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Ostap Bender

Ostap Bender is a fictional con man and the central antiheroic protagonist in the novels The Twelve Chairs (1928) and The Little Golden Calf (1931) written by Soviet authors Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov. The novels belong to the picaresque novel genre, which was previously rare in Russian literature. In The Twelve Chairs he called himself Ostap-Suleyman-Berta-Maria-Bender-Bey, in The Little Golden Calf he called himself Bender-Zadunaysky, and he was called Ostap Ibragimovich by one of his companions.

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Ostap Bender (Russian: Остап Бендер) is a fictional con man and the central antiheroic protagonist in the novels The Twelve Chairs (1928) and The Little Golden Calf (1931) written by Soviet authors Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov. The novels belong to the picaresque novel genre, which was previously rare in Russian literature. In The Twelve Chairs he called himself Ostap-Suleyman-Berta-Maria-Bender-Bey, in The Little Golden Calf he called himself Bender-Zadunaysky, and he was called Ostap Ibragimovich by one of his companions.

Bender is an attractive, resourceful crook, full of energy while operating within the law ("Bender knew 400 relatively legal ways to make the population part with their money."); his description as "The Great Combinator" became a catchphrase in the Russian language.

His exploits have been enjoyed by readers throughout the Soviet times and in modern Russia. In post-Soviet times Bender's character was elevated from the status of a con man to that of an entrepreneur. His statues may be found in several cities, and a commemorative plaque was set in Odesa, the city of his birth.

Appearances

The Twelve Chairs was released in January 1928.

In the first novel, Ostap Bender searches for a stash of diamonds hidden in one of the twelve eponymous chairs. The action takes place in the Soviet Union in 1927 during the New Economic Policy era. At the end of the novel, Bender is killed by his partner, Ippolit Matveyevich Vorobyaninov, who does not want to share the treasure when it seems like they are about to reach their goal.

In the second novel, The Little Golden Calf, published in 1931, Bender is alive, he says, because "surgeons barely saved my life", Ilf and Petrov having conjured the character's death away retroactively. This book provided an extended satire on certain elements of Soviet life. Here, Bender follows Soviet underground multi-millionaire Koreiko, hoping to acquire some of his riches and thus amass a fortune. Bender gets his money, but soon discovers he cannot spend it in the USSR. He proceeds to lose it as he attempts to flee the country by crossing the border into Romania.

Character

Ostap Bender's origins are mysterious; he mentions only that his father was "a Turkish subject", his mother was "a Countess and received unearned income" and that his full name is Ostap-Suleyman-Berta-Maria-Bender-Bey (Остап-Сулейман-Берта-Мария-Бендер-Бей). In the comments to the Complete Works of Ilf and Petrov by M. Odessky and D. Feldman, this phrase is explained as a hint to his supposed Jewish origin from a port city in Novorossiya, most probably Odesa, where many Jews claimed Turkish citizenship to evade discrimination and conscription for military service. Some of them indeed held Turkish citizenship, such as Julius Martov.

Bender's leadership

The entrepreneurial abilities of Bender attracted attention of researchers in management. Parallels have been drawn of Bender's schemes with failures of businesses in early post-Soviet Russia, a period compared to that of NEP when Bender operated.

Bender is educated and has an analytical mind; is full of energy; in the case of a failure keeps his optimism and has an ability to reassess the situation; has an empathy towards his subordinates, opponents and "marks"; has exceptional organizational skills, even when limited by scarce resources.

While Bender is endowed with many traits of a charismatic leader, it was concluded that the major reason of his failures was lack of clear understanding of his own goals and needs, and short-term perspective. A serious drawback of Bender as a leader is his paternalism. Also, while he is aware of the drawbacks of his companions, he puts no efforts into their betterment. While at times he can be a motivational speaker, he did not care about the long-term motivation of his subordinates; instead, he preferred to manipulate or simply force them.

Cultural influence

A chapter in The Little Golden Calf was called "The Great Combinator" ("Великий комбинатор", "The Great Schemer"). It was one of the choices for the title of the book. Since then the expression "the g

출처: Ostap Bender (CC BY-SA)

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Appearances

The Twelve Chairs was released in January 1928.

Character

Bender's leadership

Cultural influence

출처: Ostap Bender (CC BY-SA)

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개요

Appearances

Character

Bender's leadership

Cultural influence

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Appearances

Character

Bender's leadership

Cultural influence