The art of speaking Odessan: Isaac Babel’s Odessan phraseologisms as "fixed units of linguistic art" in tele-cinematic context

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

The art of speaking Odessan: Isaac Babel's Odessan phraseologisms as «fixed units of linguistic art» in tele-cinematic context

Inna Kabanen, MA (Master of Arts), phd student

in Russian language, Department of Modern Languages,

University of Helsinki



Summary

The aim of this paper is to establish whether certain phrases employing what is called `Odessan language' in Isaac Babel's Odessa Stories can be considered a reflection of reality, a reflection of the myth of Odessa or a purely artistic creation. In order to do so, I demonstrate how these phrases are rendered in the following film adaptations of Odessa Stories: Benya Krik (1926), Iskusstvo zhit's v Odesse (1989), Bindyuzhnik i Korol' (1989) and Zakat (1990). The novelty of present research lies in the consideration of such phrases as `fixed units of linguistic art', which presumably serve as markers and are applied with ornamental or location defining purposes adding the Odessan color. In my analysis I proceed by pinpointing the salient features of each film, their similarities and differences, and then turn my attention to illustrating how Babel's trademark citations are inserted in the dialogue. The results of the analysis show that especially in the more recent films the presence of fixed units of linguistic art is notable, although the original narration undergoes a significant change. In the conclusion, I respond to the original task setting by stating that while in the films Babel's Odes- san language is presented as an artistic creation and as a reflection of a myth, it is not possible to exclude, that originally it also reflected the reality of set time period and location.

Key words: Isaac Babel, Odessa, Odessan language, art, language, synesthetic metaphor, myth.



Кабанен Інна, магістр філософських наук, аспірант кафедри російської мови факультету сучасних мов Гельсінського університету

МИСТЕЦТВО ГОВОРИТИ ПО-ОДЕСЬКИ: ОДЕСЬКІ ФРАЗЕОЛОГІЗМИ ІСААКА БАБЕЛЯ ЯК «ФІКСОВАНІ ОДИНИЦІ МОВНОГО МИСТЕЦТВА» В ТЕЛЕВІЗІЙНО-КІНЕМАТОГРАФІЧНОМУ КОНТЕКСТІ

Анотація

Мета цієї статті -- дізнатися про те, чи є певні фрази на так званій «одеській мові» в Одеських оповіданнях Ісаака Бабеля віддзеркаленням реальності, відображенням міфу або виключно художнім твором. Для досягнення мети у статті продемонстровано способи подання цих фраз у таких екранізаціях Одеських оповідань: «Беня Крик» (1926), «Мистецтво жити в Одесі» (1989), «Биндюжник і король» (1989) і «Захід» (1990). Новизна цього дослідження полягає в тому, що вищевказані фрази розглянуто як «фіксовані одиниці мовного мистецтва», які використовуються у фільмах як маркери і застосовуються в орнаментальному призначенні, а також як визначники місця дій оповідання, додаючи тексту одеський колорит. Спочатку проаналізовано основні характеристики кожного з фільмів, їх спільне і відмінне; далі показано, як цитати з творів І. Е. Бабеля занурено в екранізовані діалоги. Результати аналізу свідчать про те, що в більш сучасних екранізаціях фіксовані одиниці мовного мистецтва використовуються особливо часто, хоча сам розповідний текст значно змінений і наближений до норми російської літературної мови. Висновки констатують, що, незважаючи на те, що в фільмах «одеська мова» І. Е. Бабеля представлена як художнє мовлення і відображення міфу, не виключена можливість відображення нею місцевих міських мовних реалій першої чверті ХХ століття.

Ключові слова: Ісаак Бабель, Одеса, «одеська мова», мистецтво, російське міське мовлення, синестетична метафора, міф.

Кабанен Инна, магистр философских наук, аспирант кафедры русского языка факультета современных языков Хельсинкского университета

ИСКУССТВО ГОВОРИТЬ ПО-ОДЕССКИ: ОДЕССКИЕ ФРАЗЕОЛОГИЗМЫ ИСААКА БАБЕЛЯ КАК «ФИКСИРОВАННЫЕ ЕДИНИЦЫ ЯЗЫКОВОГО ИСКУССТВА» В ТЕЛЕВИЗИОННО-КИНЕМАТОГРАФИЧЕСКОМ КОНТЕКСТЕ

Аннотация

Цель настоящей статьи -- установить, являются ли определённые фразы на так называемом «одесском языке» в Одесских рассказах Исаака Бабеля отражением реальности, отражением мифа или исключительно художественным произведением. Для достижения данной цели в статье демонстрируются способы представления этих фраз в таких экранизациях Одесских рассказов: «Беня Крик» (1926), «Искусство жить в Одессе» (1989), «Биндюжник и король» (1989) и «Закат» (1990). Новизна настоящего исследования заключается в том, что мы рассматриваем вышеуказанные фразы как «фиксированные единицы языкового искусства», которые используются в фильмах как маркеры и применяются в орнаментальном предназначении, а также как определители места действий повествования, добавляя одесский колорит. Для начала мы анализируем основные характеристики каждого из фильмов, их совпадения и различия, далее мы рассматриваем, как цитаты из произведений И. Э. Бабеля внедряются в экранизированные диалоги. Результаты анализа показывают, что в более современных экранизациях наличие фиксированных единиц языкового искусства особенно частотно, хотя изначальный текст и повествование значительно изменены и приближены к нормам русского литературного языка. Выводы констатируют, что, несмотря на то, что в фильмах «одесский язык» И. Э. Бабеля представлен как художественная речь и отражение мифа, не исключена возможность изначального отражения им местных городских речевых реалий первой четверти ХХ века.



