Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov
Encyclopedia
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov ( – February 21, 1984) was a Soviet
/Russia
n novelist and winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature
. An asteroid
in main-belt is named after him, 2448 Sholokhov
.
, in the "land of the Cossacks" - the Kruzhlinin hamlet, part of stanitsa
Veshenskaya
, in the former Administrative Region of the Don Cossack Army.
His father, Aleksander Mikhailovich (1865–1925), was a member of the lower middle class, at times a farmer, cattle trader, and miller. Sholokhov's mother, Anastasia Danilovna Chernikova (1871–1942), the widow of a Cossack, came from Ukrainian
peasant
stock (her father was a peasant in the Chernihiv oblast
). She did not become literate until a point in her life when she wanted to correspond with her son.
Sholokhov attended schools in Kargin, Moscow
, Boguchar
, and Veshenskaya until 1918, when he joined the bolsheviki side in the Russian civil war
at the age of 13. He spent the next few years fighting in the civil war.
Sholokhov began writing at 17. He completed his first literary work, the short story, The Birthmark http://www.sovlit.com/birthmark/, at 19.
In 1922 Sholokhov moved to Moscow to become a journalist, but he had to support himself through manual labour. He was a stevedore
, stonemason, and accountant
from 1922 to 1924, but he also intermittently participated in writers' "seminars". His first published work was a satirical article, The Test (Oct. 19, 1923).
In 1924 Sholokhov returned to Veshenskaya and devoted himself entirely to writing. In the same year he married Maria Petrovna Gromoslavskaia, the daughter of Pyotr Gromoslavsky, the ataman
of the Bukanovskaya stanitsa; they had two daughters and two sons.
His first book Tales from the Don, a volume of stories about his native region during World War I and the Russian Civil War, largely based on his personal experiences, was published in 1926. The story "Nakhalyonok", partially based on his own childhood, was later made into a popular film.
In the same year Sholokhov began writing And Quiet Flows the Don
which earned the Stalin Prize and took him fourteen years to complete (1926–1940). It became the most-read work of Soviet fiction and was heralded as a powerful example of socialist realism
, and it earned him the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature
. It deals with the experiences of the Cossacks before and during World War I
and the Russian Civil War
.
Virgin Soil Upturned, which earned the Lenin Prize
, took 28 years to complete. It was composed of two parts: Seeds of Tomorrow (1932) and Harvest on the Don (1960), and reflects life during collectivization in the Don area.
The short story The Fate of a Man (1957) was made into a popular Russian film.
His unfinished novel, They Fought for Their Country is about World War II fighting in the USSR (in Russia the Soviet-German war during World War II is commonly referred to as the Great Patriotic War).
In the 1930s he wrote several letters to Joseph Stalin
about the appalling conditions in the kolkhoz
es and sovkhoz
es along the Don, requesting assistance for the farmers.
During World War II
Sholokhov wrote about the Soviet war efforts for various journals. He also covered the devastation caused by Nazi troops along the Don. His mother was killed when Veshenskaya was bombed in 1942.
Sholokhov's collected works were published in eight volumes between 1956 and 1960.
, which made his international reputation. Sholokhov's detractors claimed that it was written by Fyodor Kryukov
, a Cossack
and Anti-Bolshevik, who died in 1920.
The claimed evidence was circumstantial: Sholokhov's age at the time of its composition and, in particular, the alleged gulf in quality between his masterpiece and his other works. However, an investigation in the late 1920s upheld Sholokhov's authorship of "Quiet Don" and the allegations were denounced as malicious slander.
The allegations resurfaced in the 1960s with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
as a notable proponent, possibly in retaliation for Sholokhov's scathing opinion of Solzhenitsin's novella One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
.
A 1984 monograph by Geir Kjetsaa
and others demonstrated through statistical analyses that Sholokhov was indeed the likely author of Don. And in 1987, several thousand pages of notes and drafts of the work were discovered and authenticated, including chapters excluded from the final draft.
During the Second World War, Sholokhov's archive was destroyed in a bomb raid, and only the fourth volume survived. Sholokhov had his friend Vassily Kudashov, who was killed in the war, look after it. Following Kudashov's death, his widow took possession of the manuscript, but she never disclosed the fact of owning it.
