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Stories
Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel was a Russian language journalist, playwright, literary translator, and short story writer. He is best known as the author of Red Cavalry, Story of My Dovecote, and Tales of Odessa, all of which are considered masterpieces of Russian literature. Babel has also been acclaimed as "the greatest prose writer of Russian Jewry". Loyal to, but not uncritical of, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Babel fell victim to Joseph Stalin's Great Purge as a result of his long-term affair with the wife of NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov.This book contains two stories of Isaac Babel, written shortly before his "The Letter" and "The Cemetery at Kozin"
8 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 25, 2017
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6 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Babel
212 books303 followersIsaak Emmanuilovich Babel (Russian: Исаак Эммануилович Бабель; 1894 - 1940) was a Russian language journalist, playwright, literary translator, and short story writer. He is best known as the author of Red Cavalry, Story of my Dovecote and Tales of Odessa, all of which are considered masterpieces of Russian literature. Babel has also been acclaimed as "the greatest prose writer of Russian Jewry."
Loyal to, but not uncritical of, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Isaak Babel fell victim to Joseph Stalin's Great Purge due to his longterm affair with the wife of NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov. Babel was arrested by the NKVD at Peredelkino on the night of May 15, 1939. After "confessing", under torture, to being a Trotskyist terrorist and foreign spy, Babel was shot on January 27, 1940. The arrest and execution of Isaak Babel has been labeled a catastrophe for the world of literature.
Loyal to, but not uncritical of, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Isaak Babel fell victim to Joseph Stalin's Great Purge due to his longterm affair with the wife of NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov. Babel was arrested by the NKVD at Peredelkino on the night of May 15, 1939. After "confessing", under torture, to being a Trotskyist terrorist and foreign spy, Babel was shot on January 27, 1940. The arrest and execution of Isaak Babel has been labeled a catastrophe for the world of literature.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 20, 2025
Stories by Isaac Babel – his Red Cavalry, which is a collection of Stories, takes the 522nd place on The Greatest Books of All Time site – you find more than five thousand reviews of magnum opera from that list and others, plus, films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies of All Time compilation at this address https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... if you care to visit
9 out of 10
Reading The Stories of Isaac Babel comes at the right time, for Russia has just sent nineteen drones into Poland aka NATO territory, and this means us too, pretty soon, you will be deprived of these marvelous notes, for they will take me to the front line, as part of the army…well, given that I am not nineteen any more, it would have to be the kitchen
I have already posted a take on the first three tales in the Red Cavalry collection, under A Letter https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... quite a compelling read indeed
Take this awful scene, wherein the Poles execute this old man, who is asking for a ‘favor’ – ‘do not kill me in front of my daughter, do it outside’, only they did not have any vestige of humanity, so they dispatch their victim, and to add insult to injury, make their monstrosity even more monstrous, they have the relative watch it
As I was saying above, I cannot help thinking how ‘history repeats itself’, in that the Soviet Union – and the Russia of the czars – has attacked Poland, divided it between them and Hitler’s Germany, and now they are at it again
- Well, not quite, not yet
I have made a joke of this – in poor taste, I know, given the immense stakes of this game – earlier this morning, in the sauna, where we have this fellow who is aloof, in the manner of a Buddhist from Glasperlenspiel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
Which is by the way one of my favorite masterpieces, Herman Hesse writes in it about the man who looks at the world and sees Maya, the fact that what happens is an illusion, it does not matter, just like our mate
So, I went into the sauna and told him that an escadrille of Russian war planes has entered the Polish airspace, and had the reaction I had expected, for our would-be Zen monk went on about how he has a job to do, and his competence is elsewhere, dismissing what looked like the start of WWIII, at least from my fake news
There is another example, from The Republic https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... the allegory of The Cave, our man claims that he sees the real thing, while the rest of us watch those infamous shadows, or something like that, and he is evidently up to something here…
Nevertheless, being too much with the head in the clouds does hurt your understanding, as in he – and God damn it so many, think of the MAGA and the other billions with the same issues – mixes together Putin and the rest of it, and if we do get that ‘vanity of vanities, all is vanity’ as in there is so much hubris and nonsense…
Still, some things are clear: Putin is a demon, I do not mean literally, they may not exist, but he is diabolical, a calamity for the world, just like Trump, though there are differences, and we have to see evil, when it is obvious
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
9 out of 10
Reading The Stories of Isaac Babel comes at the right time, for Russia has just sent nineteen drones into Poland aka NATO territory, and this means us too, pretty soon, you will be deprived of these marvelous notes, for they will take me to the front line, as part of the army…well, given that I am not nineteen any more, it would have to be the kitchen
I have already posted a take on the first three tales in the Red Cavalry collection, under A Letter https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... quite a compelling read indeed
Take this awful scene, wherein the Poles execute this old man, who is asking for a ‘favor’ – ‘do not kill me in front of my daughter, do it outside’, only they did not have any vestige of humanity, so they dispatch their victim, and to add insult to injury, make their monstrosity even more monstrous, they have the relative watch it
As I was saying above, I cannot help thinking how ‘history repeats itself’, in that the Soviet Union – and the Russia of the czars – has attacked Poland, divided it between them and Hitler’s Germany, and now they are at it again
- Well, not quite, not yet
I have made a joke of this – in poor taste, I know, given the immense stakes of this game – earlier this morning, in the sauna, where we have this fellow who is aloof, in the manner of a Buddhist from Glasperlenspiel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
Which is by the way one of my favorite masterpieces, Herman Hesse writes in it about the man who looks at the world and sees Maya, the fact that what happens is an illusion, it does not matter, just like our mate
So, I went into the sauna and told him that an escadrille of Russian war planes has entered the Polish airspace, and had the reaction I had expected, for our would-be Zen monk went on about how he has a job to do, and his competence is elsewhere, dismissing what looked like the start of WWIII, at least from my fake news
There is another example, from The Republic https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... the allegory of The Cave, our man claims that he sees the real thing, while the rest of us watch those infamous shadows, or something like that, and he is evidently up to something here…
Nevertheless, being too much with the head in the clouds does hurt your understanding, as in he – and God damn it so many, think of the MAGA and the other billions with the same issues – mixes together Putin and the rest of it, and if we do get that ‘vanity of vanities, all is vanity’ as in there is so much hubris and nonsense…
Still, some things are clear: Putin is a demon, I do not mean literally, they may not exist, but he is diabolical, a calamity for the world, just like Trump, though there are differences, and we have to see evil, when it is obvious
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
Displaying 1 of 1 review