The Little Golden Calf
| The Golden Calf | |
| Author | Ilf and Petrov |
|---|---|
| Original title | Золотой телёнок |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | Satirical novel |
Publication date | 1931 |
| Publication place | Soviet Union |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | 1934824070 |
| Preceded by | The Twelve Chairs |
The Little Golden Calf (Russian: Золотой телёнок, Zolotoy telyonok) is a famous satirical novel by Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, released in 1931. Its main character Ostap Bender, also appeared in a previous novel of the authors called The Twelve Chairs. The title alludes to the "Golden calf" of the Bible.
The novel was made into a 1968 black-and-white film The Little Golden Calf and 2006 eight-part TV series The Little Golden Calf.
Plot summary
Ostap Bender is alive again, after somehow surviving the assassination in the previous book. This time he hears a story about an "underground millionaire", Alexandr Koreiko. Koreiko has made millions, a truly enormous sum, by living on 46 rubles a month, through various illegal enterprises, taking full advantage of the widespread corruption in the New Economic Policy (NEP) period. Living in a city Chernomorsk by the Black Sea, and working as an accountant for a government office in charge of economic management, Koreiko keeps his large stash of wrongly acquired money in a suitcase, waiting for the fall of the Soviet government, so that he can make use of it. Together with two associates, two petty criminals, and an extremely naive and innocent car driver, Bender finds out about him and starts to collect all the information he can get on Koreiko’s business activities. Koreiko tries to flee, but Bender eventually tracks him down in Turkestan (Uzbekistan), Central Asia. He then blackmails him into giving him a million rubles.
Suddenly becoming rich, Bender faces the problem of how to spend his money in a country where there are no legal millionaires. Nothing of the life of the rich Bender dreamt of seems possible in the Soviet Union. Frustrated, Bender even decides to anonymously donate the money to Ministry of Finance, but changes his mind. He turns money into jewels and gold, and tries to cross the Romanian border, only to be robbed by the Romanian border guards, leaving him only with a medal, the Order of the Golden Fleece.
Koreiko finds another job as an accountant. He hides the rest of his cash, and continues to wait for the fall of the Soviets.
Main characters
- Ostap Ibragimovich Bender, the main character and protagonist
- Shura Balaganov, the second "Son of Lieutenant Schmidt"
- Mikhail Samuelevich Panikovsky, the third "Son of Lieutenant Schmidt"
- Adam Kazimirovich Kozlevich, a taxi "Wildebeest" (Russian: "Антилопа Гну") driver
- Alexander Ivanovich Koreiko, a millionaire
Two endings
There are two variations of the ending of The Little Golden Calf. One was written at the time of delivering the novel to the magazine Thirty Days to be printed. The other appeared later, probably under the influence of objections to the writers for poetizing their main character. According to the first, Ostap Bender, after reaching his "million", familiarizes himself with the sorrow of a lonely man who has fulfilled his purpose, renounces the fortune, and maries his beloved, Zoya Sinicka. In the second, he is torn. At first, he returns his "million" to the Commissariat of Finance, but then changes his mind. Determined to travel to Rio de Janeiro, he was caught crossing the Romanian border and sent back home, after being deprived of his fortune by Romanian border guards.
“No ovations! I failed to become the Count of Monte Christo. I’ll have to retrain for an apartment manager”.[1] (the 1932 English translation reads: "I shall have to qualify as a janitor")
Cultural influence of the book
The book contributed a number of catchphrases and colorful terms into the Russian language, such as "Horns and Hoofs company ("Рога и копыта")" and "Children of Lieutenant Schmidt", see the Wikiquote page for the book for more.
References
- ^ Не надо оваций! Графа Монте-Кристо из меня не вышло. Придется переквалифицироваться в управдомы.
External links
