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27th out of 283 books
—
1,015 voters
Quiet Flows the Don (De stille Don #1-2)
Quiet Flows the Don is a panoramic view of ten years of Cossack life in the Don region of Russia. Set in the turbulent years of the First World War, the Revolution and the Civil War, it deals unblinkingly with the main questions confronting the War's Communist regime: how much ruthlessness can be practised in order to establish Soviet power? The Bolsheviks' harsh repressio...more
Paperback, 1362 pages
Published
1996
by Dent
(first published 1929)
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This is a really strange book - it is in four parts. The first two are brilliant hardyesque descriptions of peasant life in peace and war. Part three sees the novel's structure collapse as the Russian Revolution takes hold. Sholokov was clearly obliged to incorporate much Marxist theory and the tone becomes quite abstract. The final part sees a return to the countryside, and an inconclusive finish.
The only consistent progression in this novel is the role and treatment of women. In the opening c...more
The only consistent progression in this novel is the role and treatment of women. In the opening c...more
Fabulous reading...
... and now for a rather, methinks, irreverent view via a Rupert Everett (smack in the puss) film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384712/
Mea Culpa: see that line above re the film. NOPE! The film is more than my 'ickle heart could have imagined. Superb!
If anyone should ask me what is the best ever book it would have to be this.
A winter re-read is now top of the agenda.
... and now for a rather, methinks, irreverent view via a Rupert Everett (smack in the puss) film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384712/
Mea Culpa: see that line above re the film. NOPE! The film is more than my 'ickle heart could have imagined. Superb!
If anyone should ask me what is the best ever book it would have to be this.
A winter re-read is now top of the agenda.
7 likes · like · see review
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The first novel of Sholokhov’s epic ‘Don’ series packs quite a punch. Mixing everyday Cossack life with historic events of early 20th century Russia, it mainly shows us how grandiose events can never eclipse the human condition (as a whole) or the individual emotions we all feel when beset by the vicissitudes of life. In effect, it makes history subordinate to human impulse as opposed to its catalyst.
Part I (Peace) is a glimpse of family and farm life in the Don River region; beautiful, simple y...more
Part I (Peace) is a glimpse of family and farm life in the Don River region; beautiful, simple y...more
1 like · like · see review
The most impressive novel that I have read. it is a masterpiece.
I found a translation by Robert Daglish which was revised and edited by Brian Murphy. This edition was published by Carroll & Graf in 1996. The ISBN is: 0786703601. J. M. Dent published it in the UK.
I've been wanting to read this since high school, when my father would occasionally refer to a great book he'd read years before. At that time, the English translation of the title was AND QUIET FLOWS THE DON. He said it was about a Russian soldier driven to the point of exhaustion. He added that...more
I've been wanting to read this since high school, when my father would occasionally refer to a great book he'd read years before. At that time, the English translation of the title was AND QUIET FLOWS THE DON. He said it was about a Russian soldier driven to the point of exhaustion. He added that...more
2 likes · like · see review
In Russian, the most beautifully written and original prose I've ever read, by a mile. The language is simply stunning and makes even inanimate objects appear as alive as most human characters in average novels. It would be a monumental task to translate it into other languages, I suspect..
Aside from the language, it's an epic read about a very interesting people in a crucial time in Russian history -- Cossacks during the Russian Revolution. It depicts the life of ordinary but fierce and colorfu...more
Aside from the language, it's an epic read about a very interesting people in a crucial time in Russian history -- Cossacks during the Russian Revolution. It depicts the life of ordinary but fierce and colorfu...more
A great Russian epic novel about the lives of ordinary people in the time of turmoil, a story about peace, war, life and death!
An absolute masterpiece written in a superb language!
A Nobel Prize well deserved!
An absolute masterpiece written in a superb language!
A Nobel Prize well deserved!
