Discovering Russian Literature discussion

"And Quiet Flows the Don" will be our next group read after The White Guard.

Discussion will start on September 5th

We are looking for volunteers who are willing and interested in leading the discussion of this book. So please post here if you have an interest. We are always here if you need any assistance. Thanks!

New members who were not their for voting, makes sure you join when the discussions start. Any questions, ask here.

I am so excited that the group is going to be reading this book. I got a really good copy and have wanted to start reading it. Can’t wait to see what everyone thinks!

I will read it.
I have only one problem, always the same... :/

The Italian edition has only (roughly) 500 pages and the other volumes are out of print (in fact I have found vol. 1 at a second hand bookshop).
I will do my best to find also the other volumes otherwise I am obliged to leave the group read after the first volume.

This looks like a great read. I am curious as if anyone has any inside information on what the best translation is?

I did some research and it seems the better translation is the one listed below. I found a really good used copy on Amazon.

Hardcover: 1362 pages Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub (December 1996) ISBN-10: 0786703601

Danielle wrote: "I did some research and it seems the better translation is the one listed below. I found a really good used copy on Amazon.

Hardcover: 1362 pages Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub (December 1996) I..."

Also the second part will be read in the group read?
This one: The Don Flows Home to the Sea

Because the epic of the Don is divided in 4 books; the difference is that in Italian there are 4 books by their own and in English (but also the German edition) has united the first two books in one volume with the title Quiet flows the Don and the books 3 and 4 in The Don Flows Home to the Sea.

I'm so excited this was chosen! I have had this on my shelf for over thirty years and have always dreamt of reading it. This year is some sort of anniversary for Sholokov. The best translation seems to be the Brian Murphy which includes all four volumes in the text.
Apparently it is the only complete translation in English.

Dely,

The version I have has all 4 books in one. Have you searched the US Amazon website to see if you can find a version with all 4 or at least the 4 books in Italian?

Danielle wrote: "Dely,

The version I have has all 4 books in one. Have you searched the US Amazon website to see if you can find a version with all 4 or at least the 4 books in Italian?"

In Italian it is out of print since a long time (the first volume I could find is from 1060/70). I have asked also in some bookshops and they couldn't help me. I have searched also in German but also in this language it is difficult to find. I will not look for it in English, I am sure it is too difficult for me to read.
Next week I will try at the library, it is my last chance. Otherwise I will take part at the group read only with the first volume :(

Dely, I'm sorry that you can't find the translation. I will try and recap the highlights for you after your book section has ended. Just remind me when your book ends.

Danielle wrote: "Dely, I'm sorry that you can't find the translation. I will try and recap the highlights for you after your book section has ended. Just remind me when your book ends."

Thank you! Of course I hope to find it at the library so I can continue to read it with you.

Danielle wrote: "I did some research and it seems the better translation is the one listed below. I found a really good used copy on Amazon.

Hardcover: 1362 pages Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub (December 1996) I..."

Thanks for that Danielle. I too have the same problem most of you have here. A translation?

dely wrote: "Also the second part will be read in the group read?
This one: The Don Flows Home to the Sea
..."

I get the feeling that this book we see in Goodreads here has more than one part. It has about 1000 something pages. But whatever it is I may have to find a translation first. I'll see if I can find from the library and if I can I too will join. It sounds interesting I saw in wikipedia that this has been compared to Tolstoy's "War and Peace" because of it's epic nature and other portrayals of Russian life during a time of crisis in Russia. I'll surely join one of these.

Shanez wrote: "dely wrote: "Also the second part will be read in the group read?
This one: The Don Flows Home to the Sea
..."

I get the feeling that this book we see in Goodreads here [bookcover:Quiet Flows the ..."

As ignorant as this may sound, I had no idea there are several books? I think this edition is only "And Quiet Flows the Don". As for other books/volumes do "Quietly Flows the Don" , "And Quiet Flows the Don" and "Quiet Flows the Don" are three volumes or the same one?

Till all of you are ready with the book, I'll open the "Background-Translation-Schedule" thread on 5th but the reading schedule, readers/ discussion leader have to plan out because I don't know the length and chapters/sections of the novel.

