Lyrical digressions in M. Sholokhov’s epic novel “Quiet Don”

This article is devoted to the problem of the author’s situationality and the compositional-chronotopic structure of the epic novel “ Quiet Don» M.A. Sholokhov. The article defines the composition and compositional-chronotopic structure of the work. The undoubted connection between the compositional-chronotopic structure of the novel and the author’s choice and arrangement of situations in a certain order in time and space is considered. A typology of the author's situations in the novel is given, based on the principles of completeness/incompleteness of situations, criteria of problem-thematic content, subjective and verbal expression. The dominant situations of the epic novel are highlighted: leaving and returning home, the situation of death, fights and murders, meetings by the water, waking up and falling asleep, and others. The relationship of situations and their importance not only for the author, but also for the entire literary and artistic work as an artistic and poetic reality is determined.

compositional-chronotopic structure

completeness / incompleteness of the situation

problem-thematic content

dominant situation

artistic and poetic reality.

1. Britikov A. F. The mastery of Mikhail Sholokhov. - M.: Nauka, 1964. - 203 p.

2. Gura V.V. How “Quiet Don” was created. - M.: Soviet writer, 1989. - 459 p.

3. Dvoryashin Yu. A. M. Sholokhov: facets of fate and creativity. - M.: Publishing House Synergy, 2005. - 224 p.

5. Karpov I. P. Proto-situational nature of Russian literature (nurturing poetry) // Bulletin of the Laboratory of Analytical Philology. - 2012. - Issue 5. - P. 25.

6. Sholokhov M.A. Collected works: in 8 volumes - M.: Pravda Publishing House, 1975. I quote from this publication, indicating the volume and pages.

The combination of individual parts of a work, the addition of its elements in a certain order, their interrelation, which leads to the formation of a single whole - all this is an integral part of the composition of a literary and artistic work. By the compositional-chronotopic structure of a novel we understand the distribution of action (that is, the events occurring and described) in time and space, as well as the division of events into chapters. The author's situationality for us is a set of situations, with a mandatory indication of who chose them from many other situations, who combined them with previous and subsequent situations and how they presented them in subjective-verbal and chronotopic conditions, that is, the author.

Based on the fact that it is the author who arranges situations in a certain order and mutually correlates them, there is no doubt that there is a connection between the author’s situationality and the location of these situations in time and space. In the process of identifying this relationship, we will try to give a typology of the author's situations in the novel, based on the criteria of problem-thematic content, completeness / incompleteness of the situation, its subjective and verbal expression.

The situations of the novel are in different relationships with the compositional parts. For example, one chapter corresponds to one situation (Part I, Chapter XXII - the situation of the wedding of Gregory and Natalya), or several chapters - one situation (numerous battle situations), or one chapter corresponds to several situations (Part I, Chapter I - the situation of Prokofy returning home , a situation of verbal communication (performed in the form of a dialogue), a situation of a fight, murder, childbirth, returning home, marriage and others).

The novel consists of four books, which in turn consist of parts. The parts are distributed as follows: Book I - 1, 2, 3 parts; Book II - parts 4, 5; Book III - part 6; Book IV - parts 7, 8.

The number of chapters in each part and pages in the chapters are not the same: Part I = 23 chapters = 96 pages; Part II = 21 chapters = 115 pages; Part III = 24 chapters = 159 pages; Part IV = 21 chapters = 174 pages; Part V = 31 chapters = 193 pages; Part VI = 65 chapters = 398 pages; Part VII = 29 chapters = 270 pages; part VIII = 18 chapters = 185 pages.

The total number of chapters is 232; total pages - 1590. Average number of pages per chapter - 6.8. The calculation seems important to us, since the chapter is the main unit of our research, which we take as a basis.

When considering the author's situationality, one can clearly identify the main situations of the novel: seeing off, leaving home, returning home, fights, murder, childbirth, death, awakening, falling asleep, meeting by the water, battle, matchmaking and marriage, turning to God (prayer), feasting , singing a song, verbal communication (personal conversation, dialogue, public meeting), execution, internal reflections of the hero and others.

All of the above situations are interconnected. Often a situation motivates a subsequent situation or acts as a retrospective, that is, it is a circumstance of the main situation. For example, a situation of verbal communication between characters and a showdown is usually accompanied by labor actions (when Grigory goes to the Don to water his horse, Aksinya goes with buckets to fetch water - they meet on the Don and talk, it is there that their love relationship; or Grigory and Mitka Korshunov go to the Mokhovs to sell the caught carp, and Mitka meets and flirts with Elizaveta Mokhova, which will further lead to their love affair; Elizaveta Mokhova, in turn, will be described in the diary of one of the nameless characters, who is not directly related to the heroes and is not found anywhere else in the novel. The diary author writes to his friend about his relationship with Elizabeth. The diary accidentally ends up in the hands of Grigory Melekhov. Thus, without being the protagonist of the situation, Gregory finds himself connected with other characters). The situation with the diary is “that inserted short story that, while seemingly leading to the side, actually internally strengthens the plot.” That is, any situation is determined by the formation of relationships with other situations.

