Literature: Reading Boris Pastenak and Helen Dunmore - Doctor Zhivago and Zennor in Darkness

We will be discussing the unabridged version of Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. There are several translations. The three main ones are: Max Hayward and Manya Harari; Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, and the most recent, by Nicolas Pasternak Slater. Any of these will be suitable, as one of the things we will be thinking about is the impact translators have on our reading experience. It is probable that most of us will be more familiar with the 1965 film than the text. We will consider how that connects to our reading experience, too.

This is a big novel, about a big moment, with an appropriately large cast of characters. We will discuss it in chronological sections, tracking events and thinking about how they work.

Helen Dunmore’s Zennor in Darkness should offer an interesting contrast. We will think about the way she translates the past, and look at key features of style, characterisation and content.

Both authors were poets, so we will also consider the ways that might be reflected in their prose.

The tutor will provide a reading schedule, but please read to the end of chapter 2, A Girl from a Different World, for discussion at the first session.