Boris Pasternak essay

Boris Pasternak (1890-1960), was a Russian poet and fiction writer. He is best known for his novel «Dr. Zhivago» (1957). Pasternak was awarded the Novel Prize for literature in 1958. Authorities banned «Dr. Zhivago» in the Soviet Union. The novel was first published in Italy and then was translated into English and many other languages. Zhivago, a Russian physician, experiences the suffering and disorder of his country’s revolutionary period. He cannot accept Communist rule and tries to find happiness in love and in the beauty of nature.

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was born in Moscow. He studied music and philosophy before turning to poetry. His first collection of poetry, «A Twin in the Clouds», was published in 1914. His third book of poems, «My Sister Life» (1922), established his reputation as a major Russian author.

Pasternak’s poems supported the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917, but he did not accept many of the strict doctrines of the Communist Party. The Soviet Government prohibited the publication of most of Pasternak’s writings. He earned a living by translating poems and plays by foreign writers, including Johann won Goethe and William Shakespeare. In 1957 the Soviet Writers Union expelled Pasternak, which meant that his works could not be published in the Soviet Union. The union reinstated him in 1987, almost 27 years after his death.