Pagan work Doctor Zhivago. Analysis of “Doctor Zhivago” Pasternak. The further fate of Zhivago

1. Yuri Zhivago— the main character of the novel, a doctor, writes poetry in his spare time.
2. Tonya Zhivago (nee Gromeko) - Yuri's wife.
3. Lara Antipova- sister of mercy, wife of Antipov.
4. Pavel Antipov- revolutionary, Lara's husband.
5. Victor Ippolitovich Komarovsky- a prominent Moscow lawyer.
6. Alexander Gromeko- Professor, deals with agronomic issues, Tony's father.
7. Anna Gromeko- Tony's mother.
8. Mikhail Gordon- philologist, Yuri's best friend.
9. Innokenty Dudorov- Studied with Zhivago at the gymnasium.
10. Osip Galiullin- general of the "whites".
11. Evgraf Zhivago- Major General, half-brother of the main character.

Yuri Zhivago and the Gromeko family

Yuri Zhivago was raised by his uncle, Nikolai Nikolaevich Vedenyapin. After his departure to St. Petersburg, Yura lived in the Gromeko family of educated and intelligent people. Alexander Alexandrovich was a professor who dealt with agricultural issues.

His wife, Anna Ivanovna, was a kind and sweet woman. Yura got along well with their daughter Tonya, and Misha Gordon was his best friend. In Gromeko’s house, a society of people close to their interests often gathered.

When there was a concert in their house, Alexander Alexandrovich was asked to go to an urgent call. Amalia Karlovna Guichard, his good friend, tried to commit suicide. Despite the annoyance that he was called so suddenly, Gromeko agrees.

The boys, Yuri and Misha, persuade him to take them with him. The professor agrees, and when they arrive at their rooms, he leaves them to wait for him in the hallway.

The boys heard Guichard's complaints about the suspicions that forced her to take such a step, but they turned out to be far-fetched. At this time, a stately man of 40 years old comes out from behind the partition, approaches the chair, and wakes up the girl. Yuri is fascinated by their communication, which looks like a conspiratorial one. It seems to him that this man is a puppeteer, and the girl is his puppet.

Once outside, Gordon tells his friend that he once saw the man while riding with his father on the train. That man was with Yura’s father and kept getting him drunk, and then Zhivago Sr. threw himself off the train.

Christmas tree at Sventitsky's

This girl was the daughter of Amalia Karlovna, Lara Guichard. She was 16 years old, but she looked older than her age, and it was painful for her to feel that she was being treated like a child. The man was the famous lawyer Viktor Ippolitovich Komarovsky. The girl’s mother needed him not only as an assistant in her affairs, and Lara knew this very well.

Komarovsky took a liking to the girl and began to court her. Lara gave in to his advances, but later regretted it, because it seemed to her that he had enslaved her. Yura and Larisa were destined to meet under unusual circumstances.

Zhivago and Tonya were invited to the Sventitskys’ Christmas tree. Anna Ivanovna was seriously ill, so before they left, she called them to her place and said that they were made for each other.

It was true - Tonya understood Yura like no one else. When they were driving to the holiday, the young man saw a candle burning in the window. What he saw began to form the future poem “The Candle Was Burning...”.

This candle was lit by Lara, who at that moment was telling Pasha Antipov, who was in love with her, that they needed to get married as soon as possible. After this conversation, the girl went to the Sventitskys, where Yura and Tonya were already dancing. Among the guests was Komarovsky, who was playing cards.

When it was about 2 am, a shot was heard. It was Lara who shot at Komarovsky, but missed and the bullet hit the high-ranking official. When the girl was led through the hall, Yuri was shocked that it turned out to be the same one he had seen in the hallway.

And then there was this lawyer who was somehow involved in the death of his father. When Yura and Tonya returned home, Anna Ivanovna was no longer alive.

Lara, thanks to the intercession of Komarovsky, was saved from trial, but because of what happened, she suffered a severe nervous shock. No one was allowed to see her, but Kologrivov, in whose house she worked as a governess, managed to get through to her and give her the money she had earned.

Everything was fine with the girl, but her frivolous brother Rodya lost a large sum and was ready to shoot himself if his sister did not help him out. The Kologrivovs rescued her, and after giving the required amount to her brother, Lara took the revolver from him.

But the girl could not repay the debt to the benefactors, because secretly from Pasha, she sent money to his father and paid for his room.

Lara was tormented by the situation with the Kologrivovs, which seemed wrong to her. She couldn’t think of anything else but to borrow money from Komarovsky.

