centenary of isaak babel || isaak babel: a chronology

Canadian Slavonic Papers

Isaak Babel: A ChronologyAuthor(s): Efraim SicherSource: Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes, Vol. 36, No. 1/2, Centenaryof Isaak Babel (March-June 1994), pp. 1-6Published by: Canadian Association of SlavistsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40870769 .Accessed: 14/06/2014 05:34

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Isaak Babel: A Chronology Composed by Efraim Sicher

1894 Bom in Odessa to Emmanuil (Menakhem-Manis) and Faina (Feiga) "Babel1." The family name is also given in the birth register as "Bobel1"; both forms are corruptions of the Hebrew Bavel or Bovel in the Ashkenazic pronunciation.

1895 The family moves to Nikolaev and resides there until 1904.

1898 Babel's sister Mariia (Men) is bom.

1905-05 Pogroms in Kishinev and other towns.

1905 Isaak Babel briefly enrolls in the first grade of the S. Witte Commercial School before being sent to Odessa in December to enter the second giade of the Nicholas I Commercial School.

1911 After high-school matriculation Babel is accepted by the Kiev Commercial Institute where he undertakes the study of economics and business.

1913 "Old Shloime" (CTapu IllnoHMe) is published in Kiev.

1914 WWI starts and the Kiev Institute is evacuated to Saratov.

1915 In Saratov Babel writes "Childhood. At Grandmother's" (fleTCTBo. Y 6a6yiiiKH). He is accepted into the Law Faculty of the Petrograd Psycho-Neurological Institute, an arts and humanities college that freely admitted Jews and was known for revolutionary activity.

1916 - Babel receives a residence permit for Petrograd, where he'll live with the family of a Jewish engineer, the Slonims. He writes for Petrograd magazines. Meets Gorky.

- Series "Leaves from my Notebook" (Moh jihctkh) appears in Zhurnal zhurnalov, including Babel's manifesto, "Odessa."

Canadian Slavonic Papers/Revue canadienne des slavistes Vol. XXXVI, Nos. 1-2, March-June, 1994


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2 EFRAIM SICHER

- Publishes two stories in Gorky's Letopis' : "Mama, Rimma i Alla"; "Il'ia Isaakovich i Margarita Prokof evna."

1917 Conscripted to the Rumanian front, Babel is apparently discharged after contracting malaria.

1918 - January-May, Babel works as a translator in the foreign section of the Petrograd Cheka.

- In August participates in grain requisitions (for reflection in his fiction - see "Ivan-da-Mar'ia" - 1932).

- Publishes "Shabos Nakhamu" and Odessa sketches in Vecherniaia zvezda.

- Highly critical sketches of Revolutionary Petrograd appear in

Gorky's Novaia zhizrt whose closure Lenin orders in July. - Civil war and pogroms in Ukraine.

1919 Babel works on "Streetwalking" (Xoa*) and "An Evening with the

Empress" (Benep y HMnepaTpHUbi). Marries Evgeniia Borisovna Gronfain, the daughter of a business acquaintance of his father. The two had met while Babel was studying in Kiev.

1920 Babel publishes On the Field of Honour (Ha nojie necTH) - a series of war stories based on a French book about the Western Front. Under the name of Kirill Vasili'evich Liutov is given a commission

by the Russian Telegraph Agency and, in April, goes to Rostov as a war correspondent to join up with Budennyi's First Cavalry as it marches off for Poland. After contracting typhus returns to Odessa in November.

1921 In Odessa, amidst conditions of blockade and famine, Babel

publishes the story "Jesus' Sin" (HHcycoB rpex), as well as two Odessa tales, "The King" (Kopojib) and "Justice in Parentheses" (CnpaBefl.JiHBOCTb b CKOKax).

1922 Suffering from poor health, Babel travels with wife to the Caucasus, and, from May-December, recuperates in Sukhumi and Batumi. Publishes sketches in the Tbilisi newspaper, Zaria vostoka, works on Red Cavalry (KoHapMHa) and additional Odessa tales.



ISAAK BABEL: A CHRONOLOGY 3

1923 Babel returns to Odessa and publishes "How it Was Done in Odessa" (KaK 3TO flejiajiocb b O/jecce), most of the Red Cavalry stories, and a couple of stories from an uncompleted book - Sketches (Oc|)opTbi). Later in the year he enjoys a third literary debut by publishing in the Moscow journals - LEF, Krasnaia novy and Prozhektor.

1924 More Red Cavalry stories published in Moscow and Odessa, as well as additional stories about Odessa - "The Father" (OTeu), "Liubka the Cossack" (Jlioica Ka3aic), "Sunset" (3aicaT). Mayakovsky visits Babel in Odessa. Following the death of Babel's father in March, the family moves to Sergiev Posad/Zagorsk. Babel's sister emigrates to Belgium. Lenin dies, Stalin is named General Secretary of the Party. Babel publishes his "Autobiography." Budennyi, Commander of the First Cavalry, attacks Babel in the staunch Communist journal, OKninopb.

