Ostap Bender (russian: Остап Бендер; in ''
The Twelve Chairs
''The Twelve Chairs'' ( rus, Двенадцать стульев, Dvenadtsat stulyev) is a classic satirical novel by the Odesan Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, published in 1928. Its plot follows characters attempting to obtain jewelry hidden ...
'' he called himself Ostap-Suleyman-Berta-Maria-Bender-
Bey
Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...
, in ''
The Little Golden Calf
''The Little Golden Calf'' (russian: Золотой телёнок, ''Zolotoy telyonok'') is a satirical novel by Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, published in 1931. Its main character, Ostap Bender, also appears in a previous novel by the authors c ...
'' he called himself Bender-Zadunaysky, in later novels he was also called Ostap Ibragimovich Bender) is a fictional
con man
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...
and the central
antihero
An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...
ic
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
in the novels ''
The Twelve Chairs
''The Twelve Chairs'' ( rus, Двенадцать стульев, Dvenadtsat stulyev) is a classic satirical novel by the Odesan Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, published in 1928. Its plot follows characters attempting to obtain jewelry hidden ...
'' (1928) and ''
The Little Golden Calf
''The Little Golden Calf'' (russian: Золотой телёнок, ''Zolotoy telyonok'') is a satirical novel by Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, published in 1931. Its main character, Ostap Bender, also appears in a previous novel by the authors c ...
'' (1931) written by Soviet authors
Ilya Ilf
Ilya Arnoldovich Ilf (born Iehiel-Leyb Aryevich Faynzilberg, russian: Иехи́ел-Лейб Арьевич Фа́йнзильберг) ( in Odessa – 13 April 1937, Moscow), was a popular Soviet journalist and writer of Jewish origin who us ...
and
or AND may refer to:
Logic, grammar, and computing
* Conjunction (grammar), connecting two words, phrases, or clauses
* Logical conjunction in mathematical logic, notated as "∧", "⋅", "&", or simple juxtaposition
* Bitwise AND, a boolea ...
Yevgeny Petrov. The novels are examples of a
picaresque novel
The picaresque novel (Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for " rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrup ...
genre, which was previously rare in
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were c ...
.
["Остап Бендер"]
''Radio Liberty
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
'', transcript of a talk from cycle "Heroes of the Time", host:Петр Вайль, guests: culturologist Мариэтта Чудакова and actors Archil Gomiashvili
Archil Mikhaylovich Gomiashvili (russian: Арчи́л Миха́йлович Гомиашви́ли, ka, არჩილ მიხეილის ძე გომიაშვილი, March 23, 1926 – May 31, 2005) was a Soviet Georgian th ...
(Bender – 1971) and Sergey Yursky
Sergei Yurievich Yursky (russian: Серге́й Ю́рьевич Ю́рский, 16 March 1935 – 8 February 2019) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, theatre director and screenwriter. His best known film role is Ostap Bender in '' T ...
(Bender – 1993)
Bender is an attractive, resourceful crook, full of energy while operating within the law ("Bender knew 400 relatively legal ways to make the population part with their money."); his description as "
The Great Combinator" became a
catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
in the Russian language.
His exploits have been enjoyed by readers throughout the Soviet times and in modern Russia. In
post-Soviet times Bender's character was elevated from the status of a con man to that of an
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
. His statues may be found in several cities, and a
commemorative plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...
was set in
Odesa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...
, the city of his birth.
Appearances
''
The Twelve Chairs
''The Twelve Chairs'' ( rus, Двенадцать стульев, Dvenadtsat stulyev) is a classic satirical novel by the Odesan Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, published in 1928. Its plot follows characters attempting to obtain jewelry hidden ...
'' was released in January
1928
Events January
* January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.
* January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...
.
In the first novel, Ostap Bender searches for a stash of
diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
s hidden in one of the twelve eponymous chairs. The action takes place in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in 1927 during the
New Economic Policy
The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...
era. At the end of the novel, Bender is killed by his partner, Ippolit Matveyevich Vorobyaninov, who does not want to share the treasure when it seems like they are about to reach their goal.