I found this book--literally--about 30 years ago while I was a freshman in college. I was wandering around the stacks of the library at Texas A&M University and found the two-book series, And Quiet Flows the Don and the Don Flows Home to the Sea. I was looking for a good book and I was looking for a better program of study (engineering wasn't my thing). I hadn't heard of Mikhail Sholokov and still don't know very many who have. Despite a fairly heavy load in school I dove in and began readin...more
«دن آرام» از آثار جاویدانه ادبیات جهان بشمار میرود که به شیوه رئالیزم اجتماعی به نگارش درآمده و رویدادهای یک دوره بسیار با اهمیت تاریخ مردم روسیه را به بهترین طرز و عالیترین بیان بازتاب میدهد.میخائیل شولوخف (1905-1984) رماننویس بزرگ روس در منطقه علیای رود دن چشم به جهان گشود و تقریباً تمام عمرش را نیز در همان منطقه گذراند. بسیاری از شخصیتها و رخدادهای رمان «دن آرام» زاییده خلاقیت و اطلاعات دست اول نویسنده است. دن آرام (که نوشتنش از 1928 تا 1940-12 سال- به درازا کشید) بزرگترین اثر شولوخوف اس...more
Written in 1934, this novel earned Sholohov a Nobel Prize. It chronicles the cataclysmic Russian Revolution era beginning with 1910 using large brush strokes, but with also minute detail of Cossack’s love of the land, the river, crops, fighting, vodka and lust. The first of three volumes this one ends after the civil war when the Cossacks are still aligned with the White Russians. The head of the family at the center of the book, Prokoffievich, was the product of a Cossack and a woman brought ho...more
Aug 27, 2009
Pasug
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
all humanity
Recommended to Pasug by:
raduga publishers
Monday, December 29, 2008
EPIC Love's with Remarriage = Aksinya, Natalya & Natasha, Scarlett O' Hara & Kate Winslet as Rose
I Love Heroines - who are worth their Salt.
Aksinya - the wife of military man Alxandrovich who beats her.
She dislikes him, runs away with Gregory Nicholoyevich...
- another Russian Army man & son of Russian Cossack Farmer at Vyasheskaya
- the Protoganist of Quiet Flows the Don - Michael Sholokov's Nobel Prize winning Novel.
I clearly remember the day I bought all vol...more
EPIC Love's with Remarriage = Aksinya, Natalya & Natasha, Scarlett O' Hara & Kate Winslet as Rose
I Love Heroines - who are worth their Salt.
Aksinya - the wife of military man Alxandrovich who beats her.
She dislikes him, runs away with Gregory Nicholoyevich...
- another Russian Army man & son of Russian Cossack Farmer at Vyasheskaya
- the Protoganist of Quiet Flows the Don - Michael Sholokov's Nobel Prize winning Novel.
I clearly remember the day I bought all vol...more
Sholokhov's "Quiet Flows The Don" is an absolutely masterful portrayal of a Don Cossack peasant in Russia just prior to and during World War One and the subsequent Russian Revolution. A tour de force narrative of the life of a Russian peasant when that life was suddenly catapulted from medieval fuedalism to 20th century communism/totalitarianism. Epic story telling on a par with Tolstoy, this is a seminal work of Soviet fiction. Sholokhov won the Nobel prize for literature in 1965. I first read...more
An epic, earthy account of the Don Cossacks around the turbulent times of WW1 seen through the eyes of the inhabitants of a single village on the banks of the upper Don. The first part describes the pre-war setting in the village with very evocative descriptions of the landscape and people. Once war breaks out the focus expands to the greater theatre of Europe and then the Bolshevik civil war. Throughout, the initial characters give context to the military and political turmoil.
I found this one...more
I found this one...more
I was surprised by how good this book was. Considering what I've heard about socialist realism, I was expecting something like Ayn Rand, where the "story" is only an excuse to get different characters in the same room so they can spew didactic speeches at each other. What I got instead was a very sensitive and often beautiful novel about a place and its people that occasionally dipped into required propaganda. Think of it as a Soviet Aeneid: yes, it has a clear propaganda purpose, but the author...more
The story of a Cossack family torn apart by the Russian Civil War is to my mind one of greatest literary achievements of its kind. Epic in scale, beautifully written, with vivid backdrops and supreme characterization. The various conflicts, in the hearts and minds of the characters as much as on the battlefield, depicted in the novel show how grand events can rip the lives of everyday people apart, literally turning brother against brother. The protagonist, Gregor's, allegiance switches from the...more
I initially thought reading this would take longer than a month, but somehow I managed to rock its Russian face. It's no secret that these Russian tomes can often be dense, filled with hundreds of characters (with a bunch of different names) doing things in highly detailed settings, where things like a blade of grass or a pebble in a river somehow manage to be a character themselves for fifty pages or so. Russian novels are dark and cold, just like the land from whence they came. Many of the aut...more
8 likes · like · see review
Mar 03, 2011
Nick
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
history,
normal-literature
It was aight. Should not have been 554 pages...
