Sonata (1889), a study of sensuality and jealousy, is a violent attack on the relations between the sexes in modern society. The Meaning of Love (1892–94), by the philosopher Vladimir Soloviev (see part 1, note 6), is an affirmation of the physical-spiritual union of sexual love.
9. fauns … ‘let’s be like the sun’: Vyvolochnov refers to some of the favorite motifs in fin de siecle poetry and book design. One such book was Let’s Be Like the Sun (1903), the best-known work of the symbolist poet Konstantin Balmont (1867–1942).
10. Lev Nikolaevich … Dostoevsky: In his polemical treatise What Is Art?, Tolstoy (Lev Nikolaevich, i.e., Leo) attacks the “all-confusing concept of beauty” in art, and replaces it with the notion of “the good.” The phrase “Beauty will save the world” is commonly but wrongly ascribed to Dostoevsky. In fact, it comes from Dostoevsky’s novel The Idiot (1868), where it is attributed to the hero, Prince Myshkin, by Aglaya Epanchina. Vassily Rozanov (1856–1919), philosopher, diarist, and critic, was one of the major figures of the period leading up to the revolution. He was deeply influenced by Dostoevsky.
11. Faust … Hesiod’s hexameters: Faust, a monumental cosmic drama in two parts, is considered the masterwork of the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). Part 1 was published in 1808 and part 2 in 1832. Pasternak translated the two parts of Faust between 1948 and 1953, in alternation with his work on Zhivago. The ancient Greek poet Hesiod, author of Works and Days and The Theogony, is thought to have lived in the later eighth century BC.
12. Katerina’s in The Storm: The Russian playwright Alexander Ostrovsky (1823– 1886) wrote and staged his play The Storm in 1859. The heroine Katerina says, in a famous monologue in act 5, scene 4, “Where to go now? Home? No, whether home or the grave, it’s all the same to me.”
13. The psalm: Psalm 103, which opens with the words quoted here, is sung as the first of three antiphons at the start of the Orthodox liturgy.
14. the nine beatitudes: The beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3–12) are sung as the third antiphon of the Orthodox liturgy.
15. Presnya days: The armed riots of workers in the Presnya district of Moscow during December were the last incidents of the 1905 revolution.
16. bashlyks: A bashlyk is a hood of Tartar origin with long tails that can be tied around the neck like a scarf.
17. The Woman or the Vase: The title of a painting by G. I. Semiradsky (1843–1902), which depicts a market in ancient Rome, where a customer is trying to decide whether to buy a slave woman or a costly vase.
18. dacha: The word dacha, in its broadest sense, refers to a country dwelling, which can be anything from a rented room in a cottage, to a privately owned country house, to a complex of buildings as significant as the Kruger estate referred to here.
19. Theosophist: The spiritual teaching known as Theosophy (“God-wisdom”), first propounded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891), is an esoteric doctrine of human perfectibility through communion with a “Spiritual Hierarchy” drawn from all of the world’s religions. It was especially popular in intellectual circles during the later nineteenth century, in Russia, Europe, and the United States.
20. Cui’s nephew: Cesar Cui (1835–1918), Russian composer, was one of a group of composers known as “the Five” or “the Mighty Little Bunch” (Moguchaya Kuchka), the other four being Balakirev, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Borodin.
PART THREE
1. “Askold’s grave” … Oleg’s steed: The actual grave is said to be the burial place of the Kievan prince Askold, still to be seen on the steep bank of the river Dnieper. Askold was killed in 882 by Oleg, the successor to Rurik, founder of the first dynasty of Russian rulers. These events were the subject of an opera composed by Alexei Verstovsky (1799–1862). It was predicted that Oleg’s death would be caused by his favorite horse. As it turned out, he died from the bite of a snake that hid in the skull of his horse long after its death.
2. John the Theologian: St. John, the author of the fourth Gospel, known as John the Theologian in Orthodox tradition, was also the author of the book of Revelation, from which Zhivago quotes (“and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more,” Revelation 21:4).
3. vodka and pancakes …: In the week before the beginning of the Great Lent, the forty-day fast period preceding Holy Week and Easter, it is the Russian custom to eat pancakes (bliny) with all sorts of fish and cream toppings, accompanied by vodka.
4. Egyptian expedition … Frejus: The ultimately unsuccessful expedition of the French army in Egypt lasted from 1798 to 1801, but Napoleon led it only until August of 1799, when news of unrest in Paris drew him back to the capital. He landed at the port of Frejus in the south of France on October 9, 1799, and a month later led a bloodless coup against the then-ruling Directoire and set up the Consulat, with himself as first consul.
5. Blok: Alexander Blok (1880–1921), one of the greatest Russian poets, was a leader of the symbolist movement. In an autobiographical sketch written near the end of his life, Pasternak noted: “A number of writers of my age as well as myself went through the years of our youth with Blok as our guide” (I Remember, translated by David Magarshack, New York, 1959). Blok is an important presence in Doctor Zhivago, where he is referred to a number of times.
6. panikhidas: See part 1, note 1. During the prayers over a dead person before burial, the panikhida may be repeated several times.
7. “Holy God … have mercy on us”: This prayer, known as the trisagion, is sung repeatedly after the funeral service as the coffin is carried out.
PART FOUR
1. Erfurt Program … Plekhanov: The Erfurt Program was a plan of action adopted by the German Social Democratic Party at its conference in Erfurt in 1891, based on a simplified or “vulgar” Marxist analysis. Presented a year later in The Class Struggle, by Karl Kautsky (1854–1938), one of the authors of the program, it became widely influential in the years before the 1917 revolution. Georgi Plekhanov (1857–1918), revolutionary activist and Marxist theorist, was one of the founders of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. At the second party conference in 1903, Plekhanov broke with Lenin, who headed the Bolsheviks (“Majority”), and joined the Mensheviks (“Minority”), who tended to be more moderate.
