And quiet flows the Don (Four square book) [Hardcover]

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1960 | Series: Four square book

The first episode in Mikhail Sholokhov's portrayal of life in a Cossack village, 1910-20. In it he juxtaposes the character of Gregor, a proud and rebellious peasant farmer, against that of Misha, an obedient Party man. The author won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1965.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Various modern Russian novelists have been hailed as successors to Tolstoy, Dostolevsky, and Turgenieff, but in the opinion of this reader here is the first one who merits the distinction, and who at the same time is modern, original and universal enough in appeal to catch the imagination of the American reading public. This is a great book. Not a book for instant success - not a flash in the pan - but a book that will repay your personal attention, and that is certain to find a growing market. Here for the first time, one seems to come to grips with the Cossack of peace and war, of revolution and civil strife, half-barbarian, half-civilized. It is a story that comes from within, that has that note of authority, of authenticity. A book to sell to the public that read avidly Sergeant Grisha and The Peasants. The publishers are planning strong backing. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 349 pages
• Publisher: Love & Malcomson (1960)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0007JWBZG
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most powerful novel I have ever read., April 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: And Quiet Flows the Don (Paperback)

I read Sholokhov's 'And Quiet Flows the Don', Pasternak's 'Doctor Zhivago', Tolstoi's 'War and Peace', and Solzhenitsyn's 'First Circle' in the early 1970s.

The others were indeed memorable, but 'the Don' is burned into my mind's eye.

It paints a searing portrait of a vast, unforgiving steppe--then tears across it on horseback, leaving great waves of ethnic, political and personal upheaval in its wake.

I still smell the wheatfields in the wind and taste the black dust on my lips from the opening chapter.

I see villagers storm the home of one of their own and destroy his outlander wife for her foreignness.

I see an unhorsed cavalryman struggling to remove his bright blue Cossack breeches before capture in one of the Great War's opening battles with Austria, only to be plucked from danger at the last moment by the young Cossack who had stolen his wife before the war.

I hear the stolen woman, now become a fiery mistress, sobbing her heart out when the man whose child she bore leaves her at last for his own wife.

And after the firing squad's last volley in the closing chapter, I see a proud, condemned Cossack biting fiercely into his own shoulder, to make no sound as his blood pours out and stains the black steppe red.

In a quarter of a century, I still have not read a more powerful novel.

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars War and Peace's Soviet Counterpart, June 6, 2000

By 

Shirley Li (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: And Quiet Flows The Don (A Vintage Giant, V-330) (Paperback)

Hailed as the best war novel to emerge from the Soviet, Sholokhov's epic has indeed solidified its position in world literature as a must read for those interested in the art of war. Yet, far more than a mere war novel, And Quiet Flows the Don, just as War and Peace had done, masterfully combines the men's martial vigor with the delicate sentimentalities that question war. The blend of peace fades into this gnawing passion in soldiers' bones as they march off to fight under some cause, a cause that has only become too hazy for name. Dedicated to the Cossacks who have resided by the Don for ages, Sholokhov follows a young Cossack's journey into the unknown terror of war. And Gregor Melekov's personal tragedy, blends w/ an array of Cossack characters: swindlers in love, Red Guards with a faith...the plot may appear too scattered at times, yet following Tolstoy's grand tradition to capture a supreme idea through the chasms of minute details, Sholokhov depicts the anguish of a people too wrapped up in honor, unable to cope with the nascent order of New Russia, regretful about allegiance to the Czar who ensured tensile peace, and ultimately lost to themselves as to "mistake each other for the enemies". We are taught that war does such to people, is peace to heal the wound then? I have yet to conclude this epic w/ The Don Flows Home to the Sea, but the glimpse of peace and yearning for tranquility have long glittered in the eyes of Gregor and his brothers/comrades, exhausted by struggles. A wonderful folk style book that brings one closer to the true picture of Cossack life--acquaint one w/ their lust, their yearning, their cowardice, and their courage.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A modern masterpiece, December 18, 2003

By 

Robert Wynkoop (Washington State) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: And Quiet Flows the Don (v. 1) (Paperback)

I first read this magnificent epic in 1970 and have reread it at least three times since. Sholokhov captures the breath and sweep of the steppes of Russia as he draws the reader into maelstrom of the First World War, the Russian Revolution and Civil War. It is a time and a land that was caught between the modern industrialized West and the near medieval Russia- Cossack Calvary charging German machine guns, the slash of sabers, and the incongruity of machine guns mounted on ox carts.

But more than a story of war, this is a story of people. Sholokhov creates for us characters who we deeply care about. The doomed love affair between the protagonist Gregor and Aksinia is both filled with passion and heartache. We even come to care about Akisina husband, the brutal Stephen, We see them caught up in catastrophic events far beyond their control. Although often cited and an apologist for Stalin, I wondered as I read it why it was published in Soviet Union. Our hero Gregor is first swept up on one side of this conflict to the other- clearly he is not a dedicated revolutionary, but just a man trying to survive in a conflict he cannot comprehend. It is a story of survival, love, and revenge. Since my last reading of this novel probably fifteen years ago, I can still vividly picture in my mind the word images that Sholokhov crafted with his pen. Images as simple as the flies settling on the ceiling of the peasants hut, to Stephen brutally stomping his wife Aksinia. His description of the First World War is brutal, perhaps surpassing Remarques All is Quiet on the Western Front.

Russians write great novels and this is one of the best. If you are unfamiliar with Russian literature you would do well to read Quiet Flows the Don as your first Russian novel.