Boris Pasternak’s Followers (1,298)

Boris Pasternak

Born

in Moscow, Russian Federation

February 10, 1890

Died

May 30, 1960

Genre

Poetry, Literature & Fiction, Short Stories

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Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was born in Moscow to talented artists: his father a painter and illustrator of Tolstoy's works, his mother a well-known concert pianist. Though his parents were both Jewish, they became Christianized, first as Russian Orthodox and later as Tolstoyan Christians. Pasternak's education began in a German Gymnasium in Moscow and was continued at the University of Moscow. Under the influence of the composer Scriabin, Pasternak took up the study of musical composition for six years from 1904 to 1910. By 1912 he had renounced music as his calling in life and went to the University of Marburg, Germany, to study philosophy. After four months there and a trip to Italy, he returned to Russia and decided to dedicate himself Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was born in Moscow to talented artists: his father a painter and illustrator of Tolstoy's works, his mother a well-known concert pianist. Though his parents were both Jewish, they became Christianized, first as Russian Orthodox and later as Tolstoyan Christians. Pasternak's education began in a German Gymnasium in Moscow and was continued at the University of Moscow. Under the influence of the composer Scriabin, Pasternak took up the study of musical composition for six years from 1904 to 1910. By 1912 he had renounced music as his calling in life and went to the University of Marburg, Germany, to study philosophy. After four months there and a trip to Italy, he returned to Russia and decided to dedicate himself to literature.

Pasternak's first books of verse went unnoticed. With My Sister Life, 1922, and Themes and Variations, 1923, the latter marked by an extreme, though sober style, Pasternak first gained a place as a leading poet among his Russian contemporaries. In 1924 he published Sublime Malady, which portrayed the 1905 revolt as he saw it, and The Childhood of Luvers, a lyrical and psychological depiction of a young girl on the threshold of womanhood. A collection of four short stories was published the following year under the title Aerial Ways. In 1927 Pasternak again returned to the revolution of 1905 as a subject for two long works: "Lieutenant Schmidt", a poem expressing threnodic sorrow for the fate of the Lieutenant, the leader of the mutiny at Sevastopol, and "The Year 1905", a powerful but diffuse poem which concentrates on the events related to the revolution of 1905. Pasternak's reticent autobiography, Safe Conduct, appeared in 1931, and was followed the next year by a collection of lyrics, Second Birth, 1932. In 1935 he published translations of some Georgian poets and subsequently translated the major dramas of Shakespeare, several of the works of Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, and Ben Jonson, and poems by Petöfi, Verlaine, Swinburne, Shelley, and others. In Early Trains, a collection of poems written since 1936, was published in 1943 and enlarged and reissued in 1945 as Wide Spaces of the Earth. In 1957 Doctor Zhivago, Pasternak's only novel - except for the earlier "novel in verse", Spektorsky (1926) - first appeared in an Italian translation and has been acclaimed by some critics as a successful attempt at combining lyrical-descriptive and epic-dramatic styles.

Pasternak lived in Peredelkino, near Moscow, until his death in 1960. ...more

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Boris Pasternak’s books

Average rating: 4.01 · 102,705 ratings · 4,970 reviews · 554 distinct works • Similar authors

	Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, John Bayley (Introduction), Max Hayward (Translator), Manya Harari (Translator) 4.01 avg rating — 96,910 ratings — published 1957 — 770 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Selected Poems by Boris Pasternak, Борис Пастернак, Peter France (Translator) 4.22 avg rating — 831 ratings — published 1960 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Poems of Doctor Zhivago. 3.97 avg rating — 397 ratings — published 1965 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Letters: Summer 1926 by Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetaeva, Rainer Maria Rilke 4.22 avg rating — 321 ratings — published 1926 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Sister - Life by Boris Pasternak, Mark Rudman (Translator), Bohdan Boychuk (Translator) 4.15 avg rating — 247 ratings — published 1922 — 24 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last Summer by Boris Pasternak, George Reavey (Translator), Lydia Slater (Introduction ) 2.92 avg rating — 318 ratings — published 1934 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Adolescence of Zhenya Luvers by Boris Pasternak, Борис Пастернак 3.46 avg rating — 144 ratings — published 1961 — 24 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Onder de paardendeken by Boris Pasternak, Konstantin Paustovsky, Leo Tolstoy 3.78 avg rating — 130 ratings — published 2017 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Safe Conduct: An Autobiography and Other Writings by Boris Pasternak, B. Deutsch 3.76 avg rating — 110 ratings — published 1958 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	February: Selected Poetry by Boris Pasternak, Andrey Kneller (Goodreads Author) (Translator) 4.07 avg rating — 100 ratings — published 2008 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Boris Pasternak (?)

“I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and it isn't of much value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them. ”
― Boris Pasternak

tags: life

2858 likes

“I don't think I could love you so much if you had nothing to complain of and nothing to regret. I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and of little value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them.”
― Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago

tags: regret

622 likes

“How wonderful to be alive, he thought. But why does it always hurt?”
― Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago

471 likes

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Polls

Run off poll for 3rd (and possibly 4th) place for our fiction selections. The three books below all received 4 votes. Like the non-fiction poll, this will be quick. Last day to vote will be Monday, October 28.

The Sandcastle Girls

Chris Bohjalian

9 votes, 42.9%

Dr. Zhivago

Boris Pasternak

8 votes, 38.1%

Fall of Giants

Ken Follett

4 votes, 19.0%

21 total votes

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Boris Pasternak’s Followers (1,298)

Boris Pasternak

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