"A Mad Exceeding of One's Powers" on Boris Pasternak's Novel Doctor Zhivago

Abstract

Boris Pasternak's magnum opus, which we have at last read, should, according to the author's intentions, provide a picture of life in our country in the first third of this century. But first and foremost it is the story of the title character. The novel was written not only about Zhivago but for Zhivago's sake, so as to bear witness to the drama of a contemporary of the revolutionary era who did not accept the revolution.