“Food Commissioner” is a story by Russian Soviet writer Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov , written in 1924 .
| Food Commissioner | |
|---|---|
| Genre | story |
| Author | Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov |
| Original language | Russian |
| Date of writing | 1924 |
| Date of first publication | 1925 |
Content
Publication History
The story "Prodkomissar" was first published in the newspaper "Young Leninist", February 14, 1925 , No. 37. He was a part of the author's collections "Don Stories", ed. "New Moscow", M. 1926 and "Azure steppe. Don stories. 1923-1925 "( 1931 ).
At the beginning of 1924 under the name “The Beast” he was preparing for publication in the almanac of the group of writers “Young Guard”. Leaving Moscow for the Don, Sholokhov, worried about the fate of the manuscript, wrote on May 24, 1924, to the literary secretary of the almanac M. B. Kolosov:
| As for the story, I want to ask you and I think that you will not refuse a friendly request. Judging by your words, in my story "The Beast", in addition to the title and the end, everything is fine, I did not have the opportunity to correct it, because I did not see you ... but I think that you can fix it yourself is not difficult). Head the story at least “Okrprodkomissar Bodyagin”, trim the end to the next line, which describes the place where Teslenko and Bodyagin were killed. You did not understand the essence of the story. I wanted to show them that a man who killed his father in the name of the revolution and was considered a "beast" (of course, in the eyes of a slobbering intelligentsia), died by saving a child (a child, a boy, rode off). This is what I wanted to show, but maybe it didn’t work out for me. Nevertheless, I ardently protest against the expression: "neither ours, nor yours." The story definitely shoots at the target. Read it in its entirety to the editorial board, and there you can already remake it at your own discretion, nevertheless pining up my author's self [1] . |
Later Kolosov recalled:
| Our conversation took place by telephone (at that time Sholokhov was renting a room in the Moscow region) and the words “neither ours nor yours” I said not as mine, but as possible words of reviewers and editors of the publishing house. They can say that the food commissar is a Bolshevik who killed a class enemy, even if this is his own father, does not need to be justified by the fact that he loves children ... Moreover, they can also refer to the fact that police appeared in some pre-revolutionary works, cruelly cracking down on revolutionaries and at the same time caring for children. However, I did not consider that these objections could cause the refusal to print the story. But we should be prepared for such objections [2] . |
The almanac of the Young Guard did not come out in 1924 , and Kolosov recommended that Sholokhov be published in the newspaper Young Leninist.
Story
The plot of the work is based on the story of the district food commissar Bodyagin, who, after returning to his native village six years later, learned that his father was an enemy of the Soviet regime. For resisting the delivery of bread, his father was shot. But Bodyagin himself, along with commandant Teslenko, perishes at the hands of the rebelled Cossacks, while saving a boy freezing in the steppe.
About the story
The story reflects the facts of the writer’s biography of the period 1921-1922, at the time of his service as clerk at the procurement office No. 32 of the Don Regional Food Committee in the village of Karginskaya and the inspector in the village of Bukanovskaya. Sholokhov then took part in the fight against banditry in the Upper Don as part of self-defense and food detachments. According to the local historian and writer G. Ya. Sivovolov , in the description of the village in "Prodkomissar" Karginskaya is guessed:
| And again under the nameless village Karginskaya is easily guessed. The mound where the father of Bodyagin was shot was located outside the village, two hundred meters from the courtyard of Martin Kovalev. It was a small ravine in which the inhabitants of the village for many years dug white clay for whitewashing chickens and sheds ... The windmill mentioned in the story with ragged tarpaulin bushes on the wings stood near the clay. On the other side of the village is a mountain cut by deep gullies and ravines. On it with a hollow bald head rises the familiar Sand Mound. Behind this mountain, three miles from the village on the road to Vyoshenskaya, the Cossack rebels overtook Bodyagin and Teslenko [3] . |
Characters
- Bodyagin Ignat - the main character of the story, the district food commissioner. Six years later, he comes to his native village to requisition bread and witnesses the death of his father-fist. In the finale, he dies at the hands of the rebelled Cossacks, before which he saves a freezing child.
- Regional Food Commissioner - appoints Bodyagin as the District Food Commissar.
- Ignat Bodyagin’s father is a stanitsa fist, campaigning for the Cossacks at the gathering not to hand over bread. Shot at the verdict of the tribunal.
- The president of the tribunal is a nameless character, a former cooper. Sentencing the execution of father Ignat Bodyagin.
- An orphan is a boy whom Ignat Bodyagin saves by giving him his horse.
- Teslenko is the commandant of the tribunal. He shoots the father of Ignat Bodyagin and dies at the hands of the rebelled Cossacks.
- The owner of the apartment is the nameless owner where Ignat Bodyagin stops. Tells him about his father.
Adaptations
Based on the stories “Kolovert”, “Wormhole” and “Prodcomissar” by Mikhail Sholokhov in 1970, the film “In the Azure Steppe” was shot at the Mosfilm film studio . Directed by V. Ya. Lonskoi, V. G. Shamshurin. Script by Yu. B. Lukin, V. Lonsky and V. Shamshurin.
Literature
- Sivovolov, G. Ya. Mikhail Sholokhov: Pages of a biography.― Rostov n / a.: Prince. Publishing House, 1995.― 350 s. ISBN 5-7509-0244-7 .
- Sholokhov, M.A .: Stories.― M.: Bustard: Veche, 2002.― 320 p. ― (Library of Russian Classical Fiction). ISBN 5-7107-6865-0 ("Bustard"); ISBN 5-7838-1229-3 (Veche).
- Sholokhov Encyclopedia / Coll. authors; chapters. ed. Yu.A. Dvoryashin; entry Art. M.M. Sholokhov. - M .: SINERGIA Publishing House, 2013. - 1216 pp., Ill. ISBN 978-5-94238-022-9 .
Notes
- ↑ Letters. S. 8
- ↑ Vyoshenskaya // Moskovskaya Pravda, 1985 .-- May 24. - S. 3
- ↑ Sivovolov, G.Ya. Mikhail Sholokhov: Pages of a biography. ― Rostov n / A: Prince. Publishing House, 1995.P. 276