Dmitry Bykov in Conversation with Jonathan Brent - Isaac Babel: Life and Works

Lionel Trilling wrote in 1955 that "no event in the history of Soviet culture is more significant than the career, or, rather, the end of the career, of Isaac Babel." Notoriously secretive and evasive, a genius of style and literary compression, a Jew with spectacles who rode with the Cossack army of Semyon Budyonny in 1920, friend of André Malraux and protege of Gorky, and the lover of the wife of Nikolai Yezhov (the Head of the NKVD), Babel is one of the great writers of the modern period whose life and work presents enduring enigmas. Arrested in 1939, Babel was shot in January, 1940. His manuscripts, diaries, journals, and letters were confiscated and have never been discovered in post-Soviet Russia.

Join prominent Russian poet, writer and journalist Dmitry Bykov and Jonathan Brent, Russian scholar and the Executive Director of the YIVO Institute, for an intimate conversation about Isaac Babel's Russian Jewish identity, his life, the myth of Babel, and his contribution to literature.

Presented by YIVO, the Russian American Foundation and RTVi (Independent Russian TV Network), as part of the 13th Annual Russian Heritage Month®.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

About the Participants

Jonathan Brent is the Executive Director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City. From 1991 to 2009 he was Editorial Director and Associate Director of Yale Press. He is the founder of the world acclaimed Annals of Communism series, which he established at Yale Press in 1991. Brent is the co-author of Stalin’s Last Crime: The Plot Against the Jewish Doctors, 1948-1953 (Harper-Collins, 2003) and Inside the Stalin Archives (Atlas Books, 2008). He is now working on a biography of the Soviet-Jewish writer Isaac Babel. Brent teaches history and literature at Bard College.

Dmitry Bykov is a Russian writer, poet, and journalist. One of the most prolific contemporary Russian writers, Mr. Bykov recently gained recognition and praise for his biography on Boris Pasternak (2005). The biography earned Mr. Bykov the 2006 National Bestseller Prize (an annual Russian literary prize awarded for the best novel written in Russian) and the Big Book Award (an annual literary award for the best book of any genre written in Russian). In addition, Mr. Bykov is a popular and celebrated lecturer, lecturing to large audiences in Russia and worldwide. He also has a long career as a teacher, as both a high school teacher and a professor at MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations).

As a journalist and critic, Mr. Bykov has had a versatile career in print, TV and radio. Since 1993, Mr. Bykov has written for the magazine Ogoniok (published since 12/21/1899, the magazine reached the pinnacle of its popularity during the Perestroika years, taking a pro-American and pro-capitalist position). In 2009, Bykov was named assistant editor-in-chief of the weekly business magazine Profile and is currently editor-in-chief of the literature-focused monthly magazine, What to Read. Until early 2008, Mr. Bykov periodically hosted a show on the radio station Echo of Moscow and is currently a host of “Russian Literature: Open Lesson with Dmitry Bykov” on RTVi.

Together with actor Mikhail Yefremov, Mr. Bykov created "Citizen Poet" in which Yefremov reads poems—satirical commentary on contemporary Russian culture and politics—written by Bykov. Though the project originally appeared on Dozhd TV channel (independent Russian informational channel), it was shut down due to show's criticism of the Russian government. Currently, the show is hosted in audio format by Echo of Moscow radio station.