Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Official website of the State –
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136 years ago, the outstanding writer and poet Boris Pasternak was born. His parents were members of Russia's cultural elite: his mother was a talented pianist, his father a prominent artist. Together with them, at the age of four, the boy visited Leo Tolstoy. This atmosphere of "high and exceptional" quickly sparked a genuine interest in art.
Finding your calling and first successes in literature
As a young man, Boris actively sought his calling: he drew, dreamed of becoming a composer, and studied at the conservatory. He was fascinated by foreign philosophy and even went to Germany to study. But it was literature that truly found his calling. His first attempts at writing began while still at university, but his real debut came in 1913. Lirika Publishing House published his collection, "Twin in the Clouds." It revealed not only his admiration for Alexander Blok and Andrei Bely, but also his own voice.
During World War I, Pasternak's main passion remained writing. He refined his style, worked on a new collection, made connections with young poets, and by the summer of 1917, he had completed the cycle "My Sister's Life." The work received positive reviews from professionals, and Pasternak himself became a role model for a new generation of creatives. Among his friends were such great authors as Vladimir Mayakovsky, Sergei Yesenin, Marina Tsvetaeva, Andrei Bely, and Mikhail Bulgakov.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the poet worked on poems ("Lieutenant Schmidt," "The Year Nine Hundred and Fifth") and translated European classics. During the Great Terror, he petitioned Stalin for the release of arrested artists, and during the Great Patriotic War, he secured permission to travel to the front as part of a writers' brigade.
The pinnacle of creativity and a ban on publications
His major work was the novel "Doctor Zhivago," which he worked on for 10 years, until 1955. In the Soviet Union, the novel was deemed anti-Soviet and offensive to the principles of socialism and was banned from publication. Therefore, the book was published abroad, where it enjoyed widespread distribution.
On October 23, 1958, the Nobel Committee in Stockholm announced the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature to the author "for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel." But the authorities set their own conditions for the writer: either the prize or life in his native country. He then wrote a telegram to Stockholm: "In view of the significance that the award bestowed upon me has acquired in the society to which I belong, I must decline it. Please do not take my voluntary refusal as an insult." However, the laureate was ultimately not replaced.
Rehabilitation and universal recognition
The Union of Soviet Writers completed its rehabilitation and posthumously reinstated Boris Pasternak on February 19, 1987. In 1988, the legendary novel was finally published in his homeland, in the magazine Novy Mir, and in 1989, the writer's son, Yevgeny, was awarded a Nobel Prize diploma and medal.
Boris Pasternak became one of the country's most celebrated writers, leaving behind a rich legacy. He translated world classics—Shakespeare, Goethe, Rilke, Verlaine, and others—and wrote unique collections of poetry and a novel that made the legendary writer famous throughout the country and beyond. His work is a model of literary endurance and outstanding talent.
Interesting facts
From 1936 until his death, Pasternak lived in Peredelkino, Russia's most famous literary village. Other famous writers and poets also lived there, including Korney Chukovsky, Andrei Voznesensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Bella Akhmadulina, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Rimma Kazakova, and Bulat Okudzhava. Today, many of the houses are museums, open to the public, including those with the Pushkin Card.
Boris Pasternak House Museum, Korney Chukovsky House Museum, Bulat Okudzhava Museum, Yevgeny Yevtushenko Museum and Gallery, Peredelkino Writers' House of Creativity
In 2004, American director Quentin Tarantino flew to Moscow for a film festival. However, his first stop was Peredelkino, to visit the grave of poet Boris Pasternak. When asked by journalists, "Why him?" he replied that he had known Pasternak's poems since childhood and considered him a literary idol: "He's a personality, you see, he's a personality."
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