Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 891.7342
EAN num: 9780140184624
ISBN number: 0140184627
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 400
Printing Date: March 01, 1995
Publishing house: Penguin Classics
Sale Popularity Level: 228916
Studio: Penguin Classics
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Product Description:
Following the historic publication of Norton's The Complete Works of Isaac Babel in the fall of 2001, The Collected Stories of Isaac Babel appears as the most authoritative and complete edition of his fiction ever published in paperback. Babel was best known for his mastery of the short story form—in which he ranks alongside Kafka and Hemingway—but his career was tragically cut short when he was murdered by Stalin's secret police. Edited by his daughter Nathalie Babel and translated by award-winner Peter Constantine, this paperback edition includes the stunning Red Cavalry Stories; The Odessa Tales, featuring the legendary gangster Benya Krik; and the tragic later stories, including 'Guy de Maupassant.' This will be the standard edition of Babel's stories for years to come.
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Rated by buyers 
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Reviewers on Amazon tend to self-select; I've noticed that people (including myself) seem more willing to write reviews of books they loved than of books they disliked. This makes sense; I usually don't even finish reading a book I strongly dislike.
But I had to read this book for a class. It was possibly my least favorite work of literature that I have ever read. Babel's writing is sparse, dry, and frequently cryptic; often I struggled to figure out what was actually going on in the stories. I also found his characters opaque and mysterious, and not in a good way. And all his stories are gloomy, and apt to induce misery in an unsuspecting reader. Babel's writing is rich with layers of meaning, but its about as enjoyable to crack as a caluculus textbook. The difficulty I encountered in reading this book just made Russia seem insurmountably foreign to me. Instead of serving as a bridge to another culture, this book aroused a feeling of alienation in me.
I will not be so presumptuous as to say that Babel is a bad writer. But I must attest that Babel is not for everyone. On my scale--1 star.
Rated by buyers 
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Babel's greatness as a short-story is related to his realistic precision, and observational power. He sees often it seems into the heart of his characters with an objective and penetrating eye. He portrays in a soul- wrenching way scenes of great violence and human deprivation. His stories like those of Chekhov perhaps like those of Russian writers especially often involve incidents of great cruelty.
Babel's early stories , the childhood tales of which the most famous is 'On a Dovecote'already have his characteristic realistic precision. The stories which make him most known , "The Red Cavalry " stories in which he tells of the Cossacks he rode with are another important part of the oeuvre.Then there are the Odessa stories of Benya Krik, the world of Jewish gangsters, and of a colorful and yet cruel life once again precisely observed.
The tale of Babel's later years when under the shadow and threat of Stalin he spoke of himself writing 'in the genre of silence', and of his being murdered is the tale of a great writer cut down too soon.
Rated by buyers -
How late I learned the essential things in life! In my childhood, nailed to the Gemara, I led the life of a sage, and it was only later, when I was older, that I began to climb trees"
So we have the image of Babel the pale scholarly youth with 'spectacles on his nose and autumn in his heart" He after Chekhov is the great Russian short story writer.
Babel's greatness as a short-story is related to his realistic precision, and observational power. He sees often it seems into the heart of his characters with an objective and penetrating eye. He portrays soul- wrenching scenes of great violence, deprivation with a kind of detached objectivity. His stories like those of Chekhov perhaps like those of Russian writers especially often involve incidents of great cruelty.
It is interesting that the opening story tells of an eighty-six year old old-time Jew who living with his son and daughter- in law.The son is about to adopt the new faith of the Revolution.The old man realizing that he will have no place in the new order hangs himself- an act which Babel portrays as an act of courage and faith in God. And this while it seems to me showing a certain regrettable contempt for the Torah world to which the old man is bound.
Babel's early stories , the childhood tales of which the most famous is 'On a Dovecote'already have his characteristic realistic precision. The stories which make him most known , "The Red Cavalry " stories in which he tells of the Cossacks he rode with are another important part of the oeuvre.Here there is felt especially the great division in Babel between the world of power and physical force, and a kind sensitive inner life.Then there are the Odessa stories of Benya Krik, the world of Jewish gangsters, and of a colorful and yet cruel life once again precisely observed.
The tale of Babel's later years when under the shadow and threat of Stalin he spoke of himself writing 'in the genre of silence', and of his being murdered is the tale of a great writer cut down too soon.
We don't have all the stories we might have from this great master. But what we do have are the axe which breaks through the icy soul within.
Rated by buyers -
There is little more I can say about this astonishing piece of work that has not already been said, but I will add my piece in the hope that it will encourage more people to read what is a genuinely important piece of writing.
Buy this book to appreciate Babel's portrayal of real and raw emotion, his comprehensive understanding of human character, his sparse, tight writing style that is both painfully lucid and beautifully poetic.
The one new thing I think has to be said is a defence of the picture on the front. What has to be understood is why this picture is there and why it looks the way it does; The cheek and mouth are sticking out that way for a very good reason! My only advice is to say if you do not know the full story don't comment on it. In any case, this is a wonderful, life-changing book that needs to be read by everyone.
Rated by buyers 
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Reading Babel is no picnic in the park. His words are often hard to understand, let alone relish. In Red Cavalry, as he evokes heartrending scenes of torture, deprivation, and corruption, it is often hard to read without almost begging the author for a point of view, a call to arms. Yet in his sharp, vivid--yet terse, accounts (somewhat naturalistic as characters succumb to the hideous corollaries of civil stife--hunger, unbridled violence, senseless cruelty, inhumanity) his compact, frugal stories are never sentetious or tendetious.
The Odessa Tales, the second part of his ouevre, is nearer and dearer to my heart. Immediately, I fell in love with a rabbi's narration of mythical gangster hero Benya Krik. Benya, a Jewish thug with a code of values, who no doubt has the power to empower the young minds of Jewish boys, commands respect as a charismatic desperado, so alien to the preconceptions of Jews as victims and middle-class pushovers, always dependent on the mercy of the ruling elite. Benya wends his way around authorities--whether monarchist or Bolshevik, not only marching to the beat of a different drum, but subjugating others to the beat. Scenes of Odessa, my hometown, are sumptuous though sparing in descriptions of wealthy and lowly merchants, sailors, criminals, and lackeys.
Having read these and other stories in Russian, I look forward to reading the translation in hopes of better understanding them in my adopted tongue. Babel is not the most facile read, but an important and long ignored voice in the Soviet literary canon. Enjoy.
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