Introduction

Isaac Babel's (1894-1940) significance to Russian and world literature is notable and, among other things, he has been defined as `the greatest writer of Russian Jewry'. Numerous scholars have dedicated papers and books to Babel's works [17; 26; 28; 41], the Jewish cultural aspect of his texts [15; 16; 23; 26; 27], his position as a Russian Jewish or Jewish Russian writer, and even his physical appearance [20]. Nevertheless, his persona and his works have repeatedly been subject to controversy, especially in what comes to his use of Russian language. On the one hand, his stylistic solutions, playing with contrasts, his use of criminal jargon or other non-standard language phenomena are his greatly admired trademarks [37]. On the other hand, a great discussion regards his use of Odessan language in Odessa Stories. Some of the critics, such as the Odessan author Valeriy Smirnov, deny any resemblance of Babel's Odessan language to the reality [30]. Others dismiss his colorful metaphors and the so- called Odessisms simply as bad command of Russian language, as Yiddishisms [24] or as `Yiddish- and Ukrainian-inflected jargon' [15, p. 313]. However, Babel's Odessa Stories and the peculiar language of Benya Krik and other infamous gangsters from Moldavanka have become the reference point of film and television industry, whenever there is a necessity to recreate a fictional or actual Odessan setting.

As to the authenticity of Babel's Odessan language, according to Paustovsky's account [22], Babel considered himself as unable to use imagination or to invent things, which in practice meant that everything he wrote, he had to experience firsthand. This also applies to Odessa Stories, as to be able to write about Moldavanka and its notorious inhabitants, Babel rented a room there, in order to observe and immerse himself in the atmosphere and the language of Odessan lowlife. At this point, a question arises: is the Odessan language in Odessa Stories a reflection of reality, a reflection of the myth or an artistic creation?

Babel used the so-called Odessan language, also referred to as Odessan Russian or the Odessan koine, widely diffused in Odessa especially before the Second World War [more on Odessan language e.g. 3; 7; 11; 18; 32; 36] for the precise purpose of recreating the atmosphere of Moldavanka and the Jewish gangsters. Later, in film adaptations of his works, some particular Odessan expressions and dialogues, as written by Babel, have been applied without major changes, whereas the surrounding literary context has been stretched and re-adapted to correspond to the director's vision of the film-to-be. Thus, on the one hand, Babel's Odessan language can be seen as heirloom, a shibboleth [33], which is passed from generation to generation, nearly unchanged. On the other hand, many other films and television series, which are set in or inspired by Odessa, use the Odessan language that carries similarities to Babel's creation, and thus these versions of Babel's language can be compared to graphic reprints, or variations of musical themes.



Task setting

The aim of this article is to demonstrate that certain variants of language, and in this particular case, of Odessan language used by Babel, can be approached as forms of artistic creation or works of linguistic art, and not solely as means of communication. My hypothesis is that the Odessan language recreated by Isaac Babel' in his Odessa Stories has since acquired a life of its own and has been used in cinematic adaptations as an artistic pattern. I also argue that in film (and television) some peculiarities of Babel's Odessan language are often employed to add some Odessan color, odesskiy kolorit, to an otherwise apparently neutral or non-defined linguistic context. For the purposes of this article, I will use the definition `fixed units of linguistic art' to indicate Odessisms written by Babel. I refer to them as linguistic art by virtue of them being parts of Babel's artistic creation and also of them being subsequently employed in films in ornamental, atmosphere-creating function. By fixed unit I refer to the immutability of said phrases when rendered on screen, notwithstanding the otherwise modified narrative sequences. In other words, while Babel's original narrative structure undergoes a notable change in various cinematic renditions of Odessa Stories, his Odessisms appear in all of them practically in their original form.

Language and art(s)

odessa language babel phraseologism

Comparisons between language and various art forms have frequently elicited debates. Gardner-Chlo- ros claims that parallels between code-switching in language and art can be drawn [5]. Another example is the idea of a language of film or viewing film as a language. It was popular especially among early Soviet filmmakers and theorists, such as Lev Kuleshov, Vsevolod Pudovkin and Sergei Eisenstein, who sustained that shot sequences played the role of sentences and individual shots of words, and that film could be compared to a pictorial language [6, p. 51]. Instead, Christian Metz developed a `systematic theory of film as language' [ibid.]. Huttunen claims that even the montage principle `as a method of organization in which something complete is expressed via its discrete elements' can be applied to language [10, p. 165]. This approach is particularly relevant when applied to the 1926 mute film Benya Krik for which Babel wrote the script, adapted from Odessa Stories, and which initially was supposed to be directed by Sergey Eisenstein, but was then commissioned to Vladimir Vilner.

Gaut criticized and opposed the idea of film being comparable to a language, sustaining, for example, that single shots cannot be considered words of a language, as `there is a finite number of words in a language, but there is no upper limit on the number of distinct photographs that can be taken' [6, p. 52]. However, in this context I take the liberty to disagree, as it is not true that substantially a language has a finite number of words. Taking into account the constant input of neologisms into the lexicon, the dialectal and phonetic variation, or the fact that even when some of the words become obsolete, they do not completely disappear, and eventually resurface, potentially this number becomes infinite. We cannot say that a language is saturated, and no more words can be added to it, and consequentially, the potential number of combinations of words is thus equally infinite. This is especially relevant in cases of synesthetic metaphors, which in many instances combine words into sentences impossible at first glance.

