''The Road to Calvary'' (russian: Хождение по мукам, Khozhdeniye po mukam, Walking Through Torments), also translated as ''Ordeal'', is a

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s by

Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (russian: link= no, Алексей Николаевич Толстой; – 23 February 1945) was a Russian writer who wrote in many genres but specialized in science fiction and historical novels. Despite having ...

, tracing the fate of the Russian

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...

on the eve of, during, and after the

revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

. It consists of the novels ''Sisters'' (1918–1922; «Сёстры»), ''The Eighteenth Year'' (1927–1928; «Восемнадцатый год») and ''Gloomy Morning'' (1940–1941; «Хмурое утро»). The first part was written for the ''

émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French ''émigrer'', "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Huguenots fled France followi ...

'' readers, while the rest was written as a work of

Socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...

Background

The first part, ''Sisters'', was written from 1918 to 1920, during the author's emigration, while the rest he wrote after his return to Soviet Russia. The novel ''Sisters'' was published in the

White émigré White Russian émigrés were Russians who emigrated from the territory of the former Russian Empire in the wake of the Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and who were in opposition to the revolutionary Bolshevik commun ...

journals ''Gryadushchaya Rossiya'' and ''

Sovremennye zapiski ' (russian: Современные записки, "Contemporary Papers") was a politicized literary journal published from 1920 to 1940. A group of adherents of the Russian Socialist-Revolutionary Party launched the journal during the Russian Civ ...

'' under the title ''Walking Through Torments''. In 1941, after the start of the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

, Tolstoy reworked the 2 first parts and wrote the third one as works of

socrealism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...

.Neil Cornwell, Reference Guide to Russian Literature
Routledge, 2013, , 810 p.

Plot

In the first chapters of the epic,

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

is shown in the beginning of 1914. Sisters Dasha and Ekaterina (Katya) Bulaviny, originally from

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...

, are carried away by the poet-decadent Bessonoff. Katya is married to Smokovnikov, a lawyer, and has an illicit affair behind his back. Over time, Ekaterina Dmitrievna falls in love with officer Vadim Petrovich Roshchin, and Dasha with Ivan Ilyich Telegin, an engineer at the Baltic plant.

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, two revolutions and civil war carry the four main characters to different corners of the country. Their paths intersect more than once and again diverge. Roshchin joins the

Volunteer Army The Volunteer Army (russian: Добровольческая армия, translit=Dobrovolcheskaya armiya, abbreviated to russian: Добрармия, translit=Dobrarmiya) was a White Army active in South Russia during the Russian Civil War from ...

, and Telegin joins the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

. At the end of the war, all four meet in the capital of Soviet Russia, where in the presence of

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

and

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

they enthusiastically listen to

Gleb Krzhizhanovsky Gleb Maximilianovich Krzhizhanovsky (russian: Глеб Максимилианович Кржижановский; 24 January 1872 – 31 March 1959) was a Soviet scientist, statesman, revolutionary, Old Bolshevik, and state figure as well as a ge ...

's historic report on the

GOELRO plan GOELRO (russian: link=no, ГОЭЛРО) was the first Soviet plan for national economic recovery and development. It became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plans drafted by Gosplan. GOELRO is the transliteration of the Russian abbreviation ...

Awards

For his trilogy Alexey Tolstoy was awarded the

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

of the first degree in the amount of 100,000 rubles on March 19, 1943, which he transferred to the Defense Fund for the construction of the tank "Grozny" (

T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against Anti-tank warfare, anti-tan ...

No. 310-0929).

Adaptations

* ''The Road to Calvary'' — Soviet three-part feature film (1957-1959) * ''The Road to Calvary'' — Soviet 13-episode miniseries (1977) * ''

The Road to Calvary ''The Road to Calvary'' (russian: Хождение по мукам, Khozhdeniye po mukam, Walking Through Torments), also translated as ''Ordeal'', is a trilogy of novels by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, tracing the fate of the Russian intelligen ...

'' — Russian 12-episode miniseries (2017)

Background

Plot

Awards

Adaptations

References

Further reading