Stages of life and work of B.L. Pasternak

Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) Russian poet, translator, prose writer and publicist, winner of the Nobel Prize for his contribution to world literature (the novel Doctor Zhivago in 1958).

Born on January 19 (February 10) in Moscow into an intelligent family of the famous artist and academician of painting Leonid Pasternak and his wife, the talented pianist Rosalia Kaufman. His parents made friends with many celebrities of that time: writer Leo Tolstoy, composers Scriabin and Rachmaninov, artists Levitan and Ivanov. The paternal home of little Boris Pasternak, who was the first-born and had two more sisters and a brother, has always been filled with a creative atmosphere and unique talents of people who later became universally recognized classics of Russian literature, music and art. Of course, acquaintance with such bright and original personalities could not but affect the formation of the young Boris Pasternak. The outstanding pianist and composer Alexander Scriabin made the greatest impression on him, thanks to whom Pasternak became seriously interested in music and even dreamed of becoming a composer in the future. In addition to this, he was also given the gift of his father, Boris drew beautifully and had a fine artistic taste.

Boris Pasternak - a graduate of the fifth Moscow gymnasium (in which, by the way, Vladimir Mayakovsky, his junior by 2 years, studied at the same time), he finished it brilliantly: he received a well-deserved gold medal and the highest scores in all subjects. In parallel, he studied musical art at the composition department at the Moscow Conservatory. However, at the end of it, Pasternak, who, by his own admission, did not have a perfect ear, put an end to his career as a composer and entered the law faculty of Moscow University in 1908. Possessing great determination and hard work, a year later he left the legal path and began to study at the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the same university. In 1912 he continued his brilliant studies at a German university (Marburg). He is predicted to have a brilliant career as a philosopher in Germany, but Pasternak, as always, is true to himself and, unexpectedly for everyone, decides to become a poet, although philosophical topics have always been central to his works throughout his entire literary career.

According to some reports, an indelible impression on the formation of the young poet was made by his trip with his family to Venice and his break with his girlfriend. Returning to Moscow and graduating from the university, Boris becomes a member of various literary circles, where he also reads his very first poetic opuses. At first, he was attracted by such directions in poetry as symbolism and futurism, later he completely gets rid of their influence and acts as an independent poetic personality. In 1914, his first collection of poetry, Twin in the Clouds, was born, which he himself considered his first attempt at writing and was not very pleased with its quality. For the novice poet, poetry was not only a great gift, but also hard work, he achieved the perfection of his phrases, constantly and selflessly honing them to perfection.

In the years preceding the revolution, Pasternak was in the ranks of futurist poets, along with Nikolai Aseev and Sergei Bobrov, Vladimir Mayakovsky had a great influence on the work of that period. In the summer of 1917, a collection of poems “My sister is life” was written (published only in 1922), which the poet himself considered the real beginning of his literary activity. In this collection, critics noted the most important features of his poetry: the inseparability of man from the natural world and all life in general, the influence of the atmosphere of revolutionary changes, a completely new and hitherto unusual subjective view of events on behalf of the world itself.

In 1921, the poet's family immigrates to Germany, in 1922 Pasternak enters into marriage with the artist Evgenia Lurie, in 1923 they have an heir - the son of Zhenya (they later divorced, Zinaida Neuhaus became the second wife of the poet, their common child is the son of Leonid , the last muse of the poet - editor Olga Ivinskaya). This year is very fruitful for the poet's work, he publishes the poetry collection "Themes and Variations", as well as the famous poems "The Nine Hundred and Fifth Year" and "Lieutenant Schmidt", which were highly appreciated by critics and Maxim Gorky himself. In 1924, the story “Airways” was written, in 1931 the poetic novel “Spektorsky”, the works depicted the fate of people in realities changed by war and revolution, in 1930-1931 - a book of poems “The Second Birth”, published in 1932.