Ilf and Petrov
retconned
Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...
the character's death away in 1931 in the sequel novel ''
The Little Golden Calf
''The Little Golden Calf'' (russian: Золотой телёнок, ''Zolotoy telyonok'') is a satirical novel by Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, published in 1931. Its main character, Ostap Bender, also appears in a previous novel by the authors c ...
'', where Bender claimed that "surgeons barely saved my life". This book provided an extended satire on certain elements of Soviet life. Here, Bender follows Soviet underground multi-millionaire Koreiko, hoping to acquire some of his riches and thus amass a fortune. Bender gets his money, but soon discovers he cannot spend it in the USSR. He proceeds to lose it as he attempts to flee the country by crossing the border into Romania.
Film-makers have produced a number of screen adaptations of the novels; see
''The Twelve Chairs'' adaptations and
''The Little Golden Calf'' adaptations.
Character
Ostap Bender's origins are mysterious; he mentions only that his father was "a
Turkish subject", his mother was "a Countess and received unearned incomes" and that his full name is Ostap-
Sulayman-
Berta-
Maria
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
* 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
* Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...
-Bender-
Bey
Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...
(Остап-Сулейман-Берта-Мария-Бендер-Бей). In the comments to the ''Complete Works'' of Ilf and Petrov by M. Odessky and D. Feldman, this phrase is explained as a hint to his supposed
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
origin from a port city in
Novorossiya
Novorossiya, literally "New Russia", is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later become the southern mainland of Ukraine: the region immediately north of the Black Sea and Crimea. ...
, most probably Odesa, where many Jews claimed Turkish citizenship to evade discrimination and
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
for
military service
Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription).
Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a ...
. Some of them indeed held Turkish citizenship, such as
Julius Martov
Julius Martov or L. Martov (Ма́ртов; born Yuliy Osipovich Tsederbaum; 24 November 1873 – 4 April 1923) was a politician and revolutionary who became the leader of the Mensheviks in early 20th-century Russia. He was arguably the closes ...
.
In ''The Little Golden Calf'', Ostap Bender is also called "Бендер-Задунайский" ("Bender-Zadunaisky", literally: "Bender-Trans-
Danubian
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
") and "Остап Ибрагимович" (Ostap Ibragimovich, where "Ibragimovich" is a
patronymic
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor.
Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
, literally meaning "son of
Ibrahim
Ibrahim ( ar, إبراهيم, links=no ') is the Arabic name for Abraham, a Biblical patriarch and prophet in Islam.
For the Islamic view of Ibrahim, see Abraham in Islam.
Ibrahim may also refer to:
* Ibrahim (name), a name (and list of people ...
"). The city of
Bender and the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
river are historically and geographically close to both the large regional city of Odesa and the former
Ottoman (Turkish) Empire.
Bender dreams of travelling to
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, "the city of his dreams", while admitting the futility of that obsession.
There were a number of possible prototypes for Bender, most famously
Ostap (Osip) Shor (1899–1978), a friend of the authors who spent his youth in Odesa gaining money as a con man and then—as a
Cheka
The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə), abbreviated ...
inspector. He was a good story-teller, and many of his tales inspired the adventures of Ostap Bender.
Valentin Kataev
Valentin Petrovich Kataev (russian: Валенти́н Петро́вич Ката́ев; also spelled Katayev or Kataiev; – 12 April 1986) was a Russian and Soviet novelist and playwright who managed to create penetrating works discussing ...
who came up with the idea for the novel (which, in turn, is dedicated to him) is named as another prototype; he also led an adventurous life and was known as a literary hoaxer, adding many original touches to the biography of Osip Shor whom he saw as fitting the readers' expectations of a "real-life combinator".
Another suggested influence was the character of Alexander Ametistov from
Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Soviet writer, medical doctor, and playwright active in the fir ...
's play ''Zoyka's Flat'' that had been written and staged in 1926, before the work on ''The Twelve Chairs'' was even started. Also an elegant con man with many names and occupations, he is seen as a direct inspiration by a number of modern researches, to the point that some of them believe that both novels were ghostwritten by Bulgakov.
Bender's leadership
The entrepreneurial abilities of Bender attracted attention of researchers in management.
