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Doctor Zhivago (Russian: Доктор Живаго) is a 20th century novel by Boris Pasternak. The novel is named after its protagonist, Yuri Zhivago, a medical doctor and poet. The word zhivago shares a root with the Russian word for life (жизнь), one of the major themes of the novel. It tells the story of a man torn between two women, set primarily against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The book was made into a film by David Lean in 1965 and has also been adapted numerous times for television, most recently as a miniseries for Russian TV in 2005. Image File history File links Wiki_letter_w. ... The name Doctor Zhivago (Russian: Доктор Живаго) can refer to: Doctor Zhivago (novel), by Boris Pasternak, published in 1957 Yuri Andreyevich Zhivago, a fictional character and the main protagonist of the book Doctor Zhivago There are several adaptations based on the Doctor Zhivago book: Doctor Zhivago (1965 film), the film directed by... Boris Pasternak (1890-1960). ... Soviet redirects here. ... A historical novel is a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author. ... This article refers to the wide variety of writing called romantic. For literature from the European Romantic movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, see Romanticism: Art and Literature. ... Feltrinelli may refer to: Feltrinelli (publisher) - Italian publishing house Giangiacomo Feltrinelli - founder of the publishing house Antonio Feltrinelli Prizes (Premi Antonio Feltrinelli) - awarded by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei since 1950 in various fields of arts, sciences and exceptional endeavours of outstanding moral and humanitarian value. Often referred to as... See also: 1956 in literature, other events of 1957, 1958 in literature, list of years in literature. ... A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative in prose. ... Boris Pasternak (1890-1960). ... The protagonist or main character is the central figure of a story. ... The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a series of political and social upheavals in Russia, involving first the overthrow of the tsarist autocracy, and then the overthrow of the liberal and moderate-socialist Provisional Government, resulting in the establishment of Soviet power under the control of the Bolshevik party. ... Doctor Zhivago (Russian: Доктор Живаго) is a 1965 film directed by David Lean and based on the famous novel by Boris Pasternak. ... Sir David Lean, KBE (March 25, 1908 – April 16, 1991) was an English film director and producer, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago . ...

Background

Although it contains passages written in the 1910s and 1920s, Doctor Zhivago was not completed until 1956. It was submitted for publication to the journal Noviy mir, but was rejected due to Pasternak's difficult relationship with the Soviet government. In 1957 publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli smuggled the manuscript out of the Soviet Union and published the book in Russian in Milan by Feltrinelli edition. The following year, it appeared in Italian and English translations, and these publications were partly responsible for the fact that the author was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958. The book was finally published in the Soviet Union in 1988, ironically in the pages of Noviy mir, although earlier Samizdat editions also exist. Feltrinelli may refer to: Feltrinelli (publisher) - Italian publishing house Giangiacomo Feltrinelli - founder of the publishing house Antonio Feltrinelli Prizes (Premi Antonio Feltrinelli) - awarded by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei since 1950 in various fields of arts, sciences and exceptional endeavours of outstanding moral and humanitarian value. Often referred to as... Milano redirects here. ... Feltrinelli may refer to: Feltrinelli (publisher) - Italian publishing house Giangiacomo Feltrinelli - founder of the publishing house Antonio Feltrinelli Prizes (Premi Antonio Feltrinelli) - awarded by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei since 1950 in various fields of arts, sciences and exceptional endeavours of outstanding moral and humanitarian value. Often referred to as... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Nobel Prize in literature is awarded annually to an author from any country who has produced the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency. The work in this case generally refers to an authors work as a whole, not to any individual work, though individual works are sometimes... Samizdat, book published by Pathfinder Press containing a collection of forbidden Trotskyist Samizdat texts. ...

Plot summary

Yuri Zhivago is sensitive and poetic nearly to the point of mysticism. In medical school, one of his professors reminds him that bacteria may be beautiful under the microscope, but do ugly things to people. Mysticism from the Greek μυστικός (mystikos) an initiate (of the Eleusinian Mysteries, μυστήρια (mysteria) meaning initiation[1]) is the pursuit of achieving communion or identity with, or conscious awareness of, ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, or insight; and the belief that such experience is an... Phyla Actinobacteria Aquificae Chlamydiae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Lentisphaerae Nitrospirae Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Verrucomicrobia Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are unicellular microorganisms. ...

Zhivago's idealism and principles stand in brutal contrast to the horrors of World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the subsequent Russian Civil War. A large theme of the book is how the mysticism of things and idealism is destroyed by both the Bolsheviks and the white army. Yuri must witness cannibalism, dismemberment, and other horrors suffered by the innocent civilian population during the turmoil. Even the love of his life, Lara (whose full name is Larissa Feodorovna), is taken from him. Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Franz... The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a series of political and social upheavals in Russia, involving first the overthrow of the tsarist autocracy, and then the overthrow of the liberal and moderate-socialist Provisional Government, resulting in the establishment of Soviet power under the control of the Bolshevik party. ... Combatants Red Army (Bolsheviks) White Army (Monarchists, SRs, Anti-Communists) Green Army (Peasants and Nationalists) Black Army (Anarchists) Commanders Leon Trotsky Mikhail Tukhachevsky Semyon Budyonny Lavr Kornilov, Alexander Kolchak, Anton Denikin, Pyotr Wrangel Alexander Antonov, Nikifor Grigoriev Nestor Makhno Strength 5,427,273 (peak) +1,000,000 Casualties 939,755... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... White army may refer to: The military arm of the White movement, a loose coalition of anti-Bolshevik forces in the Russian Civil War The Saudi Arabian National Guard The National Guard of Kuwait This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise...

