Isaak Babel, "The Cavalry": summary, analysis, heroes

The Soviet writer and playwright Isaak Babel became famous for his works. "Cavalry" (a brief summary below) - his most famous work. First of all, this is due to the fact that it initially contradicted the revolutionary propaganda of that time. S. Budyonny and K. Voroshilov took the book in hostility. The only reason the work was published was the intercession of Maxim Gorky.

Babel, "Cavalry": a summary

"Cavalry" is a collection of short stories that began to be published in 1926. The common theme is the civil war of the beginning of the 20th century. The basis for writing was the diary entries of the author during the service in the First Cavalry Army, commanded by S. Budyonny.

"My first goose"

The collection "Konarmiya" opens with this story. The main lyrical hero and narrator Lyutov, who works in the newspaper Red Cavalryman, falls into the ranks of the First Cavalry Army under the command of Budyonny. The 1st Cavalry fights with the Poles, therefore it passes through Galicia and Western Ukraine. Next comes the depiction of military life, where only blood, death and tears. They live here one day.

The Cossacks mock and mock intellectual Lyutov. And the hostess refuses to feed him. When he was hungry to the impossibility, he came to her and demanded to feed himself. And then he went out into the yard, took a sword and killed a goose. Then I ordered my mistress to cook it. Only after this, the Cossacks began to regard Lyutov as almost their own and stopped ridicule.

"The Death of Dolgushov"

The collection of stories by Isaak Babel is continued by the history of the telephonist Dolgushov. Once Lyutov stumbles upon a mortally wounded colleague, who asks for mercy to finish him off. However, the protagonist is not able to kill even to facilitate the fate. Therefore, he asks Afonka to approach the dying man. Dolgushov and the new assistant are talking about something, and then Afonka shoots him in the head. Red Army soldier who just killed a friend, in anger rushes to Liutov and accuses him of unnecessary pity, from which only harm.

"Biography of Paulichenka, Matvey Rodionovich"

Much attention is paid to his protagonist Babel ("Cavalry"). The summary again tells about the emotional anxieties of Liutov, who secretly envies the resoluteness and firmness of the Cossacks. His main desire is to become one of them. Therefore, he seeks to understand them, listens attentively to the general's story about how he dealt with the gentleman Nikitsky, who before the revolution served. The owner often pestered his wife Matvey, therefore, as soon as he became a Red Army man, he decided to take revenge for the offense. But Matvey did not shoot Nikitsky, but in front of his wife trampled. The general himself says that shooting is mercy and pardon, and not punishment.

"Salt"

Reveals the fate of ordinary Red Army soldiers in his work Babel. "Cavalry" (a summary of this confirms) - a kind of illustration of post-revolutionary reality. So, Liutov receives a letter from the military officer Balmashev, who talks about the incident on the train. At one of the stations the fighters picked up a woman with a child and let her into the car. However, gradually they began to creep into doubt. Therefore Balmashev rips diapers, but instead of the child discovers a bag of salt. Red Army man is enraged, falls on a woman with accusatory speech, and then throws her out of the train. Despite the fall, the woman remained intact. Then Balmashev grabbed the gun and shot her, believing that in this way he washed away the shame from the working people.

"Letter"

Not only the adult fighters, but also the children, are represented by Isaac Babel. "The Cavalry" is a collection in which there is a work dedicated to the boy Vasily Kurdyukov, who writes a letter to his mother. In the letter he asks for some food and tell us how the brothers fighting for the Reds are. It immediately turns out that Fedor, one of the brothers, was captured and killed by his own father, who is fighting on the side of whites. He commanded a company from Denikin, and killed his son for a long time, cutting a piece of skin. After some time the White Guard himself was forced to hide, repainting his beard for this. However, another of his sons, Stepan, found his father and killed him.

"Prishchepa"

The next story was dedicated to the young Kuban Prishchepe Isaac Babel ("The Cavalry" talks about this). The hero had to flee from the whites who killed his parents. When they drove the enemy out of the village, Prishchepa returned, but all the property was looted by the neighbors. Then he takes the cart and goes around the yards to seek his own good. In those huts in which he managed to find things belonging to his parents, Prishchepa leaves the hanged dogs and old women above the wells and cursed icons.

When everything was collected, he arranges things in the same places and locks himself in the house. Here he drank without a hitch for two days, cut the tables with a saber and sang songs. And the third night over his house is engaged in a flame. Prishchepa goes to the barn, takes out the cow, left from the parents, and kills. After that he sits on his horse and leaves where the eyes look.

