My First Goose (Further Reading)

Further Reading

• Babel, Isaac, 1920 Diary, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.

  A much – awaited translation of Babel’s diary, which contains many sketches that helped form the content of Red Cavalry. The diary contains the kind of surprising and contradictory details that are often seen in Babel’s fiction.

• Carden, Patricia, The Art of Isaac Babel, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1972.

  A well – regarded critical study of Babel’s fiction, offering a substantial look at the historical, cultural, and personal influences on his work, as well as acute literary analysis of the writing.

• Hallett, Richard, Isaac Babel, New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1973.

  A thorough, brief introduction to the life and work of Babel, which serves to sort through many conflicting stories about his life and the history of his time.

• Pirozhkova, A. N., At His Side: The Last Years of Isaac Babel, Grace Paley, foreword. New York: Steerforth Press, 1996.

  A memoir by Babel’s second partner, one of the first woman engineers in Russia who helped build the Moscow subway. Like Babel, Pirozhkova remains vague about certain details from his life. Yet this well – written, lyrical memoir does shed light on the socialist perspective and personality of the time during which Babel wrote. While it is not full of definitive biographical or historical information, it offers an emotional portrait of an elusive man.