Alana Espineli
Guerrero
Humanities
5 March 2009
From Angst to Art
“I shouldn't admire [your poetry] now. I should find it absurdly personal. Don't you agree? Feelings, insights, affections... it's suddenly trivial now. You don't agree; you're wrong. The personal life is dead in Russia. History has killed it. I can see why you might hate me.” (Pasternak). This quote is from the character of Pasha in the novel Doctor Zhivago. Pasha may have been mistaken when he said the personal life was dead. So many experiences were translated by artists into beautiful works of art. This novel by Boris Pasternak is a novel that is historical and psychological filled with symbolism, allusions and references, that is also a love story (Dyck 159). “[It] is a most realistic human story, because it glorifies the whole of life” (160). This novel was set in Russia from before the revolution until WWII. It follows the story of Dr. Yury Zhivago. Boris Pasternak and Yury Zhivago shared similar experiences and characteristics. They both also used their own personal experiences to create their own works of art. As demonstrated in the writing of Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak, angst experience and angst help to create great pieces of art.
In the beginning of his literary career, Boris Pasternak was a very secluded and lonely artist. Slonim referred to Pasternak as lonely, isolated and a “hermit crab” (223). Since Pasternak had so much time to himself, he clearly did not have much of a social life. Therefore his writings were quite often about nature and the world. From his debut as a writer until 1932, Pasternak was “…master and leader of the poetic avant-garde…” (Slonim 225). He was a master and one of the greatest poets of his time, yet he was still so alone. Pasternak was “…secluded within the poetic laboratory of his own mind…” (Brown 269). Boris might have been aware of other poets and artists of his time but they probably did not have a great effect on him or his writing because he was so secluded in himself. Pasternak was a one-of-a-kind artist that created his own style. He wrote about whatever subject he wanted in whatever form pleased him. This made him unique from other writers of that time (Slonim 223). Since he was so different from others of that time, he did stick out to the authorities. In 1936 he was “attacked for being out of tune with the times” (Struve 181). Pasternak continued to be attacked for the remaining years of his career. During these times, his works were still great, but not as great as they were before (Slonim 225). Pasternak was either going downhill from there or building up to something great. In the following paragraphs, it is shown that everything inside of him would turn out to be something great.
Throughout Pasternak’s life and career, angst began to build up inside of him and he also lived out many experiences that would soon translate out into his work. In the years 1945 to 1955, Pasternak turned to prose. He wrote Doctor Zhivago and “…his poetry became concrete and direct” (Slonim 225). Michael Aucoutiers said Doctor Zhivago is a “symbolic autobiography” (Dyck 120). Many characters in the novel represent people that were present in Pasternak’s own life. There were also many events that occurred that symbolized events that took place in the author’s life. Doctor Zhivago was “…based on Pasternak’s own experiences, including to sojourn in the Urals and the love for a woman who was not his wife” (Slonim 232). These were just two examples of how the novel connected so clearly to Pasternak’s own life. Boris had the “unwritten book” inside of him (Dyck 107). For such a long part of his career, Boris had inside him the beginnings of what would make him a legend. His was living out the story and he did not even know it. “…Some of the ideas—perhaps even the major themes of the novel—had been with the author, although formless, for many years” (Dyck 106). “One of the most distinctive features of the novel is the mastery of depicting the gradual transformation of the inner man, of inner harmony to disharmony, or vice versa” (Dyck 111). Boris himself underwent an inner transformation.
Over the span of his career, Boris Pasternak evolved and changed as an artist. When Pasternak was 45, he “turned his back” on his unique characteristics that made he and his poetry so influential (Slonim 226). His writing style changed into something completely different than what it was before. “Towards the end of his life the author himself recognized a metamorphosis in the development of his poetic style, and that he himself considers his early poetry inferior to the poetry written after 1940” (Dyck 53). Since even he recognized the change, it was obviously something quite big, a revolution in oneself. A reason why he condemned his unique and “intricate” style of writing was because of “…the fear that they hid the substance of what he wanted to communicate” (Slonim 227). He wanted to let his ideas be more clearly and simply understood. Perhaps he was looking to attract a bigger audience for his works. He wanted more people to understand Yury and the other characters in the novel. Pasternak may have even longed for a larger audience to hear the story of his own life experiences through the story of Yury.
Yury, like Pasternak, also found comfort in his writings and often wrote about his own experiences. Yury was able to find satisfaction in his writing and that was his purpose in life (Dyck 132). In several passages in the novel, Yury has a strong longing to just sit and write. “I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and it isn't of much value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them.” (Pasternak). When Yury says this, it clearly demonstrates the fact that Yury agrees that people must go through suffering and angst to fully have a taste of real life. Yury did go through much suffering and angst in his lifetime and therefore was able to use these experiences in his wiritings. “With the help of poetry, Zhivago establishes his inner freedom in spite of the crushing powers of history” (Dyck 146). “The life that [Yury] lived had little importance; the life that [Yury] created in art was a priceless treasure bequeathed to all men” (Brown 273). The art that Yury created would be a lasting memoir of his life and experiences. Even though Yury eventually died, his art would live on forever.
Pasternak and Yury shared similar qualities in their characteristics and in their life experiences that translated into their art. Yury and Pasternak are extremely alike because they were both one with their art (Dyck 125). Both Yury and Pasternak had a passion for their writing. As mentioned before, Yury would always want to write. Pasternak escaped into his inner self, away from his times, and wrote as he pleased. “…There is no doubt that the opinions of Pasternak’s hero do reflect the poet’s intimate convictions, and that Doctor Zhivago as a work of art, is of allegorical significance” (Slonim 235).
When great art is created, the presence of angst in the artist is beneficial. An artist expresses his views of the world through his work. When there is angst within that artist, another dimension of reality is added to their work. “The personal life is dead in Russia.” (Pasternak). Pasha was wrong. As shown in this paper, artists like Yury and Pasternak went through so many personal experiences that translated into their art. They were true artists.
Works Cited
Brown, Edward, J. Russian Literature Since the Revolution. New York: Collier Books, 1969.
Dyck, J. W. Boris Pasternak. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972.
Pasternak, Boris. Doctor Zhivago. New York: Pantheon Books, 1958.
Slonim, Marc. Soviet Russian Literature: Writer’s and Problems 1917-1977 SECOND REVISED EDITION. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Struve, Gleb. Russian Literature Under Lenin and Stalin 1917-1953. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971.