Babel as an artist

Art was an essential part of Babel's personal life and his works. According to Sicher, theme running through much of Babel's mature prose of the 1920s is the power of art to transform the familiar into an unexpected revelation [--] Babel's wide reading predisposed him to follow no one artist or movement, but unpublished notes which he made as a young man [--] show an overwhelming preference for nineteenth-century West European culture and for the Renaissance [25].

Novitsky writes that Babel' perception of life is similar to a painter's, in his writings the use of strong lines is combined with a feast of colors [21]. He had a tendency to paint with words, to the point that Stepanov defines the language of his short stories ornamental [31]. Babel's works are rich with synes- thetic metaphors [19], which in other contexts may be perceived as a poetic device, but when inserted in the Odessan language environment, do not stand apart from normal dialogue. Traditionally, synesthesia is `the phenomenon in which one sense is felt, perceived, or described in terms of another' [4], and synesthetic metaphors are phrases, which unite concepts normally not possible to combine, for example, `they sang in rich voices, these patches of orange and red velvet [1, p. 19]. I argue that this definition can be extended to comprehend cases of linguistic interference, when words or multi-word structures from two or more languages are brought together for the sake of artistry or expressive power. This is to say that Odessan language in itself is highly synaesthetic and often combines words and phrases in sequences that in standard Russian language would result strange, thus producing vivid linguistic images and metaphors, difficult to obtain using only one language.

Odessa Stories in film

Having established that Odessan language expressions in the Odessa Stories can, indeed, be regarded as fixed units of linguistic art, I aim to illustrate how they are applied and recreated in the tele-cinematic context. The most relevant film adaptations of Odessa Stories are the following:

1. Benya Krik (1926), director Vladimir Vilner, screenplay Isaac Babel.

2. Iskusstvo shit' v Odesse / The Art of Living in Odessa (1989), director Georgi Yungvald-Khil'kev- ich, screenplay Georgi Yungvald-Khil'kevich, Georgi Nikolayev.

3. Bindyuzhnik i Korol' / The Drayman and The King (1989), director Vladimir Alenikov, screenplay Asar Eppel, Vladimir Alenikov.

4. Zakat / Sunset (1990), director Alexandr Zel'dovich, screenplay Pavel Finn.

Of the more recent renditions the television series Zhizn' i prikluycheniya Mishki Yaponchika (The Life and adventures of Mickey the Jap, 2010) can be mentioned in this connection. It is based on the legendary Odessan gangster, Mishka Yaponchik, whose figure supposedly inspired the character of Babel's Benya Krik. However, this is not a direct adaptation of Odessa Stories, and for this reason I chose to omit it from a more detailed analysis in present article. It is, though, to be observed that many of the dialogues in said series are influenced by `Babelesque' stylistic intonation.

Babel authored several screenplays during his career [9], but the most prominent one is his script for the 1926 Benya Krik. Notwithstanding the fact of it being a mute film, it is not to be overlooked in this connection as the scenes featuring written descriptions and dialogues (intertitles) provide important period specific linguistic evidence. Benya is played by Yuri Shumsky (also known as Yuri Shomin, 1887-1954), a Tiraspol (Moldova) born actor who moved to Kherson (Ukraine) at the age of 13, where he studied until he was expelled in 1906 due to his revolutionary activities. Contrarily to the original Odessa Stories, the revolutionary ideological aspect is more present in Benya Krik from the very beginning, so it is also symbolical that Shumsky had a history of ideological battle.

Visually, Benya Krik is an excellent example of the avant-gardist aesthetics of ugliness [8], characterized by the abandonment of bourgeois prettiness of the previous decades; some scenes, such as Benya's sister Dvoyra's wedding, literally feast upon the grotesque wedding guests, their freakish physical features and animalesque behavior. If we draw a parallel with the same scene in The King, we can observe that the film rather faithfully reproduces the atmosphere of barely controlled ecstatic chaos described by Babel':

Odessa's paupers got their hands on Jamaican rum at Dvoira Krik's wedding, sucked up their fill like treyf pigs and raised a deafening clatter with their crutches. Eichbaum undid his vest, gazed at the stormy gathering with narrowed eyes and hiccupped lovingly. The orchestra played flourishes. [---] Lyova the Russkie smashed a bottle of vodka over his beloved's head. Monya the Gunner fired a shot in the air [1, p. 24].

Against the background of ugliness provided by the wedding guests, Benya stands apart, resulting nearly aristocratic and groomed. In the film, his fashionable mise andcarefully coiffed hair even carry a fleeting resemblance to Sergey Yesenin, the embodiment of the romantic figure of the restless and doomed poet.

Within the overwhelming context of Moldavanka, where, according to some contemporaries, a vast majority of inhabitants was formed by criminals [35], Babel' attempted to insert some glimpses of morality and honor by depicting Benya Krik as brutal, but fair in his own way (e. g. his swift punishment of Saveli Butsis after the latter shot Joseph Muginstein during the Tartakovsky shake down in How It Was Done in Odessa). Even his gangsters show traits of respect and humanity, even generosity [29]. This aspect might have been connected to the growing tendency of some journalists to restore Moldavanka's image, claiming that, contrarily to the rooted belief that no good person could come out of Moldavanka, many of its inhabitants were respectable people with aspirations not unlike those of the middle-class central city dwellers [35].