The poet was officially recognized by the Soviet authorities, his works were regularly reprinted, in 1934 he was given the right to speak at the first congress of Soviet writers, in fact, he was even named the best poet in the country of the Soviets. However, the Soviet authorities did not forgive him for intercession for the arrested relatives of the poetess Anna Akhmatova, interference in the fate of the repressed Lev Gumilyov and Osip Mandelstam. By 1936, he was practically removed from official literary activity, critics sharply condemned his wrong anti-Soviet position in life and detachment from real life.

After complications in his poetic literary activity, Pasternak gradually moved away from poetry and translated mainly Western European poets such as Goethe, Shakespeare, Shelley, etc. In the prewar years, a poetic collection "On Early Trains" was created, where Pasternak's clear classical style was already outlined, in which the people are interpreted as the basis of all life.

In 1943, Pasternak, as part of an propaganda team, went to the front, in order to prepare materials for a book about the battle of Orel, they looked like a kind of essay or report, similar to diary entries in poetic form.

After the war, in 1945, Pasternak set about fulfilling a long-conceived plan - writing a novel in prose, he became the famous, largely autobiographical "Doctor Zhivago", which tells about an intellectual doctor who was disillusioned with the ideals of the revolution and does not believe in social changes for the better in modern society. In this novel, scenes of wildlife and love relationships between the characters are amazingly beautiful and heartfelt. The novel was transferred abroad and published there in 1957, in 1958 he was nominated for the Nobel Prize and received this well-deserved award.

Due to the sharp condemnation of this event by the Soviet authorities and the subsequent expulsion of the poet from the Writers' Union, Pasternak was forced to refuse the prize. In 1956, he began his final cycle of poetry, “When it clears up”, on May 30, 1960, he died of a serious and prolonged illness (lung cancer) and was buried like his whole family in the cemetery of a summer cottage near Moscow in Peredelkino.

The writing

The theme of creativity is one of the main ones in the poetry of B. L. Pasternak. It arises in the earliest poems of the poet and runs through all his work. Being a symbolist, futurist or simply a poet, Pasternak always refers to this topic, defining his attitude to the problems of creativity, poet and poetry. The theme of creativity in Pasternak's poetry must be considered in connection with the stages of the poet's creative path and changes in his poetic ideals.

Pasternak's entry into literature is associated with his participation in literary circles that formed around the symbolist publishing house Musaget. Symbolist concepts, symbolist aesthetics determined the features of Pasternak's early work. In 1913, Pasternak joined the Lyrica literary group. In 1914, Lyrica published Pasternak's first collection of poems, The Twin in the Clouds. The touch of symbolism in this book was quite strong. Pasternak's poems of that time are replete with metaphors, allegories, associative imagery.

A split occurs in Lyric, and Pasternak joins the futuristic current of Russian poetry, he is a member of the Centrifuge group. In 1917, Pasternak wrote an article for the "Third Collection of Centrifuges" "Vladimir Mayakovsky. "Simple as a moo." Petrograd 1916. In this article, Pasternak expresses his joy at the existence of a talented poet Mayakovsky and expresses two requirements that must be applied to a real poet and which Mayakovsky's poetry meets. First, the clarity of creativity. Secondly, responsibility before eternity, which is the judge of a true poet. In his article, Pasternak compares creativity with the categories of eternity and immortality. This is how Pasternak understands the role of the poet, and this attitude towards the poet and poetry will run through all his work.

Since 1918, Pasternak has been gradually freed from the aesthetic requirements of various literary movements. In the article “A Few Propositions”, Pasternak declares himself as an independent poet, not bound by the aesthetic requirements of various literary declarations. Now Pasternak strives for simplicity in his poems, naturalness becomes for him the most important sign of true art.

In 1922, Pasternak's next collection, My Sister - Life, was released. The theme of the poet and poetry is heard in this collection in the cycle "Engaging in Philosophy". Pasternak tries to give a philosophical definition of creativity in the poems "Definition of Poetry", "Definition of the Soul", "Definition of Creativity". Creativity is inherently cosmic for Pasternak, it is genetically connected with the universe.

