Red Cavalry

3 hrs. 38 min.

Audio Plays, Radio Productions & Literary Readings

Language Russian

Author Isaac Babel

Narrator Yury Stoyanov

Description

A collection of stories by Isaac Babel united by the theme of the Civil War. It is based on the diary the author kept while serving in the 1st Cavalry Army under the command of Semyon Budyonny during the Soviet-Polish War of 1920.

The collection consists of short stories that are sketches of the life and daily existence of the First Cavalry Army, united by common characters and the time of narration. The book portrays, in a rather harsh and unsightly form, the characters of the fighters of the revolution, their lack of education and cruelty, which stand in vivid contrast to the character of the protagonist—an educated correspondent, Kirill Lyutov, whose image is rather closely connected with Babel’s own. Some episodes of the work are autobiographical. A striking feature of the stories is that the main character has Jewish roots (although he bears the Russian surname Lyutov). The issue of the persecution of Jews before and during the Civil War is given a special place in the book.

Contents:

Crossing into Zbrucz
The Church in Novograd
Letter
The Commander of the Reserve Squadron
My First Goose
Rabbi
The Way into Brody
The Teaching About the Tachanka
The Death of Dolgushov
Brigade Commander Two
Sashka Christ
Prishchepa
The Story of a Horse
Salt
Evening
Afonka Bida
Ivans
Continuation of the Story of a Horse
The Widow
Zamość
Treachery
Chesniki
After the Battle
Song
The Rabbi's Son
Argamak
The Kiss
Grishchuk