Tihi Don

1,415 Quiet Don (1928-1940) is a masterpiece by Mikhail Sholokhov and one of the most significant works of Russian literature of the 20th century. This monumental epic novel in four books depicts the dramatic fate of the Don Cossacks from 1912 to 1922 – from peaceful village life, through the horrors of World War I, the October Revolution and the bloody Civil War.

At the center of the story is Grigory Melekhov, a strong, passionate and tragic Cossack who struggles to find his way between the Whites and the Reds, between tradition and revolution, between love for Aksinya and duty to his family. Sholokhov masterfully paints a broad picture of Cossack life: their customs, pride, the wild nature of the Don, love dramas and the deep divisions brought about by the revolution.

This edition of Zabavna biblioteka from 1936 is one of the earliest Croatian (or Yugoslav) editions of Sholokhov's novel. Published only a few years after the first Russian edition, it testifies to the great interest in Soviet literature in Yugoslavia in the 1930s. The edition is popular, in typical Zabavna biblioteka style – accessible, readable and intended for a wide audience.

The novel is known for its exceptional epic power, rich language full of Cossack dialects, realistic depictions of war and the deep humanity with which the author portrays all sides of the conflict. Quiet Don is the work that brought Sholokhov world fame and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1965.