1925 Babel works on the screenplay, Benia Krik. In April the Babels move to the village of Vorzel' near Kiev. Evgeniia Borisovna goes abroad. Babel postpones his departure. Collections of the Odessa Tales and other stories published in Moscow. Childhood stories first appear in Moscow journals.

1926 Red Cavalry first appears as a book. Childhood and other stories collected in Story of My Dovecote (HcTopHfl Moe rojiyTHH). Babel publishes the screenplay Wandering Stars (EjiyacAaioume 3Be3flbi). While living at a stud farm in Khrenovo (Voronezh region) Babel completes the draft of his play Sunset (3aicaT). The actress Tamara Kashima bears his son (Mikhail) who will be adopted by Kashirna's future husband, the writer, Vsevolod Ivanov.

1927 Living at the Slonims' Moscow apartment, Babel works on a novella - The Jewess (EpeHKa). The screenplay Benia Krik is published, and the Second Moscow Art Theatre starts rehearsing Sunset. His journey abroad is delayed by the death of his father-in- law. Babel, together with his mother-in-law, leave Russia in July.



4 EFRAIM SICHER

1928 Until October Babel lives in Paris where he works on stories about childhood and about Paris. He then returns to Kiev to arrange for his wife's inheritance.

1929 In Paris, a daughter Nathalie is bom. Babel attends a reunion with officers from the First Cavalry and, in Kharkov, conducts research in the Civil War archives. The Pilnyak and Zamyatin affairs, first Five Year Plan, forced collectivization.

1930 Babel studies collectivization in Ukraine and industrialization in the

Dnieper construction project. Bruno Jasienski attacks him in Literaturnaia gazeta for anti-Soviet statements ascribed to Babel in the Warsaw press. Babel defends himself before the writers'

organization FOSP. Promises a new book.

1930-32 Babel lives in isolation in Molodenovo, a village near Moscow, where he works on stories for a book about collectivization -

Velikaia Krinitsa. The journal Novyi mir publishes one of its

stories, "Gapa Guzhva," and others aie announced "Honey" (Me),

"Spring" (BecHa) and "Adrian Morinets." They never appear. Two further Odessa tales are published, "The End of the Alms-House"

(KoHeu oraaejibHH) and "Karl-Iankel'" as well as "The

Awakening" (TlpoyacfleHHe), "In the Basement" (B noBajie) and

"Guy de Maupassant."

1932 Babel publishes a new version of his "Autobiography," which now mentions a further seven-year silence while wandering "amidst the

people." He meets Antonina Nikolaevna Pirozhkova, an engineer on the Moscow Metro project. Having been allocated an apartment in Moscow, Babel goes abroad intending to reunite his family.

1933 Babel visits Gorky in Sorrento and reads him his play, Mariia, the first part of a trilogy. He gives Gorky stories to take back to Russia,

including the Odessa story, "Froim Grach," "My First Honorarium" (Moh nepBbiH roHopap), and the Paris tale, "La me Dante" (Yjinua flaHTe). To Red Cavalry Babel adds "Argamak" as the concluding tale. In September, he returns to Russia alone, then travels in Kabardino-Balkariia as the personal guest of Betal

Kalmykov about whom he composes stories.



ISAAK BABEL: A CHRONOLOGY 5

1934 At the first Congress of Soviet Writers Babel states that he has been a "master of silence." Settles in Moscow with Antonina Pirozhkova. Mania goes into rehearsal at the Vakhtangov Theatre, and Babel works on a sequel, The Chekists. Kirov is assassinated; purges and show trials.

1935 Mariia is published, but its staging is repressed before its first performance. Babel's final visit abroad when he goes to Paris to attend the Anti-Fascist Congress - after the French Left had protested his and Pasternak's absence from the Soviet delegation. Observes metal industry in the Donbass - the setting for his lost novella - Kolia Topuz.

1936 Babel works with Sergei Eizenshtein on a new version of the controversial film Bezhin Meadow (Be>KHH Jiyr). Works on the photo magazine, USSR in Construction with the wife of Ezhov, head of the NKVD. I. Lezhnev attacks Babel upon the tenth anniversary of his failure to produce a new book since Red Cavalry. Babel defends his silence at a Moscow rally directed against "Formalists" and "Trotskyites." Addresses memorial meeting for Mendele Moikher Sforim. Visits Odessa and makes plans to buy a seaside villa. Death of Gorky.

1937 Antonina Pirozhkova gives birth to their daughter, Lida. Babel publishes his last childhood story - "Di Grasso" and "The Beginning" (Hanajio) - a memoir about Gorky. Peak of mass arrests.

