Stalin's Scribe: Literature, Ambition, and Survival: The Life of Mikhail Sholokhov

(Paperback)

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A masterful and definitive biography of one of the most misunderstood and controversial writers in Russian literature.

Mikhail Sholokhov is arguable one of the most contentious recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature. As a young man, Sholokhovs epic novel, Quiet Don, became an unprecedented overnight success. Stalins Scribe is the first biography of a man who was once one of the Soviet Unions most prominent political figures. Thanks to the opening of Russias archives, Brian Boeck discovers that Sholokhovs official Soviet biography is actually a tangled web of legends, half-truths, and contradictions. Boeck examines the complex connection between an author and a dictator, revealing how a Stalinist courtier became an ideological acrobat and consummate politician in order to stay in favor and remain relevant after the dictators death.

Stalin's Scribe is a remarkable biography that both reinforces and clashes with our understanding of the Soviet system. It reveals a Sholokhov who is bold, uncompromising, and sympatheticand reconciles him with the vindictive and mean-spirited man described in so many accounts of late Soviet history. Shockingly, at the height of the terror, which claimed over a million lives, Sholokhov became a member of the most minuscule subset of the Soviet Unions populationthe handful of individuals whom Stalin personally intervened to save.

Reviews

"Boeck displays his wide range of knowledge of the Soviet Union and delivers an insightful, gripping, squirm-inducing portrait of a great author who loyally served his government--perhaps too loyally." --Kirkus Reviews

"Excellent. Boeck has written more than a biography of a single writer; he also grants us unexpected insights into the minds of two of the most important Soviet leaders."--Robert Chandler, The Financial Times

"A provocative and sympathetic new biography. No small achievement." --The Washington Post

Author Bio

Brian J. Boeck holds a PhD in Russian history from Harvard University and have taught Russian and Soviet history for over a decade at DePaul University. He is the author of Imperial Boundaries (Cambridge) and lives in Chicago, Illinois.