Doctor Zhivago is a novel by Boris Pasternak, which was also adapted by Robert Bolt into a 1965 epic film. The novel is named after its protagonist, Yuri Zhivago, a medical doctor and poet. It tells the story of a man torn between two women, set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution of 1917. According to Boxofficemojo.com [1], this is the 8th highest grossing movie of all time with collections of US$794,466,900 almost surpassing Titanic in adjusted terms.
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 Novyi mir, but was rejected due to Pasternak''s difficult relationship with the Soviet government. In 1957 publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli smuggled the manuscript out of Russia and published the book in Russian in Milan. 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 back in Russia in 1988, ironically in the pages of Novyi mir, although earlier Samizdat editions also exist.
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. Yuri Zhivago''s idealism and principles stand in brutal contrast to the horrors of the Russian Revolution. 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 a young man shot dead for wanting to see his family. Even the love of his life, Lara (sometimes called Larissa), is taken from him. 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 traveling 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''s description of the singer Kubarikha in the chapter ''Iced Rownberries'' is virtually identical to how Sofia Satina (sister-in-law/cousin of Sergei Rachmaninoff) described Gypsy singer Nadezhda Plevitskaya (1884-1940). Since Rachmaninoff was a friend of the Pasternak family, and Plevitskaya a friend of Rachmaninoff, Plevitskaya was probably Pasternak''s ''mind image'' when he wrote the chapter; something which also shows how Pasternak had roots in music.
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Awards
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama
Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture – David Lean
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama - Omar Sharif
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture - Robert Bolt
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay - Robert Bolt
Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color - John Box, Terry Marsh, Dario Simoni
Academy Award for Original Music Score - Maurice Jarre
Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture - Maurice Jarre
Golden Globe Award for Original Music Score - Maurice Jarre
Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Color - Freddie Young
Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Color - Phyllis Dalton
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