Editing Ostap Bender (section)

{{Short description|Fictional con man from Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov's novels}}
[[File:Ostap Bender.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ostap Bender as portrayed by [[Andrei Mironov (actor)|Andrei Mironov]], 1976]]

'''Ostap Bender''' ({{langx|ru|Остап Бендер}}) is a fictional [[confidence trick|con man]] and the central [[antihero]]ic [[protagonist]] in the novels ''[[The Twelve Chairs]]'' (1928) and ''[[The Little Golden Calf]]'' (1931) written by Soviet authors [[Ilya Ilf]] [[Ilf and Petrov|and]] [[Yevgeny Petrov (writer)|Yevgeny Petrov]]. The novels belong to the [[picaresque novel]] genre, which was previously rare in [[Russian literature]].<!--More in [[:ru:Плутовской роман]]--><ref name=svoboda>[http://www.svoboda.org/content/transcript/24204525.html "Остап Бендер"], ''[[Radio Liberty]]'', transcript of a talk from cycle "Heroes of the Time", host:Петр Вайль, guests: culturologist Мариэтта Чудакова and actors [[Archil Gomiashvili]] (Bender – 1971) and [[Sergey Yursky]] (Bender – 1993)</ref>  In ''The Twelve Chairs'' he called himself '''Ostap-Suleyman-Berta-Maria-Bender-[[Bey]]''', in ''The Little Golden Calf'' he called himself '''Bender-Zadunaysky''', and he was called '''Ostap 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 "[[#Cultural influence|The Great Combinator]]" became a [[catchphrase]] in the Russian language.

His exploits have been enjoyed by readers throughout the Soviet times and in modern Russia. In [[Post-Soviet states|post-Soviet times]] Bender's character was elevated from the status of a con man to that of an [[Entrepreneurship|entrepreneur]].{{Citation Needed|date=October 2020}} His statues may be found in several cities, and a [[commemorative plaque]] was set in [[Odesa]], the city of his birth.<ref>Olga Fedina, pp. 36–38.</ref>