History Literature / TheLittleGoldenCalf

* SecretlyWealthy: Koreiko, who is referred to as an "underground millionaire", but not for reasons described in the trope. He's hiding his millions because he knows he can't use his money in Soviet Union and so he lives as a poor man (almost bordering on poverty), working on extremely low pay job, and basically all his possessions are two iron kettlebells to keep himself in good health -- all to live for the day the Soviet regime falls. Perhaps we should we say he is ObfuscatinglyPoor.

* ObfuscatingInstanity: Byerlaga attempts to avoid the purge by pretending to be delusional and calling himself the vice-roy of India, and in the psychiatric ward he's put in a room with three other people who were faking their insanity. After a professional doctor arrived at the clinic, they are were kicked out due to not passing the check-up.

* TheAllegedCar: The ''Antelope'', which has become synonymous with this trope among Russians. This is an old jalopy of unknown brand (Kozlevich claims it to be a Lorraine-Dietrich, but it is not known if it is true), the most notable feature of which is a novelty horn that plays several notes from the tune ''La Matchiche''. Eventually it falls apart, and Kozlevich manages to fix it after that, only for it to become even less reliable (only working for three hours a day) and losing the novelty horn.

* TheAllegedCar: The ''Antelope'', which has become synonymous with this trope among Russians.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

In the provincial town of Arbatov, Bender, now 33, meets two small-time conmen -- young and brash Shura Balaganov and old Mikhail Panikovsky, who make a living by pretending to be children of the Soviet revolutionary hero Lieutenant Schmidt. When Balaganov tells his new friend about the underground millionaire Alexander Koreiko, who made his fortune by illegal means and now lives in Chernomorsk under the guise of a poor, petty accountant, Bender plans to blackmail Koreiko out of a part of his money, and thus, to get to Chernomorsk, he enlists the aid of the honest, but not too bright, driver Adam Kozlevich and his [[TheAllegedCar Alleged Car]] the ''Antelope Gnu''.

* CorruptChurch: The two Catholic priests who manipulate Kozlevich's faith to get the ''Antelope'' for service in their church. Bender, who is an atheist, gets Kozlevich to abandon them by mocking Christianity.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: most of the Hercules, but Polykhayev and Skumbriyevich most of all.

* EnemyMine: when Bender and Koreiko end up stranded in the desert after the golden link ceremony, with bags full of dirty money and no one around, they have to work together to reach civilization. They survive by finding a nomad tribe and buying camels, sheep and kumiss (horse milk) from them to survive the trek through the sands. After the trek, they part as more or less frenemies.

* FakeNationality: the book mentions in passing and some of the adaptations show as posters elements of Bender's act as a Yogi.

* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: Ostap Bender tries to do this with the underground millionaire Koreiko. Ostap wants Koreiko to admit that a large sum of money was indeed stolen from him, to confirm that he's richer than he seems. However, it's a PaperThinDisguise consisting of only a police hat, and the hat has a coat of arms of the wrong city, to boot. Koreiko later points that out.

* KarmaHoudini: Subverted ''hard''. On one hand, Koreiko, who'd amassed his ten millions by such acts as trading first need goods in a war-torn city, robbing trains with food meant for starving peasants, and exploiting the government by getting investments into his sham enterprises, is left alone with most of his money intact. However, [[SelfInflictedHell he never gets to spend a single dime out of his ill-gotten fortune]], [[MeaninglessVillainVictory lives a lonely, fearful and miserable life]] and [[AllForNothing will eventually die knowing that all his efforts were to no avail]], with absolutely no chance of living to see the fall of the Union (and even if he had such longevity, the 1947 money reform would render it all worthless). In addition, his KarmaHoudiniWarranty is likely to expire before long, since the police has got their hands on Shura, who's bound to spill the beans, and then it's open season for underground millionairs.

* RetiredOutlaw: Kozlevich.

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: On a national(!) scale. After Bender aquires his coveted million, he expects everyone just to bend over for him and throw their services at him with dollar signs in their eyes. No such luck. All the luxuries (such as they are in the interbellum USSR) and substancial resources in the country are state-governed and reserved for people of actual trades, so almost nobody gives a damn that he's rich - he's not a part of the system, thus he's not getting any of the benefits.

* {{Retcon}}: Of the ending to the previous novel.
* StraightEdgeEvil: Koreiko
* UnexplainedRecovery: Bender was described as dead at the end of ''Literature/TheTwelveChairs''. In ''The Little Golden Calf'', he briefly mentions his past partnership with Vorobyaninov and thanks surgeons for saving his life.

* KarmaHoudini: Subverted ''hard''. On one hand, Koreiko, who'd amassed his ten millions by such acts as trading first need goods in a war-torn city, robbing trains with food meant for starving peasants, and exploiting the government by getting investments into his sham enterprises, is left alone with most of his money intact. However, [[SelfInflictedHell he never gets to spend a single dime out of his ill-gotten fortune]], [[PyrrhicVillainy lives a lonely, fearful and miserable life]] and [[AllForNothing will eventually die knowing that all his efforts were to no avail]], with absolutely no chance of living to see the fall of the Union (and even if he had such longevity, the 1947 money reform would render it all worthless). In addition, his KarmaHoudiniWarranty is likely to expire before long, since the police has got their hands on Shura, who's bound to spill the beans, and then it's open season for underground millionairs.

* BigStore: "Horns and Hooves", which also has become synonymous with this kind of suspicious office in Russia.
** Subverted in that Ostap left the BigStore with full intent to make it vanish, and then returned and found it to be nationalized, rebuilt and ''actually'' trading in horns and hooves.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The "[[https://archive.org/details/b29011590_0001 book so dear]]" Lokhankin saves from the house fire? Back then, it was best known as a popular piece of NationalGeographicNudity.

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: On a national(!) scale. After Bender aquires his coveted million, he expects everyone just to bend over for him and throw their services at him with dollar signs in their eyes. No such luck. All the luxuries (such as they are in the postbellum USSR) and substancial resources in the country are state-governed and reserved for people of actual trades, so almost nobody gives a damn that he's rich - he's not a part of the system, thus he's not getting any of the benefits.