It snowed, it snowed over all the world
From end to end.
A candle burned on the table,
A candle burned.
This poignant stanza, nestled within Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago novel, encapsulates the very essence of the work. It speaks to the human need for solace and meaning amidst the bleakness of existence, a theme that resonates deeply within the novel’s sprawling narrative. Revisiting Doctor Zhivago after many years is like returning to an old friend, but with the fresh perspective of time and experience, allowing for a deeper appreciation of its multifaceted layers.
In the vast landscape of literature, Doctor Zhivago stands as a monumental work, often compared in scope and ambition to other literary giants. The initial allure of discovering new authors can sometimes overshadow the profound wisdom found in revisiting classic texts. However, certain literary encounters serve as compelling reminders of the enduring power of these masterpieces. For Doctor Zhivago, these reminders came from unexpected corners: the intense psychological explorations of Dostoevsky, the societal upheavals depicted by Dickens, and the nature-infused prose of Tarjei Vesaas. Each of these authors, in their unique way, illuminates different facets of Pasternak’s epic. Dickens, like Pasternak, masterfully portrays the impact of revolution on both societal and individual levels. Dostoevsky’s influence can be seen in the novel’s engagement with profound spiritual and existential questions. Vesaas’s work, with its deep connection to nature, highlights Pasternak’s own lyrical depictions of the natural world and its symbolic resonance within the narrative.
When asked about the central theme of Doctor Zhivago novel, a simple answer proves elusive. It is, in many ways, about “Life, The Universe, and Everything,” echoing Douglas Adams’ playful summation of grand questions. The novel’s ambitious scope is reflected in its extensive cast of characters, intricate plotlines, and exploration of Russia during a period of immense upheaval. At the heart of it all is Yuri Antonovich Zhivago, a physician and poet, whose life becomes inextricably intertwined with the tumultuous events of the Russian Revolution of 1918 and the subsequent Civil War. Zhivago’s journey is marked by a constant struggle to reconcile the demands of survival with his artistic and personal integrity. His deepest emotions and intellectual yearnings are powerfully focused through his love for one woman:
Lara, I’m afraid to name you, so as not to breathe out my soul along with your name.
Larissa Fyodorovna, or Lara, is central to understanding the emotional and thematic core of Doctor Zhivago. Drawing from Pasternak’s early engagement with Symbolism, Lara embodies multifaceted symbolic roles. She represents the Earth Mother, a goddess figure, and even Mother Russia itself. She is womanhood, and the promise of peace in a world torn apart by social and political conflict. For Zhivago, love for Lara becomes synonymous with a love for life in its entirety – his raison d’être, his source of strength, and his artistic inspiration. The other men in Lara’s life further amplify her symbolic significance. Khomarovsky, the opportunistic lawyer, embodies moral corruption and self-serving ambition, thriving in both pre-revolutionary and revolutionary contexts. Pasha Antipov, who transforms into the fearsome Strelnikov, represents the dangers of idealistic extremism, a puritanical revolutionary who becomes a brutal instrument of terror in his quest to build a better world.
And for doing good, he, a man of principle, lacked the unprincipledness of the heart, which knows no general cases, but only particular ones, and which is great in doing small things.
While the anti-communist undertones and the religious fervor present in Doctor Zhivago novel are undeniable and historically significant, the novel’s enduring power lies beyond its political critiques. Pasternak’s work transcends simple condemnation of a political system; it delves into the deeper human questions of faith, love, and the role of art. The chapters dedicated to Lara are particularly resonant because they reveal Pasternak’s profound belief in the power of love and beauty as forces of redemption and meaning. This focus on affirmation rather than negation is what truly distinguishes Doctor Zhivago.
Nikolai Nikolaevich, or Uncle Kolya, serves as another authorial voice within the novel, an intellectual representing the old guard, deeply interested in religion and possessing a distinctly elitist perspective. His reflections offer insights into Pasternak’s own philosophical viewpoints.
