October 23, 2008
The Battle Over ‘Doctor Zhivago’ (1958)
The Swedish Academy awarded Boris Pasternak the Nobel Prize in literature, in part for lifetime poetry work, but especially for "Doctor Zhivago," his novel set during the Russian Revolution that caused a worldwide sensation when it was published that year in the West.
"Immensely thankful, touched, proud, astonished, abashed," Pasternak telegraphed in response, but several days later, he recanted his acceptance.But Pasternak didn't change his mind, the government changed it for him. In addition to the crimes of mentioning the existence of prison camps, "Zhivago" contained passages that seemed to criticize Stalin. Worse, it seemed to be more concerned with the fate of individuals than the fate of the state. Considering that the Soviet Union demanded not only obedience from its artists, but conforming to its philosophy, Pasternak's novel constituted nothing less than treason. Up until Stalin's death in 1953, this usually meant arrest, torture, exile to a Siberian labor camp, and death.
The struggle between the Russian writer and the Russian state over "Zhivago" began as soon as Pasternak finished the novel. After the manuscript was rejected by a Russian publishing house, Pasternak's Italian publisher smuggled the book out of the Soviet Union. While preparing an Italian edition, the publisher received telegrams from the author withdrawing his consent for publication, and secret letters from Pasternak encouraging him to keep going:
"[Don't be] fooled by those idiotic and brutal appeals accompanied by my signature (!), a signature all but false and counterfeit insofar as it was extorted from me by a blend of fraud and violence."But while plans were laid to release "Zhivago" in several languages, one language was missing that would keep Pasternak from the Nobel. The academy's rules stated that, to be considered for the prize, the work must be published in the artist's own language, and no official Russian version would be allowed in the Soviet Union.
Enter the CIA. It had been keeping track of the struggle between Pasternak and the state, and when it learned that the manuscript was being flown to Italy, arranged to have the plane make an unscheduled landing in Malta. The manuscript was borrowed, photographed and returned. Under secrecy so great that the plan wasn't revealed until a half-century later, a Russian version was quickly produced and put into the hands of the academy in time for them to award the prize.
Which explains why Pasternak wrote in his telegram that he was "astonished" to win: he didn't know he was a candidate.
Born: Pierre Larousse, lexicographer, encyclopaedist, grammarian, Toucy, France, 1817; Robert Bridges, poet, Walmer, Kent, 1844; Johnny Carson, comedian, talk-show host, essayist, Corning, Iowa, 1925; Archie Goodwin, detective, Ohio, year unknown; Michael Crichton, novelist, Chicago, Ill., 1942.
Died: Zane Grey, Western novelist, Altadena, Calif., 1939; Gavin Ewart, poet, London, 1995.
Quote for the Day: ""\Talent alone won't make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: 'Are you ready?'" — Johnny Carson, who was born today in 1925.
Also from the Reader's Almanac:
- Desiderata rises from the grave (1965)
- The Hemingway to go (1961)
- Malcolm Lowry's mysterious death (1957)
- Red scare squashes Sam Spade's creator (1951)
- Carson McCullers visits the Sad Cafe (1951)
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