The manuscript was finally found by the Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences
in 1999 with assistance from the Russian Government.
An analysis of the novel has unambiguously proved Sholokhov's authorship. The writing paper dates back to the 1920s: 605 pages are in Sholokhov's own hand, and 285 are transcribed by his wife Maria and sisters.
on a trip to Europe and the United States. He became a member of the CPSU Central Committee in 1961, Academician
of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1939, and was a member of the USSR Supreme Soviet. He was twice awarded Hero of Socialist Labor
, and later became vice president of the Association of Soviet Writers.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
/Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n novelist and winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
. An asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
in main-belt is named after him, 2448 Sholokhov
2448 Sholokhov
2448 Sholokhov is a main-belt asteroid discovered on January 18, 1975 by L. Chernykh at Nauchnyj.- External links :*...
.
Life and work
Sholokhov was born in RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, in the "land of the Cossacks" - the Kruzhlinin hamlet, part of stanitsa
Stanitsa
Stanitsa is a village inside a Cossack host . Stanitsas were the primary unit of Cossack hosts.Historically, the stanitsa was a unit of economic and political organisation of the Cossack peoples primarily in the southern regions of the Russian Empire.Much of the land was held in common by the...
Veshenskaya
Veshenskaya
Veshenskaya, or Vyoshenskaya , colloquially known as Vyoshki, is a Cossack stanitsa in the northern, or upper, Don region, on the left bank of the Don. It is the administrative centre of the Sholokhovsky district...
, in the former Administrative Region of the Don Cossack Army.
His father, Aleksander Mikhailovich (1865–1925), was a member of the lower middle class, at times a farmer, cattle trader, and miller. Sholokhov's mother, Anastasia Danilovna Chernikova (1871–1942), the widow of a Cossack, came from Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
stock (her father was a peasant in the Chernihiv oblast
Chernihiv Oblast
Chernihiv Oblast is an oblast of northern Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Chernihiv.-Geography:The total area of the province is around 31,900 km²....
). She did not become literate until a point in her life when she wanted to correspond with her son.
Sholokhov attended schools in Kargin, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Boguchar
Boguchar
Boguchar is a town in Voronezh Oblast, Russia, located on the Boguchar River south of Voronezh. Population: Town status was granted to it in 1779....
, and Veshenskaya until 1918, when he joined the bolsheviki side in the Russian civil war
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
at the age of 13. He spent the next few years fighting in the civil war.
Sholokhov began writing at 17. He completed his first literary work, the short story, The Birthmark http://www.sovlit.com/birthmark/, at 19.
In 1922 Sholokhov moved to Moscow to become a journalist, but he had to support himself through manual labour. He was a stevedore
Stevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
, stonemason, and accountant
Accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accountancy or accounting , which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resources.The Big Four auditors are the largest...
from 1922 to 1924, but he also intermittently participated in writers' "seminars". His first published work was a satirical article, The Test (Oct. 19, 1923).
In 1924 Sholokhov returned to Veshenskaya and devoted himself entirely to writing. In the same year he married Maria Petrovna Gromoslavskaia, the daughter of Pyotr Gromoslavsky, the ataman
Ataman
Ataman was a commander title of the Ukrainian People's Army, Cossack, and haidamak leaders, who were in essence the Cossacks...
of the Bukanovskaya stanitsa; they had two daughters and two sons.
His first book Tales from the Don, a volume of stories about his native region during World War I and the Russian Civil War, largely based on his personal experiences, was published in 1926. The story "Nakhalyonok", partially based on his own childhood, was later made into a popular film.
In the same year Sholokhov began writing And Quiet Flows the Don
And Quiet Flows the Don
And Quiet Flows the Don or Quietly Flows the Don is the first part of the great Don epic Tikhiy Don , written by Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov. It originally appeared in serialized form between 1928 and 1940...
which earned the Stalin Prize and took him fourteen years to complete (1926–1940). It became the most-read work of Soviet fiction and was heralded as a powerful example of socialist realism
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
, and it earned him the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
. It deals with the experiences of the Cossacks before and during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
.