The first section ("Peace") held my attention because I had never read descriptions of the olde tyme Cossack lifestyle before. It was cool to see their daily life for a while (espicially as an ethnic and social group distinct from the surrounding mostly Russian peasantry). However in later sections the book dwelt heavily on the goings on of this village region. This is problematic for a few reasons. 1) we already got all that information in the firs...more
The first section ("Peace") held my attention because I had never read descriptions of the olde tyme Cossack lifestyle before. It was cool to see their daily life for a while (espicially as an ethnic and social group distinct from the surrounding mostly Russian peasantry). However in later sections the book dwelt heavily on the goings on of this village region. This is problematic for a few reasons. 1) we already got all that information in the firs...more
وصف رائع لحياة القوزاق و فهم عميق للحرب العالميه الأولى والثوره البلشيفيه والحرب الأهليه وجدت الجزء الأول ممل نوعا ما لأنني لا املك خلفيه عن حياة القوزاق وسلوكهم الاجتماعي ولكن الجزء الثاني كان ممتع بشكل كبير لاحاطتي بالثوره البلشيفيه والحرب الأهليه وقد عمقت هذه الروايه فهمي للظروف المحيطه بالثوره والخلفيات السياسيه والاجتماعيه التي شكلت ارهاصات لهذه الثوره
Apr 03, 2013
Kalle
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
action,
adventure,
classic,
historical-fiction,
read-translated-into-finnish,
romance,
russian,
war
After reading Väinö Linna's epic Under the North Star my father recommended reading this one; basically it tells roughly of the same time period (1912-1922) but in Russia. And it was... great. The style took some time getting used to: either it was the Finnish translation done in the 1950s/1960s or the original style, but it certainly wasn't the easiest thing to get into.
Just like in any good Russian classic, there are tons and tons of characters and it is easy to lose track of them. I certainly...more
Just like in any good Russian classic, there are tons and tons of characters and it is easy to lose track of them. I certainly...more
Those Russians certainly know how to write a novel! Amazing book - incredibly modern given when it was written - almost feminist in places. Characters are so real, flawed, human and infuriating - plot like the Don, thick and relentless...A book with the power to make you think differently about things in your own life (which is of course hugely different from life in a cossack village or regiment). Hard to imagine that he has written something so 'in' its time but also so timeless...
I'm reading...more
I'm reading...more
The first two parts of this novel are excellent. The shows us the individual caught up in geography and historical events in the Russian countryside and in World War I.
Part three portrays the Revolution in a dull, documentary style, and all of the momentum of the novel is lost.
The civil war section gains back much of the ground with its grim and realistic portrayal of both sides of the conflict.
The third section remains jarringly bad. Unfortunate that Sholokov did not, or wasn't allowed, to brin...more
Part three portrays the Revolution in a dull, documentary style, and all of the momentum of the novel is lost.
The civil war section gains back much of the ground with its grim and realistic portrayal of both sides of the conflict.
The third section remains jarringly bad. Unfortunate that Sholokov did not, or wasn't allowed, to brin...more
Jan 27, 2013
Elvira Baryakina
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
russian-classics
Я никогда не поверю в то, что этот роман мог написать 22-летний мальчик. Литература, тем более исторический роман, - это искусство, которому очень долго надо учиться. Слету талантливый юноша может написать повесть о любви, но никак не монументальное полотно. Утверждать обратное - это все равно что верить, что гениальный от природы уличный танцор сможет без подготовки выступать в Большом театре.
К тому же текст очень неровный. Человек, который писал о казаках, - гений; все позднейшие большевистски...more
К тому же текст очень неровный. Человек, который писал о казаках, - гений; все позднейшие большевистски...more
Whoa...I feel like I just gave birth to a baby. LOL And it wasn't an easy pregnancy, by all means. This book wasn't an easy read for several reasons. One of them was the language. I read it in Russian and even though I am fluent in it, I had to dig out my Russian dictionary. Sholokhov uses a lot of local dialect and for about first 150 or so pages I felt completely lost. Once I got used to his way of writing the going got a lot easier.
Another reason this book was a little difficult for me was t...more
Another reason this book was a little difficult for me was t...more
جلد اول از چهار جلد رو تمام کردم. با تمام آگاهي از بحث و جدل ها پيرامون ترجمه شاملو و به آذين، ترجمه شاملو رو انتخاب کردم که مهمترينش اين بود که شاملو گفته بود اين رمان رو ظرف مناسبي جهت ريختن کتاب کوچه در آن کرده بود.
بنابراين خط به خط و کلمه به کلمه خواندم و انصافا هم لذت بردم. زير هر واژه يا ضرب المثل يا عبارت جديد يا توصيف هاي شاعرانه شاملو در ترجمه خط کشيدم.
