Sholokhov, Mikhail, << SHAW lo kawf, mih kah EEL >> (1905-1984), a Soviet writer, received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1965. Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov was born on May 24, 1905, in Veshenskaya, a Cossack village in southwestern Russia. He won fame for novels and stories describing the life and people of his native region. His best-known work is the four-volume historical novel The Quiet Don (1928-1940). This epic story describes the effects of the Russian Revolution of 1917, and of the civil war that followed, on the lives of the Don Cossacks. Sholokhov also wrote Virgin Soil Upturned (1932, 1955-1960), a two-volume novel about the problems of Don Cossacks living on collective farms. His early works include the short-story collections Tales of the Don (1925) and The Azure Steppe (1926). He died on Feb. 21, 1984. See also Russian literature (The period of Socialist Realism) .