The composition and narrative style of Sholokhov, as noted by Sholokhov scholar A.F. Britikov, is characterized by a system of inserts that “connect the Cossack theme, the history of the Melekhov family and the fate of Gregory with the wider historical background. For example, numerous family situations or chapters about military operations turn into distinct inserted short stories, with their own internally completed plot, but thematically, ideologically and psychologically they also vary the main lines of the narrative.”

V.V. Gura one of the main compositional principles highlighted the principle of alternation of events in their cause and effect relationships, movement and development, considering the principle of two-plane composition to be characteristic structural feature“Quiet Don”: “The writer alternates descriptions of the everyday life of the people, their working life with showing the fronts of the world war, socio-political events in the country in which his heroes participate.” The purpose of such alternation in the situational-compositional structure is to show the main character in peaceful and military situations, to contrast his emotional movements.

All situations in the novel can be characterized from the point of view of the completeness or incompleteness of their description. Some situations, which we call complete, are built on the principle: entering the situation - staying in the situation - exiting it. Others are incomplete, that is, some component of the situation is missing. “The structure of the author’s situationality depends on the individuality of the author, the characteristics of his vision of the world and man, which corresponds to a literary work as a fictional situation,” notes I. P. Karpov. For example, the situation of the Melekhovs’ matchmaking with Natalya Korshunova has an input into the situation (they harness the horses, dress up, invite the matchmaker Vasilisa), detailed description being in a situation (the road to the Korshunovs, arrival, dialogue, matchmaking itself, etc.), but there is no way out of the situation. The author does not describe the characters’ return home after matchmaking, although it would be logical to assume that way back the heroes discussed the Korshunovs and Natalya, shared their impressions and made assumptions about the result of their matchmaking. We can conclude that for the author, the discussions and conversations of the characters are not the main goal of the narrative, since “Quiet Don” is an epic novel where the main thing is the action, the event, and not the thoughts and conversations of the characters.

Of course, as we have already noted above, all situations in the novel interact with each other, intertwining and connecting into a single narrative. But some situations are dominant; they determine the structure of the entire novel.

The most important situations include the situation of leaving and returning home. The entire novel is, as it were, “ringed” by the central situation of departure and return: the first chapter of the first part begins with Prokofy’s return from the war: “In the penultimate Turkish campaign, the Cossack Melekhov Prokofy returned to the farm.” Then it is indicated that he left home for hard labor, and returned home a few years later: “Prokofy returned from hard labor after twelve years.” Also in the situation with Gregory: “The hero of “Quiet Don” invariably and persistently returns to parents' house, each time finding here, it seems, the only support preserved in an upside-down, rearing world.” The novel ends with the arrival of Gregory, desperate, tired of countless battles, endless flight and nomadic lifestyle, home to his son Mishatka.

Also one of the fundamental situations is the situation of death. There is no way out of the situation of death; it is the internal state of the character and is described by the author from the outside, through the eyes of others. For example, this is how Sholokhov describes the drowned Daria: “Overcoming fear and a feeling of disgust, Dunyashka helped her mother wash the cold body of the deceased, which retained the iciness of the deep Don stream. There was something unfamiliar and stern in Daria’s slightly swollen face, in the dull shine of her eyes discolored by water, in her hair the river sand sparkled like silver, on her cheeks there were green wet threads of clinging mulberry mud, and in her outstretched hands, hanging limply from the bench, there was such a terrible calmness that Dunyashka, having looked, hastily moved away from her, amazed and horrified at how different dead Daria was from the one who so recently joked and laughed and loved life so much.”

No less important is the situation of waking up and falling asleep, since this is an integral part of human life. “Its originality lies in the impossibility for a person to be aware of himself while falling asleep and waking up, although these “borderline” states have always attracted the attention of people (philosophers, psychologists, writers),” notes I. P. Karpov. This is how Gregory falls asleep, having finally decided to run away with his beloved Aksinya: “He slept with his lips slightly parted, breathing rhythmically,” “his black eyelashes trembled slightly, his upper lip moved,” “he struggled in vain with sleep,” “through his irresistible sleep, Gregory heard her even voice and was not able to lift his heavy eyelids,” “he fell asleep without finishing the story,” and wakes up: “I woke up from the neighing of a horse, sat up in fear, groping around with my hands, looking for a weapon.”

