Tuesday, April 19, 2011

RED CAVALRY STORIES


(this cover is really cool, but what happened to the R in Cavalry?)

Red Calvary Stories by Isaac Babel: A series of very short stories chronicling the Polish-Soviet War, when the 1st Calvary invaded Poland in order to spread Communism. Based on Babel's experiences as an imbedded reporter with the troops, the stories show the butchery and atrocities of war with beautiful and diamond-like clairity as the advancing soldiers destroy one village after another.

(excerpt) She...pulls the blanket off the sleeping man. An old man is lying there on his back, dead. His gullet has been ripped out, his face hacked in two, and dark blood is clinging to his beard like a clump of lead. “...they were hacking him to death and he kept begging them, 'Kill me in the backyard so my daughter won't see me die!' But they wouldn't inconvenience themselves. He died in this room, thinking of me...And now I want you to tell me,” the woman suddenly said with terrible force, “I want you to tell me where one could find another father like my father in all the world!”

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