Now I need to read the book and the poetry and perhaps more of the history of this time period. Finn does an excellent job of making the facts come alive with his storytelling. Great on audio.

Pasternak seems like an emotional idiot. This book was fascinating though.

The Book That Came In From the Cold
Review of the Vintage paperback edition (April 2015) of the original Pantheon hardcover edition (June 2014)

I enjoyed the fictionalized version of The Zhivago Affair in Lara Prescott's [b:The Secrets We Kept|40700317|The Secrets We Kept|Lara Prescott|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554225513l/40700317._SY75_.jpg|63302352] (Sept. 2019) earlier this year and wanted to read more of the real-life story. Prescott superimposed her original fictional story of intrigues within the CIA on the actual story of Boris Pasternak and the publication of [b:Doctor Zhivago|130440|Doctor Zhivago|Boris Pasternak|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385508725l/130440._SY75_.jpg|3288400]. Prescott's achievement is somewhat diminished in hindsight as a considerable amount of her book is simply retelling the story from this 2014 investigative work.

Although The Zhivago Affair trumpets about the release of declassified CIA files, it does seem like the co-authors learned more of the story from retired players who spoke under conditions of anonymity and from the more forthcoming Netherlands' Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (BVD) (National Intelligence and Security Agency) who also participated in the Zhivago publication campaign.

I still found the whole story to be fascinating and the amount of research done by coauthors Peter Finn and Petra Couvée was quite extraordinary.

“To drive men mad is a heroic thing.”

When Russian poet Boris Pasternak wrote his only novel, Doctor Zhivago, he knew that its criticism of the Soviet revolution, though mild, would be enough to ensure that the book wouldn’t get past the censors. So he decided to give it to an Italian publisher to be translated and published abroad despite knowing that this would be severely frowned upon by the authorities. However the CIA decided it would be a propaganda coup if they could have the book printed in Russian and smuggled back into the USSR. The Zhivago Affair is billed as the story of that CIA campaign and of the impact it had on the Soviet regime and on Pasternak himself.

Although the CIA campaign is given plenty of space, most of the book really takes the form of a biography of Pasternak. Already a highly regarded poet when he began writing his novel, Pasternak was also already seen as potentially dangerous to the regime and therefore his work was closely monitored, as was the work of most writers. The Soviet regime pampered its authors and intellectuals in comparison to other sectors of society, but punished any disloyalty harshly, with imprisonment in the gulags or even death on occasion. So from the moment it became known that he was writing the novel, Pasternak ran grave risks of bringing retribution down on himself and the people close to him.

I expected to find that I admired Pasternak – that he was a courageous man standing up for his beliefs against a regime that could crush him. Sadly, I came away from the book feeling that in fact he was an arrogant egoist, who cared little for anyone but himself and had no purpose in writing his book other than self-aggrandisement. Well, I can accept that – writers should not have to serve a higher calling any more than the rest of us, but then they shouldn’t ask for special treatment either – and oh, how Pasternak felt that his amazing, unmatched genius (as he judged it) deserved to be recognised, honoured and lauded! He also felt that he was so special that he shouldn’t be expected to live within commonly accepted standards, so kindly moved his mistress and her family in just down the road from his wife and own family and divided his time happily between them. Happily for him, that is – one felt the wife and mistress weren’t quite so thrilled by the arrangement. But I think his level of self-centeredness is best shown by the fact that when he decided the only way out of the pressure over the book was suicide, he expected his mistress to kill herself along with him. To my amusement, the devoted but almost equally self-centred Ivinskaya was having none of it! And, denied his dramatically artistic and romantic exit, Pasternak decided to live on…

The CIA operation was dogged with incompetence from the outset (no big surprise there, I’m guessing) and also paid scant attention to the problems it may cause for Pasternak inside the USSR. However, they did in the end manage to smuggle some copies of the book in and, although the readership in the USSR was limited, the book became a huge bestseller internationally. This may have provided a level of protection for Pasternak since any severe action against him would have provoked international condemnation; and by the late ’50s and early ’60’s, the Soviet regime cared a bit more about their international standing than they perhaps had a decade or two earlier. However, they did subject Pasternak to a number of restrictions and humiliations that made his life increasingly difficulty – they forced his peers to publicly condemn him and suspend him from the writers’ union, which in turn meant that he couldn’t get work. With no income, he was driven to trying to smuggle the royalties from the sale of the book in Europe into the USSR at great risk to himself and those he involved in the plan. And again Pasternak’s selfishness and egoism can be seen at play here – too afraid to collect the money himself, he gave the task to the young daughter of his mistress, a task which later resulted in her spending time in prison – something Pasternak always managed to avoid for himself.

The book is well written and gives the impression of having been thoroughly researched. Despite my lack of sympathy for Pasternak, I enjoyed the biographical strand more than the CIA story and was glad that Pasternak’s story got more space than the spy stuff. In case I’ve made it seem that the book is very critical of him, I must say that the authors’ interpretation of Pasternak was considerably more sympathetic than my own, while not making any attempt to whitewash the less appealing aspects of his personality and behaviour. Overall, the book gave a clear picture of the difficulties faced by writers trying to operate under a regime of censorship backed up by fear, and some of the more moving moments were when the authors recounted the later thoughts of Pasternak’s peers, regretting how they had allowed themselves to be manipulated into turning away from him at the height of the affair. An interesting and thought-provoking read – recommended. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.

