The Complete Works of Isaac Babel - Hardcover

Babel', I. (Isaak) (1894-1941)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0330490311 ISBN 13: 9780330490313

Publisher: London : Picador, 2002

Synopsis

Considered one of the greatest writers of the twentieth centuryand the greatest short story writer since ChekhovIsaac Babel also wrote numerous plays, diaries and screenplays. His terse, violent fiction has left its mark on generations of readers and writers alike, and yet despite his stature, the whole of Babels work has never been assembled in one place. This beautifully presented, landmark edition will stand as his final, most enduring legacy, and introduce an extraordinary writers work to a whole new readership. Born in Russia in 1894, Isaac Babel was arrested in 1939 and died in a Gulag in 1941.

About this title

Review

Arguably the best book of short stories published in 2001, The Complete Works of Isaac Babel, expertly translated by Peter Constantine, should affirm Babel's place among the top Russian short story writers. Like Chekhov, Isaac Babel primarily wrote odd, tightly wrung little stories in which he displays a variety of convincing styles and tones, with each piece having an immediacy and weight that exceeds its brevity.

Babel's writing life lasted approximately 20 years. (He was executed by Stalin after a few military subjects unflatteringly portrayed in his "Red Cavalry" stories gained positions of influence.) His most notable stories depict the Russian civil war and Jewish soldiers, his childhood, and Jewish thugs in his native Odessa. Often journalistic in style, his stories provided gripping war accounts to Russians eager for news from the front, as in this passage from "The Church in Novograd":

We drank rum, waiting for the military commissar, but he still hadn't come back from the headquarters. Romuald had collapsed in a corner and fallen asleep. He slept and quivered, while beyond the window an alley seeped into the garden beneath the black passion of the sky. Thirsting roses swayed in the darkness. Green lightning bolts blazed over the cupolas. A naked corpse lay on the embankment. And the rays of the moon streamed through the dead legs that are pointing upward. So this is Poland...

This collection is a delight for its organization: the stories are grouped by periods, feature introductions, and include helpful maps. The preface and afterward by his daughter and editor, Nathalie Babel, are insightful. Also included are two plays, several screenplays, a chronology, and an introduction by Cynthia Ozick. The Complete Works of Isaac Babel should be a welcome addition to readers of literature everywhere. --Michael Ferch

About the Author

Isaac Babel was arrested in 1939 for his work's lack of Socialist Realism. He died in a gulag in 1941. Peter Constantine won the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Prize for his translation of Thomas Mann.

Edition details

• Publisher: London : Picador
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0330490311
• ISBN 13: 9780330490313
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1