"Ilf and Petrov. The Twelve Chairs" - читать интересную книгу автора

in a psychiatric ward. But at least Ilf and Petrov have spared us from
seeing Ostap Bender contrasted with a virtuous upright Soviet hero, and for
this we must be grateful. Much as in Gogol's Inspector General and Dead
Souls and in the satires of Saltykov-Shchedrin, we observe with fascination
a Russia of embezzlers, knaves and stupid government officials. We
understand their weaknesses and vices, for they are common to all men.
Indeed, we can even get to like these people, as we could not like the
stuffy embodiments of Communist virtues who inhabit the great majority of
Soviet novels.
Inevitably, some of the humour must get lost in the process of
translation. The protagonists in The Twelve Chairs are for the most part
semi-educated men, but they all aspire to kulturnost, and love to refer to
classics of Russian literature-which they usually misquote. They also
frequently mispronounce foreign words with comical effect. These no
translator could possibly salvage. But the English-speaking reader won't
miss the ridiculous quality of the "updated" version of The Marriage on a
Soviet stage, even if he has never seen a traditional performance of Gogol's
comedy; he will detect with equal ease the hilarious scheme of Ostap Bender
to "modernize" a famous canvas by Repin even if he has never seen the
original painting. Fortunately, most of the comic qualities of the novel are
inherent in the actions of the protagonists, and these are not affected by
being translated. They will only serve to prove once again that, basically,
Soviet Russians are fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons,
subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by
the same winter and summer" as all men are.

MAURICE FRIEDBERQ


Hunter College 1960

Part I

THE LION OF STARGOROD



CHAPTER ONE


BEZENCHUK AND THE NYMPHS


There were so many hairdressing establishments and funeral homes in the
regional centre of N. that the inhabitants seemed to be born merely in order
to have a shave, get their hair cut, freshen up their heads with toilet
water and then die. In actual fact, people came into the world, shaved, and
died rather rarely in the regional centre of N. Life in N. was extremely
quiet. The spring evenings were delightful, the mud glistened like
anthracite in the light of the moon, and all the young men of the town were