He ponders on how the war can turn the whole world senseless, and make a previously reasonable group of people destroy each other with no regard for life. His journey through Russia has an epic feeling because of his travelling through a world which is in such striking contrast to himself, relatively uncorrupted by the violence, and to his desire to find a place away from it all, which drives him across the Arctic Siberia of Russia, and eventually back down to Moscow. Pasternak gives subtle criticism on the soviet ideology: he disagrees with the idea of "building a new man", which is against nature. This fits in the story's theme of life. Siberian Federal District (darker red) and the broadest definition of Siberia (red) Udachnaya pipe Siberia (Russian: , Sibir; Tatar: ) is a vast region of Russia constituting almost all of Northern Asia. ... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2005)    - Density 10,415,400   8537. ...

Pasternak's description of the singer Kubarikha in the chapter "Iced Rowanberries" is almost identical to Sofia Satina's (sister-in-law / cousin of Sergei Rachmaninov) description of gypsy singer Nadezhda Plevitskaya (1884-1940). Since Rachmaninov was a friend of the Pasternak family, and Plevitskaya a friend of Rachmaninov, Plevitskaya was probably Pasternak's "mind image" when he wrote the chapter; something which also shows how Pasternak had roots in music. Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Russian: , Sergej Vasil’evič Rachmaninov, 1 April 1873 (N.S.) or 20 March 1873 (O.S.) – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. ...

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Doctor Zhivago has been adapted for film and stage multiple times.

The most famous by far is the 1965 adaptation by David Lean, starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie. The film was a huge box-office hit and won several Oscars but was panned by critics; now, however, it is widely considered to be a classic film. The film is faithful to the book in a general sense, with no significant deviations from the general storyline; however, the depictions of several characters and events are noticeably different. Doctor Zhivago (Russian: Доктор Живаго) is a 1965 film directed by David Lean and based on the famous novel by Boris Pasternak. ... Sir David Lean, KBE (March 25, 1908 – April 16, 1991) was an English film director and producer, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago . ... Omar Sharif (Arabic: عمر الشريف; April 10, 1932), also known as Omar al-Sharif or Omar Ash-Sharif, is an Egyptian-born actor (of Lebanese and Syrian origin) who has starred in many Hollywood films. ... Julie Christie as Lara in Doctor Zhivago Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1941) is an English Academy Award-winning film actress. ...

Keira Knightley as Lara in the Doctor Zhivago mini-series of 2002

Doctor Zhivago is also a mini-series with Hans Matheson, Keira Knightley, and Sam Neill, first appearing on the British ITV network in November 2002, and Masterpiece Theatre in the United States in November 2003. Image File history File links Normal_DZ_D1-546. ... Image File history File links Normal_DZ_D1-546. ... A miniseries (sometimes mini-series), in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. ... Hans Matheson (born August 7, 1975 in Outer Hebrides, Scotland) is a Scottish-born actor who made his feature film debut as Johnny Silver in Jez Butterworths critically acclaimed directorial debut, Mojo. ... Keira Christina Knightley (born March 26, 1985) is an Academy Award-nominated English[1] film actress. ... Sam Neill (born Nigel John Dermot Neill), OBE (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand film and television actor, and owner of the Two Paddocks winery in Central Otago. ... ITV (Independent Television) is the name popularly given to the original network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC. In England, Wales and southern Scotland, the network has been rebranded to ITV1 by ITV plc, the owners of... Masterpiece Theatre is a long-running television series produced by WGBH which premiered on PBS on January 10, 1971. ...

An eleven-part Russian mini-series was released in 2006.

A made-for-cable film remake had been announced in 2002, which would have had Joseph Fiennes as Zhivago and Jeremy Irons as Komarovsky, but was ultimately scrapped. It is unclear whether this evolved into the Masterpiece Theatre production or was an entirely different version altogether. [1] Joseph Alberic Fiennes (pronounced Fines) (born 27 May 1970) is an English actor. ... Jeremy Irons (born September 19, 1948) is an Oscar, Tony and double-Emmy award winning English film, television and stage actor. ...

The first film version of Zhivago was actually a made-for-TV version produced in Brazil in 1959, which is currently unavailable. [2]

Zhivago, a musical adaptation of the story, features music by Lucy Simon ("The Secret Garden"), a book by Michael Weller ("Hair," "Ragtime" screenplays), and lyrics by Michael Korie ("Doll" and the "Harvey Milk" opera libretto) and Amy Powers ("Lizzie Borden" and songs for "Sunset Boulevard"). It was a direct adaptation of Pasternak's novel rather than Lean's film. It made its debut at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2005 as a Page-To-Stage workshop, and then in a main-stage production which opened in May 2006. A Broadway debut is planned sometime in 2007. Lucy Simon (b. ... La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre-in-residence on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. ...

External links

• Homegrown Doctor Zhivago to Debut on Russian Television
• How the CIA won Zhivago a Nobel