It became painful for her to live. When she arrived at the Sventitskys’ holiday, the lawyer pretended not to notice the poor girl and gave Lara’s familiar smiles to another girl. This was beyond what Lara could bear, which is why that unpleasant incident at the ball happened.

Moving of the Antipovs and Zhivago to the Urals

When Lara recovered, she and Pasha got married. After the ceremony, at night, they had a serious conversation in which Lara told everything about her life. Pasha was unpleasantly surprised by this. They moved to the Urals to Yuryatino.

In this city, a husband and wife taught at the same gymnasium. Lara was happy: she liked family life and housework. Soon their daughter Katenka was born. Pasha constantly doubted his wife’s love. Their family happiness seemed fake to him.

Therefore, when the war came, Antipov enrolled in officer courses. After they passed, he went to the front and disappeared without a trace. Lara decided to find her husband herself, so she became a nurse and went after her husband.

Second Lieutenant Galiulin, who met Pasha since childhood, said that he saw Pasha die. Meanwhile, Yura and Tonya got married. But the war began, and Zhivago was taken to the front.

He didn't even have time to spend time with his newborn son. Yuri saw how the army was defeated, how deserters went on a rampage, and when he returned to Moscow, he found decline and destruction. Everything he saw changed his attitude towards the revolution.

It was not possible for Zhivago’s family to survive in Moscow, so it was decided to go to the Urals to Varykino, where Tony’s mother had an estate, which was not far from Yuryatin. Their trip passed through places where robber gangs ruled.

They also passed through regions where the uprisings were brutally suppressed by a certain Strelnikov, whose name inspired horror and awe in the inhabitants. He was a revolutionary commissar, and the troops under his command pushed back the army of the “Whites”, commanded by Galiulin.

In Varykino, they had to stay with the manager of the estate, Mikulitsyn, and then settle in an outbuilding for the servants. They gardened, tidied up their house, and Zhivago sometimes received sick people.

Unexpectedly for everyone, Yuri's half-brother Evgraf comes to them - he was a young man, active and occupying an important position among the revolutionaries.

He is grateful to Yuri that he at one time refused the inheritance in his favor, and thereby saved him and his mother. Evgraf helps the Zhivago family improve their situation. Meanwhile, it turns out that Tonya is pregnant.

After some time, Yuri was able to visit Yuryatin and go to the library. Unexpectedly, he meets Antipova, with whom life had previously confronted him at the front.

Lara tells Zhivago her story, and reveals to him that Strelnikov is actually her husband Antipov, who escaped from captivity, changed his last name and stopped all communication with his family. When he dropped shells on the city, he did not even inquire about the further fate of his wife and daughter.

Yuri and Lara felt kindred spirits in each other and they realized that they loved each other. But for each of them this love was complicated by the fact that Antipova continued to love her husband, and Zhivago loved his wife.

Such a double life weighed on him, he could no longer deceive Tonya, so after another meeting with Lara, Yuri made a firm decision to tell his wife about everything and not meet with Antipova again.

Captivity by the “red” partisans and further life with Lara

On the way home, his path is blocked by three armed men, who inform him that he is being taken into Livery Mikulitsyn’s detachment because he is a doctor. There was a lot of work for Yuri: in the winter he treated rashes, in the summer dysentery and constantly the wounded caused trouble.

Before his commander Liverius, Zhivago did not hide his attitude towards the revolution. He believed that the realization of ideals was still far away, and for lofty revolutionary speeches, people paid with thousands of lives and destruction, and in the end, the end did not justify the means. Yuri was with the Reds for two years, but he still managed to escape.

When the doctor reached Yuryatin, the “whites” left him, leaving him “red”. Zhivago was wild, exhausted, unwashed, but he was still able to reach Antipova’s house. Lara was not at home, but in the hiding place for the keys, the doctor finds a note in which the woman says that she went to Varykino to meet him there. Zhivago had a hard time thinking; he could only light the stove, eat and fall into a deep sleep.

When he woke up, he realized that someone had undressed him, washed him and put him in a clean bed. Zhivago took a long time to restore his strength, but thanks to Lara’s efforts he is recovering. But Yuri cannot return to Moscow until he recovers completely. To survive in the new regime, the doctor gets a job at Gubernia Health, and Antipova gets a job at Gubono.

But the residents of Yuryatin still perceive Zhivago as a stranger, at this time Strelnikov’s authority has been shaken, and in the city they begin to look for everyone objectionable to the revolution.

Yuri receives a letter from Toni, in which she reports that she and her children (they have a daughter, Masha) and father are in Moscow, but they will soon be sent abroad. But Zhivago realizes that he no longer feels the same love for Tonya as before. Therefore, he tells her to build her life as she wants.

