# of Words: 248

Back in 1958, Boris Pasternak became only the second author (later Jean-Paul Sartre) to ever refuse the Nobel Prize for Literature. The thing is that while Sartre turned down the prize for philosophical reasons, Pasternak turned it down because the Soviet government would have given him a severe trouble if he'd dared to accept it.

Wait, why?

It was only one year before, in 1957, that Pasternak published his masterpiece Doctor Zhivago. He wrote the book in Russian, but since the book criticized Communism, the Soviets banned it from publication. It was only after Pasternak smuggled a copy from the nation that he was able to publish the book in Italian. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize the next year, he both humiliated and enraged the rulers of his home country.

Now to be fair, there's a lot more to Doctor Zhivago compared to a critique of Communism. Much like George Orwell's Animal Farm, Pasternak's book admits that the capitalist system that existed before Communism was totally awful and almost equally as bad as Communism turned out to be.

But the thing about Communism that never sits well with Pasternak's main character, Yuri Zhivago, is the manner that this manner of thinking completely dismisses and condemns the power of the individual human being to think for him- or herself. And to get a great writer like Pasternak, anything that condemns the power of the individual mind is the enemy of all that is good and beautiful in the world.

Related Papers

Antigone (The Oedipus Plays) Sophocles

Antigone selects up at the same (uber-dismal) location that Oedipus in Colonus leaves away. Oedipus has just passed away from Colonus, and Antigone and her husband choose to return to Thebes with the intention of assisting their brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, avoid a prophecy that predicts they will kill each other in a struggle for the throne of Thebes. But upon her arrival in Thebes, Antigone finds that the two of her brothers are dead. Antigone defies the legislation, buries her brother,......Read More

Death Of A Salesman Arthur Miller

Ambition. It is one of those things which may be either your best friend or your worst enemy. On one hand, ambition can inspire us to get out of bed in the morning and follow our dreams. On the other hand, ambition will keep us from recognizing our own limitations, trapping us at the delusional grandeur of envisioned achievements. Death of a Salesman is a tragedy about the gaps between the Loman family's fantasies and the reality of their own lives. The play is a scathing review of the......Read More

Bartleby The Scrivener Herman Melville

Released in 1853, "Bartleby the Scrivener" is one of American author Herman Melville's most often-read and studied works (that is really saying a whole lot, considering that the man also penned several classics, such as Moby-Dick and Billy Budd). "Bartleby" is really a departure from the sea-faring adventures that Melville frequently presented to readers; in reality, this can be a story where the most fascinating thing that happens is in fact the simple fact that nothing really happens. The......Read More

Related Topics