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“You are herby invited to my execution.”

Last year, I read Pasternak’s masterpiece, “Doctor Zhivago” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1417971994) and fell in love with this amazing, epic and heartbreaking novel. While, I was reading it, I did some cursory research about it, because I am a curious person by nature and I love learning about the context in which great books were written. What I found looking up “Doctor Zhivago” was intriguing and almost shocking: I knew there was heavy censorship of publication during the Soviet regime, and I knew about Stalin’s Purge, but the convoluted story about the manuscript secreted out of the Soviet Union and subsequently used as a tool of propaganda and blackmail was obviously worthy of its own book! And true to their nature as bookworms, a few of my GR friends eagerly recommended I get my hands on “The Zhivago Affair”, the very book that looked into the history of the publication of Pasternak’s only novel, and the repercussion his book had on the USSR and the world in general (big thank you to all who recommended it, especially Antigone, and to my mom-in-law, who put a copy in my Christmas stocking!).

“The Zhivago Affair” almost reads like a spy/political thriller, but about books… which I have to admit, is a pretty cool and compulsively readable combination. It is also a story about the battle for artistic freedom, and the refusal to back down, even under the most terrifying of pressures – that of a government that’s not afraid to shoot its writers (1,500!) in the head for writing things it doesn’t agree with.

On top of the fascinating Cold War story, I was very interested in learning more about Pasternak’s life and he various tidbits of it that fuelled his inspiration for “Doctor Zhivago”: there is even more autobiographical elements weaved in Yuri’s story than I had guessed! When I reread Yuri’s tragic story, I will be seeing it in a different light.

Reading “Doctor Zhivago”, it felt fairly obvious to me that the character of Yuri was often used as a mouthpiece for Pasternak’s opinions about the importance of art and the way his country had damaged that crucial aspect of its culture. His feelings about the new regime were ambiguous, because some aspects of it captured his imagination and gave him hope, but the fallout soon tainted his idealism.

Pasternak’s nomination and eventual awarding of the Nobel Prize for literature – for a book that was perceived as a betrayal by the Soviet authorities could simply not be allowed, and it broke my heart to read that the threat of never being allowed back into the country he still loved despite all the suffering and horrors he had witnessed did the trick, and he turned the medal down. What a cruel blackmail, what an inhuman way to silence a person. The smear campaigns he had to endure, the public humiliations of having his honorifics taken away, his loved one constantly followed and threatened… It was often heartbreaking and infuriating to read about.

After reading a lot of Russian literature last year, and quite a few non-fiction books about the country’s history and politics, when I read something like this book, it’s hard for me not to shake my head and think, “Only in Russia!” – though I am fairly certain that other countries with a state-controlled publication industry have similar stories. The story of this book is a testament to the power of literature, and the way some people fear what it might inspire others to think and do and how far some people are willing to go to stop that.

As often happens, reading one book makes me want to read a bunch more, and I will now be on the lookout for collections of Pasternak’s poetry. If you enjoyed this (or Pasternak’s work), I would also recommend checking out John Crowley’s “The Translator” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2136530956), about an exiled Russian poet – and obviously strongly inspired by Pasternak (and references him often).

3 and a half stars, because as interesting as the subject matter is, the delivery is really quite dry, and while some sections are very detailed, others feel like they were rushed through - which was frustrating because I definitely wanted more details about the strange and convoluted journey of this amazing book.

Apparently Dr. Zhivago is having a renaissance of sorts. I bought this book months ago and then Reece’s Bookclub has a new book about the CIA and Dr. Zhivago called, The Secrets We Kept. I wanted to compare both books. And I learned a few new things... one should read it to see how Gloria Steinem is tied into the CIA, Russia and Dr. Zhivago. I think it’s interesting that the CIA smuggled in the published book into the Soviet Union to upset their government and today the Russians spam us with fake news to upset our government. While history does not repeat itself, it sure does rhyme.

It's a shame the marketing of this book is inaccurate. Inside the cover is a great biography of a man and his masterpiece, both torn between two powerful ideologies and the countries that believed in them. There are some clandestine activities on both sides, particularly the CIA. But it was less cloak and dagger and more idealism about spreading the varied works of the free world. Dr. Zhivago as a novel was caught up in the battle between western ideology twisting his novel into a political message and Soviet Union suppression of his humanity as punishment for not toeing the party line. The ego of Pasternak set loose his novel on the world, and nearly destroyed him. Knowing what the book actually is, rather than being fooled into thinking it was something else, I think would tamper some of the negative feedback that is creeping into reviews. I would definitely recommend this book to those interested in how the United States and the USSR realized the power of the written word and used that to their advantage, as well as those interested in how the Soviet Union treated the artists within their borders.

Pasternak loved his country, just not in the way his country wanted to be loved. Keep that in mind when thinking about disagreements you have with citizens of your own country...