The wedding is one of the crucial moments in the narration, and it is also the scene that is repeated in all of the adaptations, with due variations. It is during the wedding that the following dialogues take place:

`Listen King', said the young man, `I've got a couple words for you. Aunt Hannah sent me, from Kostetskaya Street...'

All right', sain Benya Krik, whom everyone knew as the King. `You got words? Spill.'

Aunt Hannah, she told me to tell you there's a new chief in town, took over the police station yesterday.'

`Knew about that the day before yesterday', said Benya Krik. `Keep talking' [1, p. 20].

`Benya,' said Krik's papa, an old drayman who was known as a roughneck even among other draymen. `Know what I think, Benya? What I think is the soot's burning...'

`Papa,' the King told his drunken father. `Please, I ask you, eat a little, drink a little, and don't pay no mind to that nonsense...'[1, p. 26].

In the first dialogue, a boy brings a message to Benya, regarding the imminent police raid. As a consequence, Benya sends some of his gang members to deal with the situation by organizing a fire at the police station. In fact, the second dialogue occurs to mark the success of the operation. As I will demonstrate further on, these two dialogues, in one form or another, are featured in all of the films chosen for current analysis, as they contain some of the most iconic phrases, to which I would apply the definition of `artistic units', one of these being `I've got a couple words for you' / `я имею вам сказать пару слов'. This particular phrase uses the verb иметь (to have) in connection with сказать (to say), which is a direct calque from Yiddish. In standard Russian this phrase would be `я хочу вам сказать несколько слов' (I want to say some words to you). Although this kind of phrase is rather typical to Odessan language in general, in this particular form it has become one of Babel's trademarks and is featured unchanged in all the films analysed, except for Benya Krik.

In a mute film, it is impossible to convey the phonetic aspects of a language, but as the select dialogues appear as intertitles, it is easier to pinpoint the central elements of the script. In Benya Krik, we can observe, for example, the following title cards:

Менделя Крика биндюжники считали за грубияна.

Draymen considered Mendel Krik a roughneck.

Мине что-то сдаётся, Бенчик, что здесь пахнет гарью... (original ortography maintained. -- I. K.).

It seems to me, Benchik, that there is a smell of burning here...

It is interesting to note that if we compare the title cards, the script and the original short story, we can see that there is a slight variation. In the short story, the construction of the first phrase is different: `папаша Крик, старый биндюжник, слывший между биндюжниками грубияном' (`papa, an old drayman who was known as a roughneck among other draymen⁵). While in the original version Babel uses a standard Russian language construction with the instrumental case, `слывший... грубияном', and the same can be observed in the screenplay, published as a separate book in 1926 [2], in the title card we can see a typically Odessan construction `считали за' (considered as), with the preposition `за' instead of the instrumental case required with the verb in question (считать кем / чем). In the original text, the same phrase is given an Odessan twist by the use of the word между instead of среди (between instead of among). These variations apparently contradict what I stated before about Babel's key Odessism maintaining their form in different contexts, but it is only partly true. The variations we observe in title cards in Benya Krik are supposedly created by Babel himself, according to this extract from his letter to Tamara Kashirina (Ivanova):

I am writing the titles for `Benya Krik' (the film is very bad). Because of this cinematographic rubbish I am in the worst of moods [38].

This means that the differences observed can be compared to variations of a theme by the artist himself, a phenomenon vastly diffused across various forms of art (music, visual arts, etc.). Instead, in the more recent cinematic renditions of Odessa Stories, the citations remain unaltered in their substance and form, in comparison to Babel's short stories.

While the 1926 film aimed at grotesque realism, Iskusstvo shit' v Odesse (The Art of Living in Odessa, 1989) romatioizes the character of Benya (here played by Sergey Koltakov) and his surroundings. The title of the film leads us to the afore illustrated claim that art and Odessa (Odessan language) are strictly tied together. It is described as a fantasy based on Babel's Odessa Stories. However, the original source is evident, especially in the dialogues. Here, the word `art' can be seen as the ability to survive in a complicated city, in uncertain times (during the years of the fall of the Russian Empire and the birth of the new Soviet regime) and in a difficult place, such as Moldavanka. But these factors, united, also make for an eclectic and extravagant artwork of a city, created by its inhabitants, history and complex cultural and linguistic situation. The visual solutions of the film also aim at artistry, creating scenes similar to paintings. Here, the use of Odessisms created (or documented) by Babel are instrumental and form the thematic setting for the film. Even though the script is merely loosely inspired by Babel's texts, it features direct citations, which, alongside the key characters' names (Benya Krik, Froim Grach, Tartakovsky, etc.) create the recognizable framework of the narrative.

The visual impact of the film is rather different from the 1926 Benya Krik. Especially in the first part, we can observe scenes that are dream-like and even ethereal. Such scene is, for example, the first encounter with Katya, Benya's love interest. In the book, Benya falls in love with Celia, who is the daughter of Eichbaum, a victim of one of Benya's nalyot shakedowns.

[...] on that terrible night, old man Eichbaum's daughter, Celia, ran out into the yard in her nightshirt. And the King's triumph proved to be his downfal [1, p. 22].

