A 1966 collection of previously untranslated, uncollected and sometimes unpublished works of Babel. Some are really fragments, others are journalistic essays. Each one has a brief introduction by the author's daughter, explaining its publication history, if any, and setting it in time and circumstances. These introductions were essential for me to get anything at all from the works, but even so, some of them were nearly incomprehensible. I grabbed this from the library without knowing exactly what I was getting-- it isn't a good introduction to Babel, and I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone who isn't already familiar with his work. In fact, it may be of interest mainly to students of the author or of Russian literature in general.

Review written in February, 2011 ( )