[ Parallels have been drawn of Bender's schemes with failures of businesses in early post-Soviet Russia, a period compared to that of NEP when Bender operated.][Kari Ketola, Timo Vihavainen, "Changing Russia?: History, Culture and Business"]
p. 85
/ref>[Rubinsky, Shekshnya]
Bender is educated and has an analytical mind; is full of energy; in the case of a failure keeps his optimism and has an ability to reassess the situation; has an empathy
Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of social, co ...
towards his subordinates, opponents and "mark
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Fi ...
s"; has exceptional organizational skills, even when limited by scarce resources.[
While Bender is endowed with many traits of a ]charismatic leader
Charismatic authority is a concept of leadership developed by the German sociologist Max Weber. It involves a type of organization or a type of leadership in which authority derives from the charisma of the leader. This stands in contrast to two o ...
, it was concluded that the major reason of his failures was lack of clear understanding of his own goals and needs, and short-term perspective.[ A serious drawback of Bender as a leader is his ]paternalism
Paternalism is action that limits a person's or group's liberty or autonomy and is intended to promote their own good. Paternalism can also imply that the behavior is against or regardless of the will of a person, or also that the behavior expres ...
. Also, while he is aware of the drawbacks of his companions, he puts no efforts into their betterment.[ While at times he can be a motivational speaker, he did not care about the long-term motivation of his subordinates; instead, he preferred to manipulate or simply force them.][
]
Cultural influence
A chapter in ''The Little Golden Calf'' was called "The Great Combinator" ("Великий комбинатор", "The Great Schemer"). It was one of the choices for the title of the book. Since then the expression "the great combinator" came to refer to either a con man or to an enterprising person.
One of the attractions of Bender is the witty language of the novels which produced numerous catchphrases
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
:
*"Maybe I should also give you the key to the flat where I keep my money?" ("Может быть, тебе дать ещё ключ от квартиры, где деньги лежат?") – it became a cliche rebuke to unreasonable requests.[Olga Fedina, p. 39.]
*"Stay strong. The West will help us." ("Крепитесь. Запад нам поможет.") – now an ironical hint that a situation is hopeless.[
*"Money in the morning, chairs in the evening." ("Утром деньги, вечером стулья.") – now a jocular hint to payment in advance.][
*"The task of helping the drowning people is in the hands of the drowning people themselves." ("Спасение утопающих — дело рук самих утопающих".) – "not our business"][ Notably, this quote was cited in the situation when Russia was trying to attract foreign investors, while Russia's own capital was fleeing the country.][
*"The ice has broken, ladies and gentlemen of the jury!" ("Лёд тронулся, господа присяжные заседатели!") – said to declare the onset of a progress in something after a period of deadlock, uncertainty, or stagnation.][
*"Time to retrain as a ]super
Super may refer to:
Computing
* SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter / player
* Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages
* Super key (keyboard butt ...
" (full quote: "No ovations, please. I failed to become the Count of Monte Cristo
''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. L ...
. Time to retrain as a super". «Не надо оваций. Графа Монте-Кристо из меня не вышло. Придется переквалифицироваться в управдомы») – crash of big plans.[Алия Гильмутдинов]
Несколько слов об Остапе Бендере
/ref>
See also
* Children of Lieutenant Schmidt
References
Sources
* Olga Fedina, ''What Every Russian Knows (and You Don't)'', 2013,
Chapter "The Twelve Chairs"
*Мирон ПЕТРОВСКИЙ
"УЖЕ НАПИСАН БЕНДЕР..."
«Первое сентября» newspaper, no. 13, 1997 (retrieved June 13, 2015)
*Yu. I Rubinsky, S.V. Shershnya, "Was Ostap Bender an Efficient Leader?" Был ли Остап Бендер эффективным лидером? / Ю. И. Рубинский, С. В. Шекшня // Экономика и организация производства ЭКО – 15/04/2003 . – N 4 . – с. 167-181 .
Part 1
Part 2
retrieved June 14, 2015)
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bender, Ostap
Comedy film characters
Literary characters introduced in 1928
Fictional con artists
Fictional Russian people in literature
Fictional Soviet people
Fictional Russian Jews
Ilf and Petrov
Russian humour
Soviet literature
Male characters in literature
Male characters in film