Talk:Doctor Zhivago (novel)

message: I am afraid that the plot summary section is filled with errors.  I have not seen the movie but perhaps the summary is that of the movie?
Having only read the book once and in an English translation, I am reluctant to correct the summary.  If someone familiar with the novel were to fix the errors, I imagine hundreds of term paper writers would be grateful.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Marvinfreeman (talk • contribs) 13:11, 8 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Plot summary 

message: Currently, the Section titled "Characters" contains three paragraphs.  Most of the information contained in the second and third paragraphs is now available in the Plot Summary, so these paragraphs are largely redundant.  The first paragraph contains information regarding Yuri that is, in my opinion, inaccurate.  That paragraph states, "Yuri Zhivago is sensitive and poetic nearly to the point of mysticism. Zhivago's idealism and principles stand in contrast to the brutality and horror of World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the subsequent Russian Civil War. A major theme of the novel is how mysticism and idealism are destroyed by both the Bolsheviks and the White Army alike since both sides commit horrible atrocities."  I do not see support in the text of the novel for the statement that "Yuri Zhivago is sensitive and poetic to the point of mysticism." He is, of course, a poet, but he is also a realist surrounded by idealogues, in my view. He criticizes the Bolsheviks, but he also doesn't show any enthusiasm for the Tolstoyan Movement (which is mentioned several times). In general, he is not a religious man. I also think it is no accident that Yuri's greatest skill as a doctor is diagnosis: that is, analyzing reality clearly and naming malfunctions. He does not seem "sensitive" either: he is remarkably resilient when faced with physical and psychological hardship and he speaks vigorously and fearlessly with his friends and others. Finally, what "mysticism" and "idealism" exist at the beginning of the novel, under the Czars, which are then destroyed by the various wars? I therefore think the "Characters" Section should be deleted.Drochtegang (talk) 19:02, 4 February 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Delete Section titled "Characters"? 

message: An adapted excerpt from the book is viewable on line here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/during-cold-war-cia-used-doctor-zhivago-as-a-tool-to-undermine-soviet-union/2014/04/05/2ef3d9c6-b9ee-11e3-9a05-c739f29ccb08_story.html?wpisrc=nl_most 211.225.33.104 (talk) 02:47, 7 April 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  There's another book on the alleged CIA connection. 

message: The pedigree of the Russian editions is obscure.  Were any of them translated from the Italian, or were they all copies (of varying fidelity) of the original Russian?  207.192.243.66 (talk) 03:39, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
replies: text:  I have a long history with Russian culture although I do not speak the language, am not Russian, and have never been there. From memory I put this out: Boris Pasternak, the author had three siblings. Two of them fled to the West. It was believed that one of the siblings smuggled Pasternak's novel, written in Russian, out because after Stalin's death a visit was possible, although the publisher's left leanings could have meant that he visited. The book/Pasternak won a Nobel Prize for literature. I have seen credible stories some years ago that the CIA (or some organisation related to it) pushed for submitting to the Nobel. Then somebody discovered that the old cyrillic characters were used in the text (the Soviets had abolished 2 or 3). It would make the book look like 'old' when the submission would have needed to be of a contemporary book. A plane with the publisher was held up in Malta and the secret guys photographed the whole book. Then there was also an issue with Soviet style paper, cannot remember details. They did manage to typeset and print a modern looking Russian version, submitting shortly before the deadline. I know this sounds bizarre but the source that I read at the time looked sound. How the good people of Stockholm were able to assess a book in Russian, no idea. Encyclopaedia Britannica of 1970 wrote that the book was more famous for the way it got out and got the Nobel than for the book's quality itself. It is somewhat longwinded, I found, so I did not read it all. 2001:8003:A928:800:44C:58D9:1E16:3C31 (talk) 07:00, 12 August 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  translations 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The diagram of selected relationships is totally unreadable and useless and should be removed or created at a useable resolution. 83.58.131.233 (talk) 08:41, 29 August 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: I completely agree. Looking at the file history, the current 316 × 316 image was reduced from 1,728 × 1,728 by a bot, apparently due to a licensing concern, which seems to have been a mistake — the original uploader said so (and said it was their own work) and reverted, but the bot struck again. Perhaps the original uploader will be prepared to intervene again... message left with User:Drochtegang. – Kieran T (talk) 08:57, 29 August 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Diagram of relationships should be removed 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Doctor Zhivago (novel) (redirect). Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so.  Regards, SONIC678 22:58, 12 April 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Doctor Zhivago (novel) (redirect)" listed at [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion|Redirects for discussion]] 

message: While the facts are presented in the article itself, the sidebar is extremely misleading:
Author	Boris Pasternak
Original title	Доктор Живаго
Country	Italy
Language	Russian
Genre	Historical, Romantic novel
Publisher	Feltrinelli (first edition), Pantheon Books
Publication date 	1957
The first Russian-language edition was published in Holland by the CIA in 1958; the title page misleadingly suggested it was a Feltrinelli edition, and this (illegal and sub rosa) publication is what is shown in the photo, implying it is a Feltrinelli Russian-language edition from 1957, when such a thing does not exist.  Feltrinelli published it as Il dottor Živago in 1957.  I leave it to a more experienced editor to fix this mess. Languagehat (talk) 16:12, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Misleading sidebar 

message: Saying that the book was refused publication for being "independent-minded" seems like an editorial statement, rather than one of fact. There are no sources suggesting this was the reason, other than those that seem to be plagiarized from this very article.
Instead, I'd suggest that the word "critical" is more appropriate. Although the Soviet system of censorship was often laughably domineering and illogical, asserting that the book was stifled because it contained free thought seems like a cartoonish Cold War-era description of the issue. 2600:1700:1420:E9E0:E966:38DC:B8C6:362C (talk) 20:33, 6 January 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Independent-minded"?