And Quiet Flows the Don
Mikhail Sholokhov’s epic novel And Quiet Flows the Don is one of the most significant and monumental works in Russian literature. It brought the author the Nobel Prize in Literature and worldwide recognition; the novel has been adapted for film multiple times and translated into many languages. The first three volumes were published between 1928 and 1932, when the young author was not yet thirty years old; the fourth volume appeared in 1940. The events of And Quiet Flows the Don unfold against the backdrop of pivotal moments in Russian history — the First World War and the Russian Civil War — which transformed not only the centuries-old way of life of the Don Cossacks but also the face of the entire country.