Ilya Ilf’s Followers (204)

Ilya Ilf

Born

in Odessa, Russian Empire

October 15, 1897

Died

April 13, 1937

Genre

Fiction, Humor and Comedy

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Ilya Ilf (Russian: Илья Ильф, pseudonym of Iehiel-Leyb (Ilya) Arnoldovich Faynzilberg was a popular Soviet journalist and writer of Jewish origin who usually worked in collaboration with Yevgeni Petrov during the 1920s and 1930s. Their duo was known simply as Ilf and Petrov. Together they published two popular comedy novels The Twelve Chairs (1928) and The Little Golden Calf (1931), as well as a satirical book One-storied America (often translated as Little Golden America) that documented their journey through the United States between 1935 and 1936.

Ilf and Petrov became extremely popular for their two satirical novels: The Twelve Chairs and its sequel, The Little Golden Calf. The two texts are connected by their main character, Ostap Bende Ilya Ilf (Russian: Илья Ильф, pseudonym of Iehiel-Leyb (Ilya) Arnoldovich Faynzilberg was a popular Soviet journalist and writer of Jewish origin who usually worked in collaboration with Yevgeni Petrov during the 1920s and 1930s. Their duo was known simply as Ilf and Petrov. Together they published two popular comedy novels The Twelve Chairs (1928) and The Little Golden Calf (1931), as well as a satirical book One-storied America (often translated as Little Golden America) that documented their journey through the United States between 1935 and 1936.

Ilf and Petrov became extremely popular for their two satirical novels: The Twelve Chairs and its sequel, The Little Golden Calf. The two texts are connected by their main character, Ostap Bender, a con man in pursuit of elusive riches. Both books follow exploits of Bender and his associates looking for treasure amidst the contemporary Soviet reality. They were written and are set in the relatively liberal era in Soviet history, the New Economic Policy of the 1920s. The main characters generally avoid contact with the apparently lax law enforcement. Their position outside the organized, goal-driven, productive Soviet society is emphasized. It also gives the authors a convenient platform from which to look at this society and to make fun of its less attractive and less Socialist aspects. These are among the most widely read and quoted books in Russian culture. The Twelve Chairs was adapted for ca. twenty movies, in the USSR (by Leonid Gaidai and by Mark Zakharov), in the US (in particular by Mel Brooks), and in other countries.

The two writers also traveled across the Great Depression-era United States. Ilf took many pictures throughout the journey, and the authors produced a photo essay entitled "American Photographs", published in Ogonyok magazine. Shortly after that they published the book Одноэтажная Америка (literally: "One-storied America"), translated as Little Golden America (an allusion to The Little Golden Calf). The first edition of the book did not include Ilf's photographs. Both the photo essay and the book document their adventures with their characteristic humor and playfulness. Notably, Ilf and Petrov were not afraid to praise many aspects of the American lifestyle in these works. ...more

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Ilya Ilf’s books

Average rating: 4.41 · 42,682 ratings · 1,408 reviews · 120 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov, Maurice Friedberg (Introduction) 4.39 avg rating — 24,210 ratings — published 1928 — 248 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Золотой теленок by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov, Илья Ильф 4.43 avg rating — 9,152 ratings — published 1931 — 208 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Двенадцать стульев / Золотой телёнок by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov, Илья Ильф 4.66 avg rating — 4,715 ratings — published 1931 — 55 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ilf and Petrov's American Road Trip: The 1935 Travelogue of Two Soviet Writers by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov, Илья Ильф 4.28 avg rating — 3,175 ratings — published 1937 — 74 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Õilis isik by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov, Илья Ильф 3.87 avg rating — 290 ratings — published 1928 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Atitudine nepăsătoare față de stomac și alte povestiri by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov, Илья Ильф 3.97 avg rating — 119 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	1001 день, или Новая Шахерезада by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov, Илья Ильф 3.81 avg rating — 122 ratings — published 1929 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Необыкновенные истории из жизни города Колоколамска / 1001 день, или Новая Шахерезада by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov, Илья Ильф 4.02 avg rating — 82 ratings — published 1928	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Selected Stories by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov, Илья Ильф 4.29 avg rating — 62 ratings — published 1994 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Одноэтажная Америка. Тоня. Очерки. by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov, Илья Ильф 4.33 avg rating — 61 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Ilya Ilf…

Series by Ilya Ilf

Ostap Bender (2 books)
by

Ilya Ilf,

Yevgeny Petrov,

Илья Ильф,

Евгений Петров

4.44 avg rating — 38,077 ratings

Quotes by Ilya Ilf (?)

“Он любил и страдал. Он любил деньги и страдал от их недостатка.”
― Ilia Ilf, The Twelve Chairs

59 likes

“Время, которое мы имеем, - это деньги, которых мы не имеем.”
― Ilia Ilf, The Twelve Chairs

22 likes

“Вы ни пьете, ни курите, девушками не увлекаетесь... Зачем Вам деньги? Вы же не умеете их тратить.”
― Илья Ильф, The Twelve Chairs

tags: Двенадцать-стульев

16 likes

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Polls

Please vote for you choice for the June/July group read from the selections below. Please note that we will be selecting the two books with the highest number of votes so that more members can participate on their choice. Vote only if you mean to partake in a discussion.

The Seagull by Anton Chekhov

11 votes, 25.0%

The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf

11 votes, 25.0%

Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

9 votes, 20.5%

Sin by Zakhar Prilepin

3 votes, 6.8%

Smoke by Ivan Turgenev

3 votes, 6.8%

Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky

3 votes, 6.8%

Collected Stories by Vladimir Nabokov

2 votes, 4.5%

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

1 vote, 2.3%

Prince Serebrenni by Count A. Tolstoy

1 vote, 2.3%

44 total votes

1 comment

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Ilya Ilf’s Followers (204)

Ilya Ilf

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