MIKHAIL SHOLOKHOV      Mikhail Sholokhov, one of the founding fathers of Soviet literature, was born on the Kruzhilin farm, in southern Russia, in 1905. A desire to study and a willingness to write drove 17-year-old Sholokhov to Moscow where he worked as a longshoreman, mason and book-keeper, read a lot and met with many poets and fiction writers. His stay in Moscow did him good. And even though he failed to get formal schooling, he worked hard studying Russian classical literature and reading books by modern authors. His first short stories came off print. They and his world renown novel "The Silent Don" focus on what happened in his home province in the wake of the October revolution of 1917. "The Silent Don" is an impressive panorama of of the most difficult period in national history - World War I, the October revolution and the civil war. Its last chapters were written in 1940, on the eve of another, the Great Patriotic, war. Sholokhov witnessed, as a military correspondent, heavy fighting near Smolensk and Rostov, and in Stalingrad before making it, together with the Soviet troops, into Germany. His short stories of the initial stage of the war were published in the pages of Moscow-based newspapers and read out in radio broadcasts. They showed how the people felt about the war, They proved the people knew were fighting for the right cause. Sholokhov's wartime sketches, his short story "The Science Of Hatred" the first chapters of his new novel "Fighting For The Motherland" raised troop morale and were appreciated by the civilians. The  war over, Sholokhov kept working on "Fighting For The Motherland" and another book, "Virgin Soil Upturned," which he started writing before the war and which focuses on what happened in the countryside in the first years of Soviet rule. He wrote, in addition to that, what is seen, worldwide, as one of the vividest reflections on World War II, "The Fate of A Man." Mikhail Sholokhov did much for the worldwide recognition of 20th century Russian literature. His speeches at literary gatherings and tours of foreign countries contributed to the promotion of relations with foreign cultural workers and fiction writers. Sholokhov held a high profile at home. His winning the Nobel prize for literature showed, in 1965, how high the world appreciated is writing.      Copyright © 2000 The Voice of Russia