David Herman
Isaac Babel
Summary
David Herman discusses one of the greatest Soviet writers, Isaac Babel (1894–1940). Babel, born in Odesa, Ukraine, played a pivotal role in transforming Jewish literature in Russian and Yiddish. Babel’s writing encapsulates the dualities of his identity: a Jew amidst Cossacks, torn between loyalty and observation. Herman’s exploration delves into Babel’s intricate life and literary contributions, shedding light on the complex tapestry of Soviet literature and history.
David Herman
David Herman is a freelance writer based in London. Over the past 20 years he has written almost a thousand articles, essays, and reviews on Jewish history and literature for publications including the Jewish Chronicle, the Jewish Quarterly, Jewish Renaissance, the Guardian, the New Statesman, and Prospect. He has taught courses on Jewish culture for the London Jewish Cultural Centre and JW3. He is a regular contributor to Jewish Book Week, the Association of Jewish Refugees, and the Insiders/Outsiders Festival on the contribution of Jewish refugees to British culture.
No, not doing the Stalin years. And then after Stalin, some of Babel’s work begins to be republished in the Soviet Union, not necessarily in Samizdat form. A lot of it was published straightforwardly, as the political temperature forward under Khrushchev.
No, he didn’t because Bahava Singer was based in Poland primarily as a writer in Warsaw before he went to New York in the 1930s. I’m not aware that Babel knew any of the great Yiddish writers.
Exactly. He was with the Cossacks as a journalist, therefore he would not have been expected to be involved in the brutal excesses of the Cossacks.