The most celebrated of Russian novelists. MIKHAIL SHOLOKHOV made his reputation with his powerful classic AND QUIET FLOWS THE DON. The first volume of his second big novel, VIRGIN SOIL UPTURNED, dealing with collectivization among the Cossacks ,appeared in 1932. The concluding volume, from which this present episode is taken, has only recently been completed. His books are published in America by Alfred A. Knopf.
Generally regarded an the foremost novelist in the Soviet Union, MIKHAIL SHOLOKHOV has done most of his writing about the Don River region, where he makes his home. His two big novels, AND QUIET FLOWS THE DON and THE DON FLOWS HOME TO THE SEA, present a picture of the Cossack life and people before, during, and after the 1917 Revolution. He is presently engaged in writing a powerful new trilogy, VIRGIN SOIL UPTURNED, (he second volume of which has raised considerable controversy in the Soviet Union. The short story which follows, and which is so symbolic of Russia’s attitude toward Germany, has just been reproduced in remarkably moving Russian film.