In 1925, Soviet Russia celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the start of a series of major civil and military disturbances, known as the Russian revolution of 1905-07, which had resulted, among other things, in limiting the Tsar’s influence with the newly emerged Russian parliament (the

). Pasternak, who had studied at a high school in Moscow at the time and had supported the rebels’ cause, felt that he could respond favourably to the Bolshevik appeal to writers and artists to commemorate the event. This would allow him to improve his financial situation and his standing with the authorities without going against his own convictions, while introducing a higher degree of accessibility to his style. As Pasternak himself admitted in his letter to Marina Tsvetaeva of 30 July 1926,…

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Citation: Rogatchevski, Andrei. "Deviat'sot piatyi god". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 April 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=15976, accessed 21 November 2024.]