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
1791 Views
I liked it a lot.
- 15/03/2010 03:24:34 PM
1120 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
967 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
1077 Views
Yes, it's the Soviet state, not the revolution, that he hates.
- 15/03/2010 11:16:29 PM
898 Views
There will be more later. Much more. So lets start at the beginning.
- 15/03/2010 04:22:15 PM
960 Views
... I'm clearly lacking in braincells.
- 15/03/2010 05:03:35 PM
1060 Views
... yes, you moved to scotland? *NM*
- 15/03/2010 05:42:21 PM
439 Views
I didn't notice the Anna Karenina connection. That's a good point.
- 15/03/2010 09:26:41 PM
983 Views
Yes. Perhaps we should tell the non-Russian speakers/readers that the name of the protagonist,
- 15/03/2010 10:22:39 PM
1106 Views
Zhivago is the Church Slavonic genitive singular of живой (zhivoi), "living"
- 15/03/2010 11:18:23 PM
925 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
1090 Views
On balance, there IS a love story. Just not quite the one that most people think.
- 15/03/2010 09:34:20 PM
1023 Views
I noticed that as well
- 15/03/2010 09:42:04 PM
1102 Views
Yes. This is what I was going to say, just not as articulately. 
*NM*
- 15/03/2010 10:12:33 PM
393 Views
*NM*
- 15/03/2010 10:12:33 PM
393 Views
My initial thoughts
- 15/03/2010 06:02:21 PM
1050 Views
Re: My initial thoughts
- 15/03/2010 08:54:15 PM
974 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
988 Views
I've read bits & pieces.
- 15/03/2010 08:33:41 PM
1006 Views
Ok, since you're interested, here is some "light" reading for you. Approach with caution.
- 15/03/2010 08:47:42 PM
1145 Views
Interestingly, I'm seeing parallels now that I'm reading Gibbon.
- 15/03/2010 09:53:15 PM
1002 Views
Re: Ok, since you're interested, here is some "light" reading for you. Approach with caution.
- 15/03/2010 11:05:22 PM
1062 Views
Thank you for calling it "light" reading. The quotation marks were comforting.
- 17/03/2010 09:56:26 AM
940 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
380 Views
Fiction or non-fiction?
- 15/03/2010 09:21:04 PM
1155 Views
Familiar with the history, though I've never exhaustively studied the time period.
- 16/03/2010 02:20:23 PM
1032 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
1017 Views
Put a question mark at the end of the first sentence and read my response. *NM*
- 17/03/2010 12:09:58 AM
386 Views
Some questions.
- 19/03/2010 08:27:38 AM
935 Views
As an addendum to what Greg wrote:
- 19/03/2010 05:56:56 PM
1010 Views
The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
- 21/03/2010 05:34:03 PM
1038 Views
It looks a bit strained to me.
- 22/03/2010 03:28:34 AM
916 Views
So far the reviews are pretty glowing, as are the Amazon reviewers.
- 22/03/2010 01:44:19 PM
1048 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
968 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
796 Views