The Zhivago Affair

The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle over a Forbidden Book

By: Peter Finn, Petra Couvée

Narrated by: Simon Vance

In May of 1956, an Italian publishing scout took a train to the Russian countryside to visit the country's most beloved poet, Boris Pasternak. He left concealing the original manuscript of Pasternak's much anticipated first novel, entrusted to him with these words from the author: "This is Doctor Zhivago. May it make its way around the world." Pasternak knew his novel would never be published in the Soviet Union, where the authorities regarded it as an assault on the 1917 Revolution, so he allowed it to be published in translation all over the world. But in 1958, the CIA, which recognized that the Cold War was above all an ideological battle, published Doctor Zhivago in Russian and smuggled it into the Soviet Union where it was snapped up on the black market and passed surreptitiously from friend to friend. Pasternak, whose funeral in 1960 was attended by thousands of fans who stayed for hours in defiance of the watching KGB, launched the great Soviet tradition of the writer-dissident. With sole access to otherwise classified CIA files, the authors give us an irresistible portrait of the charming and passionate Pasternak and a twisting Cold War thriller that takes us back to a time when literature had power to shape the world.

©2014 Peter Finn and Petra Couvée. Recorded by arrangement with Pantheon Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC. (P)2014 HighBridge Company

Excellent

An informative book. Well done. Pasternak is more than the author of Dr Zhivago. The CIA involvement was a surprise without which we might not have known Zhivago..

Excellent History of Pasternak and his Masterpiece

I loved the inside look at the life of an amazing writer and literary legend in Soviet times. Along with Fifty Russian Winters, it portrays the life of the artistic elite and their struggles to create and express themselves within the boundaries--or sometimes outside of them--imposed by the Communist Party and Soviet leaders. This story is an inspirational tale of perseverance in the struggle for what the author thought was right and his struggles to survive and see his life's work emerge from behind the Iron Curtain. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in Pasternak, Soviet and Russian history, or literature in general. The reading was well done; the pronunciation of Russian names and places was accurate (I'm a Russian-speaker); and the story was engaging. Be sure to check it out and then read Dr. Zhivago with this new knowledge in mind!

Non-fiction as Spellbinding as a Thriller

Where does The Zhivago Affair rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Well researched from what seems to be a large number of different sources, the story takes us on a journey of history, literature, espionage and human drama.

What other book might you compare The Zhivago Affair to and why?

I have never come across a work of non-fiction as thrilling as this one. The listening is equivalent of a page-turner.

Have you listened to any of Simon Vance’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The narration is superb, doing justice to the text with elegance.

Any additional comments?

I was at the same time entertained and learned a lot about the history of the country I currently happen to live in.

great story. dragged in some places

I love Simon Vance...and know him from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series. so I chose this book based on him and thought it would be an interesting story. it was! but sometimes I struggled to keep up with all the characters. names spanned across continents, languages...sometimes even minor characters were mentioned to what significance I don't know. so in some places it dragged (or was hard to follow)...bit I still thought it was a good read.

mostly about personal histories

great insight into Soviet literary life but less about the spies and more about the sorted lives of the artists.

Must read!

This gives the needed background to the novel & film. It is a must read/listen! Even as the Zhivago Affair and the novel Dr.Zhivago are related, as cousins, the Affair does not explain the novel itself, but the background to the history of the novel’s writing. It reveals the result of the history seen in the novel. What Yuri Zhivago shows us of the beginning of the Soviet system, is seen in Boris Pasternak’s life experience. Pasternak realized the necessity of the publishing of his book Dr.Zhivago, and was willing to sacrifice for it. As the Soviets tried to silence the book, the reality of who they are and what their system is came all the more to the fore.

The reading was one of the best I have ever heard. Not at all monotone, nor mellow dramatic, but engaging all the way through! Excellent!

Love

Interesting story, details I had not heard from other accounts. Well read by the narrator.

Read this to understand Doctor Zhivago and Russia

I remember reading in the 1960s that there was great drama in the publishing of Doctor Zhivago in the west, and in Boris Pasternak being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. This is the story of that drama. "The Zhivago Affair" will give you a better understanding of the times and how difficult it was for Pasternak to publish an honest book about Russia in the early days of the USSR. We can only dimly imagine how fraught with terror were the lives of Russian intellectuals. This is a wonderful history of the author, the book he wrote, and the consequences of its publication.

wonderful book

Would you listen to The Zhivago Affair again? Why?

Yes eventually. Very moving history book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

In the latter portion of the book, when Pasternak, his family & his mistress family were being unjustly persecuted by the Soviet state & it's corrupt literary hierarchy I got very mad.

Any additional comments?

Just a terrific book of political & literary history. Very moving & impossible to put down.

An excellent book, so interesting

In depth, detailed, research. Excellent. Everything, every page, is fascinating; The history of Soviet Union and this book, Doctor Zhivago, and of Boris Pasternak. I had no idea it world be so enriching. Putin carries on the maladies. Highly recommend.
Simon Vance did a great job, as usual!