Boris Pasternak (Russia, 1890-1962)

Boris Pasternak
Figure 1.-- Soviet author Boris Leonidovich Pasternak came from an artistic family in Tsarist Russia. He was the oldest child of painter Leonid Pasternak (1862-1945) and concert pianist Roza Kaufman. His father was well known for illustrating Tolstoy's novels. Boris was born in Moscow (1890). Here we have the portrait of Boris drawn by his father. Thes drawing (black crayon on white paper) was done July 20, 1898. Boris was 8 years old. Source: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Soviet author Boris Leonidovich Pasternak came from an artistic family in Tsarist Russia. He was the oldest child of painter Leonid Pasternak (1862-1945) and concert pianist Roza Kaufman. His father was well known for illustrating Tolstoy's novels. Boris was born in Moscow (1890). Boris grew up among in the artistic center of Tsarist society. Tolstoy was a close family friend. Here we have the portrait of Boris drawn by his father (figure 1). The drawing (black crayon on white paper) was done July 20, 1898. Boris was 8 years old. Pasternak's attended a German Gymnasium in Moscow and then the University of Moscow. Influence by composer Scriabin, Pasternak, Pasternak at first prepared for a career in musical composition (1904-10). He finally decided that his calling was literature. Then came World War I and the Russian Revolution. Writing was a dangerous career choice after Stalin seized control of the Party and state. Pasternak seems to have steered clear of trouble by focusing primarily on non-political verse and doing translations. Trouble began irionically after Stalin's death. Pasternak wrote his masterpiece, Dr. Zivago, but realizing it could not be published in the Soviet Union, had it smuggled out to the West. It was published in Italy (1957). It was immediately seen as a great piece of work in the West. The Soviet people knew nothing about it, but Soviet officials were outraged. Pasternak's book is not like Solzenitzen's Gulag Archipelago, an indictment of the Soviet Union. It does, however, include criticisms of the Soviet Union. And in the Soviet Union, criticism was something not well received. Under Stalin it meant the Gulag or even a summary execultion. Even after Stalin it meant and end to a writer's professional life. Pasternak was honored with a Nobel Prize for literature (1958). Soviet authorities using the KGB mounted a campaign against him. He was forced to decline the prize. The result did not diminish Pasternak's reputation, but it did badly tarnish the reputation of the Soviet Union among often fawning European intelectuals. Pasternak today stands at the pinacle of Soviet literature and Dr. Zivago ranks wih the great 19th century Russian novels. The story of the novel is a fascinating Cold War story and the author actually caught between East and West.

Family

Soviet author Boris Leonidovich Pasternak came from an artistic family in Tsarist Russia. He was the oldest child of painter Leonid Pasternak (1862-1945) and concert pianist Roza Kaufman. His father was well known for illustrating Tolstoy's novels.

Childhood

Boris was born in Moscow (1890). Boris grew up among in the artistic center of Tsarist society. Tolstoy was a close family friend. Here we have the portrait of Boris drawn by his father (figure 1). The drawing (black crayon on white paper) was done July 20, 1898. Boris was 8 years old at the time.

Education

Pasternak's attended a German Gymnasium in Moscow and then the University of Moscow. Influence by composer Scriabin, Pasternak, Pasternak at first prepared for a career in musical composition (1904-10).

Career

He finally decided that his true calling was literature. Then came World War I and the Russian Revolution. Writing was a dangerous career choice after Stalin seized control of the Party and state. Pasternak seems to have steered clear of trouble by focusing primarily on non-political verse and doing translations. He became a prominent Soviet poet. While poetry has declined in the West as an art fotm, it was a highly respected Sovietgenre. Trouble began irionically after Stalin's death.

The Doctor's Plot (1953)

The Doctor's Plot concocted by Stalin had a profound impact on Pasternak. The author lmost died of a heart attack (1952). He had the time was forced to face his mortality and though for a time that he would die. Dr. Miron Vovsi, a Jewish doctor, saved his life. Pasterna=k subsequently learned that Dr. Vovsi was arrested by the NKVS amnd mersilessly tortured as part of the Doctor's Plot--Stalin's conoction to justify a major campaign against Soviet Jews. (Ironically the ansence of medical treatment in part because of the ampaign would play a role in Stalin's death).

Dr. Zivago

Dr. Zivago is a love story which of course to the KGB's horror made it perfect for a block-buster Hollywood movie. It is the story of the life and loves of a higly idealistic and innkcnt poet/physician which of course is how Pasternak saw himself. He had started medical studies as a youth. It begins in Tsarist Russia at the eve of the Revolition. It them continues into the Revolution and Russian Civil War, a terrible times for ordinary Russians. Conditions deteriorated in Moscow. Zivago takes his family from Moscow to what he hopes will be shelter in the remote Ural Mountains. There Zhivago rather than safety, finds himself caught up in the battle between the Whites and the Reds. The book describes the cruelty and strife of the Civil War as well as his love for the beautiful Lara, contrasting so sharply with the cruelty and chaos of the events swirling around them. He writes about the dreadful famine which gripped large areas of Russia. Not mentioned is the degree the Bolsheviks were involved in creating famine conditions in White controlled areas or areas deemed sympthetic to the Whites. He also does not mntion the millions of Russians saved by American food aid, something few Russians today know about.