In general, the novel can be considered as a combination, a combination of love and military situations: love situations (from adolescence to family, the hero goes through a series of love experiences) are intertwined with military situations (Grigory and other Cossacks leaving for the war and returning from it, including the May camps, to which the Cossacks periodically went, service, First World War, then civil war). And within these love and military situations, all other situations unfold, on which not only the situational nature of the novel is built, but also the whole life of a person.

The situation is not important in itself: both for the author and for the entire literary and artistic work as an artistic and poetic reality, the main thing is the development of the hero, the evolution of his moral and spiritual qualities. No matter what situations Sholokhov portrays a person in, the most important thing for him is internal state character. For example, in Gregory’s accidental love affair with a poor woman, the important ones are the emotional feelings that Gregory experiences when parting with her: “Gregory was driving along the alley, looking back. The alley ran in a semi-arc around the yard where he spent the night, and he saw how the Cossack woman, warmed by him, looked after him through the fences, turning her head, placing a narrow tanned palm over her eyes as a shield. Grigory looked around with unexpected melancholy, tried to imagine the expression on her face, all of her - but could not. He only saw that the head of the Cossack woman in a white scarf was quietly turning, following him with her eyes. This is how the cap of a sunflower turns, watching the slow round march of the sun.”

Also in the situation when Gregory “cuts down the sailors,” the main thing is in the changes taking place in his consciousness, in the revolution that takes place in his soul after this event: “Who did he cut down!.. - And for the first time in his life he began to struggle in the gravest seizure, shouting, spitting out along with foam swirling on his lips: “Brothers, there is no forgiveness for me!.. Hack, for God’s sake... mother of God... Put to death...! Grigory beats his head on the ground, groans, asks to be put to death, because he understands what a crime he committed, killing soldiers like him, innocent in the fact that this terrible, destructive war is going on, into which people who do not want to kill are thrown their brothers, but forced to do so.

So, as a result of the analysis of the main situations of the novel, we can assume that the author’s situationality is closely related to the compositional-chronotopic structure of the novel. The author arranges situations in time and space in a certain sequence, which indicates their close relationship. Each situation, as a separate element, reflects the author’s attitude to the events and characters described, his ideological position. Each such situation is selected, verified, internally structured by the author and connected with other situations.

Reviewers:

• Karpov Igor Petrovich, doctor philological sciences, professor of Mari State University, Yoshkar-Ola.
• Zolotova Tatyana Arkadyevna, Doctor of Philology, Professor of Mari State University, Yoshkar-Ola.

Bibliographic link

About Russian epics...

In Russian fiction there aren't that many epics. Traditional literary criticism identifies only four epic novels from the numerous Russian literature of the 19th and 20th centuries: “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy, “The Life of Klim Samgin” by A.M. Gorky, “Walking through torment” by A.N. Tolstoy and “Quiet Don” by M.A. Sholokhov.

I would, with reservations, add a number of other works to this list...
This is a novel in verse by A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin". This work touches on various social strata Russian society first half of the 19th century century, which allowed literary critic V.G. Belinsky called “Eugene Onegin” “an encyclopedia of Russian life.”
"The Brothers Karamazov" F.M. Dostoevsky is a work conceived as an epic, but turned out to be unfinished due to sudden death writer.
Sergeev-Tsensky’s epic novel “Transfiguration of Russia.”
The epic novel “Borodinsky Field” by I.M. Shevtsov, structurally consisting of two volumes. In the first volume, the author depicts in detail the tense situation of the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, the heroic retreat Soviet troops and a brutal rebuff to the Nazi occupiers. The events of the first volume open with a description of the end of August 1941 and end in November 1941. On December 5, 1941, the famous counteroffensive began, which went down in history as the “Battle of Moscow.”
The second part of the epic shows us the heroes 20 years after the end of the Great War (V.V. Kozhinov’s term). About how they live and fight for their interests in a peaceful environment. "Borodin Field" ends with a description of the UN General Assembly, which ruled against Zionism, calling it a "form of racism."

The main difference between an epic and works of art written in another genre is the following... At the center of an epic there is always a historical event.
Thus, in Leo Tolstoy’s novel it is worth Patriotic War 1812.
The novel by Maxim Gorky depicts a huge historical period, which begins with a description recent years the reign of Emperor Alexander II and ending with the events of the February coup of 1917. “The Life of Klim Samgin” is considered an unfinished work. According to Gorky's plans, the work should have ended with a pathetic description of October 1917.
“Walking Through Torment” covers the historical period of 1914 – 1920. IN artistically The first part of the epic, called “Gloomy Morning,” is considered the most powerful. This part of A.N. Tolstoy wrote while in exile and without feeling powerful ideological pressure over himself. Later, when Tolstoy returned to Bolshevik-occupied Russia, Gloomy Morning was subjected to serious indoctrination.
The epic novel “Quiet Don” covers the historical period of 1912 -1920. It was the author of “The Quiet Don”, like no one else, who managed to rise above the peoples entangled in the stormy whirlpool of antagonistic ideas and show great tragedy Russian State. The novel, especially its third volume, was subjected to serious censorship, which seriously complicates its in-depth scientific study. I hope that the Complete Academic Collected Works of M.A., being prepared by Sholokhov scholars. Sholokhov will restore the original text of the novel.