The theme of creativity sounds most difficult in Pasternak's novel "Doctor Zhivago" and in the poet's last collection of poetry "When it clears up." The hero of Doctor Zhivago, Yuri Zhivago, expresses Pasternak's own views on the poet's mission in the world. Zhivago is a creative person; in one of the letters, Pasternak admitted: "This hero will have to represent something in between me, Blok, Yesenin and Mayakovsky." Yuri Zhivago dies in 1923, among his papers are found poems he once composed, which make up the last chapter of the novel. These verses express Pasternak's main idea about the eternity of poetry, about the immortality of the poet.

Pasternak is a Christian, Orthodox poet. Creativity for him is a gift from God, like life itself. From the Orthodox religion, Pasternak takes the idea of ​​the complete acceptance of life in all its manifestations, as well as the idea of ​​absolute freedom of creativity. Pasternak understands that only faith reveals all creative abilities. This idea is especially strongly expressed in the late lyrics of Pasternak, pouring like a staircase along which the poet approaches God.

In Pasternak's latest collection, “When it's clearing up,” the theme of creativity sounds in the poems “I want to reach everything ...”, “Being famous is ugly ...”, “Night”, etc. Let's analyze these three poems.

In the poem "In everything I want to reach ..." Pasternak says that life itself should sound in the poet's work. The poet wants to write about everything:

About iniquities, about sins,

Run, chase,

Accidents in a hurry,

Elbows, palms.

But before reproducing life in verse, he needs to understand the essence of all the phenomena that occur in life:

In everything I want to reach

To the very essence.

At work, in search of a way,

In heartbreak.

It is necessary for the lyrical hero of this poem by Pasternak to know the secrets of being, the essence of the world around him, so that a verse is born. The poet wants to create in his poems, as nature does:

In verses I would bring the breath of roses,

mint breath,

Meadows, sedge, haymaking,

Thunderstorms.

In the poem, Pasternak claims that creativity, like nature, like human life, is God's gift. The poem "Being famous is ugly ..." can be called Pasternak's poetic manifesto. In it, Pasternak writes about what a poet should be like. A true poet does not need to be famous, “you don’t need to start an archive, shake over manuscripts.” He must be alien to hype, success and imposture. Pasternak defines the goal of poetry: "the goal of creativity is self-giving," as well as the basic requirements that the work of a true poet must meet. Firstly, it is clarity and concreteness (poetry should not have "gaps", white spots, that is, incomprehensibility). Secondly, the poet must be original, and his work must be individual, and, thirdly, a true poet must be alive, that is, love life, be close to its problems:

And owe not a single slice

Don't back away from your face

But to be alive, alive and only,

Alive and only until the end.

And then the poet will be able to "attract the love of space to himself, hear the call of the future." Pasternak expresses his understanding of creativity in the poem "Night". The hero of the poem, the pilot, is identified with the poet. The pilot appears in the context of the whole world. It flies over cities, barracks, stokers, stations, trains, as well as Paris, mainlands, posters. The pilot is connected with all this, he is part of this world, part of the cosmos. So the artist is inextricably linked with the universe, with the cosmos, he is a hostage of eternity, time:

Don't sleep, don't sleep, artist

Don't give in to sleep.

You are a hostage of eternity

Time is a prisoner.

Numerous repetitions, anaphoras, iambic trimeter, an abundance of verbs create the impression of perpetual motion, dynamics. Pasternak urges poets to keep up with the times, not to renounce life.

Thus, having gone through a fascination with symbolism and futurism, having freed himself from the pressure of form over content, Pasternak comes to the real clarity and content of poetry. Throughout his life, Pasternak tries to determine the purpose of art, poetry, the purpose of the poet; especially clearly, clearly, specifically, this is formulated in his later lyrics. The theme of the poet and poetry has a philosophical solution in the work of Pasternak. It is closely connected with the religious beliefs of the poet: creativity is perceived by Pasternak as a valuable gift from God.

