SOURCE: Reid, Allan. “Isaak Babel's Konarmiia: Meanings and Endings.” Canadian Slavonic Papers 33, no. 2 (June 1991): 139-50.

In the following essay, Reid notes that over the years there has been little agreement on the style, themes, or genre of Red Cavalry, and examines the structure and function of the ending of the collection.

Despite its brevity, Isaak Babel's Konarmiia¹ has been the victim of a great variety of readings, most of them unsupported textually or extra-textually; few cohere into any intellectually satisfying whole. Fortunately, several recent studies suggest that Babel scholarship—and, in particular, the study of Konarmiia—is undergoing serious and profound revisions.² Nevertheless, there is still very little agreement about this work's style, themes, or even genre. The problem of genre, for example, betrays itself in translations of the title which frequently carries the dubious epithet “Tales.” This implies an autonomy for each of the parts making up...