The Twelve Chairs

The Twelve Chairs 1927 - a novel written almost a century ago, yet it feels like it was just recently. Everyone quotes it, even those who haven’t read a single page of the text or watched any of the many adaptations. Ostap Bender, the Great Combinator, has become a household name, and monuments are erected to him all over Russia. The story of how Bender, together with his partner Kisa Vorobyanynov, tries to find the diamonds of Madame Petukhova hidden in one of the 12 chairs of a furniture set has truly become a folk classic. The novel has been reprinted in Russia almost 200 times, it has been translated into many languages, although it is quite difficult to convey the humor that saturates this remarkable book in every sense. A book that still remains somewhat of a mystery: why did Valentin Kataev propose this plot to two relatively unknown journalists from Odessa, do the characters have prototypes, who is hiding behind the figure of Ostap Bender? Perhaps these mysteries will forever remain unsolved. And the session continues, ladies and gentlemen of the jury!