The birth of the epic novel is associated with events in Russian history that have global significance. The first Russian revolution of 1905, the world war of 1914-1918. The October Revolution, the civil war, and the period of peaceful construction gave rise to the desire of literary artists to create works of wide epic scope. It is characteristic that in the 20s they began to work almost simultaneously: M. Gorky - on the epic “The Life of Klim Samgin”, A. N. Tolstoy - on the epic “Walking Through Torment”, M. Sholokhov turned to creating the epic “Quiet Don” .

The creators of epic paintings relied on the traditions of Russian classics, on such works about the destinies of people as “ Captain's daughter", "Taras Bulba", "War and Peace".

The epic novel “Quiet Don” occupies a special place in the history of Russian literature. Sholokhov devoted fifteen years of his life and hard work to its creation. M. Gorky saw in the novel the embodiment of the enormous talent of the Russian people.

The events in “Quiet Don” begin in 1912, before the First World War, and end in 1922, when the civil war on the Don died down. Knowing very well the life and way of life of the Cossacks of the Don region, being himself a participant in the harsh struggle on the Don in the early 20s, Sholokhov focused on depicting the Cossacks. The work closely combines document and fiction. There is a lot in “Quiet Don” authentic names farms and villages of the Don region. The center of events with which the main action is connected is the village of Veshenskaya.

Sholokhov portrays the actual participants in the events: this is Ivan Lagutin, chairman of the Cossack department of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the first chairman of the Don All-Russian Central Executive Committee Fyodor Podtelkov, a member of the Revolutionary Committee of the Elan Cossack Mikhail Krivoshlykov. At the same time, the main characters of the story are fictional: the families of Melekhov, Astakhov, Korshunov, Koshev, Listnitsky. The Tatarsky farm is also fictional.

“Quiet Don” begins with a depiction of the peaceful pre-war life of the Cossacks. The days of the Tatarsky farm pass in intense work. The Melekhov family, a typical middle peasant family with patriarchal foundations, comes to the forefront of the narrative. The war interrupted the working life of the Cossacks.

The First World War is portrayed by Sholokhov as a national disaster, and the old soldier, professing Christian wisdom, advises the young Cossacks: “Remember one thing: if you want to be alive, to come out of mortal combat alive, you must uphold the human truth...”

Sholokhov with great skill describes the horrors of war, which cripples people both physically and morally. Cossack Chubaty teaches Grigory Melekhov: “In battle, killing a person is a sacred thing... destroy a person. He’s a filthy person!” But Chubaty, with his bestial philosophy, scares people away. Death and suffering awaken sympathy and unite soldiers: people cannot get used to war.

Sholokhov writes in his second book that the news of the overthrow of the autocracy did not evoke a joyful feeling among the Cossacks; they reacted to it with “restrained anxiety and expectation.” The Cossacks are tired of the war. They dream of its end. How many of them have already died: more than one Cossack widow echoed the dead.

The Cossacks did not immediately understand historical events. Bitter words in the novel precede the description tragic events on the Don, a story about the reprisal against Podtelkov’s expedition, about the Upper Don uprising.

Having returned from the fronts of the World War, the Cossacks did not yet know what tragedy of the fratricidal war they would have to endure in the near future.

The Upper Don Uprising appears in Sholokhov's depiction as one of the central events of the civil war on the Don. There were many reasons. The Red Terror, the unjustified cruelty of representatives of the Soviet government on the Don in the novel are shown with great artistic power. Numerous executions of Cossacks carried out in the villages - the murder of Miron Korshunov and grandfather Trishka, who personified the Christian principle, preaching that all power is given by God, the actions of Commissar Malkin, who gave orders to shoot bearded Cossacks.

Sholokhov also showed in the novel that the Upper Don uprising reflected popular protest against the destruction of foundations peasant life and the age-old traditions of the Cossacks, traditions that became the basis of peasant morality and morality, developed over centuries, and passed on from generation to generation.

The writer also showed the doom of the uprising. Already during the events, the people understood and felt their fratricidal nature. One of the leaders of the uprising, Grigory Melekhov, declares: “But I think that we got lost when we went to the uprising.”

