Stories from Odessa

Yuri Schumski as Benja Krik in the film released in 1927

The Moldavanka district today

Stories from Odessa ( Russian Одесские рассказы / Odesskije rasskasy ) is a collection of short stories by the Russian writer Isaak Babel . The individual stories were published in various magazines and journals between 1923 and 1924, and the short stories collected were first published as a book in 1931. The "Stories from Odessa" are among Isaak Babel's most successful works.

The plot of the short story cycle takes place in what is now the Ukrainian port city of Odessa at the beginning of the 20th century, during the last days of the Russian Empire and at the beginning of the October Revolution . It tells the life of a group of Jewish criminals who live in the then infamous, ghetto-like district of Moldavanka . The main character is "Benja Krik", who climbs from petty criminal to "king" of the city.

Isaak Babel's stories from Odessa were filmed four times during the time of the Soviet Union, the first time under the direction of Vladimir Wilner in 1927.

Text output

• Stories from Odessa. Autobiographical narratives . German by Milo Dor and Reinhard Federmann . Munich 1987. ISBN 3-423-10799-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Checklist of the works of Isaak Babel΄ (1894-1940) and translations, Compiled by Efraim Safe, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (PDF; 578 kB)
2. ↑ Martin Lüdke: The good person from Odessa - A knife in the body . In: Die Zeit , April 8, 1988.
3. ↑ taz.de : White Pearl on the Black Sea
4. ↑ Petra Reski: Odessa - a city awakens to new life. in: GEO season. Hamburg 2006, no. 2. ISSN  0342-8311
5. ↑ Stefan Korte in the Marler Zeitung , June 4th, 2012: Thomas Thieme reads “Stories from Odessa” - thrilling until the last minute