In the film, similarly, Benya is raiding Eichbaum's possessions, but while in the original text the gangsters slaughtered Eichbaum's cows, here nalyotchiki are smashing his porcelain. The choice is in line with the cleaner, more aesthetically pleasing impression of the film. The gruesome scene of slaughter and blood in the yard is substituted with elegant interiors of Eichbaum's shop and fine porcelain disintegrating into glittering fragments. The key phrase `Monsieur Eichbaum, Idon't get my money, you don't keep your cows' [ibid.] is reinterpreted as `If I don't get my money, you don't get to keep your shop'. The shock factor lies in the appearance of Katya, who is wearing a completely transparent nightshirt, which later catches fire and is torn from her by Benya, leaving her completely in the nude. This kind of scene could be considered exceptionally bold after decades of ban on erotic scenes in the Soviet film industry. Although completely irrelevant to the narrative, this nude scene (min. 6:00) forms one of the painting-like images inside the film.

Benya and his men are pictured more alike to American gangsters than boys from Moldavanka. While Babel ironically describes them as the `aristocracy', from the description of their manners and their physical appearance and clothes, it is evident that we are dealing with Moldavanka chic as in contrast to upper class elegance.

These aristocrats of Moldavanka were squeezed into crimson vests, rufous jackets gripped their shoulders, and their fleshy legs nearly burst through leather of purest azure [1, p. 25].

Instead, the nalyotchiki represented in The Art of Living in Odessa seem to have come out of a fashion atelier with their pristine suits, and Benya especially so, being impeccable from head to toe. This overall elegant physical appearance and Benya's well-articulated output is in stark contrast with the incorrect Russian or `Odessan' speech he is recurring to from time to time. At this point, it is essential to understand that in order to speak Odessan, it is not sufficient to throw in Yiddish calques, incorrectly positioned accents and Ukrainian words and phonetic features, such as fricative `g', and calling everyone Madame or Monsieur. One of the paramount characteristics of Odessan speech is the `rise-fall' intonation, typical of Yiddish and Jewish Russian speakers [34; 36; 39]. In fact, the intonation is the feature that results extremely difficult to master, while the typical Odessan lexicon and individual phrases and idioms are easier to learn. If we judged Koltakov's Benya only by his physical appearance, intonation and accent, probably we wouldn't place him in Odessa. For this reason, Babel's fixed Odessan units particularly stand apart in Benya's speech and result very evidently unnatural.

From the point of view of pronunciation, the characters who manage to approach the correct intonation and appear credible as Odessans of that period, are Oleg Tabakov and Svetlana Kryuchkova, playing Tsudechkis and his wife, respectively. Kryuchkova's performance in this support role is to be noted, as in the 2007 cult television series Likvidatsiya (Liquidation), she resumes a similar role, that of Aunt Pesya, which brings her much appreciation especially for her ability to use the Odessan language with the presumably right kind of intonation. I say presumably right, as I do not have audio evidence from the said period (early 20th century), in particular from Moldavanka, and I have to rely on recollections from later periods and written documentation, such as scholarly and non-scholarly texts on special features of Odessan language and pronunciation. In order to retrieve some audio material, I attempted several searches on Staroye Radio, a website containing a large number of audio recordings from various years. The research produced some results, for example, a radio recording of an extract from an operetta At dawn of the Odessan Theatre of Musical Comedy, dated in the 1960's, featuring M. Vodyanoy and M. Demina [13]. Here, Vodyanoy, famous for his role of Odessan Greek Popandopou- lo in the 1967 musical film Svad'ba v Malinovke `Wedding in Malinovka', portrays Mishka Yaponchik, a rather relevant character for present research. Although the song performed holds some typical Odes- san insertions (e. g., the word sha, meaning quiet), firstly, it is rather difficult to perceive the precise intonation, and secondly, the time period is too distant from the years described in Odessa Stories. This problem is not a new one, the absence of a speech corpus of old Odessan language represents a challenge to many scholars [3].

In The Art of Living in Odessa the wedding scene takes place towards the end of the first half of the film, and instead of Dvoyra Krik, it is Benya who is getting married, not to his lover Katya, but, for business reasons, to Froim the Rook's daughter, Basya. Thus, the original storyline is modified. What remains immutable, is the messenger boy delivering Aunt Hannah's news, although in the scene we see him whispering them to Aryeh Leib, who then passes them on to Benya with following words:

Aryeh Leib: King, I've got a couple words to say to you. I was told so by Aunt Hannah from Kostets- kaya Street...

Benya: All right, what are these couple words?

Basya (alterated): He's always got a couple words in his pocket! And always at the wrong moment! (Spits.)

Aryeh Leib: Yesterday, a new chief took over the police station. That's what Aunt Hannah told me to tell you.

Benya: I knew about that the day before yesterday. Go on.

Later, we can equally observe the scene with the following dialogue:

Мендель: Фроим, мине сдается, шо у нашей трубе горит сажа.

Беня: Папаша, мине надоели Ваши предположения. Выпивайте и закусывайте, как раньше. И пусть Вас не волнует этих глупостей, (всем) Выпивайте и закусывайте как раньше!

Налетчик: Беня, Беня! Это смешно! Полицейский участок горит как свечка, представляешь!

Фроим Грач: А мине сдаётся, шо это горит таки да, не сажа.

Mendel: Froim, it seems to me that the soot's burning in our chimney.

Benya: Papa, I am tired of your suppositions. Drink and eat like before. And don't pay no mind to that nonesense. (to all) Drink and eat like before!

Nalyotchik: Benya, Benya! It's funny! The police station is burning like a candle, can you imagine!

Froim the Rook: And to me it seems, that take jo, it is no soot that is burning.

