June 17: A review of "The Twelve Chairs" that critics have been writing for almost a year
In the summer of 1929, Literaturnaya Gazeta finally took notice of Ilf and Petrov's novel, which had been published in 1928. Critics had been silent about the book for almost a year—and this in itself became a scandal in the literary community.
A Year of Silence
The novel "The Twelve Chairs" was written in just four months—from September 1927 to January 1928. It was immediately published chapter by chapter in the magazine "30 Days," and the first standalone edition was released in July 1928, with a print run of 7–10 copies. The book enjoyed enormous readership, but the leading literary authorities remained silent.
The first review appeared in Vechernyaya Moskva only in the autumn of 1928. A critic with the initials "L.K." declared that the satire "missed reality" and that the authors merely depicted "characters fading from life's stage." Other reviews called the novel a "cute toy" with elements of the tabloid variety.
Osip Mandelstam wrote about this strange silence in Vecherniy Kyiv:
The broadest sections of the population are now literally engulfed by the book by the young authors Ilf and Petrov, called "The Twelve Chairs." The only response to this pamphlet, brimming with cheerful malice and youth, this exuding demanding love for the Soviet country, was a few words spoken by Comrade Bukharin at the trade union congress.
Late review
In the summer of 1929, Literaturnaya Gazeta published a review by poet and critic Anatoly Tarasenkov, titled "A Book They Don't Write About." Tarasenkov called "The Twelve Chairs" "one of the few successful Soviet satires" and declared the authors "witty skeptics with a keen sense of modernity."
The eyes of Petrov and Ilf are not those of enemies, but of friends. And so the authors possess an uncommon sense of proportion and tact. They know perfectly well where to apply the subtle irony of a friend, where mockery, where satire of an enemy.
The newspaper particularly highlighted the satirical content of the novel:
A clear, painfully cutting satire on the negative aspects of our reality (hack poets, nepotism, careerism, intellectualism)
The authors' response and the ending of the story
Ilf and Petrov responded to the review and the silence that preceded it with the feuilleton “A small pile – no roof”:
It also happens that critics write nothing about a young author's book. The crocodiles of doubt gnaw at critics. Who knows if this book is good or bad? You praise it, and then it turns out it's bad. You'll be in for a lot of trouble. Or you criticize it, and then it suddenly turns out to be good. They'll laugh. And only two years later do critics learn that the book they were hesitant to write about has already been published in its fifth edition and is recommended by the Main Political Education Department even for rural libraries.
The ending of this story is bittersweet. In 1949, after the death of both authors, the novels "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf" were declared devoid of ideas, and the complete works of Ilf and Petrov were called a "serious mistake." Anatoly Tarasenkov, thanks to whom the book was finally noticed in the press, was reprimanded for writing a review "without reading the book first."
After Khrushchev's Thaw, Ilf and Petrov began to be published in millions of copies. And Literaturnaya Gazeta launched a satirical column, "The Twelve Chairs Club."