"The Don Flows Home to the Sea" looks like another volume but not a part of this book but if there are readers, I think it'll me more meaningful to continue. We'll see.

Shanez wrote: " It sounds interesting I saw in wikipedia that this has been compared to Tolstoy's "War and Peace" because of it's epic nature and other portrayals of Russian life during a time of crisis in Russia. I'll surely join one of these."

I have already read the first 40 pages and till now it is much better than War and Peace. W&P was so boring for me! This, instead, seems more interesting and has wonderful descriptions and for a moment I thought I really was near the Don!

Yes, Katrin, it is so!
The combine page of Sholokhov is a mess! I have added my edition, wanted to combine, and saw that everything is combined with everything: complete editions with all the 4 books combined with only the first two volumes....

I too will be joining but right now I can't seem to find the novel. I might buy it very soon within a week or so. I too feel it would be nice to conclude this epic w/ The Don Flows Home to the Sea. Another book I must find.

Please plan the reading schedule. At least let me know how many sections are there in the novel and I'll open the threads for them. Happy reading!

There seems to be an argument of the authorship of the novel. In fact the authorship of Quiet Flows the Don to which the author won the Stalin Prize is said to have stolen from a Cossacks officer that died in action. Mikhail Sholokhovwas a great friend of Starlin so no one dared to say anything. Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn was a critic who really believed that Mikhail Sholokhov couldn't be the author.


*Spoilers***** perhaps

Here's more: About the author (1934)

For decades a pillar of the Soviet literary establishment, Sholokhov owes his stature to And Quiet Flows the Don (1928--40), a four-volume epic of the life and fate of the Don Cossacks in the Revolution and civil war. Although himself a party member, Sholokhov depicts fairly impartially both sides in the conflict between the Reds and the Whites and shows how his hero, Grigory Melekhov, is driven by background and fate from one camp to the other. This realistic novel captures the exotic Cossack milieu superbly, and the whole works on a scale unseen since Tolstoy's War and Peace. Among Sholokhov's later works, Virgin Soil Upturned (1932--60), which deals with the collectivization of agriculture, deserves particular mention; the first volume is far more direct and honest than the much-later second volume. Over the years, Sholokhov's authorship of And Quiet Flows the Don has been questioned, most recently by Solzhenitsyn, but Sholokhov has had strong defenders in both the Soviet Union and the West. His political stance accounts for part of the anger directed against him. Extremely conservative, Sholokhov made vicious attacks on dissidents and the West and, aside from his concern for environmental issues, was a devoted follower of the party line.

Hi all! I've had my sight on this book for a while as I love my native Russian history and literature but because I had left for the states while still in high school I'd missed reading and studying it there. It's now time to catch up. I'm checking the book out from the library tomorrow and starting reading! I'll be reading in Russian. I'll be happy to help in any way I can!

Amalie wrote: " Please plan the reading schedule. At least let me know how many sections are there in the novel and I'll open the threads for them. Happy reading!

There seems to be an argument of the authorship..."

Yes, I saw that one somewhere else in this group or some other group. Perhaps, may be, it's a biased statement by Solzhenitsyn (oh, I'm really making any offence to anybody.) he did suffer a lot. Stalin made his life a hell.

Here's a book statistical analyses that Mikhail Sholokhov was likely the true author. I've not read it, just found it so I'm not sure how good the arguments are.

Authorship of Quiet Don

Any way both of them won the Nobel Prize and if Sholokhov wasn't a true writer, I wonder how he could've reach those statues.

George wrote: "Hi all! I've had my sight on this book for a while as I love my native Russian history ..."

Great! It's nice to have you here. I'll be reading the English version as soon as I find it.

Thanks Katrin!

