Babel, Isaak Emanuilovich (1894-1938?), was a short-story writer in the early period of Soviet Russian literature. He fought on the side of the Bolsheviks during the Russian civil war. His experiences provided material for Konarmia (1926), a collection of short stories called Red Cavalry in the English translation. He wrote these stories in a striking ornamental prose. Another collection, Odessa Tales (1927), depicts the life of Odessa Jews. Babel disappeared in 1938. Soviet police apparently arrested and executed him. He was born in Odessa, Ukraine.