Of Sunshine and Bedbugs

A new selection of Isaac Babel's 26 most vital and beautiful stories, in acclaimed translations by Boris Dralyuk

Isaac Babel honed one of the most distinctive styles in all Russian literature. Brashly conversational one moment, dreamily lyrical the next, his stories exult in the richness of everyday speech and sensual pleasure only to be shaken by brutal jolts of violence.

These stories take us from the underworld of Babel's native Odessa, city of gangsters and lowlives, of drunken brawls and bleeding sunsets, to the terror and absurdity of life as a soldier in the Polish-Soviet War.

Selected and translated by the prize-winning Boris Dralyuk, this collection captures the irreverence, passion and coarse beauty of Babel's singular voice.

Table of Contents

Translator's Preface

Guy de Maupassant

(Part I) Childhood and Youth

The Story of My Dovecote
First Love
In the Basement
The Awakening
Di Grasso

(Part II) Gangsters and "Old Odessans"

The King
How It Was Done in Odessa
Lyubka the Cossack
Father
Justice in Quotes
The End of the Almshouse

(Part III) Red Cavalry

Crossing the Zbrucz
The Catholic Church in Novograd
A Letter
Pan Apolek
The Italian Sun
Gedali
My First Goose
The Rebbe
The Tachanka Doctrine
The Death of Dolgushov
The Life Story of Pavlichenko, Matvei Rodionych
Salt
The Rebbe's Son
Argamak