Pasternak was one of the most famous authors in Russia. Stalin
called writers the engineers of the soul and thought they had the special task
of conveying communism and the love for the Revolution in their works. Writers
who did not follow that line, were persecuted, especially during Stalin’s Great
Terror.
Pasternak was not following the party line, but mostly
he was left in peace.
In 1956 an
Italian correspondent of Radio Moscow visited Pasternak. He had heard the rumors Pasternak had written a novel
and he wanted to ask if an Italian publisher could publish it. Giangiacomo Feltrinelli from Milano came from
a rich family, but during WWII he became a communist. When he began his
publishing house, he wanted to publish new and intellectual challenging books.
Pasternak did write a new novel, about a young doctor
who fell in love with another woman during the Russian Revolution, but is was
ignored by Russian publishers. The book never mentioned how wonderful the
Revolution had been and communism was hardly mentioned. Doctor Zhivago was mostly about an individual, but Pasternak wrote it in a time and a
state where individuals were not very important.
Boris Pasternak gave his manuscript to the Italian and agreed
to have his work published by Feltrinelli. There would also be English
translation.
In the meantime, the CIA also heard about the book and they were interested. They often used books to try to influence the public opinion in Russia and they thought Doctor Zhivago was very suited to their goal.
Very quickly an English translation was made, just in time for the World Exhibition in Brussels. From the pavilion of the Vatican the work was distributed amongst the Russian visitors, who took it back home to Russia.
The Russian
authorities were not pleased and the accused Pasternak of betraying his country, he was even threatened with
deportation. His fellow-writers hastened to distance themselves from Pasternak and he was thrown out of the
Writers league.
This
campaign intensified when Pasternak
received the Nobel prize for literature in 1957 and he finally had to refuse
it, although it had made him very happy to have won.
His health
deteriorated and in 1960 he died. No official statement was given by the
authorities and his death was ignored. Notification of his funeral was passed
around with notes at the trainstation and on lampposts etc. Thousands of
people finally turned up to pay their respects to one of Russia’s greatest
writers.
Only in the eighties it was safe to read Doctor Zhivago in Russia.
The Zhivago affair was written by the Dutch Petra Couvée, who teaches Dutch at the university of St. Petersburg, and Peter Finn, an American journalist. Both published articles about Doctor Zhivago before and decided to work together and combine their research for this book.
The Zhivago affair is a very interesting and readable book, full of details, about a fascinating piece of history. And it also gives a very good portrait of Boris Pasternak.
Published in 2014
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