Boris Pasternak: Russian Writer in Italy

Abstract

Boris Pasternak is a prominent Russian poet and writer, a Nobel laureate in literature (1958), whose life was essentially connected with Italy. In 1957 his novel “Doctor Jivago” was published in Italy in the Feltrinelli publishing house. The appearance of this novel could be compared with an earthquake, a cultural explosion because Italian readers did not expect that “in the table” of soviet writers was hidden such an interesting fenomenon. The novel instantly became a bestseller. It was an honor for me to participate in the translation and publication of papers written by Italian writers, critics and historians of literature who reacted immediately upon the publication of “Doctor Jivago”: e.g., A. Moravia, I. Calvino, F.Fortini, C.Cassola, C.Salinari, etc. In this paper a classification of their opinions, reactions and points of view is presented. These opinions were vivid, natural, not dictated by ideology (as it happened in the URSS). The Italian publishers and Italian critics, who mostly praised the novel, played the sunstantial role in the worldwide advance of the novel “Doctor Jivago”. It is interesting that Italian critics (that were not well informed of the soviet literature because it was mainly “hidden in the tables” of soviet writers) evaluated the novel correctly and even guessed the perception of the novel by Russian critics. I’m happy to make a presentation of the book entitled “«Doctor Jivago» Pasternak, 1958, Italy” that was published in Russia. The book was published in Russian, but its edition in the initial language of the italian critics and writers - in Italian – is also indubitably worth publishing.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n9p304