Reviews

• Literary descendant of Ckekhov

  I think Pasternak is a literary descendant of Chekhov, although they are a little different from each other. Chekhov despised people who were ambitious to show off , and so strong was the feeling that the thought of wanting to be famous never came to him, but Pasternak, who lived in a more competitive society than Chekhov, did not find it so easy to resist the temptation, and so he had to contain his desire to be famous by writing “It is not seemly to be famous” in his well-known poem. It seems to me as if he said the phrase to himself rather than to the reader. In the struggle against his desire, I suppose, Pasternak had Chekhov in his mind as the kind of person he would very much like to be. The following is Zhivago’s dialogue indicating it, which I personally like very much. “What I have come to like best in the whole of Russian literature is the childlike Russian quality of Pushkin and Chekhov, their shy unconcern with such high-sounding matters as the ultimate purpose of mankind or their own salvation. It isn’t that they didn’t think about these things, and to good effect, but they always felt that such important matters were not for them. Incidentally here are Dhivago’s dialogues which the Soviet administration must have been mad at. “I think that nothing can be gained by violence.” “The mere talk about it has cost such a sea of blood, that I am not at all sure if the end justifies the means.” “Those who wield power are so anxious to establish the myth of their own infallibility that they turn their back on truth as squarely as they can.”

• 『ドクトル・ジバゴ』を読むならこれ！

  1958年に出たManya Harari & Max Hayward の英訳よりもぐっと原書に近づいた感じです。 語訳はあるものの、1958年版のような意訳はすくなく、ロシア語の原文の感じはよく出ています。 絶版となった日本語訳がメチャクチャなので、『ドクトル・ジバゴ』を読むなら、この１冊がおすすめです。

• A Great Novel with a some flaws

  I watched the movie before I read the book and one thing for sure is the fact that the movie dwelled too much on the Lara and Yuri love story. However, the novel goes deeper, describing Russia as it was during the first half of the last century especially before the Second World War. Actually, the novel revolves around Yuri Andreivich Zhivago a doctor and poet whose life is a series of trials beginning with the funeral for his mother’ until he too made the honorable exit to the world beyond. Dr Zhivago trials take him across the length and breadth of Russia through war as a soldier in the Red Army and as a man with a strong desire to lead a normal life with his wife and son, but who cannot avoid the love of a woman destiny always put on his way. The remarkable thing about Dr ZHIVAGO is the fact that Pasternak successfully made it possible for the reader to look beyond the tragedies and sufferings in the story to the worthiness of life that comes with love and loving. Romance is born and even thrives in tragedies and misery showing that life can be beautiful at all times because the human soul that harbors hope can endure the worst atrocities of war and still stay beautiful. Rich and poetic, DR ZHIVAGO is a breathtaking story. It has a few flaws, but the underlying strength of the story is overwhelming. Reminds me of THE UNION MOUJIK, WAR AND PEACE, and TARAS BULBA. I enjoyed DR ZHIVAGO and would recommend it to any book enthusiast, especially someone with an interest in Russian literature.

• あまりにロシア

  ロシア革命前後の混乱の時代を生きた人々の物語。ロシアの文学にありがちの人物がやたらでてきて（ひとりの人物にいっぱい名前がついていて（exアンドレイの息子のアンドレイでジバゴ 愛称はユーラでかつユーロチカ、、、しかも覚えにくい！）)「はて、こいつは誰だったかのしから？」という状態にしばしば陥る。全編を通して人々（しかもほとんどがごく普通の善良な人）がいやおうなく非常な困難 血生臭い殺戮の渦中に巻き込まれて 多くは悲劇的な人生をおくることになってしまう という筋。著者の革命前の王政にも革命にも冷めた目でみる視点、政治体制に関係しない個人の人生 愛に対する愛情 親愛の情は今でも全く時代遅れではない。 「風とともに去りぬ」「ワイルドスワン」とどうしてもだぶるが、体制の変化 革命の嵐ではそういう人生の大転回 翻弄される個人の人生は小説の題材に格好のものなのでしょう。 ネタばれになりますが、ジバゴやララの結末があまりに現実的なのに、ララ コマロフスキーといっしょに脱出しなかったのは？？？ジバゴのプライドなんだったのでしょうか、、、

• Dr Zhivago

  Having seen the David Lean film many years ago in the cinema and since then umpteen times on TV I thought it was time to read Pasternak's book. And I was not disappointed. More complex than the film but equally enjoyable.

• Sublime

  Pasternak, escritor sublime. El tema es extraordinario, pero la narrativa...un milagro! Se trata de la experiencia vital hecha palabra. las imagenes y metaforas (todo sin acentos, lo siento, mi teclado es francés) son, sencillamente, sublimes!!!

• Doctor Zhivago

  I got this book for my mother in-law and she said it was really interesting and good book thx

• Epic novel in excellent translation

  This is a most fascinating epic novel set in the turbulent times in Russia in the early twentieth century. Doctor Yuri Andreevich Zhivago is apolitical at the time of the October Revolution and the subsequent civil war. But, forced to work as a doctor for the partisans (Bolsheviks), he witnesses brutality and inhumanity committed by both sides. He reflects: "This time justified the old saying: Man is a wolf to man.... The human laws of civilisation ended. Those of beasts were in force. Man dreamed the prehistoric dreams of the caveman." The relationship between Zhivago and Lara is, of course, the central theme. Their lives get tragically torn apart by the brutal forces beyond their control. When one realises that millions of Russians suffered the similar fate like Zhivago and Lara during the Revolution and civil war and under the totalitarian Soviet regime, the fate of these characters becomes poignant. The author's view on politics in Soviet Russia affecting ordinary citizens is an important theme. Pasternak writes: "Revolutions are produced by men of action, one-sided fanatics, geniuses of self-limitation. In a few hours or days they overturn the old order. The upheavals last for weeks, for years at the most, and then for decades, for centuries, people bow down to the spirit of limitation that led to the upheavals as to something sacred." He also writes later on: "It was precisely the conformity, the transparency of their (Soviet officials') hypocrisy that exasperated Yuri Andreevich. The unfree man always idealises his slavery. So it was in the Middle Ages; it was on this that the Jesuits always played. Yuri Andreevich could not bear the political mysticism of the Soviet intelligentsia, which was its highest achievement, or, as they would have said then, the spiritual ceiling of the epoch." These are very brave comments to make about the political system during the repressive Soviet era. It is easy to understand the reasons why the publication of this book in Soviet Union was banned by its authorities and Pasternak was forced by the Communist Party to decline the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958. Pasternak's vivid and poetic descriptions of nature are very good indeed. The reader will realise that he was a great poet (as he is apparently known in Russia more than as a novelist) and a religious man. I find the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (an experienced husband-and-wife team) excellent. I have not read other translations, but with this present version I feel the reader will be able to fully appreciate the beauty of the writing. Finally, with detailed notes by the translators, it's possible to follow military and political developments during the civil war and the subsequent period as well as understand some of Orthodox Church customs.

• Satisfying

  This review is all about the condition of the book. It was delivered on time and was in really good condition. There were no damages and the packaging was also good. This is a well known Russian Classic , translated in English. I went for this particular edition because I heard that it's one of the best translations out there. I read a couple of chapters and the language is pretty simple , it doesn't have a very flowery prose. It's pretty straightforward and easy to understand.

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