Readers’ letters from abroad, in Russian, addressed to B. L. Pasternak after the publication of his novel “Doctor Zhivago”

Abstract

The article examines the foreign readers' correspondence to B.L. Pasternak, written in Russian in 1958–1960. The work is based on the materials of the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art. The article lists editions of the novel “Doctor Zhivago” available to western readers in the Russian original (including pirated copies) and in foreign languages. These Russian-language letters are systematized according to the content and purpose of the letter, the sender’s country of residence, the sender’s nationality and cultural affiliation (be it a Russian emigrant or a foreigner who knows Russian). There are noted various opinions of readers about the poetics of the novel “Doctor Zhivago”, their questions about the work, the discussion on the Jewish question and the perception of Pasternak’s own personality among Russian emigration. The author examines Pasternak’s attitude to readers’ letters expressed by him in lyrical and epistolary forms. In addition to readers’ responses, Pasternak's letter to the amateur translator S. Weinberg (1959) is published for the first time.