Odessa Stories. Red Cavalry

This collection includes Babel’s famous cycle of stories “Red Cavalry” (“Konarmiya”) and his immortal, dissected-into-quotations “Odessa Tales.” In the “Red Cavalry” cycle, the author passionately and truthfully narrates the Civil War, the “element of revolution,” where there is room for both victories and defeats, generosity and cruelty. “Odessa Tales” are ironic stories about unflagging bandits from Moldavanka and their irresistible leader, Benya Krik. Babel masterfully depicts thieves, raiders, and smugglers in the moments of birth, love, and death. Low and high, spiritual and physical in these stories exist inseparably, just as life itself does—described in a vivid, expressive language.