Meanwhile, Lara fears that she will be taken away as an objection to the revolution; Zhivago is in the same position. They try to find a way out of a difficult situation.

Arrival of Komarovsky and Strelnikov

Unexpectedly, Komarovsky arrives in Yuryatino. He was offered to become the head of the Ministry of Justice in the Far Eastern region. He knows what danger Lara and Zhivago face, so he invites them to go with him.

Yuri immediately refuses: he has long known about the role he played in Lara’s life and about his involvement in his father’s suicide. Lara also refuses. Zhivago and Antipova decided to take refuge in Varykino, because no one had lived in the village for a long time.

Lara thinks she is pregnant. Viktor Ippolitovich comes to them once again, bringing a message that Strelnikov has been sentenced to death. Now Lara must take care of her daughter if she does not want to take care of herself. Zhivago tells Antipova to leave with a lawyer.

After their departure, Yuri began to gradually lose his mind. He drank and wrote poetry, which he dedicated to Lara. Later, these poems turned into discussions about man, revolution, and ideals. One evening Strelnikov suddenly comes to him.

Antipov talks about what happened to him, how he managed to escape, about Lenin, the revolution. Zhivago tells him his story, that Lara never forgot him and loved him. Pavel is in despair because now he understands how wrong he was about his wife. They finished talking only in the morning, and upon waking up, Yuri saw that Strelnikov had shot himself.

The further fate of Zhivago

After Strelnikov’s suicide, the doctor goes to Moscow, where the NEP era already reigns. He was sheltered by the former Zhivag janitor Markelov. Later, his daughter Marina will become Yuri's wife and give him two daughters. Meanwhile, Zhivago gradually loses all his medical skills and practically stops writing. But sometimes he wrote thin books that amateurs liked.

Brother Evgraf comes to his aid, gets him a good job and helps strengthen his position. But one day in August, when Yuri was riding the tram to work, he became ill and died of a heart attack.

Evgraf and all his friends and acquaintances come to say goodbye to him, among whom Lara appears. A few days after the funeral, Antipova suddenly disappears: most likely, she was arrested. No one saw Lara again.

In 1943, Major General Evgraf Zhivago found Yuri and Lara’s daughter Tanya at the front. The girl had a difficult fate: an orphan, wanderings. Her uncle takes full charge of caring for her. Evgraf also collects all the poems written by his brother and compiles a collection of his works.

Test on the novel Doctor Zhivago

After the death of Maria Nikolaevna’s mother, the fate of ten-year-old Yura Zhivago is dealt with by his uncle, Nikolai Nikolaevich Vedenyapin. The boy's father, having squandered the family's million-dollar fortune, abandoned them even before his mother's death, and subsequently took his own life by jumping off a train. An eyewitness to his suicide is 11-year-old Misha Gordon, who was traveling with his father on the same train. Yura experiences the death of his mother extremely acutely; his uncle, a priest who has disbanded his hair at his own request, consoles him with conversations about God.

Yura spends the first time on Kologrivov’s estate. Here he meets 14-year-old Nika (Innocent) Dudorov, the son of a terrorist convict and an eccentric Georgian beauty.

The widow of a Belgian engineer, Amalia Karlovna Guichard, who came from the Urals, settles in Moscow. She has two children - the eldest daughter Larisa and the son Rodion, Rodya. Amalia becomes the mistress of lawyer Komarovsky, a friend of her late husband. Soon the lawyer begins to show unequivocal signs of attention to the pretty Lara, and later seduces her. Unexpectedly for himself, he discovers that he has a real feeling for the girl and strives to arrange her life. Nika Dudorov, a friend of her classmate Nadya Kologrivova, is also courting Lara, but he does not arouse her interest due to the similarity of characters.

On the Brest railway, passing near the Guichard house, a strike begins, organized by the workers' committee. One of the organizers, road foreman Pavel Ferapontovich Antipov, is arrested. His son Pasha, a student at a real school, is taken in by the family of driver Kipriyan Tiverzin. Pasha, through his neighbor Olga Demina, meets Lara, falls in love with her and literally idolizes the girl. Lara feels much older than him psychologically and does not have reciprocal feelings for him.

Thanks to his uncle, Yura Zhivago settles in Moscow, in the family of his uncle’s friend, Professor Alexander Alexandrovich Gromeko. Yura became very close friends with the professor's daughter, Tonya, and classmate Misha Gordon. Music lovers, Gromeko often organized evenings with invited musicians. On one of these evenings, cellist Tyshkevich was urgently called to the Montenegro Hotel, where the Guichard family, frightened by the unrest in the city, had temporarily moved. Alexander Alexandrovich, Yura and Misha, who went with him, find Amalia Karlovna trying to poison herself there and Komarovsky helping her. In the room, Yura sees Lara for the first time - he is struck at first sight by the beauty of the sixteen-year-old girl. Misha tells his friend that Komarovsky is the same person who pushed his father to commit suicide.

