Ilf and Petrov’s novel “The Twelve Chairs” was first published in 1927 and has since become one of the most popular and widely read books in the Soviet and post-Soviet world. Quoted endlessly in sayings and catchphrases, adapted for the screen many times, it remains sharply relevant and perhaps even more timely today, although it must be admitted that the Great Combinator, the son of a Turkish subject, looks like a mere child beside his modern, far less appealing followers.