Doctor Zhivago

This will be "in progress" for several months, perhaps a year, as I read this novel for the first time this year, reading not more than a chapter each night, at most.

I am surprised how easy this book is to read. The names of the characters are daunting. When one comes across a new character or a name one has forgotten, it is important to get an "image" of that character in one's mind before moving on. Once the image is in my mind, it makes the following passage that much easier to understand.

I know I would not have enjoyed this book without having first seen the movie (several times). Much like  "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," I had to see the movie first to be able to understand / enjoy the book.

While reading, one has to watch carefully for references to social changes going on, to the various causes that the characters belong to, etc. The "clues" are very subtle but make for interesting reading. Also, one learns much about Russian culture at that time, including such "banal" things as horses and carriages.

It is important to look up place names, feast days, etc. 

Chapter One

The Five-O'Clock Express

I

1

This is the funeral scene. Almost identical to that in the movie. What do we learn in 1-1-1 (Part I, Chapter 1 - subsection 1)?

Yura (not Yuri as they say in the movie) is 10 years old.

Mother's name is Maria Nikolaievna.

Nikolai Nikolaievich Vedeniapin: Maria's brother; Yura's uncle.

Uncle Nikolai was also "Father Nikolai": he had been defrocked at his own request.

Interestingly, the little girl in the funeral scene in the movie is not in the book or if she is, I missed her. She is the daughter of Uncle Nikolai, I believe.

2

I don't think the name/location of the cemetery / monastery is given.

We learn that the day following the funeral, they are to proceed to a provincial town on the Volga where Uncle Nikolai works for the publisher of the local progressive newspaper.

Uncle Nikolai is very, very Christian; very religious; we will see Pasternak talk about philosophy/religion as the book develops.

This chapter is just like the movie; of Yura being frightened during the night.

3

Immediately we learn that the Zhivagos has been extremely wealthy, but his father had abandoned his family early on. We learn here or later that Yura does not remember his father, so his father probably abandoned his family when Yura was less than two years old.

Zhivago the father apparently ended up in Siberia.

Zhivago factory, a Zhivago bank, Zhivago buildings, a Zhivago necktie pin, a Zhivao cake (a kind of baba au rhum). Pasternak has a real knack for the banal, the little things that paint an entire picture -- he was a poet first.

Suddenly that was gone; the Zhivagos were poor.

4

A date is given: 1903; we will later it is probably on/about November 4. This is uncommon in novels to provide a specific date, at least to my way of thinking. But this helps put things in context.

Yura and Uncle Nikolai, in 2-horse open carriage, on their way to Duplyanka, the estate of Kologrivov, a silk manufacturer and patron of the arts. Nikolai was to meet with Ivan Ivanovich Voskoboinikov, a teacher and author of popular textbooks.

Feast of the Virgin of Kazan.

A holy icon of the highest stature within the Russian Orthodox Church, representing the Virgin Mary as the protector and patroness of the city of Kazan. It was considered a palladium of Russia for centuries, until its theft and likely destruction in 1904. Two major Kazan cathedrals, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, are consecrated to Our Lady of Kazan, as are numerous churches throughout the land. Her feast days are July 21 and November 4 (which is also the Day of National Unity).

Kazan:

Kazan; Tatar: Cyrillic Казан, Latin Qazan) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia; the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. The "Third Capital" of Russia; the "Sports capital of Russia"; the city hosted the 2013 Summer Universiade, 2014 World Fencing Championships, the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, and one of the host cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

In a later chapter we will see evidence of "racism" / slurs against the Tartars.

There is a discussion about whether the fields belong to the landlord or the peasants. Again, it is a very natural discussion to have; it is not out of place, and it helps the reader get a feeling for where and why the book is headed. In this case, it is even more specific: The textbook author Voskoboinikov is writing a book on land ownership and has to be exactly right (and probably politically correct) due to increasing censorship.

Pavel is mentioned: Pavel is the "publisher's odd-job man" but it is not clear who the publisher is; perhaps Kologrivov is the publisher. Uncle Nikolai works for a publisher of a newspaper; he is not the publisher here, nor is the teacher.

It appears the publisher is Kologrivov (bottom of page 6) and he tells Pavel, "the people are getting out of hand here."

This was Yura's second trip with his uncle to Duplyanka (Bryanskaya Oblast, borders central Eastern Europe; extensive farm fields, go on forever).

Foreshadowing: uncle Nikolai will eventually be a famous Russian writer, university professsor, philosopher of the revolution, a man who shared their ideological conern but had nothing in common with them except their terminology ... they clung to some dogma or other, satisfied with words and superficialities, but Father (see I-I-I) Nikolai had gone through Tolstoyism and revolutionary idealism...he thirsted for something new.

His uncle reminder him of his mother.

Duplyanka also reminded him of his mother. Poetic.

Eager to see Nika Dudorov, a 12-year-old (two years older than Yura) who we will learn has his "issues" with society.