Lara, trying to end her dependence on Komarovsky, settles with the Kologrivovs, becoming the teacher of their youngest daughter Lipa. Thanks to the money she borrowed from the owners, she pays off her younger brother's gambling debt, but is tormented by the inability to give them the money. The girl decides to ask Komarovsky for money, but just in case she takes with her the revolver taken from Rodya.

In the fall of 1911, Anna Ivanovna Gromeko, Tony's mother, fell seriously ill. The matured triumvirate of friends graduates from university: Tonya from the Faculty of Law, Misha from the Faculty of Philology, and Yura from the Faculty of Medicine. Yuri Zhivago is interested in writing poetry, although he does not perceive writing as a profession. He also learns about the existence of his half-brother Evgraf, who lives in Omsk, and renounces part of the inheritance in his favor.

Yura impromptu reads a speech about the resurrection of the soul to Anna Ivanovna, who is feeling worse and worse. The woman falls asleep to his calm story, and after waking up she feels better. She convinces Yura and Tonya to go to the Sventitskys’ Christmas tree, and before their departure she unexpectedly blesses them, saying that they are destined for each other and must get married in the event of her death. Going to the Christmas tree, young people drive along Kamergersky Lane. When looking at one of the windows, in which a candle light is visible, Yuri comes up with the lines: “The candle was burning on the table, the candle was burning.” Behind this window, Larisa Guichard and Pavel Antipov are talking intensely at this time - the girl tells Pasha that if he loves her, they need to get married immediately.

After the conversation, Lara goes to the Sventitskys, where she shoots at Komarovsky, who was playing cards, but misses and hits another person. Returning home, Yura and Tonya learn about the death of Anna Ivanovna. Through the efforts of Komarovsky, Lara avoids trial, but due to the shock she experienced, the girl fell ill with a nervous fever. After recovery, Lara, having married Pavel, leaves with him to the Urals, to Yuryatin. Immediately after the wedding, the young people talked until dawn, and Lara told her husband about her difficult relationship with Komarovsky. In Yuryatino, Larisa teaches at the gymnasium and enjoys her three-year-old daughter Katenka, and Pavel teaches history and Latin. However, doubting his wife’s love, after completing officer courses, Pavel goes to the front, where he is captured in one of the battles. Larisa leaves her little daughter in the care of Lipa, and she, having gotten a job as a sister on an ambulance train, goes to the front in search of her husband.

Yura and Tonya get married, their son Alexander is born. In the fall of 1915, Yuri was mobilized to the front as a doctor. There the doctor witnesses a terrifying picture of the decay of the army, mass desertion, and anarchy. In the Melyuzeev hospital, fate pits the wounded Yuri against the nurse Lara working there. He confesses his feelings to her.

Returning to Moscow in the summer of 1917, Zhivago finds devastation here too; he feels loneliness, and what he sees makes him change his attitude towards the surrounding reality. He works in a hospital, writes a diary, but suddenly falls ill with typhus. Poverty and devastation force Yuri and Tonya to leave for the Urals, where the former estate of the manufacturer Kruger, Tonya’s grandfather, was located not far from Yuryatin. In Varykino, they are slowly getting used to their new place, setting up their daily life in anticipation of their second child. While visiting Yuryatino for work, Zhivago accidentally meets Lara, Larisa Fedorovna Antipova. From her he learns that the red commander Strelnikov, who brings terror to the entire neighborhood, is her husband, Pavel Antipov. He managed to escape from captivity, changed his last name, but does not maintain any relations with his family. For several months, Yuri secretly meets with Lara, torn between his love for Tonya and his passion for Lara. He decides to confess to his wife that he has deceived him and not to meet with Lara again. However, on the way home, he was captured by partisans from Liveriy Mikulitsyn’s detachment. Without sharing their views, the doctor provides medical care to the wounded and sick. Two years later, Yuri managed to escape.

Having reached Yuryatin, captured by the Reds, the hungry and weakened Yuri collapsed from the hardships he had endured. Larisa has been caring for him throughout his illness. After the amendment, Zhivago got a job in his specialty, but his position was very precarious: he was criticized for intuitionism in diagnosing diseases and was considered a socially alien element. Yuri receives a letter from Tony, which came to him five months after it was sent. His wife informs him that her father, Professor Gromeko, and she and her two children (she gave birth to a daughter, Masha), are being sent abroad.

