Author: Ilya Ilf
Year: 1931
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Genres/categories:
Satire, Classic, Humor, Adventure
Culture: Russia
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ISBNs:
9781934824078
1934824070 |
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Ostap Bender, the "grand strategist," is a con man on the make in the Soviet Union during the New Economic Policy (NEP) period. He's obsessed with getting one last big score - a few hundred thousand will do - and heading for Rio de Janeiro, where there are "a million and a half people, all of them wearing white pants, without exception."
When Bender hears the story of Alexandr Koreiko, an "undercover millionaire" - no Soviet citizen was allowed to openly hoard so much capital - the chase is on. Koreiko has made his millions by taking advantage of the wide-spread corruption and utter chaos of the NEP, all while serving quietly as an accountant at a government office and living on 46 rubles a month. He's just waiting for the Soviet regime to collapse so he can make use of his stash, which he keeps hidden away in a suitcase.
Teaming up with two petty criminals and a hopelessly naive driver, Bender leads his merry band of mischief makers on a raucously hilarious jaunt across the "wild west" of the early Soviet Union. One of the true classics of Russian literature, this new translation of The Golden Calf - the first complete translation of the novel - restores the absurd, manic energy of the original and reaffirms the judgment of the Soviet censors, who said: "You have a very nice hero, Ostap Bender. But really, he's just a son of a bitch."
This book is part of the "Ostap Bender" series. Here are some other books from this series:
 | "The Twelve Chairs"
First published in 1927
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