The Cavalry Army in the Context of Russian Avant-Gardes: New Perspectives for Research. Scholars and critics who have examined the work of Isaak Babel have pointed out how the narrative cycle Red Cavalry presents itself as a textual construction characterized by a continuous interweaving of genres, stylistic registers, formal elements, and thematic nuclei in mutual tension. This complexity emerges both on the macrostructural level, in the overall configuration of the cycle, and on the microtextual level, within the individual stories. In many of the narratives, the composition is fragmentary – an arrangement of micro-episodes lacking evident spatial-temporal continuity and explicit causal links – resulting in a pronounced impression of fragmentation and narrative discontinuity. Over time, the hypothesis situating Red Cavalry within the context of the early twentieth-century artistic avantgardes has gained increasing traction. Some scholars have described Babel’s compositional strategies by drawing on the methods of cinematic montage techniques developed in the 1920s; others have pointed out affinities with Cubist painting and Constructivist photomontage; still others have proposed a metapoetic reading beyond the narrative level, identifying allusions to Khlebnikov’s dramatic and Malevich’s pictorial works. This study aims to outline a preliminary approach to exploring the typological affinities between Red Cavalry and Khlebnikov’s Zangezi. The genre of the “supertale,” theorized by the Cubo-Futurist poet, appears particularly close to Babel’s compositional methods and proves useful for a deeper understanding of the apparent narrative incongruities within the cycle. Furthermore, a close analysis of Babel’s language reveals a pronounced attention to the phonetic dimension of the word, chosen not so much for its direct referent as for the semantic aura and emotional resonance it is able to evoke. This orientation would seem to bring Babel’s artistic pursuit even closer to that of Khlebnikov.
L'Armata a cavallo nel contesto delle avanguardie russe. Nuove prospettive di ricerca
Andrea Lena Corritore
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
2026
Abstract
The Cavalry Army in the Context of Russian Avant-Gardes: New Perspectives for Research. Scholars and critics who have examined the work of Isaak Babel have pointed out how the narrative cycle Red Cavalry presents itself as a textual construction characterized by a continuous interweaving of genres, stylistic registers, formal elements, and thematic nuclei in mutual tension. This complexity emerges both on the macrostructural level, in the overall configuration of the cycle, and on the microtextual level, within the individual stories. In many of the narratives, the composition is fragmentary – an arrangement of micro-episodes lacking evident spatial-temporal continuity and explicit causal links – resulting in a pronounced impression of fragmentation and narrative discontinuity. Over time, the hypothesis situating Red Cavalry within the context of the early twentieth-century artistic avantgardes has gained increasing traction. Some scholars have described Babel’s compositional strategies by drawing on the methods of cinematic montage techniques developed in the 1920s; others have pointed out affinities with Cubist painting and Constructivist photomontage; still others have proposed a metapoetic reading beyond the narrative level, identifying allusions to Khlebnikov’s dramatic and Malevich’s pictorial works. This study aims to outline a preliminary approach to exploring the typological affinities between Red Cavalry and Khlebnikov’s Zangezi. The genre of the “supertale,” theorized by the Cubo-Futurist poet, appears particularly close to Babel’s compositional methods and proves useful for a deeper understanding of the apparent narrative incongruities within the cycle. Furthermore, a close analysis of Babel’s language reveals a pronounced attention to the phonetic dimension of the word, chosen not so much for its direct referent as for the semantic aura and emotional resonance it is able to evoke. This orientation would seem to bring Babel’s artistic pursuit even closer to that of Khlebnikov.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