1938 Appointed to the editorial board of the State Publishing House of Literature (GIKhL). Works on new translations of Sholom Aleichem.

1939 Having finished assignments for the cinema, Babel moves to Peredel'kino, the writers' colony. There he hopes to complete a book entitled New Tales (HoBbie paccKaaw). It is to include stories about "heroes of our times." On May 15 he is arrested at Peredelkino and taken for interrogation to the Lubianka prison. His manuscripts and other papers are confiscated.



6 EFRAIM SICHER

1940 On January 26 Babel is tried by a military tribunal on trumped-up charges of spying and conspiracy. Sentenced to death, he is shot the next day.

1954 Thaw. Babel's sentence is revoked and he is cleared of criminal charges.

1957 Erenburg arranges for publication of Babel's Selected Works (H36paHHoe).

1966 Two further, enlarged volumes of Selected Works appear before

Erenburg' s death the following year.

1985 Gorbachev launches perestroika and the policy of "openness."

1988-S9 Details of Babel's arrest and death published. Unexpurgated memoirs and stories by Babel appear in Moscow.

1990 Publication of a two-volume set of Babel's writings, by far the most

complete to date, includes the diary Babel kept during his service with Budennyi's First Cavalry in the war with Poland.

1994 International conference to mark the centenary of Babel's birth convenes at the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow and includes an extensive exhibition of Babel's writings and memorabilia, as well as KGB documents.



Article Contentsp. [1]p. 2p. 3p. 4p. 5p. 6

Issue Table of ContentsCanadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes, Vol. 36, No. 1/2, Centenary of Isaak Babel (March-June 1994), pp. i-vii, 1-301Front MatterIntroduction [pp. vii-vii]BABEL'S LIFEIsaak Babel: A Chronology [pp. 1-6]The Trials of Isaak: A Brief Life [pp. 7-42]

RED CAVALRY/KONARMIIAThe Paradox of Red Cavalry [pp. 43-54]The Visible Idea: Babel's Modelling Imagery [pp. 55-67]Isaak Babel's "Cemetery at Kozin" [pp. 69-88]

BEYOND THE FRONTIsaak Babel, Author of Guy de Maupassant [pp. 89-105]Art and Reality: A Note on Isaak Babel's Metaliterary Narratives [pp. 107-114]The Underworld of Benia Krik and I. Babel's "Odessa Stories" [pp. 115-134]

VOICES FROM RUSSIAINTERVIEWS'APROPOS OF BABEL'S THIRD LIFE' [pp. 135-142]'ON REINTERPRETING RED CAVALRY' [pp. 142-148]'REINTERPRETING RED CAVALRY IN LIGHT OF CHASSIDISM (JUSTIFYING THE REVOLUTION)' [pp. 148-154]'BABEL AND THE REVOLUTION' [pp. 154-158]ADDENDUM: 'TEXTOLOGICAL ISSUES SURROUNDING BABEL'S WORKS: THE POSSIBILITY FOR A NEW APPROACH' [pp. 158-160]

MEMOIRPirozhkova's Memoir of Babel: Introduction [pp. 161-167]Years at His Side (1932-1939) and Beyond [pp. 169-240]

Review ArticleStudies in Czech Sociolinguistics [pp. 241-250]

Book ReviewsReview: untitled [pp. 251-252]Review: untitled [pp. 252-253]Review: untitled [pp. 253-254]Review: untitled [pp. 254-256]Review: untitled [pp. 256-257]Review: untitled [pp. 257-259]Review: untitled [pp. 259-260]Review: untitled [pp. 260-261]Review: untitled [pp. 261-262]Review: untitled [pp. 262-264]Review: untitled [pp. 264-265]Review: untitled [pp. 265-266]Review: untitled [pp. 266-266]Review: untitled [pp. 267-269]Review: untitled [pp. 269-270]Review: untitled [pp. 270-271]Review: untitled [pp. 271-272]Review: untitled [pp. 272-274]Review: untitled [pp. 274-275]Review: untitled [pp. 275-277]Review: untitled [pp. 277-278]Review: untitled [pp. 278-280]Review: untitled [pp. 280-282]Review: untitled [pp. 282-283]Review: untitled [pp. 283-284]Review: untitled [pp. 284-285]Review: untitled [pp. 285-286]Review: untitled [pp. 286-287]Review: untitled [pp. 287-288]Review: untitled [pp. 288-288]Review: untitled [pp. 288-289]Review: untitled [pp. 289-291]Review: untitled [pp. 291-292]Review: untitled [pp. 292-293]Review: untitled [pp. 293-294]Review: untitled [pp. 294-295]Review: untitled [pp. 295-297]Review: untitled [pp. 297-298]Review: untitled [pp. 298-299]Review: untitled [pp. 299-300]Review: untitled [pp. 300-301]

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centenary of isaak babel || isaak babel: a chronology

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