Lecture
David Herman
Tuesday 28.10.2025
David Herman
Kafka and Nationalism in Early 20th Century Prague: Isaac Babel and Socialism after 1919
Tuesday 28.10.2025
How to watch
This lecture starts on 28 October at 7:00pm (UK).
Summary
This lecture focuses on the two great changes in modern Europe in the early 20th century: the rise of nationalism and socialism, as exemplified in the experience of Franz Kafka in Prague during the decline of the Habsburg Empire, and the very different experience of Isaac Babel as he rode with the Cossack cavalry during the brutal Russo-Polish war after the Russian Revolution, the subject of his most famous book, The Red Cavalry.
David Herman
David Herman is a freelance writer based in London. Over the past 20 years he has written almost a thousand articles, essays, and reviews on Jewish history and literature for publications including the Jewish Chronicle, the Jewish Quarterly, Jewish Renaissance, the Guardian, the New Statesman, and Prospect. He has taught courses on Jewish culture for the London Jewish Cultural Centre and JW3. He is a regular contributor to Jewish Book Week, the Association of Jewish Refugees, and the Insiders/Outsiders Festival on the contribution of Jewish refugees to British culture.