Schocken Issues Impressive Babel Stories
in Paperback, Edited by Avrahm Yarmolinsky
Schocken Books have earned an sketch of Babel which throws light
Mr. Zagursky. Zagursky ran a
important place in the publishing on the eminent author, on his life
child prodigy factory, a factory
field. As producers of the works under the Russians on his Jewish
of Jewish dwarfs in lace collars
of Samuel Yosef Agnon, Franz interests, on the character of nis
and patent leather shows .. . "
Kafka's writings, having issued a story-writing.
; And then, pointing to the capi-
talizing by parents on the chil-
vast library of the writings of Prof. • , Babel worked with, befriended
Martin Bober, making availab!e and admired Maxim Gorky. Two
dren who were prodigies; Babel
states in his story: "Gabrilo-
the writings of many other noted versions of his works appeared in
writers, the firm now makes avail- Yiddish in 1925, according to Yar-
witsch's parents had purchased
two houses in Petersburg. The
able the creative works of the rnolinsky who lists other language8
great Russian-Jewish writer, Isaac into which the Babel tales were
child prodigies brought fortunes
to their parents .. ."
Babel. translated. ,
Babel's works are gaining the They are Jewish stories, and
We had searched for data about
widest popularity. With the appear- they indicate a realism in treat- Ossip Gabrilowitsch, and now find
ance from Schocken of the paper- ing characters. Yarmolinsky states this reference to him in a Babel
back, "Benya Krik, the Gangster, in his biographical sketch of the narrative!
and Other Stories," we have added author that "his most lovable
And Babel himself, who eventual-
- emphasis on the importance of the character is the dedicated Hasid ly gave up the violin? Here is
writings of the Russian Jew who Gedali, in the story of that name," what he writes about his music
was persecuted . by his government, and it is noteworthy that the story, lessons: "My mind was turned to
whose - works were banished and relating the interest of the hero of a different direction. When I was
who was not repatriated until after this very brief narrative in the doing my violin exercises, I would
his death.
revolution, causes him nevertheless place a volume by Turgenev or
The new Schocken book contains to speak of the Sabbath. While call- Dumas on the music stand and
stories about Jewish life and ex- ing for an "International of good while scraping away, God knows
perience in pre-Communist Rus- men" Gedali affirms his faith. The how. I devoured page after page."
sia, as well as tales of the revolu- story concludes: His sense of history, his resort
tionary period. The hero of the
"The Sabbath has begun. Gedali, to humor, his deep interest in
title .story and follow-ups is Benya the founder of a Utopian Inter- Hasidim and their objectives—
Krik. and. the subtitling of him :s national, has gone to synagogue to there was much that kept Babel
explained in an editor's note as pray." close to Jewish life and to Jewry.
follows:
Babel's description of a pogrom He suffered. His wife and daugh-
"This character was allegendy is among the most deeply moving ter refused to leave Paris where
modeled on Misha Yaponchik, a of his tales. It is related with emo- he had taken them, and his own
notorious Odessa gangster. It is tion and it reveals the sense of return to his native Russia spell-
said that at one time he headed revulsion over the cruelties that ed his doom. His works are being
the Jewish self-defense organiza- were rampant Czarist times. revived—as a blessing for all who
There is comedy mixed with wish to learn about a Russian
tion in Odessa, that he fought with
the Reds against the White troops pathos in these stories, and even •ew's loyalties and to enjoy his
and was executed by a firing in dealing with the gangster we magnificent narratives.
are treated to humane aspects that
squad."
Babel's stories have a nostal- emphasize the sensitivity of the
Agnon's '21 Stories'
gic impressiveness in their em- great writer.
Interestingly, there is a passing
phasis upon Jewish traditions,
to Be Published in May
the life of Jews in the Russian reference to a distinguished De-
Schocken Books will publish May
- pale of settlement, the deep- troiter in one of the Babel stories. 18 S. Y. Agnon's "Twenty-One
rooted links with Jewish tradi-
In
"The
Awakening"Babel
re-
Stories",
the first collection of the
minisces. He was dedicated to
tions even under the revolution. literature
but in his youth his par- shorter fiction of the 1966 Nobel
Avrahm Yarmolinsky edited this ents wanted him to play the violin. Laureate to be made available in
'volume and translated most of the So, he relates the following: English.
stories, except for "The .King"
"All the people in our circle— The stories are surrealistic, intro-
and "A Father" which were trans-
brokers, shop keepers, bank' spective, dreamlike tales told with
lated by Walter Morison and Ber-
clerks and shipping company a clarity and precision reminis-
nard Guilbert Guerney. The read-
employes — had their children; cent of Kafka's style and content:
er will feel indebted to Yarmolin-
taught music. It was simply a ; Man is lonely, homeless, in exile;
sky not only for ' the splendid col-
mania. Our fathers, aware of be- meaning disintegrates, lines of
lection of stories but especially
ing failures, instituted a lottery, ; communication breakdown; there
for the excellent biographical •
They built it on the bones' of , is no exit. Deep faith is a matter
Beersheba Honored by American Architects
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The bibli-
cal city of Beersheba in Israel,
where a completely planned new
town is being built in the ancient
desert settlement, has been honor-
ed by the second R. S. Reynolds
Memorial Award for community
architecture, the American Insti-
tute of Architects announced.
The architects and planners of
Beersheba will receive the inter-
national award, $25,000 and an
original sculpture in aluminum
"for the design of a community in
which architectural planning and
design have made a most signifi-
cant contribution" at the AIAS an-
nual convention in Boston in June.
THE DETROIT JEWISH MEWS
38—Friday, March 20, 1970
DICK STEIN
Presents
THE DICK STEIN ORCHESTRA
AND
THE JEEP SMITH ORCHESTRA
LI 7-2770
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"Weight
watching,
Mary?
I'll let you
in on a
little secret!"
children. Odessa, to a greater , of the past; the present forms of
degree than other cities, was I religion are full of paradox, even
possessed by this craze. And in. , of decay. Time itself disintegrates.
deed, in the course of decades, ; In 1966, Agnon spoke of himself as
our town supplied the concert a stranger both to his time and to
stages of the world with child his place.
"Twenty - One Stories" provides
prodigies. Mischa Elman, Zim- j
balist, Gabrilowitsch, all came , an introduction to Agnon's writings;
from Odessa, and it was there the stories are modern, anguished
that Jascha Heifetz made his and disturbing—infused with the
debut, When a boy reached the same elements as his longer works:
age of 4 or 5, his mother -would decline of the old order, loss of
take the puny little creature to innocence, ambivalence and exile.
I
Professorship in Jewish
Studies at Maryland U.
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BALTIMORE (JTA)—The Uni-
versity of Maryland's first endow-
ed professorship, the Louis L.
Kaplan Professorship of Jewish
Historical Studies, was approved
by the university's board of re-
gents. The endowed chair, which
is intended to make available to
students the full range of Jewish
knowledge, experience and ideas,
will be located in the school's his-
tory department at the College
Park Campus.
The chair has been named for
an educator who is serving his
40th year as president of Baltimore
Hebrew College.
Interfaith Agency to Build
Low-Income Housing
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—Forma-
tion of an interfaith non-profit
agency, the Northern California
Interfaith Housing Corp., to pro-
vide low-cost community housing,
jobs and services, was announced
by U.S. Griggs, the acting direc-
tor of the new group.
The corporation was organized
by the Los Angeles chapter of the
American Jewsh Committee; the
Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles;
the United PreSbyterian Synod of
Southern California; and the Cali-
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