As for "Hamlet", the fate of Hamlet is associated with the fate of Christ, and with the mission of the poet, creator, chosen one. Hamlet renounces himself, his right to choose, in order to do the will of the one who sent him. He knows that he is fulfilling the "stubborn plan" of the Lord. He is lonely and tragic in his asceticism. “I am alone, everything is drowning in hypocrisy” - the definition of the position of the ascetic, the poet in his contemporary world.

The theme of "Hamlet" corresponds to the theme of the poem "Dawn". The lyrical hero takes on the burden of human concerns. The merger of the fate of the lyrical hero with the fate of the people is a testament from above. Immersion in everyday life, in the life of mortals becomes not only a covenant, but also a necessity and inevitability.

The affinity of the poet with the "crowd" is a theme that reflects Boris Pasternak's understanding of the essence of creativity. Poetry, according to Pasternak, like the poet's soul, is a sponge that absorbs not only the secrets of the universe, but also the little things of life.

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak- poet, writer, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1958).

Biography

The future poet was born in Moscow into a creative Jewish family. Pasternak's parents, father - artist, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts Leonid Osipovich (Isaak Iosifovich) Pasternak and mother - pianist Rosalia Isidorovna Pasternak (née Kaufman, 1868-1939), moved to Moscow from Odessa in 1889, a year before his birth. Boris was born in a house at the intersection of Arms Lane and Second Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street, where they settled. In addition to the eldest, Boris, Alexander (1893-1982), Josephine (1900-1993) and Lydia (1902-1989) were born in the Pasternak family. In some official documents from the early 1900s, B. L. Pasternak appeared as "Boris Isaakovich (aka Leonidovich)"

The Pasternak family maintained friendship with famous artists (I. I. Levitan, M. V. Nesterov, V. D. Polenov, S. Ivanov, N. N. Ge), musicians and writers visited the house. In 1900, during his second visit to Moscow, Rainer Rilke met the Pasternak family. At the age of 13, under the influence of the composer A. N. Scriabin, Pasternak became interested in music, which he studied for six years (two preludes and a sonata for piano have been preserved).

On October 25, 1905, he fell under the Cossack whips when he ran into a crowd of protesters on Myasnitskaya Street, which was driven by mounted police. This episode will be included in Pasternak's books.

In 1900, Pasternak was not admitted to the 5th Moscow Gymnasium (now Moscow School No. 91) due to the percentage rate, but at the suggestion of the director, the next year, 1901, he immediately entered the second grade. From 1906 to 1908, in the fifth gymnasium, two classes younger than Pasternak, Vladimir Mayakovsky studied in the same class with Pasternak's brother Shura.

In 1908, at the same time as preparing for the final exams at the gymnasium, under the guidance of Yu. D. Engel and R. M. Glier, he was preparing for the exam at the composition faculty of the Moscow Conservatory. Pasternak graduated from the gymnasium with a gold medal and all the highest scores, except for the law of God, from which he was released. The choice between music and philosophy, between philosophy and poetry, turned out to be not easy on the way of realizing one's destiny. The example of parents who achieved high professional success through tireless work resonated in Pasternak with the desire to “get to the very essence, in work, in search of a way ...” V. Asmus noted that “nothing was so alien to Pasternak as half perfection” . Later, recalling his experiences, the poet wrote in the “Guarantee”

More than anything, I loved music... But I didn't have perfect pitch...

After a series of hesitation, he abandoned his career as a professional musician and composer:

Music, the world of six years of work, hopes and anxieties, I pulled out of myself, as one parted with the most precious

In 1908 he entered the Faculty of Law of Moscow University (in 1909 he transferred to the Philosophical Department of the Faculty of History and Philology).

