Two short stories
Read by Patrick Magee
In his collection of stories Red Cavalry Isaac Babel described his experiences as a young Jewish intellectual fighting with a Cossack regiment in the Polish campaign of 1920. He was obsessed with the need to prove himself, to acquire what he called 'the simplest of proficiencies-the ability to kill my fellow men.' My First Goose and The Death of Doleushov illustrate his predicament.