Ostap Bender (Russian:Остап Бендер) is a fictionalcon man and the centralantiheroicprotagonist in the novelsThe Twelve Chairs (1928) andThe Little Golden Calf (1931) written by Soviet authorsIlya IlfandYevgeny Petrov. The novels belong to thepicaresque novel genre, which was previously rare inRussian literature.[1] InThe Twelve Chairs he called himselfOstap-Suleyman-Berta-Maria-Bender-Bey, inThe Little Golden Calf he called himselfBender-Zadunaysky, and he was calledOstap 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 acatchphrase in the Russian language.
His exploits have been enjoyed by readers throughout the Soviet times and in modern Russia. Inpost-Soviet times Bender's character was elevated from the status of a con man to that of anentrepreneur.[citation needed] His statues may be found in several cities, and acommemorative plaque was set inOdesa, the city of his birth.[2]
The Twelve Chairs was released in January1928.
In the first novel, Ostap Bender searches for a stash ofdiamonds hidden in one of the twelve eponymous chairs. The action takes place in theSoviet Union in 1927 during theNew 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 awayretroactively. 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.
Film-makers have produced a number of screen adaptations of the novels; seeThe Twelve Chairs adaptations andThe Little Golden Calf adaptations. Over the years, the part was played on screen byFrank Langella (The Twelve Chairs (1970 film)),Archil Gomiashvili (The Twelve Chairs (1971 film)),Andrei Mironov (actor) (The Twelve Chairs (1976 film)),Sergei Yursky (The Golden Calf (1968 film)),Oleg Menshikov (The Little Golden Calf, 2006), etc.
Ostap Bender's origins are mysterious; he mentions only that his father was "aTurkish subject",[3] his mother was "a Countess and receivedunearned income" and that his full name is Ostap-Suleyman-Berta-Maria-Bender-Bey (Остап-Сулейман-Берта-Мария-Бендер-Бей). In the comments to theComplete Works of Ilf and Petrov by M. Odessky and D. Feldman, this phrase is explained as a hint to his supposedJewish origin from a port city inNovorossiya, most probably Odesa, where many Jews claimed Turkish citizenship to evade discrimination andconscription formilitary service.[4] Some of them indeed held Turkish citizenship, such asJulius Martov.
InThe Little Golden Calf, Ostap Bender is also called "Бендер-Задунайский" ("Bender-Zadunaisky", literally: "Bender-Trans-Danubian") and "Остап Ибрагимович" (Ostap Ibragimovich, where "Ibragimovich" is apatronymic, literally meaning "son ofIbrahim"). The city ofBender and theDanube river are historically and geographically close to both the large regional city of Odesa and the formerOttoman (Turkish) Empire.
Bender dreams of travelling toRio de Janeiro, "the city of his dreams", while admitting the futility of that obsession.
There were a number of possible prototypes for Bender, most famouslyOstap (Osip) Shor (1899–1978), a friend of the authors who spent his youth in Odesa gaining money as a con man and then—as aCheka inspector. He was a good story-teller, and many of his tales inspired the adventures of Ostap Bender.[5][6]Valentin Kataev who came up with the idea for the novel (which, in turn, is dedicated to him) is named as another prototype; he also led an adventurous life and was known as a literary hoaxer, adding many original touches to the biography of Osip Shor whom he saw as fitting the readers' expectations of a "real-life combinator".[7]
Another suggested influence was the character of Alexander Ametistov fromMikhail Bulgakov's playZoyka's Flat that had been written and staged in 1926, before the work onThe Twelve Chairs was even started. Also an elegant con man with many names and occupations, he is seen as a direct inspiration by a number of modern researches, to the point that some of them believe that both novels were ghostwritten by Bulgakov.[8][9][10]
The entrepreneurial abilities of Bender attracted attention of researchers in management.[1] Parallels have been drawn of Bender's schemes with failures of businesses in early post-Soviet Russia, a period compared to that ofNEP when Bender operated.[1][11][12] 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 anempathy towards his subordinates, opponents and "marks"; has exceptional organizational skills, even when limited by scarce resources.[12]
While Bender is endowed with many traits of acharismatic 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.[1][12] A serious drawback of Bender as a leader is hispaternalism. Also, while he is aware of the drawbacks of his companions, he puts no efforts into their betterment.[12] While at times he can be amotivational speaker, he did not care about the long-term motivation of his subordinates; instead, he preferred to manipulate or simply force them.[12]
A chapter inThe 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 great combinator" came to refer in Russian culture either a con man or to an enterprising person.[13]
One of the attractions of Bender is the witty language of the novels which produced numerouscatchphrases:[14]
