Literary mystification as a sociocultural phenomenon. Bulgakov — Ilf and Petrov: the issue of authorship

Abstract

The article analyzes the version that the novels "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Little Golden Calf" were written by Mikhail Bulgakov, and not by Ilf and Petrov, as it was always believed. Since the author of the article is a Russian philologist (PhD Candidate in Philology and chief researcher at the university), this information, which acts as a kind of challenge to society, has become the subject of scientific research. The author shows that the version of Bulgakov's authorship was put forward in 2013 in the book "12 Chairs from Mikhail Bulgakov" by Irina Amlinsky (Germany), who has no philological education. As evidence, the book’s author only presents personal impressions and the subjective sense of style, which Ms. Amlinsky claims to be the same in "The Master and Margarita", and in books about Ostap Bender. In addition, as shown in the article, there is a more serious argument: neither before nor after the release of the dilogy, neither Ilf nor Petrov presented anything special in literature or wrote nothing of the kind, and this is true. This article presents an attempt to answer the question of whether Ilf and Petrov could have been the authors of two such magnificent novels. And if not, then who could qualify for this role according to the level of talent? The article combines elements of philological study and documentary archival research. It can be recommended as part of the preparation of lectures within the disciplines "Literary Studies", "History of Literature", and "Cultural Studies".