The original distribution and setting are modified, Mendel does not express his suspioions to Benya, but rather to Froim the Rook, and the exchange itself take place openly at the banquet table, and not privately. Benya's response is notable, as it once again shows a stark contrast between his use of perfect standard Russian in мне надоели ваши предположения (I am tired of your suppositions) and the fixed Odessan unit и пусть вас не волнует этих глупостей (and don't pay no mind to that nonsense). The authors of the script supposedly inserted Froim's response, absent in Babel's text, with the purpose of adding not only comicality, but the Odessan color, making him not only repeat Mendel's phrase, but also use the marker такида (from Yiddish take jo, indeed), typically linked to Odessan speech and Odessan jokes, in particular.

In another adaptation from the same year (1989), Bindyuzhnik i Korol' (The Drayman and the King), a musical rendition of the Odessa Stories, which concentrates on the difficult relationship between Benya and his father, Mendel Krik, the wedding takes place at the very end of the two-episode film, and this time it is again Dvoyra who is getting married. While Benya is welcoming guests at the gates, which lead to the courtyard where the banquet is about to begin, he is approached by a man, who delivers Aunt Hannah's message. In this version, the dialogue follows faithfully the original text by Babel, although this reinterpretation of Odessa Stories probably strikes as the most different one. Its operetta-style format influences the narration, as a large part of the film is sung, but the most evident difference is the redistribution of the fixed units, both in terms of who says them and in which context. For example, let's observe the famous phrase:

Беня говорит мало, но он говорит смачно. Он говорит мало, но хочется, чтобы он сказал еще что-нибудь [3]. (Benya, he doesn't talk much, but what he says, it's got flavour. He doesn't talk much, but when he talks, you want he should keep talking”).

Originally uttered by Froim the Rook during negotiations with Benya, it is one of the most popular citations from Babel's works, and an example of his many synaesthetic metaphors ('what he says, it's got flavour'). Here, this famous phrase is pronounced by Aryeh Leib during Dvoyra's wedding, after Benya's speech to the guests, and it practically closes the film before the final song, while in The Art of Living in Odessa, both the dialogue and the context practically correspond to the original text and it occurs before the raid on Tartakovsky.

Yet another film-fantasy inspired by Odessa Stories is the 1990 Zakat (Sunset). The film itself is probably the darkest rendition of Babel's works, and also the one attempting to achieve a modern arthouse effect, mostly resulting in an abundance of confusing, apparently detached scenes. Here we can see the return of the ugly and the grotesque, and several scenes feature explicit nudity. What it lacks completely, compared to the other three films, is the humorous aspect. The reigning atmosphere is gloomy, and the setting does not resemble Odessa of the turn of the century. On the Internet site Kino- Poisk, a reviewer remarked that `the director doesn't even want a semblance of Odessa, he limits himself to unfinished, approximative sceneries and equally careless interiors. Also, the heroes seem to be merely outlined, even in their speech' [12]. Nevertheless, some of the fixed units of Babel's linguistic art can be found here, as well. For example, the scene with Benya being warned by Aunt Hannah's messenger is present, although the iconic exchange takes place outside of the familiar wedding context altogether, and Benya is warned about the raid in a dark alley. This scene is directly followed by the fire at the police station, while the wedding takes place much later. The dialogue itself follows the original text and is one of the rare moments, which remind the viewer that this is, in fact, supposed to be Babel's Odessa.

To resume, in a significant part of films based on Odessa Stories analyzed above, we can assert an evident use of what has previously been defined as fixed units of linguistic art. Where as all the screenplays, including Babel's own, introduce significant changes to the original narrative, both in terms of succession and the outcome of events (e. g. the placement of the wedding scene, the occurrance of Aunt Hannah's message about the raid, the dialogue concerning the smell of burning), distribution of the dialogues, and the scenographic and visual solutions.



Conclusions

When in 1855 Zelenetsky wrote about the `incorrectness' of Russian language in Odessa and the surrounding region, his attitude reflected a prevalence of negative emotions; Odessan speech was regarded as something that should be actively contrasted [40]. Forty years later, Doroshevich [7] wrote a feuilleton with humorous observations on the language of Odessa and in this instance the change towards a more positive perception of Odessan language is evident; it is regarded as funny and `free as wind'. Now, the ability to speak `real' Odessan is a sought-after skill and especially among the younger generation of Odessites there seems to be a revival of what could be called dialectal or regiolectal pride, which translates in an ever-growing popularity of social media content regarding the `real' language of Odessa (e. g. YouTube lessons in `how to speak like a real Odessan').

On screen, Odessa Stories and its characters are interpreted with great variation from one film to another. Every Benya Krik is different, both in his appearance and manners, and especially in his use of Odessan language, accent and intonation. However, the language itself is recognizable as not only Odes- san, but Babel's Odessan. In spite of being crystallized and frozen in time, its cinematic renditions have influenced the perception of recent generations regarding the way Odessans spoke and speak, although the actual Odessites have evolved in their speech patterns and do not necessary identify themselves linguistically with Babel's Odessan heroes. In the decades after the publication of Odessa Stories, and especially after the ban on Babel's works was eventually lifted, the dialogues from this compilation of Odessa-themed short stories have significantly contributed to the development and the survival of the myth of Odessan language, particularly in Russian language tele-cinematic productions.