Publication in the West: The Zivago Affair (1957-59)

After Stalin's death and the relative loosening of police state controls, convinced Pasternak that he could proceed with a literary project that had been percolating in his mind for some time. He had been afraid to actually write anything down, but now felt free to do so. He tried to publish it in the Soviet Union. It soon became clear that it wa impossible. The editorial board of the imprtant literary journal Novyi Mir sharply critized the book. This meant it could not be published in the Soviet Union. Pasternak because he did not want what he saw as his masterwork, and as it turned out rightly so, to be his masterwork, to be lost, decided to consider punlishing in the wet. This was not theoretically a violation of oviet law, but before Stalin's death, would have meant arrest ans possibly death. It was still very dangerous even after the post-Stalin thaw. A Italian Communist, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, visited Pasternak after Khrushchev's 'Secret Speech' denouncing Stalin at the 20th Party Congress. Feltrinelli travelled the world and established links with various radical Third World leaders and guerrilla movements always with the idea of literary works to publish. It was Feltrinelli who was behinf the iconic photo of Che Guevara now an important part of revolutionary chic. Feltrinelli later died under suspious circumstances, possibly a KGB victim.) Feltrinelli knew about the Secret Speech and we think about Pasternak's manuscript. Pasternak decided to entrust his manuscript to Feltrinelli. Feltrinelli published the book in Italy (1957). But the manuscript had taken on a life of its owm. Copies circulated, making their way from Milan to Amsterdam and New York. It was there that the CIA became aware of it. The CIA decided to finance the publication of a Russian edition which they hoped might seep into the Soviet Union and an English translation. [Filnn and Couvée] CIA Directir Allen Dulles regarded it as real coup and indeed it proved more iportant than he ever imnzgined, especially after Hollywood released a block-buster movie.

Western Reaction

Before Dr. Zivago, Pasternak was unknown in the West. He immediately became a celebrated artist. His book was instantly seen as a great piece of work in the West. This began a Cold War episode that strached from his pleant dacha, to the Moscow Kremlin, and the CIA in Langley. Pasternak and Dr. Xivago became the center of a Cold War struggle that he never intended.

KGB Campaign

The Soviet people knew nothing about the book or its publication, but Soviet officials were outraged. Pasternak's book is not like Solzenitzen's Gulag Archipelago, an indictment of the Soviet Union. It does, however, include criticisms of the Soviet Union. And in the Soviet Union, criticism was something not well received. Under Stalin it meant the Gulag or even a summary execultion. Even after Stalin it meant and end to a writer's professional life. Pasternak was honored with a Nobel Prize for literature (1958). Soviet authorities using the KGB mounted a campaign against him and refused to allow him to accept the honor.

Cold War Impact

The KGB forced Pasternak to decline the prstigious Nobel Prize for literature. The result did not diminish Pasternak's reputation, but actually made it. But it did badly tarnish the reputation of the Soviet Union among often fawning European intelectuals. The book itself was bad enough for the Soviets, but their campaign against the author and then the Hollywood film turned the whole affair intoi a public relations disaster. Even non-intelectuals seeing the film had to ask quetions about the soviet message and he musseling of free expression in the soviet Union.

Impact on Pasternak

Pasternak was personally overwealmed by the KGB reaction. He was by n means a disident. He was just an author who wanted his ork published and did not fully understand that honest discussion would be preceived as a threat to the state. He did not really object the Soviet state's mission to build a more humane society, but he though that the Soviet people should be entitled to honestly discuss how that mission had been conducted. He thought as a part of his own personal kidenity tht he had a right to discuss such issues in his work. In fact he was pulled by contradictory loyalties to the Soviet state and its mission and hisown personal idenity nd intgrity as an artist. [Filnn and Couvée] Pasternak was never able to write about the experiebce, he was already in enough trouble with the KGB. He did express his situation in his poetry. He wrote a poem about the whole experience. He wrore dispaingly that he was 'lost like a beast in an enclosure' and that 'there wa no way out'. [Pasternak] After his death, the KGB confiscated all his manuscripts they could find.

Literary Assessment

Pasternak today stands at the pinacle of Soviet literature and Dr. Zivago ranks wih the great 19th century Russian novels. The story of the novel is a fascinating Cold War story and the author actually caught between East and West. Soviet author Boris Leonidovich Pasternak came from an artistic family in Tsarist Russia. He was the oldest child of painter A Russian reader writes, "To tell the truth, without much thought, it doesnt astonish me. Our literart tastes tend to be different than those in the West. Westerners when they discuss Russian literature mainly remember Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Solzhenitsyn and Pasternak -- but in Russia itself Pushkin, Gogol, Saltykov-Schedrin, Bulgakov and Ilf & Petrov are more popular. I cannot say why - I think it's a theme for a serious scientific research. The only Russian writer (in my opinion) that is equally popular in Russia and in the west is Chekhov, although often I met people who say that in the west Chehov's theatre plays are more popular, unlike Russia, where more popular are Chekhov's novels. If your question is about the school education - both Solzhenitsyn and Pasternak are taught to pupils in XI form, a last form in the full secondary school, 16 -17 years old."

Sources

Filnn, Petr and Petra Couvée. The Zivago Affair: The Kremkin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book (2014), 352p.

Pasternak, Boris. Poem bublished in London (1959). He complained about its release although we do not know if he really objected or was apeasing the KGB. Perhaps a little of both as Pasternak complained of being constantly hounded by Western journalists.








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Created: 11:53 PM 2/13/2012
Last edited: 4:11 AM 7/3/2014