The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin
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| Author | Vladimir Voinovich |
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| Original title | Жизнь и необычайные приключения солдата Ивана Чонкина |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Russian |
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Publication date
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1969 (part 1), 1979 (part 2), 2007 (part 3) |
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Published in English
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1977 (part 1), 1981 (part 2), 2012 (part 3) |
The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin (Russian: Жизнь и необыча́йные приключе́ния солда́та Ива́на Чо́нкина, Zhizn i neobïchaynïe priklyucheniya soldata Ivana Chonkina) is a 1969–2007 novel by Soviet dissident writer Vladimir Voinovich. Voinovich wrote two sequels to the novel Pretender to the Throne: The Further Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin (Russian: Претенде́нт на престо́л: Но́вые приключе́ния солда́та Ива́на Чо́нкина, Pretendent na prestol: Novye priklyucheniya soldata Ivana Chonkina), 1979, and A Displaced Person (Russian: Перемещённое лицо́, Peremyeshyonnoye litso), 2007; together, the trilogy constitutes Voinovich's magnum opus.
The first book is set in the Red Army during World War II, satirically exposing the daily absurdities of the totalitarian Soviet regime. It was rejected by Novy Mir, circulated by samizdat, and first printed by an emigre magazine in West Germany, allegedly without author's consent, after which Voinovich was banned from publishing his books in the Soviet Union.
Ivan Chonkin, a combination of a Russian folk hero Ivan the Fool and the "Good Soldier" Švejk, is now a widely known figure in Russian popular culture.
On the eve of World War II, Ivan Chonkin, the most dispensable soldier, is sent to guard a disabled military plane that crash landed on a kolkhoz (collective farm). Forgotten by his command, he earns favors of a nearby kolkhoznik woman Nyura and moves in with her. Nyura's cow eats the patch of experimental tomato-potato hybrids of the local mad genius agronomist Gladyshev, and in a retaliation the latter sends an anonymous note to NKVD that Chonkin is a deserter.
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