Benya Krik/Gangster

Thanks to Isaac Babel,there is one city I'd care to see in Russia(Ukraine)-that would be Odessa.Odessa was where the great Babel was from and Odessa was also the turf of Benya Krik,who is my favorite character in the history of literature.To get a sense of Babel's scope,check out one of his anthologies;'Benya' is a great Babel compilation for anyone who wants to cut to the chase-and which includes Babel masterpieces such as 'The History of My Dovecot' about a pogrom from from a kid's viewpoint.But my favorites are the Benya Krik stories,particulary 'The King' in which Benya and his boys prevent a pogrom from taking place at his sister's wedding in a quasi-religious sense because we know who did it indirectly-as if Benya-or God was responsible for burning down the police station.If we had read the Benya Krik stories in Hebrew School,I never would've dropped out-and it's no mystery why Stalin executed Babel.