Here the Reading Schedule:

Volume I(Peace): Sept 5-13
Volume II(War): Sept 14-22
Volume III(Revolution): Sept 23-30
Volume IV(Civil War): Oct 01-08

Some facts about the Cossacks reader should know:

Many centuries in the past, many years before the events described in the novel, the Cossacks “had been one of the most rebellious of peoples living in Russia, whose leaders, such as Bolotnikov, Razin, Bulavin and Pugachev, organized revolts against Tsarism and feudal oppression”. The history of the Cossack people dates back to the Middle Ages and the names mentioned above are still well-known for every Russian even nowadays. The name itself – the Cossack – is derived from Turkish and it means “free person” (someone who is not attached to the land) or “a daring fellow”. By the 14th century the Cossacks were mentioned as a group which did military service along the borders. Many of them were serfs fleeing from their owners, fugitives trying to escape prosecution or adventurous people, who wanted to start a new life. Two hundred years later an inflow of people, predominantly Russian serfs to the area was enormous. They fought Tatars and Turks, which helped significantly to thwart their plans to take control over those areas. Later they were granted freedom from serfdom and btained land for lifetime use in return for performing border duty. The independence from Moscow and its government, personal freedom and also the absence of the feudal bonds brought a unique type of organization of Cossack social structures, i.e. the election of a leader, an ataman. Less dependence and a singular lifestyle also contributed to specific culture, up to the present time preserved in songs and legends. T

These Cossacks and their freedom-loving life was M. Sholokhov’s own lifestyle.He was the native, born and brought up in one of the Cossack villages, or stanitsas, he himself was “the participator in the actions he so movingly pictures in writing with a pen dipped in his own blood” Therefore he understood the Cossack folklore and its poetics, and it is also the reason why Cossack songs are of great importance to the atmosphere and poetics of the whole novel.

Amalie wrote: " Please plan the reading schedule. At least let me know how many sections are there in the novel and I'll open the threads for them. Happy reading!
..."

My edition has 3 parts:
1) 110 pages/23 chapters
2) 125 pages/21 chapters
3) 172 pages/24 chapters

But I have only vol. 1 (following Katrin's description it should be "Peace").


George wrote: "Hi all! I've had my sight on this book for a while as I love my native Russian history and literature but because I had left for the states while still in high school I'd missed reading and study..."

Hey, that's great! Welcome to the group!

dely wrote: "My edition has 3 parts:
1) 110 pages/23 chapters
2) 125 pages/21 chapters
3) 172 pages/24 chapters..."

Almost 200 pages for 8 days! I hope that time is enough for everyone to finish a single volume.

Amalie wrote: "dely wrote: "My edition has 3 parts:
1) 110 pages/23 chapters
2) 125 pages/21 chapters
3) 172 pages/24 chapters..."

Almost 200 pages for 8 days! I hope that time is enough for everyone to finish a..."

No, only vol. 1 (at least my edition) has 409 pages and it would be nearly 60 pages/day. I think it is a little bit too much :/
Following the no. of pages of the English editions the whole epic of the Don should have 1500/2000 pages.

Let's see what the other members say, how much pages their editions have.
I have written the division of vol. 1 because I thought you would have done a schedule for every single volume of the epic and not a schedule for the whole epic.

My 1959 Alfred A. Knopf edition called "And Quiet Flows the Don", translated by Stephen Garry, breaks down like this:

Part I: Peace 3-188
Part II: War 189-330
Part III: Revolution 331-416
Part IV: Civil War 417-554

It probably is a little much in the time period we have set. I shouldn't have a problem with it but I am already done with Peace. Whatever is decided is fine by me.

The Garry translation is smaller pages then the more recent translation so the first part seems longer.In
the newer edition the first part is one hundred pages.

Adam wrote: "My 1959 Alfred A. Knopf edition called "And Quiet Flows the Don", translated by Stephen Garry, breaks down like this:..."

While searching I found many say Stephen Garry's translation is the best but there are two versions so something? The early edition is not good and artless but the latter one is far more better. Is your one good?

I found at the same site a Robert Daglish translation is bad.

Adam wrote: "My 1959 Alfred A. Knopf edition called "And Quiet Flows the Don", translated by Stephen Garry, breaks down like this:

Part I: Peace 3-188
Part II: War 189-330
Part III: Revolution 331-416
Part IV:..."

Is this an abriged version?

My French edition has 1364 pages (paper back) translated in 1959 (8 parts!) Sounds promissing!