Finally, is the Odessan language in Odessa Stories a reflection of reality, a reflection of the myth or an artistic creation? I would respond by stating that it can be regarded as all three. It is obviously an artistic creation, being part of a fictional literary work, and as I have established, individual Odessisms can be treated as fixed units of linguistic art within the said literary framework. These fixed units are often the only linguistic features connectable to Odessa in cinematic renditions, given that the rest of the dialogues are majorly adapted to the standard Russian speech of most actors. Hence, Babel's Odessisms might be considered as reflections of the myth of Odessan language, perpetuated by films. Ultimately, even though we can not state with absolute certainty that Babel documented the authentic Odessan way of speaking, we can not state the contrary, either. We do not have empirical (audio) evidence of speech of people from Moldavanka from the time period coinciding with Odessa Stories, but we have written recollections, which seem to be congruent with Babel's version of Odessan language. Certainly, if ever such proof in the form of audio recordings should appear, this statement might be regarded in a different light. For the moment, I conclude that Babel's Odessan is also a reflection of reality, or at least, his personal reality and a testimony of how he perceived the speech of his contemporaries from Moldavanka.



References

1. Babel, I. (2018), Odessa Stories, transl. by B. Dralyuk, Pushkin Press, London, 187 p.

2. Babel, I. (2005), Complete works: in 3 volumes [Sobranie sochineniy: v 3 t.], Sukhikh, I. (ed.), Vremya Publishing house, Moscow, vol. 1, 575 p.

3. Bakuntsev, A. (2011), “The phenomenon of the Odessan `language'”, Harold of the International Education Center of Moscow State University [“Fenomen odesskogo `yazyka'”, Vestnik TsMO MGU], Moscow, No. 3., pp. 54-60.

4. Brogan, T. V. F, Finkin, J., Engstrom, A. G. (2012), “Synaesthesia”, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, pp. 1398-1399.

5. Gardner-Chloros, P. (2012), “Code-Switching in Art: From Semiotics to Sociolinguistics”, Sociolinguistic studies, Equinox Publishing Ltd., Sheffield, No. 4 (3), pp. 635-663.

6. Gaut, B. (2010), A Philosophy of Cinematic Art, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 324 p.

7. Doroshevich, V. (1895), Odessa, Odessan men and Odessan women. (Essays, esquisses and sketches) [Odessa, Odessity I Odessitki. (Ocherki, eskizy i nabroski)], Odesskiy Al'manakh, Odessa, 242 p.

8. Eco, U. (2020), On ugliness [Storia dellaBruttezza], Bompiani, Firenze-Milano, 455 p.

9. Heil, J. (1990), “Isaak Babel and His Film-Work”, Russian literature, Elsevier, No. 27 (3), pp. 289-416.

10. Huttunen, T. (2013), “Preface. Montage Principle and the Semiotics of Culture”, Sign Systems Studies, University of Tartu, Tartu, vol. 41, No. 2 (3), pp. 163-165.

11. Kabanen, I. (2010), “The language of Odessa: More myth or reality?”, Instrumentarium of Linguistics. Sociolinguistic Approaches to Non-Standard Russian. Slavica Helsingiensia [“Odesskiy yazyk: bol'she mifa ili real'nosti?”], Mustajoki, A., Protassova, E., Vakhtin, N. (eds.), Helsinki University Press, Helsinki, vol. 40, pp. 287-299.

12. KinoPoisk. Zakat. Available at: https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/45210/ (consulted on 10.04.2021).

13. A concert of variety artists (Odessa, operetta At dawn', M. Demina, M. Vodyanoy, a fragment of a radio transmission, 1960's [Kontsert artistov estrady (Odessa, operetta `Na rassvete', M. Dyomina, M. Vodyanoy, po radiotranslyatsii fragment, 60e gg.], available at: http://www.staroeradio.ru/audio/25540 (consulted on 10.04.2021).

14. Kovskiy, V. (2002), “Isaac Babel: A real life and literary fakes”, Voprosy literatury [“Isaak Babel': Nepod- del'naya zhizn' i belletristicheskiye poddelki”, Voprosy literatury], Moscow, No. 3, pp. 73-85.

15. Livak, L. (2010), The Jewish Persona in the European Imagination: A Case of Russian Literature, Rodrigue, A., Zipperstein, S. (eds.), Stanford University Press, Stanford, 498 p.

16. Luplow, C. (1984), “Isaak Babel' and the Jewish Tradition: The Childhood Stories”, Russian literature, Elsevier, No. 15 (3), pp. 255-277.

17. Maguire, R. (2019), “Ekphrasis in Isaak Babel”, The Russian Twentieth Century Short Story, Academic Studies Press, Boston, pp. 31-46.

18. Mechkovskaya, N. B. (2006), “Russian language in Odessa: yeasterday, today, tomorrow”: Review of the monograph: Stepanov, Ie. Russian speech of Odessa. Odessa: Astroprint, 2004. 496 p., Russian linguistics [“Russkiy yazyk v Odesse: vchera, segodnya, zavtra”: Retsenziya na monografiyu: Stepanov, Ie. M. Rosiys'ke movlennya Odesy. Odessa: Astroprint, 2004. 496 p., Russian linguistics], Springer, No. 30 (2), pp. 263-281.

19. Mendelson, D. (1984), “Synaesthetic Metaphor in the Work of Isaak Babel”, Russian literature, Elsevier, No. 15 (3), pp. 347-362.