A. Serafimovich wrote about the heroes of “Quiet Don”: “...his people are not drawn, not written out - this is not on paper.” The type images created by Sholokhov summarize the deep and expressive features of the Russian people. Depicting the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the characters, the writer did not cut off, but exposed the threads leading to the past.

Among the characters in the novel, Grigory Melekhov is attractive, contradictory, reflecting the complexity of the quests and delusions of the Cossacks. There is no doubt that the image of Grigory Melekhov is Sholokhov’s artistic discovery. By creating this image, the writer acted as an innovator, artistically reproducing what was the most controversial, the most difficult, the most exciting in life. Grigory Melekhov is not an isolated character in the epic. He is in the closest unity and is connected both with his family and with the Cossacks of the Tatar farm and the entire Don, among whom he grew up and with whom he lived and fought, constantly in search of the truth and meaning of life. Melekhov is not separated from his time. He not only communicates with people and participates in events, but always thinks, evaluates, and judges himself and others.

These features help to come to the conclusion that Melekhov is depicted in the epic as the son of his people and his time. Gregory's world - folk world, he never separated himself from his people, from nature. In the fire of battles, in the dust of campaigns, he dreams of work in his native land, of a family. Grigory ends his journey through torment by returning to his native Tatarsky farm. Having thrown his weapon into the Don, he hurries again to what he loved so much and from what he was torn away for so long.

The ending of the novel has a philosophical sound. Sholokhov left his hero on the threshold of new life trials. What paths await him? How will his life turn out? The writer does not answer these questions, but makes the reader think about the most difficult fate this hero.

Towards creation female characters Sholokhov converts at the very beginning of his creative path. But if in the stories the characters of women are only outlined, then in “Quiet Don” Sholokhov creates bright artistic images. Women are central to the epic; women different ages, different temperaments, different destinies- mother of Grigory Ilyinichna, Aksinya, Natalya, Daria, Dunyashka, Anna Pogudko and others.

The ardent, passionate Aksinya, with her “vicious beauty,” is contrasted with the modest, restrained worker Natalya. The fate of both Aksinya and Natalya is tragic. There was a lot of hard things in their lives, but they also knew real human happiness. The writer shows their hard work, their huge role in the life of the family.

Are of great importance speech characteristics, portraits (Aksinya has a “chiseled neck”, “fluffy curls of hair”, “calling lips”. Natalya has a “smooth white forehead”, “ big hands, crushed by work,” Daria has “furrowed eyebrow arches,” “a curly gait.”

The action of the novel “Quiet Don” involves a wide range of people, representatives of various social strata. It begins with an image of life in the Cossack farm of Tatarsky, captivating landowner's estate Listnitsky, is transferred to the places of the unfolding world war - to Poland, Romania, East Prussia, to Petrograd, Novocherkassk, Novorossiysk, to the villages of the Don.

Sholokhov is an unsurpassed master artistic word, skillfully uses the language that the Cossacks speak. Both the main characters and episodic characters. Landscape sketches testify to the artist’s passionate love for the nature of the Don region. The landscape is humanized, it performs a variety of ideological and artistic functions; helps to reveal the feelings and moods of the characters, to convey their attitude to the events taking place. Skillfully used works folk art: proverbs, sayings, fables, songs. They convey the mood, feelings, experiences of the people, reflect aesthetic world heroes. Works of folk art, especially songs, reveal the philosophical depth of the epic. The epigraphs to the first and third books of the novel are ancient Cossack songs.

Big spiritual meaning enclosed in poetic image Don, which acts as a symbol of the life of the people. The name “Quiet Don” itself is full of symbolism: it contrasts with the events depicted. Special meaning in the image of the steppe, which acts as a symbol of the Motherland: “Native steppe above the low Don sky!.., a mound in wise silence, cherishing the buried Cossack glory... I bow low and kiss your red land like a son... The steppe is watered with stainless Don blood. ..”. Only a writer who was passionately in love with the beauty of his native Don nature and his people could find and say such words.

Working on the epic “Quiet Don”, Sholokhov proceeded from the philosophical concept that the people are the main driving force stories. This concept received deep artistic embodiment in the epic: in the depiction of people's life, life and work of the Cossacks, in the depiction of the people's participation in historical events.

Sholokhov showed that the path of the people in the revolution and civil war was difficult, tense, and tragic. The destruction of the “old world” was associated with the collapse of centuries-old folk traditions, Orthodoxy, the destruction of churches, the rejection of moral commandments that were instilled in people from childhood.

