Cultural image of Odesa[edit]

To a significant extent the image of Odesa in Russophone culture is influenced by The Odessa Tales of Isaac Babel. Odesa is often referred to by the collocation "Odesa Mama" (Mom Odesa), a term that originated in Russian criminal (blatnoy) subculture.^[1] The reputation of the city as a criminal center originated in Imperial Russian times and the early Soviet era, and is similar to the reputation of Al Capone era Chicago.^[2]

Odesa humor[edit]

Odesa humor is a notable part of both Jewish humor and Russian humor.

Since 1972 Odesa has been hosting the annual festival of humor, Humorina. For this and other reasons Odesa was known as the "capital of humor" in the Soviet Union.^[3]

monument

Duc de Richelieu

Derybasivska Street

Moldavanka

Odesa catacombs

Potemkin Stairs

Prymorskyi Boulevard

Pryvoz Market

Many places in Odesa are memorable not only for their intrinsic cultural value, but also for their place in Odesa folklore.

Maurice Friedberg, "How Things Were Done in Odesa: Cultural and Intellectual Pursuits in a Soviet City" (1991) 0-8133-7987-3 (The book is about the life and culture of Odesa of the Soviet era. Its title is an allusion to a Babel's short story "How Things Were Done in Odesa" from The Odesa Tales)

ISBN

Anatoli Barbakaru, "Odesa-Mama: Kataly, Kidaly, Shulera" (1999) 5-04-002856-3 (in Russian)

ISBN

Rebecca Stanton, "Identity Crisis: The Literary Cult and Culture of Odesa in the Early Twentieth Century", Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Foreign Literatures 57, No. 3 (2003) pp. 117-126.

Brian Horowitz, ''Myths and Counter-Myths about Odesa's Jewish Intelligentsia during the Late-Tsarist Period,'' Jewish Culture and History 16, 3-4, 2014, 210-224.

Humor in Odesa: Traditions and Modern Times

Steven J. Zipperstein, The Jews of Odessa: A Cultural History, 1794-1881