Every herd is a refuge for giftlessness, whether it’s a faith is Soloviev, or Kant, or Marx. Only the solitary seek the truth, and they break with all those who don’t love it sufficiently. Is there anything in the world that merits faithfulness? Such things are very few. I think we must be faithful to immortality, that other, slightly stronger name for life. We must keep faith in immortality, we must be faithful to Christ.
Kolya further elaborates on the essence of Christianity and symbolism as artistic tools, highlighting the power of unarmed truth and the symbolic nature of life itself.
I think that if the beast dormant in man could be stopped by the threat of, whatever, the lockup or requital beyond the grave, the highest emblem of mankind would be a lion tamer with his whip, and not the preacher who sacrifices himself. But the point is precisely this, that for centuries man has been raised above animals and borne aloft not by the rod, but by music: the irresistibility of the unarmed truth, the attraction of its example. It has been considered up to now that the most important thing in the Gospels is the moral pronouncements and rules, but for me the main thing is that Christ speaks in parables from daily life, clarifying the truth with the light of everyday things. At the basis of this lies the thought that communion among mortals is immortal and that life is symbolic because it is meaningful.
This perspective underscores Pasternak’s understanding of history and art as intertwined realms, where art, particularly through a renewed understanding of Christianity, provides a profound commentary on the human condition.
… he developed his long-standing notion of history as a second universe, erected by mankind in response to the phenomena of time and memory. The soul of these books was a new understanding of Christianity, their direct consequence a new understanding of art.
Young Zhivago is portrayed as a romantic soul, yearning for expression, his inner world a complex tapestry of unique perceptions and sensitivities.
Everything in Yura’s soul was shifted and entangled, and everything was sharply original – views, habits, and predilections. He was exceedingly impressionable, the novelty of his perceptions not lending itself to descriptions.
Initially, Zhivago embraces the revolutionary fervor, seeing it as an opportunity for authentic living and the full realization of human potential.
Everything around fermented, grew, and rose on the magic yeast of being. The rapture of life, like a gentle wind, went in a broad wave, not noticing where, over the earth and the town, through walls and fences, through wood and flesh, seizing everything with trembling on its way.
However, his experiences in a Ukrainian village tending to wounded soldiers soon lead to disillusionment as the idealistic promises of the revolution clash with the harsh realities of its implementation.
Suddenly everything has changed, the tone the air; you don’t know how to think or whom to listen to. As if you’ve been led all your life like a little child, and suddenly you’re let out – go, learn to walk by yourself. And there’s no one around, no family, no authority. Then you’d like to trust the main thing, the force of life, or beauty, or truth, so that it’s them and not the overturned human principles that guide you, fully and without regret, more fully than it used to be in that peaceful, habitual life that has gone down and been abolished.
This disillusionment is poignantly juxtaposed with a declaration of love, revealing the intertwined nature of personal and political upheaval in Zhivago’s life.
In these days one longs so much to live honestly and productively! One wants so much to be part of the general inspiration! And then, amidst the joy that grips everyone, I meet your mysterioulsy mirthless gaze, wandering no one knows where, in some far-off kingdom, in some far-off land. What wouldn’t I give for it not to be there, for it to be written on your face that you are pleased with your fate and need nothing from anyone. So that somebody close to you, your friend or husband, would take me by the hand and ask me not to worry about your lot and not to burden you with my attention.
The lines between realism and symbolism blur as Zhivago’s personal feelings become intertwined with the fate of Russia itself.
There was a roll of thunder, like a plow drawing a furrow across the whole of the sky, and everything grew still. But then four resounding, belated booms rang out, like big potatoes dumped from a shovelful of loose soil in the autumn.The thunder cleared the space inside the dusty, smoke-filled room. Suddenly, like electrical elements, the component parts of existence became tangible – water and air, the desire for joy, earth, and sky.
