Synopses & Reviews
In what marks an exciting new critical direction, Rebecca Stanton contends that the city of Odessaand#8212;as a canonical literary image and as a kaleidoscopic cultural milieuand#8212;shaped the narrative strategies developed by Isaac Babel and his contemporaries of the Revolutionary generation. Modeling themselves on the tricksters and rogues of Odessa lore, Babel and his fellow Odessans Valandshy;entin Kataev and Yury Olesha manipulated their literary personae through complex, playful, and often subversive negotiations of the boundary between autobiography and fiction. In so doing, they cannily took up a place prepared for them in the Russian canon and fostered modes of storytelling that both reflected and resisted the aesthetics of Socialist Realism. Stanton concludes with a rereading of Babeland#8217;s and#8220;autobiographicaland#8221; stories and examines their legandshy;acy in post-Thaw works by Kataev, Olesha, and Konstantin Paustovsky.
Synopsis
In what marks an exciting new critical direction, Rebecca Stanton contends that the city of Odessaand#8212;as a canonical literary image and as a kaleidoscopic cultural milieuand#8212;shaped the narrative strategies developed by Isaac Babel and his contemporaries of the Revolutionary generation.
Synopsis
In what marks an exciting new critical direction, Rebecca Stanton contends that the city of Odessa as a canonical literary image and as a kaleidoscopic cultural milieu shaped the narrative strategies developed by Isaac Babel and his contemporaries of the Revolutionary generation. Modeling themselves on the tricksters and rogues of Odessa lore, Babel and his fellow Odessans Valentin Kataev and Yury Olesha manipulated their literary personae through complex, playful, and often subversive negotiations of the boundary between autobiography and fiction. In so doing, they cannily took up a place prepared for them in the Russian canon and fostered modes of storytelling that both reflected and resisted the aesthetics of Socialist Realism. Stanton concludes with a rereading of Babel s autobiographical stories and examines their legacy in post-Thaw works by Kataev, Olesha, and Konstantin Paustovsky.
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About the Author
Rebecca Jane Stanton is an assistant professor of Russian at Barnard College.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Note on Translation and Transliteration Introduction: Stories That Come True Chapter One. City Through the Looking-Glass: Literary Odessa Chapter Two. Isaac Babel: Stories That Lie Like Truth Chapter Three. Babeland#8217;s Bildungsroman and Odessan Modernism Chapter Four. Re-Inventing the Self: Valentin Kataev and Yury Olesha Conclusion: The Odessan Self Bibliography Notes