Komarovsky, who unexpectedly appeared in the city, promises his protection to Lara and Yuri, offering to go with him to the Far East. However, Zhivago resolutely rejects this proposal. Lara and Yuri take refuge in Varykino, abandoned by residents. One day Komarovsky comes to them with alarming news that Strelnikov has been shot and they are in mortal danger. Zhivago sends pregnant Lara and Katya with Komarovsky, while he himself remains in Varykino.

Left alone in a completely deserted village, Yuri Andreevich simply went crazy, drank, poured out his feelings for Lara on paper. One evening he saw a man on the threshold of his house. It was Strelnikov. The men talked all night long - about the revolution and about Lara. In the morning, while the doctor was still sleeping, Strelnikov shot himself.
Having buried him, Zhivago heads to Moscow, covering most of the route on foot. Thin, feral and overgrown, Zhivago settles in a fenced-off corner in the Sventitskys’ apartment. The daughter of former janitor Markel Marina helps him with housework. Over time, they have two daughters, Capa and Klava, and sometimes Tonya sends them letters.

The doctor is gradually losing his professional skills, but sometimes writes thin books. Unexpectedly, one summer evening, Yuri Andreevich does not appear at home - he sends Marina a letter in which he says that he wants to live alone for some time and asks not to look for him.

Without knowing it, Yuri Andreevich rents the very same room on Kamergersky Lane in the window of which he saw a burning candle many years ago. Again, out of nowhere, brother Evgraf helps Yuri with money and gets him a job at the Botkin hospital.

On the way to work on a sultry August day in 1929, Yuri Andreevich begins to have a heart attack. Coming out of the tram car, he dies. Many people gather to bid farewell to him. Among them was Larisa Fedorovna, who accidentally walked into her first husband’s apartment. A few days later, the woman disappeared without a trace: she left the house and no one saw her again. She may have been arrested.

Many years later, in 1943, Major General Evgraf Zhivago recognizes the linen worker Tanya Bezseredova as the daughter of Yuri and Larisa. It turned out that before fleeing to Mongolia, Lara left the baby at one of the railway sidings. The girl first lived with Martha, who was guarding the patrol, and then wandered around the country. Evgraf collects all his brother's poems.

Yuri Zhivago is the main character of Boris Leonidovich Pasternak’s novel “Doctor Zhivago”; a successful medic who served during the war; husband of Antonina Gromeko and half-brother of Major General Efgraf Zhivago. Yuri was orphaned early, losing first his mother, who died as a result of a long illness, and then his father, who, while intoxicated, jumped from a train moving at full speed. His life was not easy. As the author himself said, he came up with the hero’s surname from an expression taken from a prayer: “God Zhivago.” The phrase implied an association with Jesus Christ, “who heals all living things.” This is how Pasternak wanted to see his character.

It is believed that the prototype of the hero was the author himself, or rather his spiritual biography. He himself said that Doctor Zhivago should be associated not only with him, but rather with Blok, with Mayakovsky, perhaps even with Yesenin, that is, with those authors who passed away early, leaving behind a valuable volume of poetry. The novel covers the entire first half of the twentieth century, and the doctor passes away in the turning point year of 1929. It turns out that in some sense it is an autobiographical novel, but in another sense it is not. Yuri Andreevich witnessed the October Revolution and the First World War. At the front he was a practicing doctor, and at home he was a caring husband and father.

However, events developed in such a way that all life went contrary to the established order in society. At first he was left without parents, then he was raised in a family of distant relatives. He subsequently married the daughter of his benefactors, Tanya Gromeko, although he was more attracted to the mysterious Lara Guichard, whose tragedy he could not know then. Over time, life brought these two together, but they did not stay together for long. The homewrecker was the same ill-fated lawyer Komarovsky, after a conversation with whom Yuri’s father jumped out of the train.

In addition to healing, Zhivago was interested in literature and writing poetry. After his death, friends and family discovered notebooks in which he wrote down his poems. One of them began with the words: “The candle was burning on the table, the candle was burning...” It was born in his head that evening when he and Tonya were heading to the Christmas tree with friends and witnessed how Lara shot her mother’s lover. This incident remained forever in his memory. That same evening she explained herself to Pasha Antipov, who became her legal husband. Events developed in such a way that Lara and Pasha broke up, and Yura, after being wounded, ended up in the hospital where she worked as a nurse. There an explanation took place, during which Yura admitted that he loved her.

