Published in 1928, ‘The Twelve Chairs’ is a satirical look into Russia post-Revolution, when European values of acquisitiveness and ambition were holding on against the new socialism. Ippolit Vorobyaninov is a former marshal, once a man of repute and status, now on the wrong side of history. When he learns that his mother-in-law had hidden her jewels in the upholstery of one of a set of twelve English dining chairs, the plot is launched: he must find the chair and its secret cache and he embarks on a cross-country journey after them. Along the way, con artist Ostap Bender insinuates himself into the adventure and a share of the riches. Authors Ilf and Petrov created a picaresque story full of colorful traveling performers, newspaper publishers and journalists, and numerous others also displaced—geographically, psychologically, and socially—by the Revolution. So fun and surreal.