In the summer of 1912 he studied philosophy at the University of Marburg in Germany under the head of the Marburg neo-Kantian school, Prof. Hermann Cohen, who advised Pasternak to continue his career as a philosopher in Germany. Then he made an offer to Ida Vysotskaya (daughter of a major tea merchant D. V. Vysotsky), but was refused, as described in the poem "Marburg" and the autobiographical story "Certificate of Conduct". In 1912, together with his parents and sisters, he visited Venice, which was reflected in his poems of that time. I met in Germany with my cousin Olga Freidenberg (daughter of the writer and inventor Moses Filippovich Freidenberg). With her, he was connected by many years of friendship and correspondence.

After a trip to Marburg, Pasternak also refused to further concentrate on philosophical studies. At the same time, he began to enter the circles of Moscow writers. He participated in the meetings of the circle of the symbolist publishing house "Musaget", then in the literary and artistic circle of Yulian Anisimov and Vera Stanevich, from which the short-lived post-symbolist group "Lyrika" grew. Since 1914, Pasternak joined the Centrifuge futurist community (which also included other former members of the Lyrics - Nikolai Aseev and Sergei Bobrov). In the same year, he became closely acquainted with another futurist - Vladimir Mayakovsky, whose personality and work had a certain influence on him. Later, in the 1920s, Pasternak maintained ties with the Mayakovsky LEF group, but on the whole, after the revolution, he took an independent position, not being a member of any associations.

Pasternak's first poems were published in 1913 (the collective collection of the Lyrika group), the first book, The Twin in the Clouds, at the end of the same year (on the cover - 1914), was perceived by Pasternak himself as immature. In 1928, half of the poems "Twin in the Clouds" and three poems from the collection of the group "Lyrics" were combined by Pasternak into the "Initial Time" cycle and heavily revised (some were actually completely rewritten); the rest of the early experiments were not republished during Pasternak's lifetime. Nevertheless, it was after the “Twin in the Clouds” that Pasternak began to realize himself as a professional writer.

In 1916, the collection "Over the Barriers" was published. Pasternak spent the winter and spring of 1916 in the Urals, near the city of Alexandrovsky, Perm province, in the village of Vsevolodo-Vilva, accepting an invitation to work in the office of the manager of the Vsevolodo-Vilvensky chemical plants, Boris Zbarsky, as an assistant for business correspondence and trade and financial reporting. It is widely believed that the prototype of the city of Yuriatin from Doctor Zhivago is the city of Perm. In the same year, the poet visited the Berezniki soda plant on the Kama. In a letter to S.P. Bobrov dated June 24, 1916 (the day after leaving home in Vsevolodo-Vilva), Boris calls the soda plant “Lubimov, Solvay and K” and the European-style settlement with him “a small industrial Belgium”.

Pasternak's parents and his sisters left Soviet Russia in 1921 at the personal request of A. V. Lunacharsky and settled in Berlin. Pasternak's active correspondence begins with them and Russian emigration circles in general, in particular, with Marina Tsvetaeva. In 1926, a correspondence began with R.-M. Rilke.

In 1922, Pasternak married the artist Evgenia Lurie, with whom he spent the second half of the year and the entire winter of 1922-1923 visiting his parents in Berlin. In the same 1922, the poet’s program book “My Sister is Life” was published, most of whose poems were written in the summer of 1917. The following year, 1923, on September 23, a son, Evgeny, is born in the Pasternak family (he died in 2012).

In the 1920s, the collection Themes and Variations (1923), the novel in verse Spectorsky (1925), the High Illness cycle, the poems The Nine Hundred and Fifth Year and Lieutenant Schmidt were also created. In 1928, Pasternak turned to prose. By 1930, he was completing his autobiographical notes "Protective Letter", which outlines his fundamental views on art and creativity.

