Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov

Years of life: May 24, 1905. - February 2, 1984

Russian writer Mikhail Sholokhov was born on the farm Kruzhilin Veshenskaya Cossack village in the Rostov region in southern Russia. In his works, writer, immortalized the river Don and the Cossacks, who lived here and defended the interests of the king in pre-revolutionary Russia and opposed the Bolsheviks during the Civil War.

. His father, . native of the province of Ryazan, . sow corn on rented land Cossack, . a clerk, . Managing the steam mill, . and mother, . Ukrainian, . widow of Don Cossack, . Endowed by nature with a lively mind, . learned to read and write, . to correspond with his son, . when he went to study in Voronezh.,

. Study III
. interrupted revolution, 1917. and the Civil War. After finishing four years of high school, he was in 1918. joined the Red Army - and this despite the fact that many of the Don Cossacks joined the White Army, which fought against the Bolsheviks. The future writer, first served in the unit logistics, and then became a machine gunner and was involved in bloody battles on the Don. From the early days of the revolution W. supported the Bolsheviks stood for the Soviet power.

In 1932, Mr.. He joined the Communist Party in 1937. was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and two years later - a full member of the Academy of Sciences.

In 1956, Mr.. SH. spoke at the XX Congress of the CPSU, and in 1959. accompanied the Soviet leader, NS. Khrushchev in his travels through Europe and the U.S.. In 1961. SH. become a member of the CPSU Central Committee.

In 1922, when the Bolsheviks finally seized power in their hands, W. arrived in Moskvu.Zdes he participated in the literary group 'Young Guard', worked as a loader, a laborer, clerk. In 1923, Mr.. newspaper 'Junior truth' were printed his first satires, and in 1924, in the same newspaper - the first story 'Birthmark'.
In the summer of 1924. SH. returned in Veshenskaia, where he lived, almost without a break, lifelong. In 1925, Mr.. Moscow came a collection of satirical articles and short stories writer on the Civil War under the title 'Don stories'. In 'History of Soviet literature, "wrote critic Vera Alexandrova, . that the stories of this collection is impressive 'lush descriptions of nature, . rich speech characteristics of characters, . living dialogue ', . Noting, . however, . that 'even in these early works feel, . that 'talent Sholokhov's epic' does not fit into the narrow confines of the story '.,

. From 1926 to 1940
. SH. working on 'quiet Don' novel, the writer who brought the world fame. 'Quiet Flows the Don' was printed in the Soviet Union in parts: the first and the second volume came out in 1928 ... 1929., Third - in 1932 ... 1933. And the fourth - in 1937 ... 1940. In the West, the first two volumes appeared in 1934, and the next two - in 1940

Chief, the most famous novel W. 'Quiet Flows the Don' is an epic narrative about the first world war, revolution, civil war, the attitude to these events Cossacks. One of the main characters of the novel Gregory Melekhov - spitfire, . independently minded Cossack, . bravely fought against the Germans in the First World War, . then, . after the overthrow of the autocracy, . have to decide, . - First fighting on the side of the white, . then - on the side of the red and eventually turns in the unit 'green',
. After several years of war, Gregory, like millions of Russian people, was spiritually devastated. Duality Melekhova, his inconsistency, emotional hesitations make it one of the most famous tragic heroes of Soviet literature.
Initially, Soviet critics reacted to the novel rather reserved. The first volume of 'Quiet Flows the Don' complaints led to, . that it describes the events of pre-revolutionary life with 'alien', . then expressed as, . position, the second that did not suit the official critics, . because different, . they believe, . anti-Bolshevik orientation,
. In a letter to W. Stalin wrote that he disagreed with the interpretation of the novel patterns of two Communists. However, despite all these criticisms, a number of famous figures of Soviet culture, in t. h. and Gorky, the founder of socialist realism, warmly supported the young writer, they facilitated the completion of the epic.

