'it's Been a Strange Time ....' from the Notebooks Ili Ilfa (1925-1937)

Ili Ilfa's notebooks have long since become classics, along with his wonderful satire and essays, not to mention the world-famous "Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf", which sold for a quote. Ilf is very serious about his literary work and believed that the writer is obliged to constantly shovel "tons verbal ore" for the sake of the only-the exact word, image, touch. Entries made in the period 1925-1937 years, while working in newspapers "Hooter" and "The Truth", reveal a writer in the "kitchen" during numerous trips and travel and allow us to estimate an unrivaled sense of humor, irony, sincerity and kindness of one of the greatest Russian writers - Ili Ilfa