At the end of the 20s - the beginning of the 30s, there was a short period of official Soviet recognition of Pasternak's work. He takes an active part in the activities of the Union of Writers of the USSR and in 1934 delivered a speech at its first congress, at which N. I. Bukharin called for Pasternak to be officially named the best poet of the Soviet Union. His large single volume from 1933 to 1936 is reprinted annually.

Having met Zinaida Nikolaevna Neuhaus (nee Eremeeva, 1897-1966), at that time the wife of the pianist G. G. Neuhaus, together with her in 1931 Pasternak made a trip to Georgia (see below). Having interrupted his first marriage, in 1932 Pasternak marries Z. N. Neuhaus. In the same year, his book "The Second Birth" was published - Pasternak's attempt to join the spirit of that time. On the night of January 1, 1938, Pasternak and his second wife have a son, Leonid (future physicist, d. 1976).

In 1935, Pasternak participated in the work of the International Congress of Writers in Defense of Peace, which was held in Paris, where he had a nervous breakdown (his last trip abroad). In 1935, Pasternak stood up for Anna Akhmatova's husband and son, who were released from prison after Pasternak and Akhmatova's letters to Stalin. In December 1935, Pasternak sent a book of translations of Georgian Lyrics as a gift to Stalin and in a cover letter thanked for the "wonderful lightning-fast release of Akhmatova's relatives" and further writes:
In conclusion, I warmly thank you for your recent words about Mayakovsky. They answer my own feelings, I love it and have written a whole book about it. But indirectly, your lines about him responded to me salutarily. Recently, under the influence of the West, I have been terribly inflated, given an exaggerated importance (I even fell ill from this): they began to suspect a serious artistic force in me. Now, after you put Mayakovsky in first place, this suspicion has been removed from me, with a light heart I can live and work as before, in modest silence, with surprises and mysteries, without which I would not love life.

In January 1936, Pasternak published two poems addressed with words of admiration to I.V. Stalin. However, by the middle of 1936, the attitude of the authorities towards him was changing - he was reproached not only with “detachment from life”, but also with a “worldview that did not correspond to the era”, and unconditionally demanded a thematic and ideological restructuring. This leads to Pasternak's first long streak of alienation from official literature. As interest in Soviet power wanes, Pasternak's poems take on a more personal and tragic tone.

In 1937, he showed great civic courage - he refused to sign a letter approving the execution of Tukhachevsky and others, defiantly visited the house of the repressed Pilnyak.

In 1936 he settled in a dacha in Peredelkino, where he would live intermittently until the end of his life. From 1939 to 1960 he lived in a dacha at the address: Pavlenko Street, 3 (now a memorial museum). His Moscow address in the writer's house from the mid-1930s until the end of his life: Lavrushinsky lane, 17/19, apt. 72.

By the end of the 30s, he turned to prose and translations, which in the 40s became the main source of his income. During that period, Pasternak created classic translations of many of Shakespeare's tragedies, Goethe's Faust, F. Schiller's Mary Stuart.

He spent 1942-1943 in evacuation in Chistopol. He helped many people financially, including the daughter of Marina Tsvetaeva - Ariadne Efron.

In 1943, the book of poems "On Early Trains" was published, which included four cycles of poems from the pre-war and war times.

In 1946, Pasternak met O. V. Ivinskaya and she became the "muse" of the poet. He dedicated many poems to her. Until the death of Pasternak, they had a close relationship.

The life and work of Pasternak briefly outlined in this article.

Pasternak biography short

Russian writer, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1958).

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was born February 10, 1890 in Moscow, in the family of academician of painting L. O. Pasternak. Musicians, artists, writers often gathered in the house, he grew up in a creative atmosphere.

AT 1903 A young man fell off his horse and broke his leg. Because of this, Pasternak remained lame for life, although he hid his injury as best he could.

Boris becomes a student of the Fifth Moscow Gymnasium in 1905 year. He continues to study music and tries to write works himself. In addition, the future poet is engaged in painting.

