The Little Golden Calf
The famous satirical sequel to The Twelve Chairs resurrects the con man Ostap Bender, “the smooth operator,” and follows him and his three hapless co-conspirators on a hilarious romp through the Soviet Russia and Central Asia of 1930.
Bender says he has “very serious differences of opinion with Soviet power. It wants to build socialism, and I don’t.” The smooth operator wants to emigrate to Rio de Janeiro, so he and his crew set off in pursuit of an underground millionaire, who, Bender is certain, “will bring me his money himself, on a little saucer with a sky-blue rim.”
The tale overflows with trenchant catchphrases and legendary literary episodes, offering a portrait of Russian life that is as funny and true today as it was when the novel was first published. For decades, foreigners trying to understand Russia have been advised to read the adventures of Ostap. This new translation makes them more enjoyable than ever!
“Conveying cultural difference is always a challenge to the translator, but conveying the cultural difference peculiar to humor is a particularly daunting challenge. The rare translator who rises to the occasion deserves special recognition. Anne O. Fisher is just such a translator. She has not merely given us yet another Little Golden Calf in English (it is the third); she has given us one that will elicit the belly laughs Ilf and Petrov are famous for. She has also done so without sacrificing accuracy...”
“I’ve been reading it to my wife in the evenings, and we’re enjoying it terrifically; the story is great, the translation is fluent and accurate, and best of all (from my admittedly peculiar point of view) it’s got all the apparatus you could want... if you want to understand the book in its full cultural and historical context, this is an ideal version.”
“Fisher holds the decisive edge. ”
“The translator’s exuberance for the novel is apparent.”
“Bravo for Anne O. Fisher for her wonderful annotated translation of Ilf and Petrov’s hilarious road novel, The Little Golden Calf. Students will find the rascally hero to be the ideal tour guide for travels in Stalin’s Russia. As a fictional character Ostap Bender begs comparison with the greatest Russian literary rebels, as well as with the bandits of folklore, pop fiction, and legend.”