The epic novel “Quiet Don” (in four volumes), the first book of which was written by twenty-three-year-old Mikhail Sholokhov in 1928, the central work of the entire literary activity Soviet author. A novel was written about the fate of the Don Cossacks in difficult times both for the whole of Europe (the period of the First World War) and for Russia (the Civil War) over the course of 15 years, and was published from 1928 to 1940. The first volume of the work was published thanks to the support of the influential writer Serafimovich in literary circles, the third was “blessed” by Comrade Stalin himself, the fourth volume was “cut down” by him, the publication of the last part was postponed for a long time due to disagreements between the author and the leader of the people regarding the subsequent development of the plot: Stalin wanted to main character Cossack Grigory Melekhov went over to the side of the Reds, and for Sholokhov the most important thing was to show the tragedy of the Russian people, who during the civil war were forced to participate in fratricide when the family bonds and affection, because one brother was for the whites, and the other for the reds.

(Illustrations by Orest Vereisky - Soviet graphic illustrator)

History of writing

In the mid-twenties of the last century, young Mikhail Sholokhov decided to write a large-scale piece of art, which would fully reveal his talent as a writer and present to the reader the story of tragic fate the Don Cossacks, who fell under the millstone of the First World War, the 1917 revolution, and several years of civil bloodshed. After writing a series of stories about the Cossacks, Sholokhov decided to write a more detailed literary work on this topic, and in 1925 he began to implement his plan. At first, the scale of the planned novel was not expected large sizes, Sholokhov planned to show the life of the Cossacks in revolutionary years and his participation in the suppression revolutionary ideas, however, he then changed his mind, expanding the setting of the novel from 1912 to 1922. The first two volumes of the novel were published in 1928 in the magazine "October", the aspiring writer was energetic and purposeful, read many books and various historical materials about the events of the period he described, communicated a lot with the Cossacks, asking them about the "German" and civil war, had an excellent idea of ​​the customs and way of life of the village life on the Don, because he himself was born there (Kruzhilin farmstead, Veshenskaya village), and his mother came from a Cossack family. The printing of the third book was delayed due to the fact that Soviet censorship was not very pleased with the author’s sympathetic attitude towards the participants in the anti-Bolshevik Upper Don uprising in 1918 depicted in the novel. Only by resorting to the help of a well-known Soviet writer Maxim Gorky, who managed to persuade Stalin, in 1932 Sholokhov finally managed to publish a book, again in the magazine “October”. In 1934, the main work on the fourth volume was completed, which, due to constant political pressure from the Soviet government, was rewritten several times and published in final version in 1940 in the magazine “New World”.

After the publication of all parts of the novel, some skeptics (one of them was famous writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn) puts forward the version that such a young and inexperienced writer as Sholokhov simply cannot be the author of such a deep meaning and large-scale work, and in such a short time. By order of Stalin, a special commission was created to investigate this issue, which confirmed the authorship of Sholokhov. In 1958, with the full approval of the party leadership, the epic novel “Quiet Don” was nominated for Nobel Prize and Mikhail Sholokhov becomes its laureate, which he then donates for the construction of a school in the village of Karginskaya, where he once lived.

Analysis of the work

Main plot

The life and tragedy of the Don Cossacks is shown in the novel through the prism of life events in an ordinary Cossack family. The Melekhov family, living on the Tatarsky farm, consists of the head of the family, senior constable Pantelei Prokofievich, his wife Vasilisa Ilyinichna, eldest son Peter and his wife Daria, youngest son Gregory and daughter-in-law Natalya, Dunyasha’s only daughter. In the first book, the author shows us pictures of Cossack life, the features of their life without embellishment and special idealization, trying to be objective, showing both strict orders and a reasonable world order, special life concepts and values.

The usual measured course of Cossack life is disrupted by the First World War, the revolution and the beginning of the Civil War, which destroy the harmony of a calm existence and bring cruelty, blood, violence, an unbridled thirst for destruction and destruction. Using the example of the Melekhov family, Sholokhov shows the fate of millions of people forced to endure the hardships of difficult wartime, which exposed the essence of every person and sharpened all human feelings to the extreme. This family has to endure and endure a lot (the head of the family dies of typhus, the already quite elderly Ilyinichna also passes away, the elder brother is killed by the Red Commissars, daughter-in-law Daria, having contracted a “bad disease” commits suicide, Grigory’s wife Natalya dies), at the end of the novel Only the central character remains alive - the younger Grigory Melekhov, his son Mikhail and daughter Dunya, who marries the guy who killed her older brother).

In description dramatic fate Don Cossacks in the era of this terrible fratricidal war, the author skillfully and harmoniously combines documentary historical truth With fiction. Being himself born on the banks of the Don River, Sholokhov, like no one else, understands the problems of the Cossacks, who have long lived with their families on the outskirts of the Russian land, protecting their fields and homes from Tatar raids, and thus combined the difficult life of both farmers and warriors. They valued freedom above all else, and were always, at any moment, ready to give their lives to protect their native land. That is why, in the soul of the main character of the novel, Grigory Melekhov, Sholokhov showed the reader the ongoing struggle between the interests of the owner and the simple worker. As an ordinary peasant, Melekhov is not averse to supporting the power of the Reds, but as the owner of the land, he is not ready to give it up and therefore supports the views of the white movement.

