Barberi - Barberi (English notation) Исаак Эммануилович Бабель／Isaak Emmanuilovich Babel'

Russian novelist. Born to a Jewish merchant in Odessa, Ukraine. He attended a commercial school and was taught Jewish law at home. His childhood experiences, including the Holocaust, are recounted in short stories such as "First Love" (1925) and "The Story of My Dovecot" (1927). He moved to Petrograd (St. Petersburg) in 1915, and published a short story in the magazine "Chronicle" the following year, but was advised by his editor Gorky to stop writing in order to "study life." After working as a food requisitioner, he served in Budyonny's First Cavalry Regiment, and wrote "The Cavalry" (1926), a collection of 35 short stories including "Salt," "Letter," "The Death of Dolgushov," and "Mr. Apolek," based on his experiences. This work, which directly confronts the ignorance, cruelty, and sexual promiscuity that revolutionary fighters exhibit in the extreme circumstances of bloodshed and destruction, and at the same time describes the longing for humanity that is disappearing with a unique stylistic charm, established his reputation as one of the greatest masters of prose in the 1920s. Other masterpieces include the collection of short stories "Odessa Tales" (1927), which describes the life of Odessa gangsters with a mix of exoticism and Jewish humor, the plays "Sunset" (1928), "Maria" (1935), "Dei Grasso," "Kiss," and "Via Dante." "Cavalry" was criticized by Budyonny for slandering the revolutionary army, but was defended by Gorky. He defended his "Silence" at a writers' conference in 1934 and attended the Paris Conference for the Defense of Culture in 1935, but was arrested in a purge and died in prison in 1939. After Stalin's death, his reputation was rehabilitated and a one-volume collection of his works was published in 1957.

[Takashi Egawa]

"The Cavalry, translated by Shoichi Kimura (Chuko Bunko)" ▽ "The Tale of Odessa, The Tale of My Dovecote, translated by Taku Egawa (included in "Contemporary Soviet Writers 18 Authors Collection 1", 1967, Shinchosha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ロシアの小説家。ウクライナのオデッサのユダヤ人商人の家に生まれる。商業学校に通い、家ではユダヤ律法を学ばされる。ユダヤ人虐殺などの幼児体験は短編『初恋』（1925）、『私の鳩(はと)小屋の話』（1927）などで語られる。1915年ペトログラード（サンクト・ペテルブルグ）に出て、翌年雑誌『年代記』に短編を発表するが、編集者ゴーリキーの忠告で「人生勉強」のため創作を中断、食糧徴発隊員などを経てブジョンヌイの第一騎兵隊に従軍、その体験をもとに『塩』『手紙』『ドルグショーフの死』『アポレクさん』など35の短編からなる『騎兵隊』（1926）を書く。流血と破壊の極限的状況下で革命の戦士にも現れる無知、残酷さ、性的放縦などが直視され、同時に失われゆく人間性への憧憬(しょうけい)が独特の文体的魅力で語られるこの作品は、1920年代随一の散文の名手としての彼の声価を定めた。ほかにオデッサのギャングの生態をエキゾチシズムとユダヤ的ユーモアを交えて書いた短編集『オデッサ物語』（1927）、戯曲『日没』（1928）、『マリーヤ』（1935）、『デイ・グラッソ』『接吻(せっぷん)』『ダンテ街』などの珠玉の短編群がある。『騎兵隊』は革命軍を誹謗(ひぼう)したとしてブジョンヌイから非難されたが、ゴーリキーによって擁護された。34年の作家大会で自身の「沈黙」を自己弁護、35年にはパリの文化擁護会議にも出席したが、39年粛清で逮捕、獄死した。スターリン死後、名誉を回復され、57年に一巻選集が出版された。

［江川　卓］

『木村彰一訳『騎兵隊』（中公文庫）』▽『江川卓訳『オデッサ物語』『わたしの鳩小屋の物語』（『現代ソビエト文学18人集1』所収・1967・新潮社）』

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