"The Story of a Horse"

This work continues Babel's stories "The Cavalry." For a horse-soldier, the horse is the most important thing, he is a friend, a friend, a brother, and a father. Once having started Savitsky took the white horse from the commander of the first squadron of Khlebnikov. Since then, Khlebnikov harbored resentment and was waiting for an opportunity for revenge. And as soon as Savitsky lost his post, he wrote a petition that the stallion be returned to him. Receiving a positive response, Khlebnikov went to Savitsky, who refused to give up his horse. Then the commander goes to the new chief of staff, but he drives him away. Then Khlebnikov sits down and writes a statement that he is offended by the Communist Party, which is unable to return the property to him. After that, he is demobilized, as he has 6 wounds and is considered an invalid.

"Pan Apolek"

Affect the religious theme of the work of Babel. "The Cavalry" tells about the Apostle's Bogomaz, who was commissioned to decorate the Novgorod church in the new church. The artist presented a diploma and several of his works, so the priest accepted his candidacy without questions. However, when the work was done, employers were greatly indignant. The fact is that the artist made ordinary people into saints. Thus, in the image of the apostle Paul, the face of the lame Janek could be guessed, and Mary Magdalene was very much like Elka, a Jewish girl, the mother of a considerable number of podsabornyh children. Apolek was driven out, and another demigod was hired in his place. However, he did not dare paint over the creation of the hands of others.

Lyutov - Babel's double from "Konarmiya", got acquainted with the disgraced artist in the house of the escaped priest. At the first meeting, Pan Apolek attached to make his portrait in the image of the blessed Francis for only 50 marks. In addition, the artist told a blasphemous story about how Jesus married a childless girl, Deborah, who gave birth to his son.

"Gedali"

Liutov encounters a group of old Jews who are selling something from the yellowed walls of the synagogue. The hero with sadness begins to remember the Jewish way of life, which the war has now destroyed. He also recalls his childhood, his grandfather, who stroked the numerous volumes of the sage of the Jews of Ibn Ezra. Liutov goes to the bazaar and sees the trays closed on the locks, which he associates with death.

Then the hero comes across the store of the ancient Jew Gedali. Here you can find anything you like: from gilded shoes to broken pots. The owner himself rubs his white hands, pacing along the counters and complains about the horrors of the revolution: everywhere they suffer, they kill and plunder. Gedali would like another revolution, which he calls "the international of good people." However, Liutov does not agree with him, he maintains that the International is not inseparable from the rivers of blood and gunpowder shots.

Then the hero asks where to find Jewish food. Gedali reports that earlier it could be done in the neighborhood, but now there are only crying, and not eating.

"The Rabbi"

Liutov stopped in one of the houses for the night. In the evening, the whole family sits at the table, headed by Rabbi Motale Bratslavsky. Here his son Ilya also sits, looking like Spinoza. He is fighting on the side of the Red Army. In this house, discouragement reigns and a near death is felt, although the rabbi himself calls on all to rejoice that they are still alive.

With incredible relief, Lyutov leaves this house. He goes to the station, where the train of the First Cavalry already stands, and there is an unfinished newspaper "The Red Cavalryman" waiting for him.

Analysis

He created the indissoluble artistic unity of all the stories of Babel ("Cavalry"). The analysis of the works emphasizes this feature, since a certain plot-forming relationship is revealed. Moreover, the author himself forbade changing the stories in the re-publication of the collection, which also emphasizes the importance of their location.

I combined the cycle with one composition Babel. "The Cavalry" (analysis allows us to see this) is an inseparable epic-lyrical narrative about the times of the Civil War. It combines both naturalistic descriptions of military reality, and romantic pathetics. In the stories there is no author's position, which allows the reader to draw their own conclusions. And the images of the hero-narrator and the author are so complex that they create the impression of the presence of several points of view.

"Cavalry": heroes

Kirill Vasilyevich Liutov is the central character of the entire collection. He acts as a narrator and as an involuntary participant in some of the events described. Moreover, he is a double Babel from the "Cavalry". Kirill Lyutov - this was the literary pseudonym of the author himself when he worked as a military correspondent.

Liutov, a Jew who was abandoned by his wife, graduated from the University of St. Petersburg, his intelligence prevents him from associating with the Cossacks. For fighters, he is a stranger and causes only indulgence on their part. In fact, he is an intellectual who is trying to reconcile humanistic principles with the realities of the revolutionary era.

Pan Apolek is an icon painter and an old monk. He is an atheist and a sinner who blasphemously treated the church in Novgorod. In addition, he is the bearer of a huge stock of distorted biblical subjects, where the saints are depicted as prone to human vices.

Gedali is the owner of the antiquities store in Zhitomir, a blind Jew with a philosophical character trait. He seems to be ready to accept the revolution, but he does not like that it is accompanied by violence and blood. Therefore, for him there is no difference between counterrevolution and revolution-both carry only death.

"The Cavalry" is a very frank and merciless book. The reader finds himself in the usual harsh military reality, in which spiritual blindness and truth-seeking, tragic and ridiculous, cruelty and heroism are woven.