Main character

The life of the main character, Cossack Grigory Melekhov, is shown in the novel in the most profound and detailed way. His character is a reflection of the entire Don Cossacks, using his example life's quest and difficult fate shows how important his usual way of life was for an ordinary Cossack, everyday, albeit exhausting, but so understandable and important in life peasant labor, the proximity of his native land, and how difficult it is for him to get away from all this and live according to the new rules that the new government imposes on him.

(Illustration by Yu.P. Rebrov "Gregory with the Cossacks")

At the beginning of the novel, Sholokhov creates the image of the Cossack Grigory Melekhov, standing firmly on the ground, accustomed to work and promising to be a good family man. However, his hot southern temperament and youthful inexperience determine his future fate: he falls in love with his married neighbor Aksinya Astakhova and because of her leaves his wife Natalya, whom he married at the insistence of his parents, Aksinya leaves her husband Stepan and they leave together with Grigory farm and go into service to the landowner. Gregory's fate involves wandering throughout Russia, participating in a civil war, where he sees the dirt of human relationships, blood, violence, death, which leads to complete discord in his soul: he does not know whose side to choose, whose worldview is more correct and how do not make a mistake in your choice. As a result, he returns home, where only his son Mishatka and his sister Dunya, who married his blood enemy, Commissar Mikhail Koshevoy, remain alive. According to literary scholars, the image of Gregory is the embodiment of the entire Russian people, their tragic fate during the period of revolutionary and subsequent civil bloodshed.

Other characters

Other characters surrounding Grigory Melekhov: parents, older brother Peter, the Astakhovs Aksinya and Stepan, Natalya, sister Dunyasha, daughter-in-law Daria and others are depicted with subtle psychologism, very brightly and texturedly. Female characters Natalya, Aksinya, Vasilisa Ilyinichna are collectively of all Russian women, they can be faithful wife, and a passionate lover, and a wise, forgiving mother who loves and pities all her children, regardless of their political views.

Features of compositional construction

The epic novel "Quiet Don" is an epic large-scale work, it depicts a large number of human destinies, unique and inimitable characters, rich crowd and group scenes, which embody the voice of the Russian people, reflecting on the importance of the changes taking place, their search for truth and justice. The main features of the novel are: epic work are:

• The novel covers a large time interval (from 1912 to 1922);
• Large quantities used characters representing the most diverse segments of the population (Cossacks, White Guards, Red Commissars, merchants, landowners, nobles, etc.);
• The presence in the novel of events that determined the future fate of Russia, the world and the Cossacks (the First World War and the Civil War, the October Revolution of 1917, the Kornilov rebellion, the uprising of General Kaledin, the Upper Don uprising);
• Merging of destinies ordinary people with events on a global scale, which together have become part of the general historical flow;
• The novel is monocentric - there is one main character, Grigory Melekhov, around whom the storyline develops.

The genre of "Quiet Don" can be attributed to various directions, such as historical realism, family romance, journalism, psychology, philosophy, the presence of such elements is observed literary art like drama, tragedy, poetry.

In the novel, the author touches on and brings to the surface a large number of problems that inevitably appear during periods of acute social upheaval: the tragic fate of people and their relatives during war and revolution, the inconsistency of troubled times, when people find themselves at a crossroads, not knowing whose side to take, the meaninglessness and cruelty of a fratricidal war, the tragedy of maternal feelings when parents are forced to bury their children, the problems of stratification of society, marital fidelity and devotion, betrayal and passion, and finally the collapse of the old habitual way of life and the birth of a new one. All these problems raised in the novel are so topical, eternal and universal that they make it truly the greatest literary work about the fate of the Russian people in a troubled, difficult and bloody time for all of Russia.

All four volumes of the epic novel enjoyed great success among readers, it was translated into many foreign languages, this work was produced in the territory Soviet Union multi-million circulation. Thanks to the combination of life truth and a certain amount of fiction, frank naturalism with poetic descriptions of nature, Cossack life and customs, the novel “Quiet Don” quickly became one of the most read literary works last century, and its author received global recognition and the Nobel Prize in 1958.

“Melekhovsky yard is on the very edge of the farm. The gates from the cattle base lead north to the Don. A steep eight-fathom descent between mossy green chalk blocks, and here is the shore: a pearly scattering of shells, a gray broken border of pebbles kissed by the waves, and then the stirrup of the Don boiling under the wind with blued ripples.<…>During the penultimate Turkish campaign, the Cossack Melekhov Prokofy returned to the farm.”

