Yes Sue, The way odds were against him and people like him, he should have left Russia. But here is a piece from the film where Zhivago has realised that the right thing for him to do is to leave Lara. To me Lara depicts Russia: just see how Camerovsky, Strelnikov and Zhivago all love her in their own special ways and why.
Lara: Yes my darling, do as best.
Zhivago: I'm not coming back.
Lara watching him with tearful eyes says, "I understand." Zhivago asks again: "Do you understand?" With eyes soaked in tears, she can't say yes to this question and only nodds. Zhivago emphasizes: "But never, Lara. Do you understand?" Lara nods again and then comes Zhivago's last and most difficult question: "Do you believe me?" And Lara says no.
Just as Russia never believed that Pasternak would ever leave her. Zhivago, Strelnikov and Camerovsky all die in the end and in their own special ways. Future belongs to Yuri's child.
Pasternak never left Russia to accept the Nobel prize. Perhaps it was because he knew that if he had done so he would have never had a chance to return.
1 comment:
I read that the USSR government refused to let him accept the prize, but that the governing board of the Nobel kept it for him till a later date. We have to remember that for a long time, Zhivago was not allowed to be printed in Russia.
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