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Biography

Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)

Origins and education:

Boris Pasternak was born on February 10, 1890, in Moscow into an educated family. His father, Leonid Pasternak, was a renowned painter and professor at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, while his mother, Rosa Kaufman, was a pianist. Their home was a meeting place for many Russian artists and intellectuals, including Leo Tolstoy.

In his youth, Pasternak initially intended to devote himself to music and studied composition. He eventually abandoned this path and turned to philosophy, which he studied in Moscow and later at the University of Marburg in Germany. From the 1910s onward, Pasternak left both music and philosophy to dedicate himself to literature, first mainly poetry, before later writing his great novel Doctor Zhivago.

The poet of the Russian avant-garde:

At the beginning of the 20th century, Pasternak became involved in the literary circles of the Russian avant-garde. Although he associated with the Futurists, his style remained very personal. His third collection of poems, My Sister, Life, written in 1917 and published in 1922, established him as one of the major Russian poets of his generation.

Unlike some writers of his time, he remained relatively distant from politics. Under the Soviet regime, he managed to continue publishing, but his writing became more discreet and often metaphorical. He also devoted himself to translation, particularly of works by William Shakespeare and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translations that would have a major influence on Soviet theatrical culture.

Doctor Zhivago and international recognition:

His most famous work is the novel Doctor Zhivago, written between the 1940s and 1950s. The book tells the story of the life of the physician and poet Yuri Zhivago during the Russian Revolution and the Civil War.

The novel was rejected by Soviet publishers because it presented a critical and tragic view of the revolution. It was eventually published in 1957 in Italy thanks to the publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.

In 1958, Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Under pressure from Soviet authorities, he was forced to decline the award. The affair caused an international sensation and made him one of the symbols of intellectual freedom in the face of Soviet power.

After the controversy surrounding the Nobel Prize, Pasternak spent his final years in relative marginalization. He died on May 30, 1960, in Peredelkino, near Moscow. Despite official pressure, hundreds of admirers attended his funeral.

Today, Boris Pasternak is considered one of the greatest Russian writers of the twentieth century. His poetry and his novel Doctor Zhivago occupy an important place in Russian and international literature.

Boris Pasternak and cinema:

Although Pasternak was not directly a man of cinema, his work had a significant influence on the history of Russian and international cinema.

1. The global adaptation of Doctor Zhivago

The major cinematic impact of Pasternak’s work comes from the adaptation of his novel by the British director David Lean in the film Doctor Zhivago (1965), starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie.

The film became an immense international success. It was banned for a long time in the USSR, as the novel itself was censored there. Nevertheless, the adaptation helped spread the image of revolutionary Russia in the global cinematic imagination.

2. Pasternak’s poetry in Soviet and Russian film culture

Even without direct adaptations during the Soviet period, Pasternak influenced several generations of filmmakers and screenwriters. His themes—individual destiny facing history, the lyricism of Russian nature, and the tension between the artist and political power—can be found in the aesthetics of certain directors such as Andrei Tarkovsky and Nikita Mikhalkov.

In some films, such as The Irony of Fate (1975) by Eldar Ryazanov, Pasternak’s poems are set to music and sung; in others, such as A Blonde Around the Corner (1984) by Vladimir Bortko, excerpts from his poems appear within conversations.

 

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Commentaries

- Борис Пастернак - стихотворения, которые знают все! [Boris Pasternak - vers que tout le monde connaît] 2020, dzen.ru

 

 

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