1920 Diary

by Isaac Babel; Edited by Carol J. Avins; Translated by H. T. Willetts

• ISBN13: 9780300093131
• ISBN10: 0300093136
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2002-02-08
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

This diary by the famed twentieth-century Russian writer recounts Babel's experiences with the Cossack cavalry during the Polish-Soviet war of 1919-1920. The basis for Red Cavalry, Babel's best-known work, it records the devastation of the war, the extreme cruelty of the Polish and Red armies alike toward the Jewish population in the Ukraine and eastern Poland, and Babel's own conflicted role as both Soviet revolutionary and Jew.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Editor's Acknowledgments	ix
Editor's Note on the Translation	xi
Map of Poland in the Era of the Polish-Soviet War	xiii
Map of Babel's Route with the First Cavalry Army	xiv
Introduction: Isaac Babel's ``Red Cavalry'' Diary	xvii
Notes to the Introduction	iv
1920 Diary	1	(100)
Appendix: Babel's Publications in the Red Cavalryman	101	(8)
Notes to Babel's Texts	109
Illustrations follow page	26