The doctor's wife and two children were expelled from the country and emigrated to France. Tonya knew about his relationship with Lara, but continued to love him. The turning point for him was the separation from Larisa, who was taken away by Komarovsky in a fraudulent manner. After this, Zhivago completely neglected himself, did not want to practice medicine and was not interested in anything. The only thing that fascinated him was poetry. At first he had a good attitude towards the revolution, but after being in captivity, where he had to shoot living people, he changed his enthusiasm to compassion for innocent people. He deliberately refused to participate in history.

Essentially, this character lived the life he wanted to live. Outwardly he looked weak-willed, but in fact he had a strong mind and good intuition. Zhivago died of a heart attack that happened to him on a crowded tram. Larisa Antipova (Guichard) was also at his funeral. As it turned out, she had a daughter from Yuri, whom she was forced to give up to be raised by a stranger. After his death, his half-brother Evgraf Zhivago took care of his niece and his brother’s work.

The beginning of the twentieth century became a period of severe trials for Russia: the First World War, revolution, and civil war destroyed millions of human destinies. The difficult relationship between man and the new era is described with piercing drama in Boris Leonidovich Pasternak’s novel “Doctor Zhivago”. Analyzing the work according to plan will allow you to better prepare not only for the literature lesson in grade 11, but also for the Unified State Exam.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing– 1945-1955.

History of creation– The novel was written over ten years, and brought the writer the Nobel Prize in Literature. However, the fate of the work was not at all easy: for a long time it was banned in his homeland, and real persecution unfolded against Pasternak.

Subject– The work fully reveals the problems of many pressing social issues, but the central theme is the contrast between man and history.

Composition– The composition of the work is very complex and is based on the interweaving of the destinies of the main characters. All the characters of the central characters are considered through the prism of the personality of Yuri Zhivago.

Genre– Multi-genre novel.

Direction– Realism.

History of creation

The novel was created over the course of a whole decade (1945-1955). And this is not surprising, since the work describes the most important era in the history of Russia and raises global problems of society.

The idea of ​​writing such a grandiose novel first came to Boris Leonidovich in 17-18, but at that time he was not yet ready for such work. The writer began to implement his plan only in 1945, having spent 10 years of hard work on it.

In 1956, attempts were made to publish the novel in the Soviet Union, but they were unsuccessful. Pasternak was subjected to severe criticism for the anti-Soviet content of the novel, while the entire Western world literally applauded the Russian genius for his brilliant work. The worldwide recognition of Doctor Zhivago led to Boris Leonidovich being awarded the Nobel Prize, which he was forced to refuse at home. The novel was first published in the Soviet Union only in 1988, revealing Pasternak’s incredible literary gift to the general public.

It is interesting that Boris Leonidovich was not immediately able to decide on the name of his brainchild. One option was followed by another (“There will be no death”, “The candle was burning”, “Innokenty Dudorov”, “Boys and Girls”), until finally he settled on the final version - “Doctor Zhivago”.

Meaning of the name The novel consists in comparing the main character with the merciful and all-forgiving Christ - “You are the son of the living God.” It was no coincidence that the writer chose the Old Slavonic form of the adjective “living” - this is how the theme of sacrifice and resurrection runs like a red thread in the work.

Subject

Carrying out an analysis of the work in Doctor Zhivago, it is worth noting that the author revealed in it many important topics: life and death, searching for oneself in a renewed society, loyalty to one’s ideals, choice of life path, the fate of the Russian intelligentsia, honor and duty, love and mercy, resistance to the blows of fate.

However central theme The novel can be called the relationship between personality and era. The author is sure that a person should not sacrifice his own life to fight external circumstances, nor should he adapt to them, losing his true self. Main thought What Pasternak wants to convey in his work is the ability to remain oneself under any life conditions, no matter how difficult they may be.

Yuri Zhivago does not strive for luxury or satisfying his own ambitions - he simply lives and steadfastly endures all the difficulties that fate presents to him. No external circumstances are capable of breaking his spirit, losing his self-esteem, or changing the life principles that were formed in him in his youth.

The author attaches no less importance theme of love, which literally permeates the entire novel. Pasternak shows this strong feeling in all possible manifestations - love for a man or woman, for his family, profession, homeland.

Composition

The main feature of the novel's composition is the accumulation of random, but at the same time fateful meetings, all kinds of coincidences, coincidences, and unexpected turns of fate.

Already in the first chapters, the author skillfully weaves a complex plot knot in which the fates of the main characters are connected by invisible threads: Yuri Zhivago, Lara, Misha Gordon, Komarovsky and many others. At first it may seem that all the plot intricacies are overly far-fetched and complex, but over the course of the novel their true meaning and purpose becomes clear.

