Odessa Stories
Isaac Babel, born in Odessa in 1894, was a writer who chronicled the bloody birth of the Soviet Union.
Isaac Babel, born in Odessa in 1894, became a journalist and writer before being executed in 1940 in Stalin's purges. In stories of extreme economy and compression, he depicted the Polish-Soviet War of 1918-21, and the exploits of Jewish gangsters in Odessa in the years before the Soviet revolution. Matthew Sweet is joined by Linda Grant, AD Miller, Boris Dralyuk, and Diana Vonnak to discuss Babel's work and its resonances today.
Producer: Luke Mulhall
You might also be interested in Radio 3's series The Essay: Words for War in which Oksana Maksymchuk introduces the words of Ukrainian poets
/programmes/m0016b7h
Last on
Broadcast
- Thu 5 May 2022 22:00±«Óãtv Radio 3
Featured in...
![]()
War & Conflict—Free Thinking
Spying, peace negotiating & the power balance around the world, films, books, paintings
![]()
Prose and Poetry—Free Thinking
Fact, fiction, key authors and contemporary voices from around the world
![]()
Landmarks—Free Thinking, Landmark: The Tin Drum
Key films, books, TV, plays, art: 1001 Nights – 2001 A Space Odyssey, Jane Austen - Jaws
The Arts & Ideas Podcast
You can download all the past episodes of Radio 3's Free Thinking
Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019
Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV
Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional
Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many
We examine the fast-changing relationship between the individual & the crowd
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE all programmes, images, clips & features from 2017's festival
Free Thinking Festival 2017: The Speed of Life