Recognizing the talent of the budding émigré writer Nabokov-Sirin, Babel said: "He can write but
has nothing to write about." (about Proust: "A great writer. Yet, boring...
Perhaps, he too was bored to describe all this?")
JM:
After Babel tumbled...
AS:
I meant Isaak Babel (1894-1940), the author Konarmia ("Red Cavalry"),
etc.