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You know it all, but what good is it if you're wearing glasses and your soul is in the autumn? Hello everyone. My name is Olga, and you're on the Sensus Community channel. In the open column "You Probably Haven't Read," I talk
Explore Isaac Babel's Odessa Stories, their literary significance, and cultural impact through a detailed analysis by Olga on Sensus Community.
Key Takeaways
- Isaac Babel revolutionized Russian short story writing by capturing the essence of Odessa’s culture and people.
- Odessa Stories blend humor, irony, and melancholy to portray a unique social and historical milieu.
- Babel’s work remains influential in Russian arts, inspiring film, music, and literary scholarship.
- The character of Benya Krik exemplifies the complex relationship between criminality and heroism in Babel’s narratives.
- Despite Soviet-era criticism, Babel’s literary contributions are invaluable and continue to resonate today.
What the video covers
- Olga introduces Isaac Babel as a master of the short story genre, highlighting his unique contribution to Russian literature through his Odessa Stories.
- The video discusses the rarity and complexity of short stories in Russian literature and Babel's ability to capture the Russian soul in brief narratives.
- Babel's Odessa Stories are presented as a mosaic of dialects, slang, and cultural references, reflecting the vibrant and complex life of Odessa.
- The character Benya Krik, based on the real-life figure Misha Yaponchik, symbolizes the criminal yet charismatic elements of Odessa society.
- The video touches on Babel's ambivalent stance towards violence and revolutionary history, combining irony and sadness in his storytelling.
- Olga emphasizes the lasting influence of Babel's work on Russian culture, including adaptations like the 2011 series 'Once Upon a Time in Odessa' and musical inspirations.
- The narrative style of Babel is praised for its brevity, precision, and emotional depth, managing to convey broad themes within short stories.
- The video also explores the socio-political context of Babel's work, including Soviet criticism and his exclusion from school curricula.
- Olga reflects on the enduring appeal of Odessa Stories due to their vivid characters, linguistic richness, and emotional complexity.
- The video concludes with a personal appreciation of Babel’s literary legacy and the cultural importance of Odessa in Russian literature.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Isaac Babel and the Short Story Genre
- 00:55Babel’s Place in Russian Literature and Literary Style
- 01:53Odessa Stories as a New Literary School
- 02:51Babel’s Major Story Cycles and Narrative Approach
- 03:31Characters and Themes in Odessa Stories
- 04:13The Real-Life Inspiration: Benya Krik and Misha Yaponchik
- 06:17Cultural Impact and Adaptations of Babel’s Work
- 08:21Stylistic Features and Language in Odessa Stories
- 09:07Melancholy, Irony, and Historical Context
- 10:43Conclusion: Legacy and Enduring Appeal of Babel’s Odessa Stories
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
about books you've probably never heard of. And if you have, you're unlikely to have read them. And today I want to talk about Russian Mappasan, which exudes sun and sea. About a much-needed national apprehension, which came to us
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from the sea-washed, sunny steppes. I want to talk about Isaac Babel, a southern Russian master of the short story. Short stories are well... This genre is strange to us Russians. And short story writers, as a rule, felt a
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certain inferiority complex in comparison to novelists. As Brodsky said: "We are a verbose and polysyllabic nation. We are people of subordinate clauses, swirling adjectives." And this is true. But in spite of everything, Odessa gave birth to Babel, and we, in Tory, like the
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French, came to know the world through the novella. Babel managed to fit the Russian soul into a short story without in the least damaging its breadth and grandeur. Despite Babel's contribution to Russian literature, he was never included in the school curriculum.
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Perhaps this is due to the fact that Soviet critics, although recognizing Babel's talent, pointed out his antipathy to the cause of the working class. He was accused of romanticizing banditry. Chekhov is a novelist known to everyone. A true novelist. His house
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with the mezzanine has probably been read by many, but Babel is completely different. This is a new and wonderful literary school, which would later be called South Russian or Odessa. As Babel himself wrote, from Odessa my thoughts turn to deeper things. If you
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think about it, wouldn't it be that Russian literature hasn't yet had a truly joyful and clear description of the sun? It didn't come with a new word, it came with a new image. Babel calls Ivan Nikolaevich Tolstoy the most
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amazing and best Russian writer. But Babel himself didn't have the temperament to describe all 24 hours of the day. He could only handle the five most captivating minutes. Perhaps the compensation for this brevity was that he thought in terms of entire books,
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cycles, and not individual stories. Thus, his most important cycles were the Odessa stories and "Red Cavalry." After them, he fell silent, because in them, with great artistic generalization, he told and showed everything he wanted to say and show
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his contemporaries and descendants. And today's video I would like to dedicate to the Odessa stories. And I think, Major, that I have no other option but to gather a gang.
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Odessa will know for me, and I don't have the money. There will be as much as I want.
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As much as you want, even more. Yasha, we will work only in the bourgeois style. And no makruha.
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It's the law. And there will be a gorgeous view. Hey, well, who promised you that you would have such luck?
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Yasha, I promised myself. Kashtan, I have long been so in love with that Odessa, with their way of life, with their dialect, with their ease. Babel's Odessa stories, as I already said, is a cycle that consists of essays about
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Odessa, of autobiographical stories, although in fact they are not autobiographical in essence. This is rather conditional. Babel himself admitted to his wife that the first-person narration allows him to shorten the story. There is no need to describe appearances, but this is not
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so important. Sections Odessa stories. Supplement to Odessa stories. The play "Sunset" and the film story Benya Krik are dedicated to the robber Benya Krik and other characters, who mainly represent criminal elements: the Odessa Basota, the police, and the Reds. Benya
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Krik is Misha Yaponchik, a real-life robber who lived and worked among the bourgeoisie in Odessa, a king of the criminal world, a noble bandit who gave up raiding and formed the 54th Lenin Revolutionary Regiment, which was subordinated to Kotovsky and was sent
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against Petliura. Organizing a regiment of bandits turned out to be a rather dubious idea. And according to one version, Misha Yaponchik was shot by Kotovsky himself. And Misha Yaponchik's adjutant and close friend, Meer Zelder, nicknamed Majorchik, according to one
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version, later shot Kotovsky himself. Comrade Kamdiv, may I ask? What do you have? This is from Commissar Feldman of the 54th Regiment, or whatever his name is.
