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Ostap Bender is a misanthropic con man and comic hero in the novel The Twelve Chairs (January 1928 - Russian: Двенадцать стульев). Ostap Bender searches in the Soviet Union during the New Economic Policy era in order to find a diamond treasure which was hidden into one of twelve chairs. The twelve chairs were scattered by being sold to various customers at an auction. The chapter Interplanetary Chess Congress is a good representative of chess humor. He was killed at the end of the novel because his partner did not want to share the treasure which seemed within reach. The Twelve Chairs was made into a movie in 1970 by Mel Brooks and Michael Hertzberg. Frank Langella played the part of Ostap Bender.
Ostap Bender was resurrected in 1931 for The Little Golden Calf (Russian: Золотой теленок) novel. This novel was a satire on Soviet society. In this story, Ostap Bender follows a Soviet underground multi-millionaire. He is hoping to acquire some of the man's riches and amass a fortune. He gets his money but loses it as he flees the country. This book took over a year to gain approval by authorities.
The character is the creation of Ilya Ilf (Ilya Arnoldovich Fainzilberg's pseudonym) and Evgeny Petrov (Evgeny Petrovich Kataev's pseudonym), see Ilf and Petrov article.
Since then, the name "Ostap Bender" became an archetypal name for a con man in Russian language.
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