Virgin Soil Upturned, which earned the Lenin Prize
Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
, took 28 years to complete. It was composed of two parts: Seeds of Tomorrow (1932) and Harvest on the Don (1960), and reflects life during collectivization in the Don area.
The short story The Fate of a Man (1957) was made into a popular Russian film.
His unfinished novel, They Fought for Their Country is about World War II fighting in the USSR (in Russia the Soviet-German war during World War II is commonly referred to as the Great Patriotic War).
In the 1930s he wrote several letters to Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
about the appalling conditions in the kolkhoz
Kolkhoz
A kolkhoz , plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms . The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство, or "collective farm", while sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство...
es and sovkhoz
Sovkhoz
A sovkhoz , typically translated as state farm, is a state-owned farm. The term originated in the Soviet Union, hence the name. The term is still in use in some post-Soviet states, e.g., Russia and Belarus. It is usually contrasted with kolkhoz, which is a collective-owned farm...
es along the Don, requesting assistance for the farmers.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Sholokhov wrote about the Soviet war efforts for various journals. He also covered the devastation caused by Nazi troops along the Don. His mother was killed when Veshenskaya was bombed in 1942.
Sholokhov's collected works were published in eight volumes between 1956 and 1960.
Accusations of plagiarism
Sholokhov was accused of plagiarizing And Quiet Flows the DonAnd Quiet Flows the Don
And Quiet Flows the Don or Quietly Flows the Don is the first part of the great Don epic Tikhiy Don , written by Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov. It originally appeared in serialized form between 1928 and 1940...
, which made his international reputation. Sholokhov's detractors claimed that it was written by Fyodor Kryukov
Fyodor Kryukov
Fyodor Dmitrievich Kryukov February 1870 — 4 March 1920) was a Cossack writer and soldier in the White Army, died in 1920 of Typhoid fever. Various literary critics, most notably Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Roy Medvedev, claimed that Mikhail Sholokov plagiarised his work in order to write major...
, a Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
and Anti-Bolshevik, who died in 1920.
The claimed evidence was circumstantial: Sholokhov's age at the time of its composition and, in particular, the alleged gulf in quality between his masterpiece and his other works. However, an investigation in the late 1920s upheld Sholokhov's authorship of "Quiet Don" and the allegations were denounced as malicious slander.
The allegations resurfaced in the 1960s with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
as a notable proponent, possibly in retaliation for Sholokhov's scathing opinion of Solzhenitsin's novella One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a novel written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, first published in November 1962 in the Soviet literary magazine Novy Mir . The story is set in a Soviet labor camp in the 1950s, and describes a single day of an ordinary prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov...
.
A 1984 monograph by Geir Kjetsaa
Geir Kjetsaa
Geir Kjetsaa was a Norwegian professor in Russian literary history at the University of Oslo, translator of Russian literature, and author of several biographies of classical Russian writers....
and others demonstrated through statistical analyses that Sholokhov was indeed the likely author of Don. And in 1987, several thousand pages of notes and drafts of the work were discovered and authenticated, including chapters excluded from the final draft.
During the Second World War, Sholokhov's archive was destroyed in a bomb raid, and only the fourth volume survived. Sholokhov had his friend Vassily Kudashov, who was killed in the war, look after it. Following Kudashov's death, his widow took possession of the manuscript, but she never disclosed the fact of owning it.
The manuscript was finally found by the Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
in 1999 with assistance from the Russian Government.
An analysis of the novel has unambiguously proved Sholokhov's authorship. The writing paper dates back to the 1920s: 605 pages are in Sholokhov's own hand, and 285 are transcribed by his wife Maria and sisters.
Communist party and Soviet state activities
Sholokhov joined the CPSU in 1932, and in 1937 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. In 1959 he accompanied Soviet Premier Nikita KhrushchevNikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
on a trip to Europe and the United States. He became a member of the CPSU Central Committee in 1961, Academician
Academician
The title Academician denotes a Full Member of an art, literary, or scientific academy.In many countries, it is an honorary title. There also exists a lower-rank title, variously translated Corresponding Member or Associate Member, .-Eastern Europe and China:"Academician" may also be a functional...
of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1939, and was a member of the USSR Supreme Soviet. He was twice awarded Hero of Socialist Labor
Hero of Socialist Labor
Hero of Socialist Labour was an honorary title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. It was the highest degree of distinction for exceptional achievements in national economy and culture...
