This selection of Boris Pasternak's correspondence with his parents and sisters from 1921 to 1960-including more than illustrations and photos-is an authoritative, indispensable introduction and guide to the great writer's life and work. His letters are accomplished literary works in their own right, on a par with his poetry in their intensity, frankness, and dazzling stylistic play. In addition, they offer a rare glimpse into his innermost self, significantly complementing the insights gained from his work. They are especially poignant in that after 1923 Pasternak was never to see his parents again.

About the Author
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, Russian poet and writer, was the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958. Born in Moscow, Pasternak is best known in the West for his monumental tragic novel on Soviet Russia, Doctor Zhivago. It is as a poet, however, that he is most celebrated in Russia. He fell out of favor with the Soviet authorities in the 1930s but somehow was spared arrest and imprisonment. He died on May 31, 1960.

Nicolas Pasternak Slater is the son of Boris Pasternak's sister Lydia, to whom many of the letters in this collection are addressed. He has divided much of his life between working as a medical specialist in hematology and as a translator, publishing both scientific and literary translations, including Boris Pasternak's autobiographical essay People and Propositions.

Maya Slater, wife of Boris Pasternak's nephew Nicolas Pasternak Slater, is a widely published writer and a senior research fellow of Queen Mary College, University of London.

Book Information
ISBN 9780817910259
Author Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
Format Paperback
Page Count 490
Imprint Hoover Institution Press,U.S.
Publisher Hoover Institution Press,U.S.