20. Nesbet, A. (1997), “Babel's Face”, Russian literature, Elsevier, No. 42 (1), pp. 65-83.

21. Kazanskiy, B. V., Tynyanov, Yu. N. (eds.) (1928), Masters of modern literature: Collection. Issue II: I. E. Babel. Articles and materials [Mastera sovremennoy literatury: Sbornik. Vyp. II: I. E. Babel'. Stat'i i materialy], Academia, Leningrad, 105 p. Available at: https://imwerden.de/pdf/babel_sttji_i_materialy_academia_1928_text.pdf/ (consulted on 10.04.2021).

22. Paustovskiy, K. (1961), A time of great expectations [Vremya bol'shikh ozhidaniy], Book publishing house, Odessa, 210 p.

23. Safran, G. (2002), “Isaak Babel's El'ia Isakkovich as a New Jewish Type”, Slavic review, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, No. 61 (2), pp. 252-272.

24. Scibior, A. (2019), “T ve got couple of words for you' About Yiddishisms in Isaac Babel's Odessa Stories and their Polish translation”, Studia Litteraria Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis [“Ya imeyu vam skazat' paru slov'. Ob idishizmakh v Odesskikh passkazakh Isaaka Babelya i pol'skom perevode”, Studia Litteraria Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis], Krakow, No. 14 (2), pp. 111-121.

25. Sicher, E. (1982), “Art as Metaphor, Epiphany, and Aesthetic Statement: The Short Stories of Isaak Babel”, The Modern Language Review, No. 77 (2), pp. 387-396.

26. Sicher, E. (1986), Style and Structure in the Prose of Isaak Babel', Slavica Publishers, Columbus (OH), 169 p.

27. Sicher, E. (2012), Babel in Context a Study in Cultural Identity, Academic Studies Press, Boston, 312 p.

28. Sicher, E. (2018),”Isaak Babel's `Odessa Tales': Inventing Lost Time and the Search for Cultural Identity”, The Russian Review, Humboldt-Universitat, Berlin, No. 77 (1), pp. 65-87. DOI: 10.1111/russ.12168/

29. Semenov, D. (2015), “The peculiarities of the characters of nalyotchiks in Isaac Babel's short stories `Korol' and `How It Was Done in Odessa' ”, Young Scientist [Svoeorbazie kharakterov nalyotchikov v rasskazakh Isaaka Babelya `Korol' i `Kak eto delalos' v Odesse' ”, Molodoy uchenyi], No. 20 (100), available at: https://moluch.ru/ar- chive/100/22602/ (consulted on 10.04.2021).

30. Smirnov, V. (2010), Little Tsaches Babel [Kroshka Tsaches Babel], Poligraf, Odessa, 54 p.

31. Stepanov, N. (1928), “Babel's Short Stories”, Masters of modern literature: Collection. Issue II: I. E. Babel. Articles and materials [“Novella Babelya”, Mastera sovremennoy literatury: Sbornik. Vyp. II: I. E. Babel'. Stat'i i ma- terialy], Kazanskiy, B. V., Tynyanov, Yu. N. (eds.), Academia, Leningrad, pp. 11-41.

32. Stepanov, Ie. (2004), Russian language of Odessa: monograph [Rosiys'ke movlennya Odesy: monohraflya], Astroprint, Odessa, 496 p.

33. Stepanov, Ie. (2015), “Odessa shibboleths of French origin”, Mova / Language [“Odesskiye shibbolety frantsuzsk- ogo proishozhdeniya”, Mova], Odessa I. I. Mechnikov National University, Astroprint Publishing house, Odessa, vol. 23, pp. 133-138.

34. Steindel Burdin, R. (2017), “New Notes on the Rise-Fall Contour”, Journal of Jewish Languages, University of New Hampshire, Durham, No. 5, pp. 45-73.

35. Sylvester, R. (2001), “City of Thieves: Moldavanka, Criminality, and Respectability in Prerevolutionary Odessa”, Journal of Urban History, SAGE Publications, No. 27 (2), pp. 131-157.

36. Verschik, A. (2007), “Jewish Russian and the field of ethnolect study”, Language in Society, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, No. 36, pp. 213-232. DOI: 10.10170S004740450707011X.

37. Volynkina, S., Katamadze, K. (2019), “ 'How It Wa Done in Odessa': Special features of the language and the stylistics of Isaac Babel's `Odessa Stories' ”, Scientific Publishing Center Open Knowledge: site [“ 'Kak eto delalos' v Odesse': Osobennosti yazyka i stilya `Odesskikh rasskazov' I. Babelya”, Nauchno-izdatel'skiy tsentr Otkrytoye znani- ye: sayt], available at: https://scipress.ru/philology/articles/kak-eto-delalos-v-odesse-osobennosti-yazyka-i-stilya-odess- kikh-rasskazov-i-babelya.html (consulted on 10.04.2021).

38. Remembering Babel (1989) [Vospominaniya o Babele], Knizhnaya palata, Moscow, digitalized version. Available at: http://www.lib.ru/PROZA/BABEL/about_wospominaniya.txt) (consulted on 12.02.2020).

39. Weinreich, U. (1956), “Note on the Yiddish rise-fall intonation contour”, For Roman Jakobson: Essays on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday, Mouton, The Hague, pp. 633-643.

40. Zelenetsky, K. (1855), On Russian language in Novorossiya region [O russkom yazyke v Novorossiyskom kraye], Odessa, 34 p.

41. Zholkovsky, A. (1994), “How A Russian Maupassant Was Made in Odessa and Yasnaya Polyana: Isaak Babel' and the Tolstoy Legacy”, Slavic review, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, No. 53 (3), pp. 671-693.

Размещено на Allbest.ru

...