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And the Japanese guy is alive and well. Immediately tell Feldman to disband the regiment, arrest the Japanese, the rest will run away on their own. But few people ended the revolutionary time and the civil war period well. It's much
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more interesting how he lived. And Benya Krik, aka Misha Yaponchik, lived. Dobren. His fame thundered throughout Odessa. Misha, uni.
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Thank you for your attention, ladies and gentlemen. Maintain revolutionary consciousness and don't move for about 10 minutes. Ode. Babel inspired and continues to inspire descendants with the spirit of distant, beautiful Odessa. Based on his stories, a series was
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filmed in 2011 called Once Upon a Time in Odessa or The Life and Adventures of a Bear and a Donut. It's a masterpiece, I think, of Russian serial culture, Russian serial creativity, if I may say so, because it's a truly wonderful
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series. The actors play their characters with such pleasure, and I periodically rewatch it, and I never get tired of it. My beloved Rosenbaum was also inspired by Babel's work. He has a whole cycle of songs that was inspired by Babel's Odessa stories. As
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Elena Koptsova says about Babel, along with Odessa bandits, Belopol bandits, Budyonny's men, French prostitutes, and Jewish businessmen, Babel won the understanding and adoration of millions of readers. What makes Odessa stories such a magnificent work that they take root in the very heart, blossom there,
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and never leave? Babel is a master of the short story. He manages to succinctly and precisely depict the characters' personalities, reflect the plot's collisions, convey a sense of their frantic temperament, and amaze us with their outward dispassion. There
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are no rules here either. It's a mosaic, a kaleidoscope, a clever combination of dialects, subtle stylistic figures, numerous speech errors in the use of a mixed Russian-Ukrainian language, biblical references, and slang expressions. And this contrast is simply breathtaking and astounding. And
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you want, you want madly to imitate him. This is the language of strength and freedom, beauty and passion, love and madness. What are these torn out years?
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What? What is this? Where are your torn out years? She will show me the torn out years. I am a decent person, how can she talk like that? Solomon Yakovich, come on, speak for me.
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You are a good boy, Lyova. There. And if anyone thinks that I need their 25 rubles, then let them choke on it. Solomon Yako. The boy has grown up.
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The boy wants to go to the grass. Many researchers particularly highlight such a stylistic feature as a combination of sadness and irony. Irony is something without which Odessa does not exist and cannot exist, and sadness comes from the fact that such an Odessa
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will no longer exist. The millstones of revolutionary history grind everything in their path. They cannot be stopped.
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Babel understands this, and that is why his words smell of melancholy. The ambivalent position of the hero, narrator, and author in the Odessa stories is also clearly visible. This is the desire to merge with a powerful dominant force and at the same time,
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there is an obvious aversion to violence. It is pity and a certain nostalgia for his people. And a simultaneous desire to avoid their fate. It is precisely this feature, as some scholars note, that became the basis of
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the poetics of Babel's work. Why did Benya scream and the atmosphere that Babel created in his Odessa stories appeal so much to so many readers? I will express my purely personal opinion, which in no way claims to be true.
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But we are all social animals. And we have two highly develop
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to this category, for example—a strong leader is the key to the well-being of the entire pack. That is precisely why we so readily follow a strong leader. At that time, everything was complicated. The government had seriously weakened and greatly
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discredited itself. We discern these sentiments in Babel's description of representatives of the tsarist The authorities are so absurd. The screaming, constantly agitating, and agitated Bolsheviks also don't inspire confidence. And Misha Yaponchik took on this burden of power and responsibility
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. Of course, it was all doomed, but still. An important component that enabled the robber's rise to power in Odessa was the low aggression of the Odessans and their forgiving, open-minded nature. They can easily sit down to dinner with a man who robbed
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them during the day. That's why the image of Misha Yaponchik is so romanticized in our history and in Odessa stories. We read with pleasure about Benya Krik and other characters who lived, worked, loved, and suffered in beautiful Odessa at that time.
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Well, if I thought you were an idiot, I would write to you like one. But I don't know you as such. And God forbid.
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God knows you as such. No, aren't you ashamed? Ah, well, they write to you as if you were a decent person. Dear Mr.
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Prul, if you please, allow me. And you ran to the police, Misha. A terrible mistake was made.
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No, the main thing is, they invented some kind of ambush. What am I? What?
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I'm shocked. Odessa stories are about aesthetics. Your world will never be complete without a corner for Odessa, and Russian literature will be incomplete if Babel is erased from it.
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And I sincerely wish you to get to know and fall in love with that world that no longer exists and will never exist again. And finally, while working with various sources about Babel's life and work, I came across a very amusing
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article:" Advice for all occasions from Babel: "What to treat a lady with?" An Odessa proverb says: "If you have a lady with you, you are obliged to treat her to greenatin." Thank you for watching this video to the end. I
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really appreciate it. Stay, it gets more interesting.
Topics:Isaac BabelOdessa StoriesRussian literatureshort storiesBenya KrikMisha YaponchikSensus CommunityRussian cultureliterary analysisOdessa