AT 1908 year Boris Leonidovich becomes a student at Moscow University. He is studying philosophy. The first timid poetic experiments came in 1909, but then Pasternak did not attach any importance to them. After graduation, he joined the Musagetes, then the futuristic association Centrifuge. After the revolution, he only kept in touch with LEF, but he himself did not join any circles.

The first collection comes out in 1916 year and is called "Above the Barriers".

AT 1921 year, the family of Boris Leonidovich emigrated to Berlin. After that, the poet actively maintains contact with all creative figures who left the country. A year later, he marries Evgenia Lurie. They had a son, Eugene. At the same time, a book of poems “My sister is life” was published. In the twenties, a number of collections were published, and the first experiments in prose appeared.

The next decade is devoted to work on autobiographical essays "Protective Letter". It was in the thirties that Pasternak received recognition. In the middle of the decade, the book "Second Birth" appears, in which Boris Leonidovich tries to write in the spirit of the Soviet era.

AT 1932 divorces Lurie and marries Zinaida Neuhaus. Five years later, the couple has a son, named after his grandfather Leonid.

Initially, the attitude of the Soviet authorities and in particular Joseph Stalin towards the poet was favorable. Pasternak managed to achieve the release from prison of Nikolai and Lev Gumilyovs (husband and son of Akhmatova). He also sends a collection of poems to the leader and dedicates two works to him.

However, closer to the forties, Soviet power changes its location.

In the forties he translated foreign classics - the works of Shakespeare, Goethe and others. This is what makes a living.

The pinnacle of Pasternak's work - the novel "Doctor Zhivago" - was created for ten years, from 1945 to 1955. However, the homeland forbade the publication of the novel, so Doctor Zhivago was published abroad - in Italy in 1957 year. This led to the condemnation of the writer in the USSR, expulsion from the Writers' Union and subsequent persecution.

1958 Pasternak received the Nobel Prize for Doctor Zhivago. The persecution caused the poet's nervous breakdown, which eventually led to lung cancer and death. Boris Leonidovich did not have time to finish the play "The Blind Beauty".

Pasternak died at home, in bed, from which he had not risen for a long time, in May 30, 1960.

Contemporaries describe Pasternak as a modest, childishly trusting and naive person. He was distinguished by a competent, correctly delivered speech, rich in interesting phrases and aphorisms.

A brief chronological table of Pasternak is the best way to quickly familiarize yourself with the biography of the great poet. This memo will be especially useful to schoolchildren and graduates who need to know the basic facts from the life and work of the author. The table contains precisely those events that had the greatest influence on the further fate of Boris Leonidovich.

Biography of Pasternak by date includes data on the birth of the poet, his youth, personal life and creative activity, the last years of the life of a popular author. Looking through it, you will learn about the most difficult stages of the fate of the figure. Here are his ups and downs, his successes and failures. One of the main works of Boris Leonidovich "Doctor Zhivago" did not go unnoticed either. You can easily find the chronological table of Pasternak's life on our website.

1890 January 29 (February 10)– Boris Pasternak was born in Moscow. Father - artist Leonid Osipovich Pasternak, mother - pianist Rosalia Isidorovna, nee Kaufman.

1908, August- Enters the Faculty of Law of Moscow University. At the same time, at the gymnasium, he is taking a composer course according to the program of the conservatory, and is preparing to take exams as an external student.

1909 May- Transferred to the philosophical department of the historical and philological faculty of the university.

1910 February- The first surviving poems of the poet, who for a long time carefully concealed his literary talent.

1911, January 10- Report "Symbolism and Immortality" in the young symbolist circle at the publishing house "Musaget".

1912, May-August– Trip to Germany;
study during the summer semester with Professor G. Cohen at the Faculty of Philosophy
Marburg University;
two week stay in Italy.

1913 April- The first publication of poems by B. L. Pasternak in the collective collection "Lyrics";
Graduates from the university with the title of Candidate of Philosophy of Moscow University.

