''The Little Golden Calf'' (russian: Золотой телёнок, ''Zolotoy telyonok'') is a satirical novel by Soviet authors

Ilf and Petrov Ilya Ilf (Ilya Arnoldovich Feinsilberg or russian: Илья Арнольдович Файнзильберг, 1897–1937) and Yevgeny Petrov (Yevgeniy Petrovich Katayev or russian: Евгений Петрович Катаев, 1902–1942 ...

, published in 1931. Its main character,

Ostap Bender Ostap Bender (russian: Остап Бендер; in ''The Twelve Chairs'' he called himself Ostap-Suleyman-Berta-Maria-Bender- Bey, in ''The Little Golden Calf'' he called himself Bender-Zadunaysky, in later novels he was also called Ostap Ibragim ...

, also appears in a previous novel by the authors called ''

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 ...

''. The title alludes to the " golden calf" of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

Plot summary

is still alive (but sports a scar across his neck), after barely surviving the assassination attempt in the previous book, which he once briefly mentions as "stupid business". This time he hears a story about a "clandestine

millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. In countries that use the short scal ...

" named Alexandr Koreiko. Koreiko has made millions through various illegal enterprises by taking advantage of the widespread corruption in 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, ...

(NEP) period while pretending to live on an office clerk's salary of 46 rubles a month. Koreiko lives in ''Chernomorsk'' (literally:

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

city, referring to the city of

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 administrati ...

) and keeps his large stash of ill-gotten money in a suitcase, waiting for the fall of the Soviet government, so that he can make use of it. Together with two petty criminals Balaganov and Panikovsky, and an extremely naive and innocent car driver Kozlevich, Bender finds out about Koreiko and starts to collect all the information he can get on his business activities. Koreiko tries to flee, but Bender eventually tracks him down in

Turkestan Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang. Overview Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turk ...

, on the newly built

Turkestan–Siberia Railway The Turkestan–Siberian Railway (commonly abbreviated as the ''Turk–Sib'', kk, Түрксіб, translit=Türksib, , ; russian: Турксиб, translit=Turksib) is a broad gauge railway that connects Central Asia with Siberia. It starts nort ...

. He then blackmails him into giving him a million rubles. Suddenly rich, Bender faces the problem of how to spend his money in a Communist country where there are no legal millionaires. Nothing of the life of the rich that Bender dreamt of seems possible in the Soviet Union. Frustrated, Bender even decides to anonymously donate the money to the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

, but changes his mind. He turns the money into

jewels A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

, and tries to cross the

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n border, only to be robbed by the Romanian border guards, leaving him only with a medal, the Order of the Golden Fleece.

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 "Wildebeest" taxi (russian: "Антилопа Гну") driver *Alexandr Ivanovich Koreiko, a millionaire

Two endings

There are two alternative endings to ''The Golden Calf''. One was written at the time the novel was originally submitted for publication to the ''Thirty Days'' magazine. The other appeared later, probably due to the objections to the writers for lionizing their main character. According to the first, Ostap Bender, after obtaining his "million", gets to know the sorrow of a lonely man who has fulfilled his purpose, renounces the fortune, and marries his beloved, Zoya Sinitskaya. 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 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 ...

, he is 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 Cristo. I’ll have to retrain as an apartment manager”. (the 1932 English translation reads: "I shall have to qualify as a janitor")

Cultural influence

The book contributed a number of

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 ...

s and colorful terms into the Russian language, such as "''Horns and Hoofs'' company ("Рога и копыта")" and " Children of Lieutenant Schmidt", see the

Wikiquote Wikiquote is part of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation using MediaWiki software. Based on an idea by Daniel Alston and implemented by Brion Vibber, the project's objective is to produce collaboratively a vast refer ...

page for the book for more.

Adaptations

Mikhail Schweitzer Mikhail (Moisei) Abramovich Schweitzer (russian: Михаил (Моисей) Абрамович Швейцер, 16 February 1920, Perm – 2 June 2000, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter. People's Artist of the USSR ( ...

made a black-and-white film '' The Golden Calf'' (1968) with

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 ...

as Bender. It was adapted as ''Mechty Idiota'' (Idiot's Dreams, 1993) by director Vasili Pichul, starring pop singer Sergei Krylov as Bender. The Russian Channel One aired an eight-part TV series ' (2006) starring

Oleg Menshikov Oleg Evgenyevich Menshikov, PAR (russian: Оле́г Евге́ньевич Ме́ньшиков, link=no; born 8 November 1960) is a Russian actor, theatre director and occasional singer. He is the current artistic director of the Yermolova Thea ...

as Bender. Miklós Szinetár directed a 3.30 hours Hungarian adaptation TV-series Aranyborjú(1974) starring Iván Darvas as Ostap Bender. The 2009 translation into English, ''The Little Golden Calf'' by Annie O. Fisher (published by Russian Life Books) was the first unabridged, uncensored translation into English of the novel.The Little Golden Calf
''

Russian Life ''Russian Life'', previously known as ''The USSR'' and ''Soviet Life'', is a 64-page color bimonthly magazine of Russian culture. It celebrated its 60th birthday in October 2016. The magazine is written and edited by American and Russian staffers ...

'', retrieved 9/6/2015. The translation won the 2010 AATSEEL Award for Best Translation into English from any Slavic Language.

References

External links

Full Russian text at lib.ruFree online English translation (in progress)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Calf, The Little Soviet novels 1931 Russian novels Collaborative novels Russian comedy novels Russian novels adapted into films Ukrainian comedy novels Ukrainian novels adapted into films Novels set in Odesa Ilf and Petrov Picaresque novels Russian satirical novels Russian novels adapted into television shows Bureaucracy in fiction