Gaston Vidal: “Two Acts in Front of a Conscience,” “Shakespearean Story” (The Sources of I. Babel’s Stories about the First World War)

For the first time, the 11th and 15th chapters of G. Vidal’s book “Characters and Anecdotes of the Great War” (Paris, 1918) were translated into Russian. These chapters served as the source for the plot of three stories by I. Babel (1920) about the First World War — “On the Field of Honor,” “Deserte...

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Main Author: Elena I. Pogorelskaia
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Russian Academy of Sciences. A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature 2023-06-01
Series:Литературный факт
Subjects:
Online Access:http://litfact.ru/images/2023-28/01_Pogorelskaya_8-24.pdf
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author Elena I. Pogorelskaia
author_facet Elena I. Pogorelskaia
author_sort Elena I. Pogorelskaia
collection DOAJ
description For the first time, the 11th and 15th chapters of G. Vidal’s book “Characters and Anecdotes of the Great War” (Paris, 1918) were translated into Russian. These chapters served as the source for the plot of three stories by I. Babel (1920) about the First World War — “On the Field of Honor,” “Deserter,” “The Family of Father Maresco.” The publication of the translation is accompanied by an analytical article in which the stories that became the first experience of military prose for the future author of “Red Cavalry” are compared with Vidal’s texts. Babel’s stories “On the Field of Honor” and “The Deserter” were written based on the 11th chapter of Vidal, and the 15th chapter was rewrote by him into the story “The Family of Father Maresco.” Babel preserved the storylines, details of front-line life described by Vidal, individual replicas coincide almost verbatim, but the form of presentation in them differs from the French original. Vidal’s narration is in the first person, while Babel’s in the first two stories is from the third person. Detailed psychological characteristics of the characters and detailed descriptions of the situation from Vidal’s book by Babel are given more concise and succinctly. His stories cannot be considered as a translation in its purest form, rather one can talk about an arrangement or even an interpretation of a French source. At the same time, both Vidal and Babel clearly show the brutality of war and victims caused by the war.
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spelling doaj.art-60737e0f902e4bf2abafce58b4c6e47d2023-06-20T08:54:26ZengRussian Academy of Sciences. A.M. Gorky Institute of World LiteratureЛитературный факт2541-82972542-24212023-06-012 (28)82410.22455/2541-8297-2023-28-8-24Gaston Vidal: “Two Acts in Front of a Conscience,” “Shakespearean Story” (The Sources of I. Babel’s Stories about the First World War)Elena I. Pogorelskaia0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0668-7320A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of SciencesFor the first time, the 11th and 15th chapters of G. Vidal’s book “Characters and Anecdotes of the Great War” (Paris, 1918) were translated into Russian. These chapters served as the source for the plot of three stories by I. Babel (1920) about the First World War — “On the Field of Honor,” “Deserter,” “The Family of Father Maresco.” The publication of the translation is accompanied by an analytical article in which the stories that became the first experience of military prose for the future author of “Red Cavalry” are compared with Vidal’s texts. Babel’s stories “On the Field of Honor” and “The Deserter” were written based on the 11th chapter of Vidal, and the 15th chapter was rewrote by him into the story “The Family of Father Maresco.” Babel preserved the storylines, details of front-line life described by Vidal, individual replicas coincide almost verbatim, but the form of presentation in them differs from the French original. Vidal’s narration is in the first person, while Babel’s in the first two stories is from the third person. Detailed psychological characteristics of the characters and detailed descriptions of the situation from Vidal’s book by Babel are given more concise and succinctly. His stories cannot be considered as a translation in its purest form, rather one can talk about an arrangement or even an interpretation of a French source. At the same time, both Vidal and Babel clearly show the brutality of war and victims caused by the war.http://litfact.ru/images/2023-28/01_Pogorelskaya_8-24.pdfisaac babelgaston vidalthe first world wartranslationinterpretation
spellingShingle Elena I. Pogorelskaia
Gaston Vidal: “Two Acts in Front of a Conscience,” “Shakespearean Story” (The Sources of I. Babel’s Stories about the First World War)
Литературный факт
isaac babel
gaston vidal
the first world war
translation
interpretation
title Gaston Vidal: “Two Acts in Front of a Conscience,” “Shakespearean Story” (The Sources of I. Babel’s Stories about the First World War)
title_full Gaston Vidal: “Two Acts in Front of a Conscience,” “Shakespearean Story” (The Sources of I. Babel’s Stories about the First World War)
title_fullStr Gaston Vidal: “Two Acts in Front of a Conscience,” “Shakespearean Story” (The Sources of I. Babel’s Stories about the First World War)
title_full_unstemmed Gaston Vidal: “Two Acts in Front of a Conscience,” “Shakespearean Story” (The Sources of I. Babel’s Stories about the First World War)
title_short Gaston Vidal: “Two Acts in Front of a Conscience,” “Shakespearean Story” (The Sources of I. Babel’s Stories about the First World War)
title_sort gaston vidal two acts in front of a conscience shakespearean story the sources of i babel s stories about the first world war
topic isaac babel
gaston vidal
the first world war
translation
interpretation
url http://litfact.ru/images/2023-28/01_Pogorelskaya_8-24.pdf
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