Background

Mikhail Sholokov is another in the long line of Eastern European writers who I had never heard about before starting this project because, well, that’s how Western education rolls. Sholokov was born in a rural portion of Russia known as “the Don” after the local river. That was about all he seemed to need in life. He fought in the army, made powerful friends, but his life and his work eternally revolved around his humble farmland beginnings and everyone around him.

However, those powerful friends and patrons push him into a slightly different realm that he might have liked. One of Sholokov’s friends was Joseph Stalin (who made time for some light reading while organizing a despotic regime that murdered approximately 9 Million critics and opponents). Sholokov used his influence with old Joe to earn concessions for his community, justice for persecuted neighbors, and punishment for the corrupt (and in one case–defending the local XI from having their best player abducted by CSKA Moscow). However, he didn’t exactly kick up a fuss about the wider injustices (if it wasn’t in the Don, for Sholokov, it wasn’t on). It’s hard to tell whether his closeness with Stalin encouraged soviet government, newspapers and schools to lift him up to the position of a laureate, or if those who opposed Stalin kept him off of shelves and confined to a controversial corner where he was accused of plagiarism.

Either way, Sholokov won the 1965 Nobel Prize for giving “expression to a historic phase in the life of the Russian people” through his work Quiet Flows the Don.

Works

From “Family Man” a short story of a father who fought with the Tsar’s forces against his own sons who had left home to join the Soviets. In this scene, the father Mikishara narrates what happens when he finds his son as a prisoner of war among his own battalion.

“The Cossacks roar with laughter.

” ‘Make them soak in their own blood Mikishara! It is obvious you’re taking pity on him, on your own Danilka. Strike him again or we’ll make your blood flow!’

“The captain came out on the porch; he was swearing but his eyes were laughing. When they began to slash them with their bayonets, my heart couldn’t bear it. I started running down the street. I looked back and saw them rolling my Danilushka on the ground. The sergeant stuck his bayonet in his throat but only Khrr came out”

Message

In both his work and his life, Sholokov’s devotion and dedication to Cossaks on the Don (both good and bad) brings to mind so many specifics that outsiders are left only to observe and ponder the culture. If I were to extrapolate that out into a message I might say “Live locally. It’s the immediate that matters.”

Position: #4 Center Back

There’s a lot in the plot of Quiet Flows the Don that reminds me of Tolstoy’s epics, albeit without the bourgeoise or occasional redeeming features of the protagonist. To be fair, I watched the 1957 adaptation rather than reading the book, but in small selections and a conversation with a former Russian student it sure seems to be an accurate adaptation of both tone and characters. With that Tolstoy-lite label and the uncertainty over his authorship or willingness to approve of Stalin’s worst traits, I’m left shrugging. Sholokov would clearly care about defending his territory, but he also seems like a player who has the unswerving allegiance of the coach without a whole lot of reason why.

So there you have it, an ultra HOT TAKE (about an author who has been dead for forty years). Feel free to challenge me in the comments below. (Also, I know that my numbers/colors aren’t matching for Sholokov…but until such time as someone tells me it matters, I’m going to show myself some grace and let it be)

Next Time, 1985 Honoree Claude Simon

Hooray a representative of Africa! And he’s…no…wait…white again.

Background

Gabriela Mistral started out as a girl in the small Chilean village of Montegrande. Or rather, Lucia Godoy Alcayaga did. Lucia didn’t become Gabriela until afteer she turned 19 and began to publish regularly. She chose to take the pseudonym that honored her favorite poets: Gabrielle D’Anunzio and Frederic Mistral (HEY! We know him!)

Unsurprisingly, poetry didn’t pay the bills at first and she began a teaching career (so there’s hope for me to write one of these about myself yet). As a teacher Mistral ran across another young Chilean poet who will get his own entry in a few years: Pablo Neruda. When her renown as a poet grew, she left the classrooms and entered a variety of embassies all around the word. (Which was probably for hte best given Chile’s history of brutal dictatorships…distance was probably for the best).

Living the rest of her life as an exile, she did make good friends in a variety of literary circles until 1945 when she became the first Latin American to become a literature laureate “for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world”.

Works

All selections taken from Mistral’s Madwomen collection–translated by Randall Couch

“When I walk all the things
of the earth awaken,
and they rise up and whisper
and it’s their stories that they tell.

And the peoples who wander
leave them for me on the road
and I gather them where they’ve fallen
in cocoons made of footprints

Stories run through my body,
or purr in my lap.
They buzz, boil, and bee-drone
They come to me uncalled
and don’t leave once told.”