در بسياري از نظرات ديدم که اين رمان از جلد دوم به بعد ضعيف تر ميشه، من هم از اينجا به بعد رو آرومتر و سر فرصت مي خونم، چون هدفم خود رمان...more
بنابراين خط به خط و کلمه به کلمه خواندم و انصافا هم لذت بردم. زير هر واژه يا ضرب المثل يا عبارت جديد يا توصيف هاي شاعرانه شاملو در ترجمه خط کشيدم.
در بسياري از نظرات ديدم که اين رمان از جلد دوم به بعد ضعيف تر ميشه، من هم از اينجا به بعد رو آرومتر و سر فرصت مي خونم، چون هدفم خود رمان...more
Feb 23, 2009
Tyler
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Totalitarians
Recommended to Tyler by:
Nobel Prize
Shelves:
the-worst
Separating ideas and people is a task that bedevils Russian writers, and their characters often turn into expressions of some point of view or other. This tendency takes a toll on And Quiet Flows the Don, the story of the Don River Cossacks’ struggle through World War I and revolution. After a decent start, it stalls into a plodding chronicle with people thrown in as extras. Socialist realism gives it a unique stamp, but it also leaves readers indifferent to the fate of the people in its pages.
M...more
M...more
not usually my cup of tea, a book centered on a quiet Cossack farming community by the River Don, in the lead up to the First World War and the subsequent 1917 Russian Revolution. The main characters are the Melekhov family, and in particular their youngest son Gregor.
The beginning of the book follows Gregor's lifestyle and love life, showing the simple and at times barbarous, unpredictable way the Cossacks lived, their lives were dictated by the seasons and the great River Don and the characte...more
The beginning of the book follows Gregor's lifestyle and love life, showing the simple and at times barbarous, unpredictable way the Cossacks lived, their lives were dictated by the seasons and the great River Don and the characte...more
This book was published in 1934 and is a beautifully written novel about Cossack culture and history from the late 1800’s through WWI, the Russian Revolution, and the civil war immediately following. I knew little about the Cossacks and was fascinated by this picture of their lives, culture, and political aspirations, all of which have apparently disappeared. Sholokhov has written a work as interesting as War and Peace, I think, focusing on a particular group within Russian society, a group in m...more
ده روزی به برگشتن قزاقها مانده بود و آکسینا همچنان تو تب و تابِ عشقِ تلخِ دیررساش. گریگوری هم با وجود تهدیدهای پدر، شبها پنهانی میرفت پیشاش و صبحها آفتاب نزده برمیگشت. توی پانزده روز، مثل اسبی که بیش از تواناییاش از گردهاش کار کشیده باشند از نا و رمق رفته بود. بیدارخوابیِ شبها پوست گندمگون صورت و لپهای برجستهاش را کبود کرده بود و چشمهای خشک سیاهاش ته حدقه گود نشسته نگاه خستهای داشت.آکسینا دیگر بی آنکه در بند پوشاندن صورتش با روسری باشد این ور و آنور میرفت. پیوند دیوانهوارشان...more
This book was occaissionally amazing, sort of a Tolstoy for the proletariat, but then, about three-quarters through, Sholokhov suddenly all but abandons his protagonist and brings all these secondary characters into the foreground. While the novel wasn´t bad, I just felt like the narrative spine got seriously cracked after that. Now I guess I know that Pynchon wasn´t the first one to cop out on you like that. But it´s worth reading for it´s vivid portrayal of cossack culture. Not quite as profou...more
I am glad to see "Quiet Flows the Don" is back in print in English! Sholokhov won the Nobel Prize for this novel of war and revolution among the Don Cossack host. Although painted across a backdrop of history, it is primarily the love story of Gregor and Aksinya. As much of great 20th century Russian literature, the style harks back to Tolstoy, but the subject matter is undeniably Soviet. Published in 1929, "Quiet Flows the Don" was the pinnacle of Sholokhov's career. He never again produced a w...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovering Russi...: Quiet Flows the Don - Volume III(Revolution) & Volume IV (Civil War) | 53 | 24 | Oct 17, 2012 01:42am | |
| Discovering Russi...: Quiet Flows the Don - Volume I (Peace): Sept 5-13 | 26 | 23 | Sep 21, 2012 11:40am | |
| Discovering Russi...: Quiet Flows the Don: Discussion Leaders - Background-Translation-Schedule | 29 | 68 | Sep 19, 2012 11:24pm |
Awarded the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the artistic power and integrity with which, in his epic of the Don, he has given expression to a historic phase in the life of the Russian people."
More about Mikhail Sholokhov...
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“Boshafte Wahrheiten sind nur dann gut, wenn kein Fremder sie liest.”
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