Life and Works
Life and Works
Early
Life
Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel was born to a middle-class family on July
1, 1894 in the Jewish ghetto of Odessa,
Ukraine. He spent most of his childhood in Nikolaev,
a seaport located on the Black Sea. In his youth, Babel witnessed the
riots and attacks against Jewish residents and the vast demolition of
Jewish-owned property committed by the Russian Army, mainly comprised
of Cossack horsemen. These experiences would play a great role
throughout the rest of his life, for in his writing he seemed
fascinated by the lives of the Russian Cossacks, who were so fierce
and devoted to Russia.
Schooling
Because Babel’s father was a successful businessman, Babel was
encouraged to follow the same track and therefore attended a local
business school, the Nicholas I Commercial Institute, from 1905 to
1911. There, he also studied violin, German, French, and Talmud,
the official writing of Orthodox Judaism. During this time, Babel
also began writing his first short stories, in imitation of the
writings of Guy de
Maupassant. After graduating from the Commercial Institute, Babel
attended the Kiev Institute of Finance and Business Studies, from
which he graduated in 1915.
Career
After graduation, Babel moved to Petrograd
(St. Petersburg). While searching for a publisher for his short
stories, he contacted the writer Maxim
Gorky, who was then the publisher for the magazine Letopis’.
At the time, Gorky was so popular in Russia that his approval of
Babel’s work created many opportunities for Babel. In 1916,
Gorky printed two of Babel's stories in his magazine. These earliest
stories of Babel were highly controversial because of his focus on
the pogroms spreading through Russia and his hope for a revolution.
Because of their satirical nature against the Czarist bureaucracy and
class distinctions, these stories were criticized by the government
that accused Babel of pornography and incitement of class hatred.
In order that Babel be able to broaden the subject matter of his work, Gorky suggested that he gain more life experience. Babel promptly joined the Russian Army and fought briefly in World War I on the Romanian front lines until an attack of malaria caused him to leave the military service. After his bout in military service, Babel, who like many Jews was sympathetic to the Communist ideals, joined the secret police force, Cheka, to combat anti-Communism.
In 1919, Babel married Eugenia Gronfein and joined the Ukranian State Publishing House. Shortly thereafter he was assigned to travel as a journalist with Marshall Budyonny’s First Cavalry in the battle against the pro-Czarist White Army in Poland. It was his experiences traveling with this army comprised mainly of Cossacks that influenced his writing of Red Cavalry in 1923.
Later
Years
At the beginning of the 1930s, Babel’s literary repute was very
high both in and out of the Soviet Union. However, into the
mid-1930s, Babel was under growing scrutiny from the government
because he refused to write in favor of the socialist movement. In
May of 1939, Babel was arrested by the N.K.V.D.,
interrogated and tortured at Lubyanka
Prison, where he finally admitted to engaging in anti-Soviet
activity. After a twenty-minute trial in Buturka Prison on January
27, 1940, Babel was shot on an order from Stalin. It was later
reported to his family and friends that he died of natural causes on
March 17, 1941. In 1954, however, the charges against Babel of
anti-Soviet activity were officially and posthumously rescinded,
fourteen years after his death.