DR. ZHIVAGO – BORIS PASTERNAK - #BLOGCHATTERA2ZCHALLENGE2022

 
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Dr. Zhivago was a Russian novel written in 1957 by Boris Pasternak. The novel takes its name from its protagonist, Yuri Zhivago, who is a doctor and a poet. The sweeping action takes place between the Russian Revolution of 1905 and World War II.

Pasternak proved to have an independent stance on the October revolution which made it impossible for the novel to be published in the USSR because the authorities felt that he was anti-Soviet. As a result, the manuscript was smuggled to Milan. It was published in 1957. When the author was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958, it was a slap on the face of the Russian Communist Party.

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‘Dr Zhivago’ has a long meandering plot with several characters with complicated names. Yuri Zhivago’s mother having died when he was young, Yuri is brought up by his uncle, Kolya. He decides to take up medicine and while studying at the University of Moscow, he meets Tonya and marries her. They have a son, Sasha.

However, Yuri’s true love is Lara, a woman he had met twice earlier, under different circumstances. Lara is under the control of her mother’s lover, an older man named Komarovsky, but she is yearning to be out of his clutches. She is married to Pasha, a young soldier who has gone missing in the war and she sets out to look for him.

Though deeply in love with Lara, Yuri stays with his wife and son and they go through dire straits, as times are difficult, and food is scarce. They move to Varyniko where they start leading a better life. Yuri runs into Lara once again, and he has an affair with her. However, he soon repents and decides to break it off with her.

The war is still raging, and Yuri gets captured. He is conscripted to work as a doctor till the end of the war between the Tsar’s Army and the Communists. Once again he finds Lara, the attraction between them as strong as ever. However, Lara finally takes her daughter and goes away with Komarovsky as her former husband, Pasha, is now a leader, and a wanted man.

Yuri returns to Moscow and runs into Marina, an old friend’s daughter, with whom he has two children. Before he can resolve the mess that his love life is in, he succumbs to a heart attack. Lara comes for his funeral, stays for a few days and then disappears, most likely dying in a concentration camp.

The most famous film version of ‘Dr Zhivago’ was by David Lean which had the Egyptian actor, Omar Sharif, playing the title role. Julie Christie was Lara and Geraldine Chaplin played Tonya. The film was widely considered a classic and won five Oscars. The haunting ‘Lara’s Theme’ created by Maurice Jarre, can never be forgotten for its sheer melody and romance.

                                               Julie Christie and Omar Sharif

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In 2002, a British television series starred Hans Metheson, Keira Knightley and Alexandra Maria Lara. A musical by the same name came out in 2011.

 I am participating in the #Blogchatter A to Z Challenge! Happy Reading and Writing! :)

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