I mostly agree with your points, but I'm not sure Zhivago was ever disillusioned with revolution.
Tom Send a noteboard - 15/03/2010 09:19:54 PM
The problem was that the Revolution, with all of its chaos, couldn't be maintained as a permanent state. However, it was only during the Revolution that he felt truly "free", and the deep and passionate love of his life, Lara, only appeared during the Revolution (and events presaging it) and disappeared from his life forever after the establishment of Soviet rule.
From Zhivago's standpoint, the Revolution was good. It got him away from the conservative, stuffy life of Tsarist Russia and their physical embodiment in his life, Antonina (Tonya). His infatuation with Blok and the poets of the Silver Age was real; hers was affected and phony.
He was disillusioned with the utopian thinking of all stripes that the Revolution started, however. He didn't like Meluzeevo or the partisans, both of which are symbols for socialist experiments of various sorts (Meluzeevo being the Christian socialism of Fourier and Saint-Simon, the partisans being the much more brutal Marxist-Leninist form of socialism).
From Zhivago's standpoint, the Revolution was good. It got him away from the conservative, stuffy life of Tsarist Russia and their physical embodiment in his life, Antonina (Tonya). His infatuation with Blok and the poets of the Silver Age was real; hers was affected and phony.
He was disillusioned with the utopian thinking of all stripes that the Revolution started, however. He didn't like Meluzeevo or the partisans, both of which are symbols for socialist experiments of various sorts (Meluzeevo being the Christian socialism of Fourier and Saint-Simon, the partisans being the much more brutal Marxist-Leninist form of socialism).
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
So, let's talk about Doctor Zhivago.
- 15/03/2010 12:51:09 PM
1558 Views
I liked it a lot.
- 15/03/2010 03:24:34 PM
822 Views
I mostly agree with your points, but I'm not sure Zhivago was ever disillusioned with revolution.
- 15/03/2010 09:19:54 PM
751 Views
Re: I mostly agree with your points, but I'm not sure Zhivago was ever disillusioned with revolution
- 15/03/2010 09:57:29 PM
862 Views
Yes, it's the Soviet state, not the revolution, that he hates.
- 15/03/2010 11:16:29 PM
686 Views
There will be more later. Much more. So lets start at the beginning.
- 15/03/2010 04:22:15 PM
742 Views
... I'm clearly lacking in braincells.
- 15/03/2010 05:03:35 PM
834 Views
... yes, you moved to scotland? *NM*
- 15/03/2010 05:42:21 PM
318 Views
I didn't notice the Anna Karenina connection. That's a good point.
- 15/03/2010 09:26:41 PM
773 Views
Yes. Perhaps we should tell the non-Russian speakers/readers that the name of the protagonist,
- 15/03/2010 10:22:39 PM
879 Views
Zhivago is the Church Slavonic genitive singular of живой (zhivoi), "living"
- 15/03/2010 11:18:23 PM
724 Views
I thought this was a great read, and I'm sure I've missed a lot, which will make a reread good too.
- 15/03/2010 05:16:19 PM
873 Views
On balance, there IS a love story. Just not quite the one that most people think.
- 15/03/2010 09:34:20 PM
778 Views
I noticed that as well
- 15/03/2010 09:42:04 PM
857 Views
Yes. This is what I was going to say, just not as articulately. 
*NM*
- 15/03/2010 10:12:33 PM
307 Views
*NM*
- 15/03/2010 10:12:33 PM
307 Views
My initial thoughts
- 15/03/2010 06:02:21 PM
822 Views
Re: My initial thoughts
- 15/03/2010 08:54:15 PM
748 Views
There appears to be a lull, so some background - How many of you have read anything about
- 15/03/2010 08:19:07 PM
745 Views
I've read bits & pieces.
- 15/03/2010 08:33:41 PM
785 Views
Ok, since you're interested, here is some "light" reading for you. Approach with caution.
- 15/03/2010 08:47:42 PM
912 Views
Re: Ok, since you're interested, here is some "light" reading for you. Approach with caution.
- 15/03/2010 11:05:22 PM
796 Views
Thank you for calling it "light" reading. The quotation marks were comforting.
- 17/03/2010 09:56:26 AM
721 Views
I will read and respond to this when I remember to bring my glasses home from work! *NM*
- 17/03/2010 06:14:31 PM
301 Views
Fiction or non-fiction?
- 15/03/2010 09:21:04 PM
915 Views
Familiar with the history, though I've never exhaustively studied the time period.
- 16/03/2010 02:20:23 PM
820 Views
Why would you consider this a classic? What made it so good or profound for (plural) you?
- 16/03/2010 11:19:23 PM
768 Views
Put a question mark at the end of the first sentence and read my response. *NM*
- 17/03/2010 12:09:58 AM
281 Views
Some questions.
- 19/03/2010 08:27:38 AM
719 Views
As an addendum to what Greg wrote:
- 19/03/2010 05:56:56 PM
769 Views
The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
- 21/03/2010 05:34:03 PM
818 Views
It looks a bit strained to me.
- 22/03/2010 03:28:34 AM
708 Views
So far the reviews are pretty glowing, as are the Amazon reviewers.
- 22/03/2010 01:44:19 PM
817 Views
In other news, I read about 100 pages of The Island at the Center of the World.
- 22/03/2010 03:48:47 PM
756 Views
I finished it last night - the last 100+ pages rather fast, considering how long the whole took.
- 21/04/2010 01:00:50 AM
575 Views