The Little Golden Calf

The Golden Calf (Russian Золотой телёнок ) is a 1931 satirical novel published of the two Soviet writers Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov. It is the continuation of her three years earlier published novel The Twelve Chairs.

Action

The imaginative man and adventurer Ostap Bender survived the perpetrated on him in the first novel, attempted murder and will appear in a small Russian provincial town, where he pretends to be the son of a revolutionary hero Lieutenant Schmidt to swindle money from the local administration. There he meets the petty criminals Shura Balaganow which coincidentally pursues the same employment. Bender saves himself and Balaganow from an embarrassing and dangerous situation, and the two become friends. Balaganow told Bender that he knows a Soviet underground millionaire and Bender decides to him after Tschernomorsk ( Russian Black sea town, Odessa is meant ) to drive to extort him some of the money. The two also met an elderly clumsy swindler named Panikowski.

Others

The novel was able to keep the humorous level of the previous novel, and was largely in the USSR also very well known. From him come numerous quotes that kept into everyday language collection.

Quotes

• Horns and hooves (Russian Рога и копыта - Roga i kopyta ) - Name of a sham agency opened by Ostap Bender, ironic name for dubious business activities.
• Seat - Chairman (Russian зиц - председатель - Siz - Predsedatel ) - a straw man whose sole function is to serve a prison sentence. The word is a Yiddish- Russian construct.
• The beer is only sold to union members (Russian Пиво отпускается только членам профсоюза - Piwo otpuskajetsja tolko tschlenam profsojusa ), a parody of the Soviet system privileges.
• The car is not a luxury item, but a means of transportation (Russian Автомобиль - не роскошь, а средство передвижения - Awtomobil - ne Roskosch, a sredstwo peredwischenija ), a parody of Soviet propaganda style.
• Saw, Shura, you saw! (Russian Пилите, Шура, пилите - Pilite, Shura pilite, ). This ironic sentence is always used when someone is trying to postpone the inevitable punishment for a failed venture by concealment. In the novel Panikowski and Balaganow steal the cast iron weights of the underground millionaire Koreiko because Panikowski was convinced that they were made of gold. The phrase comes from Panikowski when he has long been clear that he was lying next to it.
• Now I am going to the caretaker requalify (Russian Придется переквалифицироваться в управдомы - Pridetsja perekwalifizirowatsja w uprawdomi ) - The last sentence in the novel - is representative of the ruptured dreams.

Films

German book editions

• The Golden Calf ( Translator Enrico Italians ), New Verlag, Stockholm, 1946.
• The Golden Calf ( Translator Alexander Schmidt), Limes Verlag, Wiesbaden 1966.
• The Golden Calf ( Translator Masha Schillskaja ), Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1967.
• The golden calf or the hunt for the Million ( Translator Thomas Reschke ) Damnitz Verlag, Munich 1979.
• The golden calf or the hunt for the Million ( Translator Thomas Reschke ), Verlag Volk und Welt, Berlin 1979.
• The golden calf. A millionaire in Soviet Russia ( Translator Wera Rath fields and Pia Todorovic ), Manesseplatz -Verlag, Zurich 1986 ISBN 3-7175-1724-4.
• The golden calf or the hunt for the Million ( Translator Thomas Reschke ), Fischer paperback publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1988 ISBN 3-596-28263-2. Re: The Other library, Berlin, 2013, ISBN 978-3-8477-0340-2.