Background
Petrov, Evgenii was born on December 30, 1903 in Odessa. Son of a schoolmaster.
Petrov, Evgenii was born on December 30, 1903 in Odessa. Son of a schoolmaster.
Younger brother of the author V. Kataev. After finishing at the local lycee, worked as a reporter for the Ukrainian Telegraph Agency. Worked for 3 years as a police criminal investigator.
This experience sparked in him the desire to write criminal stories. In 1923, went to Moscow, and met Il’ia Ilf. Travelled with Ilf throughout America as a Pravda correspondent, and collaborated with him until his death from tuberculosis in 1937.
The result of their journey was the book Odnoetazhnaia Amerika, a rather biased account but full of humour. For their 2 works, Dvenadtsat' Stul’ev (The Twelve Chairs), and Zololoi Telenok (The Golden Calf), Ilf and Petrov have earned the reputation of being 2 of the Soviet Union’s most gifted satirists. After Ilfs death, did not produce anything significant.
From 1937 until 1941, worked with
Pravda and some satirical magazines. War correspondent during World War II. On his return to Moscow from Simferopol’, died in a plane shot down by the Germans.
Major religious moral codes dehumanise individuals outside their group as less worthy. Results can vary from discrimination to genocide.
The role of the individual as a member of a collective is more important than the individual.