The Yiddish Book Center's

Wexler Oral History Project

A growing collection of in-depth interviews with people of all ages and backgrounds, whose stories about the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture offer a rich and complex chronicle of Jewish identity.

"He Makes You a Co-Creator": Reading Isaac Babel

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Andrei Malaev-Babel explains how his grandfather, Isaac Babel, wrote about the creative process. Malaev-Babel then shares his belief that creativity is the highest force in this world.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Andrei Malaev-Babel.

This excerpt is in English.

Andrei Malaev-Babel was born in Moscow, Russia.

This interview is part of the Beyond the Books: Yiddish writers and their descendants series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

"Paris Is for Strolling, Moscow Is for Writing" according to Isaac Babel

1 min 51 sec

"Jewish in What Way?"

1 min 35 sec

Laughing at Oneself

1 min 30 sec

Babel and His Community

4 min

How Grandmother Met My Grandfather, Isaac Babel

5 min 37 sec

Jews in the Vakhtangov Theater

2 min 26 sec

"It All Became Words for Him": How Babel Recited His Own Work

1 min 59 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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