, and later became vice president of the Association of Soviet Writers.
Selected writings
- Donskie Rasskazy, 1925 - Tales of the Don.
- Lazorevaja Step, 1926.
- Tikhii Don, 4 vol., 1928-1940 (The Quiet Don) - And Quiet Flows the DonAnd Quiet Flows the DonAnd Quiet Flows the Don or Quietly Flows the Don is the first part of the great Don epic Tikhiy Don , written by Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov. It originally appeared in serialized form between 1928 and 1940...
(1934); The Don Flows Home to the SeaThe Don Flows Home to the SeaThe Don Flows Home to the Sea is the second in the series of the great Don epic written by Mikhail Sholokhov. It originally appeared in serialized form between 1928 and 1940...
(1940); Quiet Flows the Don (1966). Sergei Gerasimov, an starring P. Glebov, L. Khityaeva, Z. Kirienko and E. Bystrltskaya was produced in 1957-1958. - Podnyataya Tselina, 1932-1960 - Virgin Soil Upturned (1935); Harvest on the Don (1960).
- Oni Srazhalis Za Rodinu, 1942 - They Fought for Their Country.
- Nauka Nenavisti, 1942 - Hate / The Science of Hatred.
- Slovo O Rodine, 1951.
- Sudba Cheloveka, 1956-1957 - The Fate of a Man. A film version directed by Sergei BondarchukSergei BondarchukSergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and actor.- Biography :Born in Belozerka, in the Kherson Governorate, Sergei Bondarchuk spent his childhood in the cities of Yeysk and Taganrog, graduating from the Taganrog School Number 4 in 1938. His first performance as an...
and starring Sergei BondarchukSergei BondarchukSergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and actor.- Biography :Born in Belozerka, in the Kherson Governorate, Sergei Bondarchuk spent his childhood in the cities of Yeysk and Taganrog, graduating from the Taganrog School Number 4 in 1938. His first performance as an...
, Pavlik Boriskin, Zinaida Kirienko, Pavel Volkov, Yuri Avelin, and K. Alekseev was produced in 1959. - Sobranie Sochinenii, 1956-1958 - collected works (8 vols.)
- Oni Srazhalis Za Rodinu, 1959 - They Fought for their Country
- Sobranie Sochinenii, 1962 - collected works (8 vols.)
- Early Stories, 1966
- One Man's Destiny, and Other Stories, Articles, and Sketches, 1923–1963, 1967
- Fierce and Gentle Warriors, 1967
- Po Veleniju Duši, 1970 - At the Bidding of the Heart
- Sobranie Sochinenii, 1975 (8 vols.)
- Rossiya V Serdtse, 1975
- SLOVO O RODINE, 1980
- Collected Works, 1984 (8 vols.)
- Sobranie Sochinenii, 1985 (collected works) (8 vols.)
- Sholokhov I Stalin, 1994
External links
- nobel-winners.com's article on Michail Sholokhov
- The State Sholokhov Reserve-Museum
- 100 years of Sholokhov, from SovLit.
- On-line Sholokhov texts (Russian)
- Politicians Praise Soviet-Era Writer Mikhail Sholokhov’s Contribution to World Literature
- Sholokhov Moscow State University for HumanitiesSholokhov Moscow State University for HumanitiesSholokhov Moscow State University for Humanities or Moscow State University for Humanities named after M.A. Sholokhov was founded in 1951 as Moscow Pedagogical Institute for Correspondence Studies...
- Stremya Tihogo Dona: Solzhenitsyn's accusations of plagiarism
- An interview with Bar-Sela
- And Quiet Does not Flow the Don: Statistical Analysis of a Quarrel between Nobel Laureates (PDF) Sholokhov: biography, photos, prose, critical essays