Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov

Infobox Writer
name = Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov
awards = awd|Nobel Prize in Literature|1965


caption = Sholokhov, 1938
birthdate = birth date|1905|5|24|mf=y
birthplace = Veshenskaya, Russian Empire
deathdate = death date and age|1984|2|21|1905|5|24|mf=y
deathplace =
occupation = Novelist
nationality = Soviet

Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov (Russian: Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Шо́лохов, pronounced|mʲɪxɐˈil əlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈʂoləxəf) (OldStyleDate|May 24|1905|May 11) – February 21, 1984) was a Soviet/Russian novelist and winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Life and work

Sholokhov was born in the Rostov-on-Don region of Russia, 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 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 revolutionary side in the Russian civil war at the tender age of 13. He spent the next few years chasing bandits and outlaws.

Sholokhov began writing at 17. His completed 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, "A Test" (1922).

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 One 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 World War II is commonly referred to as the Great Patriotic War).

In the 1930s he wrote several letters to Stalin about the appalling conditions in the kolkhozes and sovkhozes along the Don, requesting assistance for the farmers. [ [http://next.feb-web.ru/feb/sholokh/texts/piv/piv-0221.htm1?cmd=1 ФЭБ: Переписка.—1997 (описание) ] ]

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.

Controversy

Sholokhov was accused, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn among others, of plagiarizing "And Quiet Flows the Don". The evidence was largely circumstantial: Sholokhov's age at the time of its composition and, in particular, the gulf in quality between his masterpiece and his other works. To complicate matters, Sholokhov could produce no rough drafts of "Don", claiming that they had been destroyed by the Germans during World War II. 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.

Party and state activities

Sholokhov joined the CPSU in 1932, and in 1937 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet. In 1959 he accompanied Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev 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.

elected writings

* Donskie Rasskazy, 1925 - "Tales of the Don"
* Lazurevaja Step, 1926
* Tikhii Don, 4 vol., 1928-1940 ("The Silent Don") - "And Quiet Flows the Don", 1934 - "The Don Flows Home to the Sea", 1940 - best English translation apperared under the tile of "Quiet Flows the Don" in 1966 - film 1957-1958, dir. Sergei Gerasimov, starring P. Glebov, L. Khityaeva, Z. Kirienko and E. Bystrltskaya
* 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" - film 1959, dir. by Sergei Bondarchuk, starring Sergei Bondarchuk, Pavlik Boriskin, Zinaida Kirienko, Pavel Volkov, Yuri Avelin, K. Alekseev
* 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

References

External links

* [http://www.nobel-winners.com/Literature/sholokhov_mikhail.html nobel-winners.com's article on Michail Sholokhov]
* [http://www.sholokhov.org/htdocs/localized/eng/h_index.html The State Sholokhov Reserve-Museum]
* [http://www.sovlit.com/sholokhov100/ 100 years of Sholokhov, from SovLit.]
*
* [http://lib.ru./PROZA/SHOLOHOW/ On-line Sholokhov texts] (Russian)
* [http://itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=2081916&PageNum=0 Politicians Praise Soviet-Era Writer Mikhail Sholokhov’s Contribution to World Literature]
* Sholokhov Moscow State University for Humanities
* [http://newchrono.ru/frame1/Literature/QuietDon/stremya.htm Stremya Tihogo Dona: Solzhenitsyn's accusations of plagiarism] ru icon
* [http://2003.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2003/44n/n44n-s26.shtml An interview with Bar-Sela] ru icon
* [http://www.cas.uio.no/Publications/Seminar/Consilience_LidHjort.pdf And Quiet Does not Flow the Don: Statistical Analysis of a Quarrel between Nobel Laureates] (PDF)
* [http://noblit.ru/content/category/4/83/33/ Sholokhov: biography, photos, prose, critical essays]
*