Doctor Zhivago
Доктор Живаго
First published AD 1957, written in Russian
Doctor Zhivago is a novel by Russian poet, author and composer Boris Pasternak, first published in 1957 in Italy. The novel is named after its protagonist, Yuri Zhivago, a physician and poet, and takes place between the Russian Revolution of 1905 and World War II.
Your reading
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Which translation to read
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky2010Our pick
Closer to Pasternak's poetic prose, with the novel's poems rendered anew.
Max Hayward and Manya Harari1958
The famous first translation, made in a hurry; smooth but loose.
Where it is set
- Moscow
Russia
During the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), Amalia Karlovna Guichard arrives in Moscow from the Urals with her two children: Rodion (Rodya) and Larissa (Lara). Source: Wikipedia, reviewed
- Russia
Russia
The novel opens in Imperial Russia, 1902, during a Russian Orthodox funeral liturgy, or panikhida, for Yuri's mother, Marya Nikolaevna Zhivago. Source: Wikipedia, reviewed
