Jul 03, 2007 12:10 PM
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(Updated Jul 04, 2007 02:00 PM)
MIKHAIL SHOLOKOV A NOBEL LAUREATE WHO JUST WROTE CHIEFLY ONE BOOK AND ITS SEQUEL IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE, yet was accused of stealing to plagiarising by many of his colleagues but was redeemed in eternity by the nobel prize which recognised his stature as a great origonal writer, despite him being a communist /socialist politically, which also somewhat redeeemed the nobel academy of its patronising qualities which have now become too obvious to be not questioned .
this is the entire truth about this legendary writer who stands taller then other greats like tolstoy or doestovsky in a land which is responsible for giving the globe its finest novels by any standards whether its DR ZHIVAGO BY BORIS paternak OR FIRST CIRCLE BY SOLZHENITSYN or lolita by nabokov
But the book here is an exception even among these great works as it combines human emotion stylistally with realistic interpretation of a time when the reds[communists ] and whites[bolsheviks ] are struggling in the great land of ukraine for ultimate political power or freedom as they perceive in their minds but the book doesnt make any heroes or villains of any of its memorable but ordinary human characters as they suffer and enjoy their ordinary lives in war and peace, as they are born and as they die like the rest of us mundane creatures
this aspect of its narrative was the most remarkable part of its influence on me and the world literature as before this you had to have larger than life characters to celebrate a great book
the book in two volumes was written from 1922 to 1940 and finally won the nobel in 1965, its described as a piece of socialist realism and is easily comparable if not better than dr zhivago and nabokovs memory as companion pieces on russian revolution.
the author describes the rural cossack community in southern russia and its struggle to survive and choose to stay with the winning side in a civil war which splits villages and families in a vain attempt to be on the triumphant side, which makes the proud cossacks untenable to both the whites and reds, who themselves have no feet to stand on initially but as the stuggle continues you go throgh a full spectra of emotional and psychological struggle as well as the physical horror of war as never described before .
at the heart of the book is the main family headed by gregor, a peasant who goes from being bolshevik to a plain bandit and finally returns to a society where he must face death at the hands of the communists or make the choice of living a nomad existence away from his family forever
the cossacks settled the don area in sixteenth century and rostov is the main city at the heart of this rural literary masterpiece, where the crops and marshes and lowlands of don frame the foreground and background for this epic extending from first world war to the civil war between bolsheviks and the reds, in fact it took stalin ages to sudue the don area and the reasons are subtly described in this classic .
the main character gregor cant redeem himself or save his family or defeat his enemies, the characters surrounding him are just as impervious and impeachable as himself and the final question they ask is the same as humanity has asked since eternity
* what to do?
and its relevant as ever and just as difficult to answer or decide, my dilemma is that we will never know if we did the right or wrong as its out of our hands and thats why I adore the book as it reflects on my personal thoughts and ideas about war, life and humanity .
but finally its mother nature that wins leaving humanity and its petty struggles looking rather squeamish and the fortitude to read the poetic descriptions of the nature and land as seen through the eyes of the peasants and the characters is well rewarded with some poetic prose which is unequalled in literature .
as for the theme of war it is described in naked horror, stripping the napoleonic romanticism and the southern idealism of war as described in war and peace and gone with the wind away and revealing war for what it really ia as a monstrosity and rightly showing as women and children to be the real victims rather then the men who fight over the land itself which is finally conquered by mother nature itself, rather than a political whimsical dictator who perishes in time himself with his victims leaving nature to mock humanity in all its glory.
the book was translated from tikhil don [SILENT DON ]to two volumes as QUIET FLOWS THE DON AND THE DON FLOWS HOME TO TO THE SEA in english in 1940 and then 1966 again, it was written from personal observation by sholokov and is immaculate in descrptions of battles and flora and fauna, humanity and nature, both interacting in ambiguitiy and yet in the most imperative way nihilistic to each other, its translators must have had a lot of courage to take this on as its a devious enterprise to translate but they have both done a commendable job
i call it the silent don as the river is the centrepiece yet it doesnt intervene or take sides in anyway as the two parties commit one atrocity after another on each other, the don remains silent and just watches and flows as eternal and silent as time flows itself, making humanity look like the most insignificant thing to happen to this planet, which probably it is but then who knows the answer to that question .
the author is himself of peasant stock and fought as a red soldier which gives him the authenticity to write the book from his personal experiences but its his impartiality to the two sides which makes the book being labelled as the book of books by many critics, his impunity to the civil war and the two sides is unquestionable yet his plot and the multiple characters and their falling apart and switching sides is bleakly but bizarrely entertaining .
the book is a long read as is war and peace but its a must read as its not about the cossacks and reds but finally about humanity and will give you some insight into yourself as well as make you ask a lot of questions, whether the book can answer those questions is for you to find as I can only recommend it, as for the choice to read it, the decision has to be made by an individual himself just as the question which the book asks in the end itself
what to do?
the book and author were accused of plagiarism, even by solzhenitsyn but it has never been documented, mainly because sholokov chiefly wrote the don chronicle only, but isnt it enough to just achieve a single feat in one lifetime then a 100 mediocricies, so much for brilliance as it always brings more foes to your door then friends .
as for how the west was influenced to decorate a communist with its highest award the answer lies in the pages of the great book itself
the answer is also for you to read and discover