—“The Storyteller”

“In a whirlwind she would rule
over meals and linens
the winepress and beehives
the minute, the hour and the day…

And wherever they went, all things
voiced a wounded cry to her:
crockery, latches, doors,
as to their bellweather;
and for her sister they grew hushed,
spinning tears and Ave Maria”

–Martha and Mary

Message

In an evergreen theme, Mistral’s topic throughout her Madwomen’s poems seems to challenge the presumptions endemic to humanity. To all the men in government, academia, literature and life write large the women who would be named “the poet of motherhood” seems to say “there’s more complexity in our lives than you are ready to behold”

Position: #6 Defensive Midfield

Like thee friend she made on her diplomatic tour, WB Yeats, Mistral seems to have a split view of the craft. She keeps one foot in the past with her style, structure and symbolism, and another foot on the gas with novel and innovative themes and expressions. To my mind that makes her a good choice for a defensive midfielder. She’s absolutely valuable, but a little too stiff for my tastes.

Try as I might to read this in Spanish most of the ideas slipped through my fourth grade level understanding of the language. If you have a different point of view or would encourage me to read another translation, let me know in the comments below.

Next Time, 1965 Honoree Mikhail Sholokov

Background

George Bernard Shaw is one of the true rarities in this project. A long and fruitful career writing, primarily, comedies! Despite his strength in the genre, his childhood was not a laugh riot. Shaw and his family dealt with numbing poverty and deep loss, but Shaw found a way to educate himself by lurking in museums and reading rooms in Dublin and then London before becoming a writer.

While his novels never gained a footing, his time as an art and drama critic gave him great insight into the revolution on the stage started by Henrik Ibsen in Norway. Soon, he was writing his own dramas and filling theaters in London. From there he began a long and storied career as a critic, wit, essayist, and thinker, capturing much of the old world and its conflict with the modern replacement

Works

Soldiering, my dear madam, is the coward’s art of attacking mercilessly when you are strong, and keeping out of harm’s way when you are weak.

–Arms and the Man

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.

—The Devil’s Disciple

Message

As someone who often felt a bit out of step with the educated and wealthy elites he joined, Shaw certainly had a pattern. In the works I read (slash listened to thanks to great series of plays from LA Theater works), and those I know from years of being a nerd, Shaw loves a story where a privileged few see their world and sense of self upended by an outsider: the enemy soldier in Arms and the Man; the prodigal son in The Devil’s Disciple; the cockney flower girl who rises in society in Pygmalion (or its more famous adaptation: My Fair Lady); or, my favorite example, the Polish daredevil who literally crash lands in an English greenhouse (Misalliance). In all these, his overarching theme seems to be outsiders often understand our communities better than we do.

How exactly he could write so many texts with the same theme and yet be a supporter of genocide and antisemitic, I don’t know.

Position: #10 Attacking Midfield

Like his fellow playwright, big thinker, and questionable human, Jean-Paul Sartre, I would slot Shaw as a #10 creative attacking midfielder. Naturally, dramatists have a tendency to control all the action and make suggestions for everything that happens in the story (even if living people bring it to life). Shaw also checks boxes as a creative and crowd pleasing talent, even if he does have some pretty clear tendancies and habits. Clearly, Shaw gets aggressive in how he skewers the rich and powerful, a style born out in his preferred sport (not soccer but boxing).

To be frank, I rated Shaw’s strength in midfield before I found out about his political…uh…jackassery. But I think the ranking holds as his work as a writer undercuts his own views (rather than amplifying his worst opinions…looking at you Wladyslaw Reymont).

If you’d like to dispute this, my standing offer to join the conversation stands. Comment below if Shaw should step up to the top of the midfielder rankings or slide more than I considered.

Next Time, 1945 Honoree Gabriela Mistral

Background

Bertha Von Suttner was the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. While she was broadly active in the peace movement (especially for a woman in the 19th century), the Nobel website specifically cites her book Lay Down Your Arms as a major factor in winning her the award. With that in mind I chose to add her to the Nobel FC roster. If you don’t like that…please write something…I’m afraid I’m a nutcase creating a truly bizarre alternate reality of soccer and books.

Anyway…back to Bertha. She grew up in Austria as the daughter of soldiers and nobility, which accounts for her liberty to read, write, and travel as a woman of leisure. However, she ultimately entered the workforce as a governess/tutor to another Austrian family with a long military pedigree. She later was briefly the secretary for Alfred Nobel, you know, they guy who founded all these prizes. She ultimately eloped with the son of her tutoring family (before you ask, no, this was not a Lifetime movie, he was never her tutee and was 23 when they met). And they lived apart from the family making ends meet through tutoring and freelance writing.

