The book is a fascinating guide to novels that are loved by almost every Russian reader; it is addressed both to specialists and to everyone who is ready, together with the author, to peer into the text and subtexts of “The Twelve Chairs” and “The Golden Calf”, into the creative laboratory of I. Ilf and E. Petrov. The status of borrowings and quotations in the two books of the co-authors is absolutely special: they stitch the entire narrative fabric; This is a special, consciously applied technique. Both novels were created at a time when the predecessor works were well-known and “shone through” the text of Ilf and Petrov. For today's readers, novels have become crossword puzzles. Yu. K. Shcheglov solves them brilliantly and fascinatingly, returning the books to reader success. This is the third, significantly expanded, edition of the famous work of one of the largest Russian philologists of our time.