In 30-ies. SH. interrupted work on the 'quiet Don' and wrote a novel about resistance to forced collectivization of Russian peasants, held in accordance with the first Five-Year Plan (1928 ... 1933). Entitled 'Virgin Soil Upturned', this novel, like 'Quiet Flows the Don', began to appear in parts of periodicals, when the first volume has not yet been completed. Like the 'Pacific Don', 'Virgin Soil Upturned "was met with official hostility to criticism, but members of the Party Central Committee felt that the novel provides an objective assessment of collectivization, and they facilitated the publication of the novel (1932). At 40 ... 50-ies. author has subjected the first volume of substantial revision, and in 1960. completed work on the second volume.

During the Second World War Z. - A war correspondent for Pravda, the author of articles and stories about the heroism of the Soviet people, after the Battle of Stalingrad writer begins work on a third novel - a trilogy 'They Fought for Their Country'. The first chapters of the novel saw the light in the pages of 'truth' as early as 1943 ... 1944. And in 1949 and 1954. But separate edition of the first volume of the trilogy comes out only in 1958. The trilogy has remained unfinished - in the postwar years, the writer much recycles 'Quiet Flows the Don', softens its juicy tongue, trying to 'whitewash' carriers communist ideas.
The fiftieth anniversary of W. celebrated throughout the country, the writer received the Order of Lenin - the first of three. In 50-ies. begins the publication of periodicals in the second and final volume of 'Virgin Soil Upturned', but the novel appeared in book form only in 1960, about what has been suggested, though the idea of a writer at odds with the course of the Communist Party. Author nevertheless denied that he ever was guided in his art censorship. Since the late 50-ies. SH. wrote very little.

In 1965, Mr.. W: won the Nobel Prize for Literature 'for the artistic power and integrity of the epic of the Don Cossacks at a fragile time for Russia'. In his speech during the awarding ceremony Z. said that his aim was 'to extol the nation of workers, builders and heroes'.

In the 70-ies. Solzhenitsyn condemned members of the party (in t. h. and C.) for criticism of the socialist system, has accused W. of plagiarism, attribution of works of other Cossack writer Fyodor Kryukov, who died in 1920,. Thus, Solzhenitsyn gave a course of charges took place in 20-ies. and widely distributed in the 70-ies. To date, however, such claims remain unsubstantiated.
W. married in 1924, he had four children, the writer died in Veshenskaia in 1984. the age of 78.

Works W. remains popular with readers. Reworked the 'Quiet Flows the Don', he earned the approval of official Soviet critics, but that the Western experts, they believe the original version of the novel more successful. Thus, the American critic, born in Russia, Marc Slonim compares' Quiet Flows the Don 'with the epic of Tolstoy's War and Peace', acknowledging, however, that the book W. 'inferior brilliant creation of his great predecessor'. 'Sh, . following in the footsteps of his teacher, . combines biography with history, . battle scenes - with household, . mass movement of individual psychology, . - Wrote Slonim, . - It shows, . as social disasters affect the fate of people, . a political struggle leading to happiness or ruin '.,

. According to the American scholar Ernest Simmons, the original version of 'Quiet Flows the Don' - this is not a political treatise
. 'This novel is not about politics, though saturated politics - wrote Simmons - and about love. 'Quiet Flows the Don' - this is a great and yet touching story of love, perhaps, the only real love affair in the Soviet literature '. Noting that the processed version of the novel the characters' reaction to the events of 1917 ... 1922. in the spirit of the Communists 50-x ', Simmons expressed the view that the' bias of the final novel is in conflict with his artistic integrity. "

. Slonim argued that 'Virgin Soil Upturned' underdog 'Quiet Flows the Don', 'not ideological work ..
. this vividly written, the manner of a traditional novel, in which no element of edification '. Simmons disagreed, calling the 'Virgin Soil Upturned' 'artful Soviet propaganda, carefully disguised in an artistic narrative'. Pointing to the role of W. as a propagandist and apologist for socialism, American literary critic Edward Brown, like other contemporary critics, pays tribute to the extraordinary skill of W. - Novelist, author of "Quiet Flows the Don 'in its original form. At the same time, Brown shares the widespread view according to which W. 'can not be classified among the greatest writers, because he wrote too little and a few of them written in high levels'.