Considered one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century and the most revered short-story writer since Chekhov Isaac Babel (1894-1940) left an extraordinary literary legacy that continues to grow, remarkably, more than sixty years after his death in Lubyanka Prison at the hands of Stalin's se[...]
Presents the Russian author's stories in new translations, including a chronology and notes on the texts.[...]
The scope of this "Norton Critical Edition" surpasses that of any other Isaac Babel paperback edition and includes his fiction, non-fiction, autobiography, plays and political writings. The texts are introduced and annotated by the renowned Babel scholar Gregory Freidin. Included in the backgrounds [...]
Finally in paperback, this "monumental collection; gathers all of Babel's deft and brutal writing, including a wide array of previously unavailable material, from never-before-translated stories to plays and film scripts" (David Ulin, "Los Angeles Times"). Reviewing the work in "The New Republic," J[...]
Throughout his life Isaac Babel was torn by opposing forces, by the desire both to remain faithful to his Jewish roots and yet to be free of them. This duality of vision infuses his work with a powerful energy from the earliest tales including 'Old Shloyme' and 'Childhood', which affirm his Russian-[...]