Extraordinary Stories (Neobyknovennye Istorii)

Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov are known to readers primarily for their celebrated dilogy about the adventures of the charming vagabond and adventurer Ostap Bender. Meanwhile, the satirists' creative legacy includes dozens of brilliant short stories and feuilletons that have remained in the shadow of their famous novels. This edition includes short stories and essays written in the 1930s, as well as the satirical novella 'A Bright Personality' and the cycles of grotesque short stories 'Extraordinary Stories from the Life of the City of Kolokolamsk' and '1001 Days, or the New Scheherazade.' These works became a true school on the path to 'The Golden Calf,' in which the motifs and images of the writers' short stories came to life. These extraordinary stories 'about all sorts of oddities and blunders' were a fantastical mirror of the era, depicted with satirical flourishes by the authors—from good-natured humor and mischievous jokes to caustic sarcasm.