Thought for the Day A well-thought-out story doesn’t need to resemble real life ...

[Paul Whybrow]

“A well-thought-out story doesn’t need to resemble real life. Life itself tries with all its might to resemble a well-crafted story.”

Isaac Babel

 

[Pamela Jo]

I bought Red Cavalry for my sons a few Christmas's back. This guy really gives Chekov a run for his money.
Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel (1894–1940) was a renowned Russian and Soviet writer, journalist, and playwright. Acclaimed as the "greatest prose writer of Russian Jewry," he is best known for his masterpieces Red Cavalry and Odessa Stories. A loyal but independent-minded Soviet citizen, Babel was arrested by the NKVD on fabricated espionage charges and executed in 1940 during Stalin's purges. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Born in Odessa into a Jewish family, Babel survived the 1905 pogroms, an experience that deeply shaped his early semi-autobiographical writing, including "Story of My Dovecote". After moving to St. Petersburg, he was mentored by the famous author Maxim Gorky, who published some of his earliest works. During the Russian Civil War, Babel joined the Red Army as a correspondent, an experience that provided the raw, visceral material for Red Cavalry (1926)