''The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin'' (russian: Жизнь и необыча́йные приключе́ния солда́та Ива́на Чо́нкина, ''Zhizn i neobïchaynïe priklyucheniya soldata Ivana Chonkina'') is a 1969–2007 novel by

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established Political system, political or Organized religion, religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and ...

writer

Vladimir Voinovich Vladimir Nikolayevich Voinovich (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Войно́вич, 26 September 1932 – 27 July 2018), was a Russian writer and former Soviet dissident, and the "first genuine comic writer" produced by the S ...

. Voinovich wrote two sequels to the novel ''Pretender to the Throne: The Further Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin'' (russian: Претенде́нт на престо́л: Но́вые приключе́ния солда́та Ива́на Чо́нкина, ''Pretendent na prestol: Novye priklyucheniya soldata Ivana Chonkina''), 1979, and ''A Displaced Person'' (russian: Перемещённое лицо́, ''Peremyeshyonnoye litso''), 2007; together, the trilogy constitutes Voinovich's ''

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

''. The first book is set in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

during World War II,

satirically Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

exposing the daily absurdities of the

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...

Soviet regime. It was rejected by ''

Novy Mir ''Novy Mir'' (russian: links=no, Новый мир, , ''New World'') is a Russian-language monthly literary magazine. History ''Novy Mir'' has been published in Moscow since January 1925. It was supposed to be modelled on the popular pre-Soviet ...

'', circulated by ''

samizdat Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...

'', and first printed by an emigre magazine in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, allegedly without author's consent, after which Voinovich was banned from publishing his books in the Soviet Union. Ivan Chonkin, a combination of a Russian folk hero

Ivan the Fool Ivan the Fool () or Ivan the Ninny is a lucky fool stock character who appears in Russian folklore, a very simple-minded, but, nevertheless, lucky young man. Ivan is described as a likeable fair-haired and blue-eyed youth. The approximate se ...

and the "Good Soldier" Švejk, is now a widely known figure in Russian popular culture.

Plot summary

On the eve of World War II, Ivan Chonkin, the most dispensable soldier, is sent to guard a disabled military plane that crash landed on a

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz., a contraction of советское хозяйство, soviet ownership or ...

(collective farm). Forgotten by his command, he earns favors of a nearby kolkhoznik woman Nyura and moves in with her. Nyura's cow eats the patch of experimental tomato-potato hybrids of the local mad genius

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...

Gladyshev, and in a retaliation the latter sends an anonymous note to

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

that Chonkin is a deserter. When NKVDists come to arrest Chonkin, he, being a Good Soldier, refuses to leave the post, and arrests the NKVDists himself. Only after several days is the fact of missing secret police noticed, and the ''

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is co ...

Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

leader is told via phone that they have been arrested by "Chonkin and his ''baba'' (woman)", which he mishears as "Chonkin and his ''banda'' (gang)". A regiment is sent against "Chonkin's gang", but Chonkin successfully fends them off until they use artillery. When general Drynov incredulously learns that Chonkin single-handedly (with his ''baba'') was holding off the whole regiment, he declares Chonkin a hero and awards him an order taken off his own chest. When the NKVD lieutenant shows the order for Chonkin's arrest, Drynov shrugs and tells them to carry out their duty, at which point Chonkin is arrested and carried off in the back of the truck to the "Right Place", leaving Nyura on her knees on the road weeping after Chonkin as the scene closes. The book ends with the joke on Gladyshev, whose misunderstanding of evolution (that monkeys became man through labor and intelligence) has been thoroughly unsettled by Chonkin's question why horses do not become men if they work harder than men do, finds a note attached to the bottom of a hoof of his dead horse which had earlier disappeared. Supposing the horse had evolved and written the note, he is spooked and crosses himself.

Film

In 1994, the book was made into a Russian-language film '' Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin'' (''Жизнь и необычайные приключения солдата Ивана Чонкина'') by the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

Jiří Menzel Jiří Menzel () (23 February 1938 – 5 September 2020) was a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography. Some of these films ...

, starring

Gennady Nazarov Gennady Gennadievich Nazarov (russian: Геннадий Геннадьевич Назаров; March 3, 1967, Moscow) is a Soviet and Russian actor. Biography He graduated from the faculty of the Moscow theatrical fake artistic and technical schoo ...

as Ivan Chonkin. The film's Czech title is ''Život a neobyčejná dobrodružství vojáka Ivana Čonkina''.

Editions

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Plot summary from SovLit.net

Full text at voinovich.ru
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin, The Soviet novels Novels set during World War II 1969 novels 1969 in the Soviet Union Russian satirical novels Works originally published in German magazines Russian novels adapted into films Books by Vladimir Voinovich Russian comedy novels Military humor

Plot summary

Film

Editions

Further reading

See also

External links