The composition of the novel is based on the acquaintance of the characters and the subsequent development of their relationships, and on the crossing of independently developing human destinies. The main characters, as if with an x-ray, are illuminated by the author, and all of them, one way or another, are focused on Yuri Zhivago.

An interesting compositional move by Pasternak can be called Zhivago’s notebook with his poems. It symbolizes a window into the infinity of existence. Having lost genuine interest in life and morally sunk to the very bottom, the main character dies, but his soul remains alive in beautiful poems.

Main characters

Genre

It is extremely difficult to accurately determine the genre of a novel, since it is a rich amalgamation of various genres. This work can safely be called autobiographical, since it reflects the main life milestones of Pasternak, who endowed the main character with many personal qualities.

The novel is also philosophical, as it pays a lot of attention to reflections on serious topics. The work is also of great interest from a historical point of view - it describes in detail, without embellishment, an entire historical layer in the history of a large country.

There is no denying the fact that Doctor Zhivago is a deeply lyrical novel in verse and prose, in which symbols, images, and metaphors occupy a lot of space.

The genre originality of the work is amazing: it surprisingly harmoniously intertwines many literary genres. This gives grounds to conclude that Doctor Zhivago belongs to a multi-genre novel.

It is also difficult to say which direction the novel belongs to, but, for the most part, it is a realistic work.

Work test

Rating analysis

Average rating: 3.9. Total ratings received: 132.

In the last months of the war, Boris Pasternak was often invited to Moscow University, the Polytechnic Museum and the House of Scientists, where he publicly read his poems. Therefore, he hoped that victory would have a significant impact on the political climate. But bitter disappointment awaited him: the attacks from the leaders of the Writers' Union continued. They could not forgive him for his ever-increasing popularity among foreign readers.

Starting work on a novel

The idea of ​​the novel “Doctor Zhivago,” the creation of which began at the very beginning of Pasternak’s creative path, took a long time to form in the poet’s mind. But in the fall of 1945, having collected all the images, thoughts, intonations, he realized that he was ready to start working on the work. Moreover, the plot formed so clearly into a single line that the poet expected that it would take him only a few months to write the novel.

We can say that February 1946 marks the beginning of Pasternak’s work on the novel. After all, it was then that the poem “Hamlet” was written, opening the last chapter of “Doctor Zhivago”.

And in August the first chapter was already ready. He read it to close friends. But on August 14, the “same” Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad” was issued. Despite the fact that it had no direct relation to Pasternak (it affected the fates of A. Akhmatova and M. Zoshchenko), this event gave rise to a new round of struggle against “ideologically alien” authors. His situation worsened even more when rumors spread about Pasternak's possible nomination for the Nobel Prize.

Working on the first chapters

However, the author did not stop working. Pasternak was so captivated by the novel Doctor Zhivago that by the end of December two more chapters were completed. And the first two were copied into a clean copy, the sheets of which were sewn into a notebook.

It is known that the original name was different: “Boys and Girls.” This is how the author named his work in the first stages of creation. This was not only a description of the historical image of Russia in the first half of the 20th century, but also an expression of Pasternak’s subjective views on the place of man in the formation of the world, on art and politics, etc.

In the same 1946, the poet met the woman who became his last love. It was at the beginning of our acquaintance that she acted as a secretary. There were plenty of barriers between them. These are both past tragedies and current life circumstances. Ivinskaya’s first husband committed suicide, and the second was also dead. And Pasternak at that time was married for the second time, he had children.

Their love was against all odds. Many times they parted forever, but they could not live apart. Pasternak himself admitted that it was Olga’s features that he put into the image of the main character of the novel, Lara Guichard.

Break

A difficult financial situation forced Pasternak to interrupt work on the novel Doctor Zhivago. The history of creation continued the following year, 1948. And throughout 1947, the poet was engaged in translations, because he had to provide not only for himself, but also for all those whose care he voluntarily shouldered. This includes his own family, Nina Tabidze (the wife of a repressed Georgian poet), Ariadna and Anastasia Tsvetaeva (the daughter and sister of the poetess), and the widow of Andrei Bely, and, finally, the children of Olga Ivinskaya.

In the summer of 1948, the fourth chapter of the novel was completed. At the same time, the author gave the work its final title: “Doctor Zhivago.” The content has already been structured, the parts are also titled.

He would not complete the seventh chapter until the spring of 1952. In the fall it was printed in blank. Thus, work on the first book of the novel “Doctor Zhivago” was completed. The author suffered a myocardial infarction a few days later, was hospitalized and remained in the hospital for more than two months. There, being in an extremely difficult condition, he suddenly felt close to the Creator. This feeling also influenced the mood of his works.

