Mikhail Sholokhov’s ‘And Quiet Flows the Don’: A short summary
A giant epic novel about the Cossack life on the backdrop of Russia’s most turbulent times – the Revolution and the Civil War, which broke the old world’s order.
Grigory Melekhov is a Cossack living in a village on the Don River. He falls in love with Aksinya, a married woman. And, while her husband leaves for business, they have an affair. Rumors spread quickly, causing the huge scandal. The husband beats Aksinya half to death, while Grigory's father forces him to marry Natalia, a woman he doesn’t love.
Soon, the passion fires up again and Grigory starts getting along with Aksinya once more. But, because of social condemnation, they have to flee their homes and the village. They then find a workplace with a landlord. Soon, Aksniya gives birth to their child. Grigory's wife Natalia, meanwhile, makes a failed suicide attempt.
Grigory and Natalia. A still from the Soviet screen adaptation
World War I starts and Grigory joins the army. He can't stand all the horrors of war and killings. One day, being injured in a hospital, he gets acquainted with a Communist and feels sympathy for his ideas.
Meanwhile, his child dies and Aksinya becomes the mistress of the landlord. Grigory doesn’t forgive it and turns back to his wife Natalia, who has given birth to twins.
Then, the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution breaks out. Grigory joins the Bolsheviks, despite most of the Cossacks being on the “white” side. But then, Grigory sees how cruel the Red are and returns to the Cossacks once again, joining the uprising against the Bolsheviks.
Soon, Grigory and Aksinya get back together again, while Natalia attempts another suicide. This time she dies.
The Red Army puts down the Cossack rebellion, so Grigory has to flee. However, scattered for a while, he joins the Red Army again.
Grigory and Aksinya. A still from the 2015 TV series
Understanding that Grigory is not very loyal, the Bolsheviks discharge him from the army. Natalia's brother, a Bolshevik himself, badly wants revenge and to arrest Grigory, so he has to flee once more…
Eventually, Aksinya is killed and Grigory turns out all alone. And the only one left to love is his son from Natalia.
What’s behind the novel?
‘And Quiet Flows the Don’ is frequently compared to ‘War and Peace’ of the 20th century. It also has lots of plot lines that the reader is intrigued by. And it also features personal drama stories on the backdrop of big historical events and turbulent times.
Sholokhov was awarded with the Nobel Prize in literature in 1965 for this novel.
Although it didn’t depict either the Reds or the Whites in a positive way and wasn’t one-sided on the side of the Soviets, the big epic piece consisting of four volumes was perceived with incredible admiration in the Soviet Union.
Mikhail Sholokhov
The then young Sholokhov immediately became an A-list star. Written between 1925-1940, the volumes were published one by one, so people couldn’t wait for each to find out what was going to happen next.
The critics praised the novel and considered it to have such a high artistic and literary level, that they started doubting young Sholokhov could have even been the author. They suspected he might have plagiarized a manuscript. And there are arguments with opponents of each side to this day, making Sholokhov a kind of a “Soviet Shakespeare”.
But, no matter who really wrote it, it’s one of the true gems of Russian literature and a timeless piece about human nature, about the uselessness of any war. And how terrible it can be when relatives resort to murder because of political views.
