Word: russianize
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Zhivago himself is a weak man, a Russian Hamlet to whom reality itself is the greatest antagonist. (The figure of Hamlet dominates Zhivago's conception of himself, culminating in the most notable of his poems collected at the end of the book.) The collection of pygmies in the Soviet Writers Union, besides their fatuous forays against Zhivago's politics complained that the character lacked a social conscience, that the book itself was devoid of a social meaning. And, in a way, it is legitimate criticism. When a protagonist of great stature fails to come to terms with reality...
...sense, Zhivago and the Russian intellectuals he symbolizes are Dostoyevsky's Ivan all over again. Just as the murder of the Father Karamazov was a consequence of Ivan's ideas, so was the Revolution a consequence of the (at once brilliant and naive) Russian intellectual ferment, a century in the coagulating. And just as Ivan was unable to face the practical implications of those ideas, to accept his own involvment in reality, and went insane; so Zhivago and his ilk came out of the October Revolution bewildered and shaken into silence...
Zhivago's tragedy is somewhat confused by Pasternak's limitations as a novelist. This is his first novel. He is a poet, and during the Stalin era of literary frigidity, he devoted himself to Russian translations of Shakespeare. As a poet, he has been schooled to write from a single point of view, a single consciousness ranging on a variety of subjects or focusing on one. Most poetry is characterized by this synthesis of artist and the created personality. For poetry, it is basic; for the novel, it can be disastrous. The fusion of Zhiva-go and Pasternak admits...
...success of the Russian moon rocket should teach you Americans a lesson. Concentrate more on science and less on jazz, hula hoops and the almighty dollar...
...mile Atlas will be in the field and operational by July 1959, at least as soon as the Russian counterpart is ready...