Boris Pasternak: The Poet and His Politics

Lazar Fleishman

Published by Harvard University Press 1990

Boris Pasternak

The Poet and His Politics

Lazar Fleishman

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674334090

Overview
Contents

About this book

Boris Pasternak has generally been regarded as an artist who was indifferent to the literary and political storms of his time. Lazar Fleishman gives the great writer's life a new perspective. He shows that Pasternak's entire literary career should be regarded as a complex and passionate response to constant changes in Russian cultural and social life.

Drawing on a vast array of sources, Fleishman's chronicle encompasses both the familiar and the little-known aspects of the poet's life and work. He describes the formative role played by Pasternak's father, a prominent Russian painter, and the intellectual endeavors of the young man before his literary debut. He explores the intricate relations of Pasternak to the main movements of literary modernism, including symbolism and futurism.

Particularly informative are the chapters devoted to the postrevolutionary years. Fleishman untangles the poet's contacts with leading political figures (Stalin, Trotsky, Bukharin) and fellow writers (Gorky, Mayakovsky, Tsvetaeva, Akhmatova, Mandelshtam), and examines his changes in fortune during the purges and World War II. He shows how Pasternak was perceived by Western contemporaries and how significant their moral support was for him during the darkest years of Stalin's regime. He provides explanations for the Christian themes in Pasternak's later work, as well as the poet's peculiar view of Jewry. Finally, Fleishman recreates the vicissitudes of the publication of Doctor Zhivago and the ensuing Nobel Prize scandal in 1958. A fascinating description of the writer's career in broad context, this book will be welcomed by everyone interested in Pasternak and in twentieth-century literature.

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiv
Note on Transliteration Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xvi
1 Origins Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 University Years Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
3 Literary Debut Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
4 In the Futurist Camp Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
5 Revolutionary Years Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	84
6 Factions in the Twenties Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
7 Against Romanticism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
8 The Thaw of the Thirties Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
9 Premier Soviet Poet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
10 The Trials of Hamlet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
11 Zhivago and the Poet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
12 The Nobel Scandal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
13 Last Years Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
Notes. Index
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	317
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	351

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Edition: Reprint 2013
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Front matter: 11
- Main content: 359
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 10
Keywords: Authors, Russian -- 20th century -- Biography.; Pasternak, Boris Leonidovich, 1890-1960 -- Political and social views.; LITERARY CRITICISM / Russian & Former Soviet Union

eBook

Published: October 1, 2013
ISBN: 9780674334090

Hardcover

Published: February 5, 1990
ISBN: 9780674334083