Doctor Zhivago (Boris Pasternak, 1956)

I recently read quite a bit of praise for this novel in the 50th anniversary of its publication, and had meant to read it ever since. (Publication came after the book was smuggled out of the Soviet Union in 1956; it was not printed there until 1988).

I guess the political problem was that the book elevated concern about individual development over sacrifice to the "state," whatever that meant from time to time. I read that Pasternak declined the Nobel prize for this book after the Soviet government requested that the committee not award it to him (which it did).

There also is a famous movie (and title song). I've not seen it and would like to, though from what I read the book is way better.

I read so much Russian stuff, but very little that explores what things were like in the years during and after the revolution, particularly away from the major cities. This story begins well before the revolution, then follows the major characters through events in Moscow, then to Zhivago's wife's patrimony in Siberia, and then back to Moscow.

One of the things that happens in the book is that the author explores a situation where someone is in love - seemingly genuinely - with two women, for different reasons. (Goethe works this theme a couple times also, as I'm learning.) I don't get this idea. Many of the scenes are in the army camp in Siberia (reds v whites); all the events that occurred in the early years after the fall of the tsar and ascension of the communists.

Zhivago was a doctor but also the author's voice for exploring the meaning of art and beauty. All this is most interesting (and probably way more interesting to me now than it would have been 10 years ago). Zhivago is principled and idealistic in a world that descended ever deeper into violence and opportunism. In addition to medical skill, he did drawings, poetry, stories.

Zhivago was not impressed by the revolutionaries; his attitude here also reminded me of Goethe's attitude toward the zealots that sprung up in the years surrounding the French revolution, and later in opposition to the reactionaries that took over the various German states once Bonaparte had been controlled. Zhivago views the folks that pushed the communist agenda - understood many to be drawn toward unsettled situations, seizers of opportunities, not serious; yet there was an element of legitimate desire for change and improvement. No doubt this attitude toward communist orthodoxy made Pasternak unpopular.

My only criticism, and it is very slight - lots of characters, some seem to just disappear, others pop in all sorts of coincidences. Authors of course do this or interesting stories couldn't develop, but this seemed a bit much at times.

Very much worth reading.

Read in the gym.