5

Ivan (the teacher/author) convinces Uncle Nikolai to stay overnight due to an approaching storm. Because of his friendship with the estate owner Kologrivov, he has access to a cottage for Uncle Nikolai.

Oh, that's right -- this would be the cottage that Yura returns to later in the movie with his own son and Tonya. Wow! It all comes together!

I had to read this slowly, a second time, and then get a picture of the "cottage" in my mind and then the I remembered the movie, and it all connected.

This scene, of course, was not in the movie and now we get the background to that.

The cottage had its own small garden which we will also see Tonya working later in life. Wow, this is an incredible love story, nostalgia, etc.

Pasternak calls Kologrivov, a "millionaire" (p. 9).

Mention "Soloviev, Kant, Marx."

Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov: January 28, 1853 – August 13, 1900; a Russian philosopher, theologian, poet, pamphleteer and literary critic, who played a significant role in the development of Russian philosophy and poetry at the end of the 19th century and in the spiritual renaissance of the early 20th century. 

They talk philosophy: "individuals seek truth...one must be true to immortality -- true to Christ!" Compares Ivan's countenance to that of Abraham Lincoln's, of all things -- emancipator of the slaves.

Asks whether Ivan was anathematized when he was defrocked (at his own request); says he was not.

He was banned from government jobs for awhile and could not go to Moscow or Petersburg for awhile after being defrocked -- that's how close the state and religion were. This was probably about 1880 or so, I suppose. Important read about the church history, here, for quick review; much was happening at fin de siecle, 19th century.

The church had undergone a resurgence just before all of this; "conservatives" were still adherents; folks like Nikolai were questioning. Nikolai was very, very much a Christian: "Christ's Gospel is its foundation."

They talk metaphysics, p. 10.

Then this: the 5 o'clock express from Syzran is stopped on the tracks.

Voskoboinikov notes it, but uninterested; wants to go in for tea.

6

This will be a huge chapter, foreshadowing events in the next chapter; it provides the back story to Yura's father which we do not know about in the movie.

The chapter starts with Yura looking for Nika, the 12-year-old, who is hiding from everyone.

Yura falls unconscious; distraught for his mother; prays for her. When found, he delays praying for his father, saying "He can wait." This is where we learn that "Yura did not remember him at all."

7

It begins with a scene in the second-class compartment of the stalled train.

Misha Gordon, 11-years old -- right between the age of Yura and Nika; his father a lawyer, traveling from Orenburg. His father, Grigory Osipovich Gordon (an interesting last name) was being transferred to a new post in Moscow. Mother and sisters had gone ahead to set up the apartment.

Pastnak philosophizes a bit about trains, traveling, religion, people, etc.

Misha was chronically unhappy; he struggled with the concept of being a Jew.

Misha was upset because the passengers blamed his father for pulling the emergency release to stop the train to try to stop the "madman" from jumping off the train and killing himself. This says much about the sensitivity of the Russians in this area, at this time -- no compassion for a "madman" about to commit suicide when all they wanted to do was get to Moscow on the train. But now the train was stopped and Misha's father was being blamed.

The suicide is noted.

A widow Tiverzina is mentioned. Her husband had been burned alive in a railway accident (again, the railroad). She compared the suicide to her own husband's death, and may have explained how Russians looked at death: fate or Christ's will or both.

The suicide had actually spent a lot of time in Misha's compartment talking with his lawyer dad.

The suicide, according to Misha's dad, was "a well-known millionaire, Zhivago, a good-natured profligate not quite responsible for his actions." He talked of his (Zhivago's) own son (Yura), a boy of Misha's age, and about his late wife -- would this be the one that was just buried? Then he would go on about his second family, who he had deserted as he had the first. At this point he would remember something else (will we be told about it later?), grow pale with terror, and begin to lose the thread of his story.

Was Zhivago heading back to see his late wife or Yura, or was he simply coincidentally passing through on the 5 o'clock express to return to Moscow?

Another train pulls up; police take charge of the suicide; Misha's train moves on.

8

Nika was still hiding. In this chapter, we learn he is 14 years old, which means Yura is now 12 years old.

Nika talks about God.

Nika's father was a terrorist, Dementii Dudorov, condemned to death but reprieved by the Tsar; now forced labor. His mother was a Georgian princess of the Eristove family, At the beginning of the book where the principal characters are listed, Nika's full name is given as Innokentii Dudorov. Innokentti probable relates to "Innocent." Dementii, of course, is pretty obvious.

I'm not sure Pasternak explains how Nika and his mother came to live with Ivan Ivanovitch Voskoboinikov. 

I don't know if Pasternak introduces Nadia earlier but all of a sudden on page 18 she shows up in the Voskoboinikov household; age 15 years old, she must be the latter's daughter. Nike doesn't like Nadia either; wants to drown her in the boat. Of course, doesn't.

That ends Chapter 1.

This will get way too long for a blog, so I will continue this elsewhere.