Первая мировая война в биографии и творчестве Исаака Бабеля

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The paper discusses the issue of I.E. Babel’s participation in the events of the First World War, and what place this war occupies in his work. In his Autobiography, written in November 1924, the writer reports that he was a soldier on the Romanian front. This fact is not documented, but two stories of 1932, Argamak and The Road, mention military formations that operated during the war. The theme of the First World War was somehow reflected in some stories and essays of 1916–1918. The cycle On the Field of Honor (1920) is dedicated directly to this war, but its content is borrowed from literary sources and is dedicated to a foreign army. If Babel’ participated in military events, it was for a very short time. Apparently, therefore, the theme of the First World War was reflected in his stories and essays only in strokes and individual mentions. Nevertheless, for many years, the consequences and echoes of that war remained in the writer’s field of vision, which was reflected in his works not only in the 1910s and 1920s, but also in the 1930s.