1902–1942
✕ Killed in crash
Co-author with Ilf of The Twelve Chairs, satirist who captured NEP-era Soviet life and later edited Ogonyok magazine
Last lines of his Sevastopol dispatch, found in his field bag after the crash: 'Perhaps the city will hold out after all. I've grown used to believing in miracles.'
With Ilya Ilf, Petrov wrote the seminal Soviet satirical novels The Twelve Chairs (1928) and The Little Golden Calf (1931), creating the iconic rogue-hero Ostap Bender, a con man whose wit exposed the absurdities of NEP-era Soviet society. Born Yevgeny Katayev, the younger brother of writer Valentin Katayev, he drew on his experience as an Odessa criminal investigator to bring an unvarnished reporter's eye to his fiction. In 1935 he and Ilf drove across America, producing the travelogue One-Storied America, and after Ilf's death from tuberculosis in 1937 he revived the magazine Ogonyok as its editor. During the German-Soviet war he served as a front-line correspondent; returning from besieged Sevastopol in July 1942, his plane crashed and he was killed.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1902Born in Odessa, second son of a teacher (born Yevgeny Katayev); younger brother of writer Valentin Katayev
- 1920–1923Criminal investigator in Odessa — handled 40+ cases, arrested childhood friend-turned-bandit Kozachinsky
- 1923–1926Moved to Moscow; journalist for Krasny Perets and Gudok; adopted pseudonym 'Petrov'
- 1927Began collaboration with Ilya Ilf
- 1928–1931Published The Twelve Chairs and The Little Golden Calf; created the Ostap Bender myth
- 1935–1936Crossed US by car with Ilf (25 states, 16,000 km); wrote One-Storied America
- 1938–1941Editor of Ogonyok magazine; Order of Lenin (1939); joined CPSU (1939)
- 1942War correspondent covering besieged Sevastopol; killed 2 July in plane crash returning to Moscow
Related historical events
Reporting across the United States and One-Storied America
In November 1935, Yevgeny Petrov and Ilya Ilf went to the United States as correspondents for Pravda and spent two months reporting by car. After three weeks in New York, they bought a new Ford and travelled through 25 states, setting out to find what they called the “real” America. Their account appeared in 1937 as One-Storied America. The book introduced American society to Soviet readers, observing life during the Great Depression and addressing racism, poverty, and disparities between city and countryside. Comparing American life with Soviet society, Petrov and Ilf wrote critically about the United States while also expressing candid admiration for aspects of its culture.