the composer is
standing by the elevator, waiting for Stalin’s secret police to come to
take him away:"
"“estrangement,” or “defamiliarization” — the artistic practice of describing “things as they are perceived and not as they are known.”  "

“A woman’s sealskin coat represents an entire epoch in her life as a refugee. . . . We put these coats on as we first set out, even if this was in summer, because we couldn’t bear to leave them behind — such a coat was both warm and valuable and none of us knew how long our wanderings would last. I saw sealskin coats in Kiev and in Odessa, still looking new, their fur all smooth and glossy. Then in Novorossiisk, worn thin around the edges and with bald patches down the sides and on the elbows. In Constantinople — with grubby collars and cuffs folded back in shame. And, last of all, in Paris, from 1920 until 1922. By 1920 the fur had worn away completely, right down to the shiny black leather. The coat had been shortened to the knee and the collar and cuffs were now made from some new kind of fur, something blacker and oilier — a foreign substitute. In 1924 these coats disappeared. All that remained was odds and ends, torn scraps of memories, bits of trimming sewn onto the cuffs, collars and hems of ordinary woolen coats. Nothing more. And then, in 1925, the timid, gentle seal was obliterated by invading hordes of dyed cats. But even now when I see a sealskin coat, I remember this epoch in our lives as refugees. In freight cars, on the decks of steamers or deep in their holds, we spread our sealskin coats beneath us if it was warm or wrapped ourselves up in them if it was cold.”