The tumultuous times force a shift in perspective, bringing the fundamental “accursed questions” of existence to the forefront. During his exile in the Urals, Zhivago seeks refuge in writing, attempting to articulate his understanding of art and beauty.
Art always serves beauty, and beauty is the happiness of having form, while form is the organic key to existence, for every living thing must have form in order to exist, and thus art, including tragic art, is an account of the happiness of existing.
For Zhivago, this happiness is intrinsically linked to Lara.
Since childhood Yuri Andreevich had loved the evening forest shot through with the fire of sunset. In such moments it was as if he, too, let these shafts of light pass through him. As if the gift of the living spirit streamed into his breast, crossed through his whole being, and came out under his shoulder blades like a pair of wings. That youthful archetype, which is formed in every young man for the whole of life and serves him forever after and seems to him to be his inner face, his personality, awakened in him with its full primary force, and transformed nature, the forest, the evening glow, and all visible things into an equally primary and all-embracing likeness of a gril. “Lara!” – closing his eyes, he half whispered or mentally addressed his whole life, the whole of God’s earth, the whole sunlit expanse spread out before him.
Lara becomes the embodiment of life itself, the very principle of existence made manifest.
Oh, how sweet it is to exist! How sweet to live in the world and to love life! Oh, how one always longs to say thank you to life itself, to existence itself, to say it right in their faces!And that is what Lara is. It is impossible to talk to them, but she is their representative, their expression, the gift of hearing and speech, given to the voiceless principles of existence.
Nature, imbued with anthropomorphic qualities, mirrors the poet’s emotional and spiritual landscape.
The first heralds of spring, a thaw. The air smells of pancake and vodka, as during the week before Lent, when nature herself seems to rhyme with the calendar. Somnolent, the sun in the forest narrows its buttery eyes; somnolent, the forest squints through its needles like eyelashes; the puddles at noontime have a buttery gleam. Nature yawns, stretches herself, rolls over on the other side, and falls asleep again.
Lara is not merely a passive muse; she is a deeply perceptive and intuitive character, possessing her own profound connection to life and nature.
Lara walked beside the rails along a path beaten down by wanderers and pilgrims and turned off on a track that led across a meadow to the forest. Here she stopped and, closing her eyes, breathed in the intricately fragrant air of the vast space around her. It was dearer to her than a father and mother, better than a lover, and wiser than a book. For an instant the meaning of existence was again revealed to Lara. She was here – so she conceived – in order to see into the mad enchantment of the earth, and to call everything by name, and if that was beyond her strength, then, out of love for life, to give birth to her successors, who would do it in her place.
Her wisdom is more instinctive and grounded than Zhivago’s intellectual pursuits.
I don’t like works devoted entirely to philosophy. I think philosophy should be used sparingly as a seasoning for art and life. To be occupied with it alone is the same as eating horseradish by itself.
Lara’s love for Zhivago is unconditional, accepting and embracing his flaws and vulnerabilities.
I don’t think I’d love you so deeply if you had nothing to complain of and nothing to regret. I don’t like the righteous ones, who never fell, never stumbled. Their virtue is dead and of little value. The beauty of life has not been revealed to them.
Yet, their path is not destined for conventional happiness, reflecting the larger tragic currents of history and personal fate.
You understand, we’re in different positions. Wings were given you so as to fly beyond the clouds, and to me, a woman, so as to press myself to the ground and shield my fledgling from danger.
Ultimately, Doctor Zhivago novel is a sprawling epic where symbolism often takes precedence over strict plot mechanics and character motivations. While its critique of a corrupted value system remains relevant, it is Pasternak’s enduring poems, like the candle stanza, that truly capture the novel’s soul. They serve as a haunting reminder, much like Maurice Jarre’s iconic theme for the film adaptation, that even amidst darkness and chaos, beauty persists in the world, waiting to be discovered by those who are willing to seek it.
