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A review by squid_vicious
The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the Cia, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book by Petra Couvée, Peter Finn
3.0
“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.
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.