1914 - The first collection of the futuristic group "Centrifuga" - "Rukonog" with poems and an article by B. Pasternak is published;
the first meeting with V. Mayakovsky takes place.

1916 – Release of the book of poems “Over the Barriers”.

1917 - Revolution in Russia;
B. Pasternak is working on the book "Sister is my life."

1917-1918 – Work on the story “Childhood Luvers”.

1921 - Departure of parents to Berlin.

1922 - Marriage to the artist Evgenia Vladimirovna Lurie;
Pasternak's correspondence with Marina Tsvetaeva, who at that time was living in France, began.

1922-1923 – Stay in Germany, participation in the literary life of Berlin.

1924 – The LEF magazine publishes the poem High Illness, in which B. Pasternak tries to express his understanding of the October Revolution.

1925-1930 - Work on the novel in verse "Spektorsky", where Pasternak, feeling a craving for the epic form, for the first time attempts to combine prose ("The Tale") and poetry ("Spektorsky") in one work.

1925-1926 - He writes the poem "Nine hundred and fifth year" - an epic, "inspired by time."

1926-1927 – Writes a poem “Lieutenant Schmidt”;
breaks with the LEF group, calling the work on the topic of the day of the Lefovites “handicraft semi-art”.

1931 – The autobiographical story “Certificate of Conduct” dedicated to the memory of R.M. Rilke;
marriage to Zinaida Nikolaevna Neuhaus;
a trip to Georgia, the beginning of a strong friendship with the Georgian poets Titian Tabidze and Paolo Yashvili, whose poems he translates a lot.

1932 - New love - a new creative take-off: a book of poems "Second Birth" is published.

1936 - Attacks on the poet from the loyalist press are intensifying. Pasternak, trying to stay away from the official literary life, leaves for a dacha in Peredelkino, where he works on translations.

1937 - Suicide of Paolo Yashvili;
arrest and execution by the verdict of the "troika" of the NKVD Titian Tabidze.

1940 - Release of the collection "Selected Translations" from Western European poetry;
the first verses from the cycle "Peredelkino".

1941 – Translates and publishes “Hamlet”;
begins work on the translation of Romeo and Juliet.

1943 - As part of the writer's brigade B. Pasternak goes to the Bryansk Front.

1945 - The last lifetime poetic book of B. L. Pasternak “Selected Poems and Poems” is published.

1945-1955 – Work on the novel “Doctor Zhivago”.

1946, autumn- The first nomination of B. Pasternak for the Nobel Prize: he was proposed by English writers for lyrical works. In the Motherland, at that time, the poet was being frankly persecuted, his books were being destroyed, devastating articles were being published.

1953 - Released as a separate book of translation of Goethe's Faust.

1954 - Nomination for the Nobel Prize. The government of the USSR did not approve Pasternak's candidacy, suggesting Sholokhov.

1956 - Transfers the manuscript of the novel “Doctor Zhivago” to the editors of the journals “New World” and “Znamya”, almost simultaneously with this, the manuscript falls into the hands of the Milan communist publisher G. Feltrinelli;
writes an autobiographical essay “People and situations”, the last cycle of poems “When it clears up” has begun.

1957 - A set of a book of selected poems, prepared in Goslitizdat, was scattered;
Pasternak was summoned to the Central Committee of the CPSU with a demand to stop the publication of the novel in Italy, but in November the novel was published in Italian, then it was translated into many other languages ​​​​of the world.

1958 October 23- Awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature for the novel "Doctor Zhivago";
Literaturnaya Gazeta publishes a letter from the editorial board of Novy Mir, accompanied by an editorial under the heading "Provocative outburst of international reaction";
B. Pasternak is expelled from the Writers' Union of the USSR. As a result of all this persecution, I have to refuse the award.

1959 – The poem “The Nobel Prize” is published in an English newspaper, after which B. L. Pasternak is summoned to the Prosecutor General R. A. Rudenko, charged with treason and forbidden to meet with foreigners.