After the death of Stalin and the execution of Beria, there was a noticeable revival of literary life. And Boris Pasternak perked up, especially since Olga Ivinskaya returned from the camps. In 1954, ten poems from an unfinished novel were published.

The end of Doctor Zhivago

In the fall of 1954, Pasternak and Ivinskaya resumed their close relationship. Olga spent the summer of 1955 not far from Peredelkino. There the poet rented a house for her. He couldn't completely abandon his family. Tormented by an unbearable feeling of guilt before his wife, he led a double life. From that time on, Olga was almost entirely involved in Pasternak’s financial, editorial and publishing affairs. Now Boris Leonidovich has more time for creativity. In July he was already working on the epilogue. The finishing touches were made at the end of 1955.

The further fate of the novel

Hoping for the liberalization of his views, Pasternak offers the manuscript of the novel to two publishing houses simultaneously. Also, for the purpose of familiarization, Boris Leonidovich gave the manuscript to a radio correspondent, Italian Sergio d'Angelo, who was also the literary agent of the publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. Most likely, the poet knew this fact. Soon he received the expected news from an Italian publisher who offered to publish the novel. Pasternak accepted the offer, but was confident that his work (“Doctor Zhivago”) would be published faster in his native country. The interesting thing about the creation of the novel is that it is full of unexpected twists. None of the magazines gave an answer, and only in September Pasternak received an official refusal from the Novy Mir publishing house.

The poet did not give up and still believed in the success of the novel in his homeland. And indeed, Goslitizdat accepted the novel “Doctor Zhivago” for publication. But the event itself was delayed due to numerous amendments and deletions by editors. Unexpectedly, several poems and two chapters from Doctor Zhivago were published by the Polish magazine Opinie. This was the beginning of a scandal. Pasternak was put under pressure, forcing him to withdraw the manuscript from Feltrinelli. Boris Leonidovich sent a telegram to the Italian publisher, demanding the return of the text of the novel. However, behind the back of the Writers' Union, Pasternak simultaneously gives permission to Feltrinelli to publish the novel Doctor Zhivago. The author gave permission to preserve the original text.

Even the conversation between Pasternak’s main persecutor and the Italian did not change the decision to publish the novel. Also in other countries, the first copies of the work were already being prepared for release.

The West's reaction to the novel "Doctor Zhivago". The history of creation ended in tragedy

The reaction of Western critics was so resonant that they again wanted to nominate Pasternak for the Nobel Prize. The author was very encouraged by the attention of foreign readers and gladly answered letters coming from all over the world. On October 23, 1958, he received a telegram with the news that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize and an invitation to its presentation.

It is clear that the Writers' Union was against the trip, and Pasternak received direct instructions to refuse the prize. Pasternak did not accept this ultimatum, and, as a result, was expelled from the membership of the USSR Writers' Union.

Last lines

Boris Leonidovich was so mentally exhausted and brought to the point that he nevertheless changed his mind and refused the prize. But this did not reduce the barrage of angry statements against him. The poet understood that this scandal could result in even more serious consequences for him. He was very worried. He expressed his feelings in one of his last poems. This poem was the answer to all the attacks and angry discussions. But at the same time, the last lines again spoke about the personal: about the break with Olga, for whom he missed so much.

Soon Pasternak had a heart attack. And three weeks later, on May 30, 1960, Boris Leonidovich died.

The life and fate of Pasternak is one of the most amazing in the history of our literature, with its tragedy and heroism.

B. Pasternak, “Doctor Zhivago”: summary

The novel describes the events of 1903-1929. The main character works as a doctor. This is a person with very creative views and an interesting character. Life's difficulties affected him as a child, when his father first left the family and subsequently committed suicide, and at the age of 11 he lost his mother. He, in fact, is Doctor Zhivago. Yuri Zhivago did not live a very long, but very eventful life. There were several women in his life, but only one love. Her name was Lara Guichard. Fate gave them very little time to be together. Difficult times, obligations to other people, life circumstances - everything was against their love. Yuri dies in 1929 from a heart attack. But later his stepbrother finds his notes and poems, which form the final part of the novel.

The plot lines of the novel were largely influenced by the difficulty with which Boris Pasternak wrote his work. "Doctor Zhivago", a brief summary of which does not give the full impression of this great work, was very warmly received in the West and so cruelly rejected in the Soviet Union. Therefore, every Russian needs to read this magnificent novel and feel the spirit of a real Russian person.