The art of satire in ?Twelve Chairs?, novel of Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov

In this study, the art of satire was examined in the novel named the ?Twelve Chairs?. Before beginning the examination of the art of satire in the novel, ?satire? and the concepts of ?humour and irony?, which are closely related to this literary genre, were defined. Similarities and differences of satire with humour and irony were also explained in the chapter defining the concepts. In the second chapter, the history of Russian satire from the seventeenth century to the first three decades of the twentieth century was considered and how this tradition was shaped and the processes of development and change of this genre was clarified. In the third chapter, which is the main part of this study, the subjects, characters, events and the objects which the satire in the novel was focused were determined, and the way of reflection of the targeted criticism through these targets were explained. In this stage, the social, political and cultural life in the period that this novel was written was examined and the background of the subject satirized was crystallized. In the fourth and last chapter of the study, the fictional characters of the novel were discussed. In this part, issues like the function of Ostap Bender, the main character in the novel, comedy elements, fictional issues and the use of the grotesque phraseology technique in this work were focused. It was found that the czardom regime that collapsed with the 1917 October Revolution, traditions, habits, lifestyle and way of thinking as the remnants of this regime were satirized predominantly in the ?Twelve Chairs?. On the other hand, it was seen that, although written by authors who supported the Revolution and the socialist regime, some economic and cultural policies of the Soviet government were also satirized.