Boris Pasternak: A Literary Biography

by Christopher Barnes

• ISBN13: 9780521259576
• ISBN10: 0521259576
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1989-11-24
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This authoritative new biography of the Russian poet and prose writer Boris Pasternak is the first part of a two-volume set, covering the period 1890-1928. Drawing on archives and many eyewitness accounts, Barnes' study sheds light on currently unexplored aspects of Pasternak's character and family background, and his artistic, social and historical environment. He combines biographical investigation with detailed textual analysis of translated quotations in verse and prose to reveal the source of Pasternak's extraordinary writings. The book examines a wide range of topics that include his musical enthusiasm and relations with Scriabin, his philosophical studies, his activities in World War I and his response to the 1917 revolutions, and his stance as a liberal artistic intellectual in the 1920s.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vi
Preface	ix
Acknowledgements	xix
Origins and infancy	1	(28)
School and Scriabin	29	(24)
Revolution and Berlin	53	(16)
Youth's impressions, literature and music	69	(22)
Literature, love and creativity	91	(28)
Philosophy in Moscow and Marburg	119	(28)
A literary launch	147	(27)
Wartime in the Urals and Over the Barriers	174	(38)
Quiet Hills and revolution	212	(31)
Civil war activities	243	(35)
Berlin interlude	278	(37)
Malady Sublime and the air of history	315	(33)
The epic age	348	(33)
Breaches, losses, and lyric revival	381	(35)
Notes	416	(44)
Bibliography	460	(17)
Index	477