This is how the novel begins - Sholokhov's epic. From the Melekhov yard, from the great Cossack river - the Don.

Sholokhov Quiet Don Landscape

And at the very end - “The next morning he [Gregory] approached the Don opposite the Tatarsky farm. He looked at his home yard for a long time, turning pale with joyful excitement.<…>Below the farm he crossed the Don along the blue, corroded by rostepel, March ice, strode towards the house." Such a ring frame, associated with the Don and the Melekhovsky court, helps readers realize main idea great epic: the history of the Melekhovs carried across the fields, their fate broke them, trying to uproot them from this land, deprive them of their homeland forever. But she did not break the threads connecting the Melekhov family with the Don, with its endless steppes.

The title “Quiet Don” was given to the work for a reason - the word “quiet” in this title cannot be separated from “Don”. Having entered the title of an epic novel, it takes on a special meaning. Obviously, this is not only the name of the river, but also a symbol unbreakable connection of everything that happens on the lands around her, it contains the sound of nature that never ceases, always living nearby and inseparable from man. The landscapes of the great Don tell us how important images of nature are in the novel. Largest number lyrical digressions connected specifically with nature. And it is not just a background against which events unfold; nature is an independent hero of “Quiet Don”, with its own destiny and its own character.

ZeT. For the author, nature is a living and vibrant force. It is at the climax of the novel that a passionate appeal to the native steppe sounds: “Dear steppe!<…>Dear steppe under the low Don sky!<…>... I bow low and kiss yours like a son fresh soil, Don, Cossack, stainless steppe watered with blood!” Great River, the steppe, all the seasons in its vastness are not only aesthetically pleasing expressive paintings nature are accomplices in the labor cycle of the life of the peasantry, who live convincingly and equally on the pages of all the books of the epic novel.

All seasons are reproduced on the pages of the novel. IN landscape descriptions- the usual list of what the heroes observe every day: the sun, the month, the wind, the steppe, but each time the drawing is new, and you cannot find a case when this drawing does not echo the events in the world of the heroes of the epic. Moreover, this connection is obvious both on the scale of the entire Don and on the scale of individual destinies.

The sun rising over the Melekhov court, the Don, and the steppes is part of Sholokhov’s epic world, close to the passionate, stormy characters inhabiting this world. It is not just hot, southern, not like the northern sun, which pacifies rains and slush - Sholokhov’s sun has enormous power over the world, willingly and boldly “looks” at it, creates it: “Like an affectionate calf, the red, warmed sun nestled towards the thawed mound, and the earth swelled, on the chalk capes, bald patches flowing down from the Obdon hillock, the early grass turned green like malachite.” The sun not only influenced the state of the heroes, endowing them with the joys of spring or summer, making them either “warmer” or gloomily preoccupied, it itself succumbed to human influences: this sun is formidable, “independent,” but at the same time extremely sensitive. It “accepts” human anxieties, impulses, despairs, curses. So, in the final episode of the epic, when Grigory Melekhov silently, completely alone, buries Aksinya, buries one of his last hopes for a meaningful life that people need, his face was illuminated by “the black sky and the dazzlingly shining black disk of the sun.” And long before that, the sun will flash through the epic, having also absorbed another sadness - widows and orphans during the First World War: “The bloodless sun grinned like a widow, the strict virgin blue of the sky was repulsively pure, proud.”

“Quiet Don” is full of folklore; songs, ancient conspiracies, and epics wandering around the world are active in it. Proverbs and sayings, jokes and anecdotes, nicknames and teasers, riddles - all types of small forms of folk art are abundantly presented on the pages of the novel. A special place, of course, is occupied by songs: their lyrics themselves, and the story of how they are performed, and their obvious echoes lyric lines with the events of the novel. In the descriptions, the author actively uses metaphors, epithets, comparisons: “White-maned clouds raised by the wind,” “the winds are grazing in our fields,” “a stamped Cossack belt lay elegantly girded with the sky Milky Way", "saffron spill of sands".

The complete coverage of the pictures of nature, the accuracy of its reflection in all seasons, brings to “Quiet Don” the greatness of the epic, which strives for the breadth and accuracy of recreating the entire picture of the universe. The constant presence of the natural world signifies both the scale of the vision of the world and the desire to reflect it in all the interaction of complexities and circumstances.

“Quiet Don” is a book not only about the revolution, but about the years of the civil war. The enormous human content of this book prompts reflection on the eternal beauty of maternal feeling, on the power of female passion and fidelity in love, on paternal pride, on man’s eternal desire for happiness, on the suffering that falls to the human lot. The entire plot of the epic novel is built directly on those eternal laws of existence, which are dedicated to the entire essence of the Cossack family and their actions: land, freedom and love.