Odessa Stories

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Description

Odessa was a uniquely Jewish city, and the stories of Isaac Babel - a Jewish man, writing in Russian, born in Odessa - uncover its tough underbelly. Gangsters, prostitutes, beggars, smugglers: no one escapes the pungent, sinewy force of Babel's pen.
From the tales of the magnetic cruelty of Benya Krik - infamous mob boss, and one of the great anti-heroes of Russian literature - to the devastating semi-autobiographical account of a young Jewish boy caught up in a pogrom, this collection of stories is considered one of the great masterpieces of twentieth-century Russian literature.
Translated with precision and sensitivity by Boris Dralyuk, whose rendering of the rich Odessan argot is pitch-perfect,Odessa Storiesis the first ever stand-alone collection of all the stories Babel set in the city - and includes tales from the original collection as well as later ones.

Reviews

One of those where have you been all my life book . . . Fractured, jarring, beautiful, alive to humour . . . an excellent translation.
Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian

These celebrated stories have never been rendered with the cutting flair Boris Dralyuks new English translations impart to them . . . Babels is an ebullient elegy, filled with violence, sex, and life.
Los Angeles Review of Books

The salty speech of the citys inhabitants is wonderfully rendered in a new translation by Boris Dralyuk, who preserves the characters Yiddishisms (He doesn't talk much, but when he talks, you want he should keep talking) and imbues the dialogue with hard-boiled language reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett (Buzz off, coppers... or well flatten you). Although Babel mostly lets characters speak for themselves, the narrators descriptions can be as luxurious as the stolen jewels given to Benyas sister on her wedding night, or as surprising as a slap in the face.
Vice

Glorious stories by the incomparable Babel . . . This wonderful collection is a companion volume to Red Cavalry. Babel is required reading.
Eileen Battersby, Irish Times (Best Books of 2016)

Electric, heroically wrought prose.
John Updike

Aside from being a great writer, Babel stands as an emblem of the tragedy of 20th century totalitarianism . . . literary genius framed by 20th-century tragedy.
New York Times

His is still an original, sparky voice sounding out ofthe great Russian literary pantheon.
Paddy Kehoe, RTE Arena

Sparkling, wily and loose-tongued . . . Babels dialogue calls for a daring translator . . . Boris Dralyuk delivers brilliantly.
Times Literary Supplement

It is impossible to look at the world the same way after reading Babel . . . one of the enduring jewels of 20th-century Russian literature.
Financial Times

Author Bio

Isaac Babel was a short-story writer, playwright, literary translator and journalist. He joined the Red Army as a correspondent during the Russian civil war. The first major Russian-Jewish writer to write in Russian, he was hugely popular during his lifetime. He was murdered in Stalin's purges in 1940, at the age of 45.