Eventually reunited with their Austrian family, Bertha found new work in advocating for peace. As the popularity of her other writing grew Bertha was invited to speak more frequently and when she published the novel that played a major part in winning the peace prize: Lay Down Your Arms which became a bit of a cultural craze in 1890s Europe. Bertha, who had already been active in the peace movement, became a leading figure (one called her The Generalissimo of Peace). She also travelled broadly in support of Women’s Rights (including speaking at a conference organized by a group that employed my favorite peace advocate…future Montana Congress Woman Jeanette Rankin)

Works

“Your ‘yes’ [vote for war] will rob that mother of her only child. Yours will put that poor fellow’s eyes out. Yours will set fire to a collection of books which cannot be replaced. Yours will dash out the brains of a poet who would have been the glory of his country. But you have all voted ‘yes’ to this, just in order not to appear cowards, as if the only thing one had to fear in giving assent was what regards onesself“
—Lay Down Your Arms

“The village is ours–no it is the enemy’s–now ours again–and yet once more the enemy’s; but it is no longer a village, but a smoking mass of the ruins of houses”
—Lay Down Your Arms

Message

Obviously, as a pacifist and an activist, Bertha had a clear moral she wanted to communicate to the masses. She also has a tendency to hammer on the same point and demolish the same straw men arguments with the fervor of a scarecrow demolition crew. Still, within her context it’s really worth considering Bertha’s specific position that expanded the peace debate, namely: war and violence spread destruction far beyond the battlefield. That seemingly simple fact is often ignored by those who valorize battle.

Position: #1 Goalkeeper

Bertha can easily be minimized as just a pacifist, but she does her very best to broaden her position and stands her ground against a much more aggressive opponent. To me, that’s a great synopsis of a goalkeeper’s duty. Her most acclaimed novel covers a lot of ground and refuses to let other opinions just slide by, so I’m going to put her between the posts and let her do her thing. (I’m also going to continue my Jeanette Rankin shoutouts by putting her in the Garnet and Silver of Montana…and I fully expect the Griz staff could make even a 180 year old Baroness an effective shot-stopper.)

So there’s a big shout out to Bertha, if you prefer her poetry or insist that she be moved to the attack, let me know in the comments below. Come on…for my sanity at least.

Next Time, 1925 Honoree George Bernard Shaw

Background

Henryk Sienkewicz grew up within a revolutionary family in Poland in the middle of the 19th Century, and learned how to match his father’s political beliefs with his mother’s passion for history. He spent a lot of time in the library, but this curiosity did not translate to a love of school. He left college early to write full time. After successful short stories, he started writing about his experience traveling the world (including into the United States, a rarity for the time).

After returning to Poland and starting a family, he started writing full length novels including a historical trilogy about life in Poland a hundred years before (creatively titled: The Trilogy), but his most popular and enduring work came ten years before his Nobel with the book Quo Vadis. His talents were so impressive, that he won the Nobel for, simply put “his outstanding merits as an epic writer”. As if that wasn’t enough, the people in Poland took up a collection to buy his family’s old castle for him.

Works

““It seemed that out of every tear of a martyr new confessors were born, and that every groan on the arena found an echo in thousands of breasts. Caesar was swimming in blood, Rome and the whole pagan world was mad.”
—Quo Vadis (all of these are from Quo Vadis)

“Why does crime, even when as powerful as Cæsar, and assured of being beyond punishment, strive always for the appearances of truth, justice, and virtue? Why does it take the trouble?”
—Insert trenchant current event observation here

“For when a man is in a book-shop, curiosity seizes him to look here and there.”
—This may also serve as my life’s motto

“A home without a book is darker than one without a lamp.”

Message

Having read that most popular novel, one that captures the conflict between a brutal Roman Empire and the fledging Christian church, I was shocked at how much a 130 year old Polish man captured my sense of faith. Above all, faith requires just that: faith. There has never been and never will be an easy answer for those confronting the conflict between ideals and life. Simply appreciating that struggle both around and inside you is worthwhile.

Position: #5 Center Back

Sienkewicz is probably my favorite century old writer that I’ve come across, and while his books really are epic sized, his style is wonderfully simple and direct, with just the expected touch of violence. As such, he seems to me like a no-nonsense, efficient defender, and one who could be mature and kind hearted enough to be team captain like Michael Boxall is.

Here’s my traditional request for you to engage with this blog beyond clicking the like button. Have you read the author? Do you love soccer? Any and all comments welcomed!

Next Time: Special Bonus Laureate!! 1905 Peace Honoree Bertha Von Suttner

(The only non literature laureate who was given their award specifically for writing a book)