Dr Zhivago in the Amazon rainforest

The author of the article makes an attempt to verify the veracity of the story set out by Yevgeny Yevtushenko in his poem "Dora Franco". It is about a copy of Doctor Zhivago, which the poet discovered in a small library in the town of Leticia in the Amazon part of Colombia in 1968. The book bore an inscription of the soviet writer Sergei Smirnov. This fact is remarkable not only because Doctor Zhivago was still banned in the USSR, but also because in 1958 it was Smirnov who chaired the meeting of writers which expelled Pasternak from the Writers' Union. Archival searches, analysis of contemporaries' testimony, as well as interaction with a colleague from the Amazonas department made it possible to discover that Sergei Smirnov had indeed visited Leticia several months before Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Together with the translator he attended the same places, performed in the same House of Culture and interacted with the same people (e.g. the famous animal trapper Mike Tsalickis). During this trip to Colombia in 1967 Smirnov often had to answer uncomfortable questions about Pasternak. Nine years after the Pasternak affair, it is clear from newspaper articles that not a trace of aggression remains in the words of the chairman of the "trial", while ego-documents by their contemporaries suggest that Sergei Smirnov regretted the role he had assumed in 1958 for the rest of his life.

The research also established that there may have been only one library in Leticia before the 1980s — the House of Culture, which both Smirnov and Yevtushenko mention in their travel reports. Both indirectly confirm that there were no Russian books in it. We couldn't find out whether Doctor Zhivago was the only exception, i.e. was already on the bookshelf, or whether it was brought by Smirnov and the translator N. Bulgakova. However, we were able to confirm that it was a Spanish translation of the book. Since the very book itself has never been found, we cannot unequivocally assert that the inscription of the penitent Smirnov in Pasternak's book is not a figment of Yevgeny Yevtushenko's fiction; however, our research allows us to think that this story did take place.

Keywords

Pasternak's case, Doctor Zhivago, S.S. Smirnov, Ye.A. Yevtushenko, Colombia

Received

17.04.2022

Publication date

14.11.2022

Number of characters

24020

Cite

GOST	Buynova K. “Dr Zhivago” in the Amazon rainforest // Latin America – 2022. – Issue 11 C. 91-103 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://latamerica-journal.ru/S0044748X0022868-3-1 (circulation date: 01.05.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S0044748X0022868-3
MLA	Buynova, Kristina "“Dr Zhivago” in the Amazon rainforest." Latin America 11 (2022):91-103. DOI: 10.31857/S0044748X0022868-3
APA	Buynova K. (2022). “Dr Zhivago” in the Amazon rainforest. Latin America (11), pp.91-103 DOI: 10.31857/S0044748X0022868-3

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 196

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Евтушенко Е.А. Дора Франко. Независимая газета. М., 24.11.2011. [Evtushenko, E.A. Dora Franko [Dora Franco]. Nezavisimaia gazeta. Moscow, 24.11.2011. Available at: https://www.ng.ru/subject/2011-11-24/1_dora.html (accessed: 17.09.2021) (In Russ.).

2. РГАЛИ. Ф. 631, оп. 27, ед. хр. 512. [RGALI, 631-27-512] (In Russ.).

3. Ивинская О.В. Годы с Борисом Пастернаком: в плену времени. М.: Либрис, 1992, 464 c. [Ivinskaia, O.V. Gody s Borisom Pasternakom: v plenu vremeni [A Captive of Time: My Years with Pasternak]. Moscow, Libris, 1992, 464 p. (In Russ.).

4. Дорман О.В. Подстрочник. Жизнь Лилианны Лунгиной, рассказанная ею в фильме Олега Дормана. М.: Corpus (АСТ), 2016, 304 с. [Dorman, O.V. Podstrochnik. Zhizn' Lilianny Lunginoi, rasskazannaia eiu v fil'me Olega Dormana [Word for Word: A Translator's Memoir of Literature, Politics, and Survival in Soviet Russia. — Lilianna Lungina as told to Oleg Dorman]. Moscow, Corpus (AST), 2016, 304 p. (In Russ.).

5. Записка секретаря ЦК КПСС М.А. Суслова с предложением мер в связи с присуждением Б.Л. Пастернаку Нобелевской премии по литературе. 23 октября 1958 г. Источник, М., 1993, № 4, сс. 103–104. [Zapiska sekretaria TsK KPSS M.A. Suslova s predlozheniem mer v sviazi s prisuzhdeniem B.L. Pasternaku Nobelevskoi premii po literature. 23 oktiabria 1958 g. [Memo from the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, M.A. Suslov, proposing measures in relation to the Nobel Prize for Literature awarded to B.L. Pasternak. 23 October 1958] Istochnik, Moscow, 1993, N 4, pp. 103–104. (In Russ.).

6. Пастернак Е.Б. Хроника прошедших лет. Знамя. М., 2008, № 12. [Pasternak E.B. Khronika proshedshikh let [Chronicle of years gone by]. Znamia, Moscow, 2008, N 12 (In Russ.).

7. Ваншенкин К. Как исключали Пастернака. Вопросы литературы. М., 1990, № 2, cc. 157–165. [Vanshenkin, K. Kak iskliuchali Pasternaka [“How Pasternak was expelled”]. Voprosy literatury, Moscow, 1990, N 2, pp. 157–165. (In Russ.).

8. РГАЛИ. Ф. 631, оп. 26, ед. хр. 109. [RGALI, 631-26-109] (In Russ.).

9. РГАЛИ. Ф. 631, оп. 26, ед. хр. 71. [RGALI, 631-26-71] (In Russ.).

10. РГАЛИ. Ф. 631, оп. 27, ед. хр. 221. [RGALI, 631-27-221] (In Russ.).

11. РГАЛИ. Ф. 631, оп. 27, ед. хр. 324. [RGALI, 631-27-324] (In Russ.).

12. РГАЛИ. Ф. 2528, оп. 2, ед. хр. 451. [RGALI, 2528-2-451] (In Russ.).

13. РГАЛИ. Ф.2528, оп. 8, ед. хр. 258. [RGALI, 2528-8-258] (In Russ.).

14. РГАЛИ. Ф.2528, оп. 8, ед. хр. 259. [RGALI, 2528-8-259] (In Russ.).

15. [15] РГАЛИ. Ф.2528, оп. 8, ед. хр. 260. [RGALI, 2528-8-260] (In Russ.).

16. Вознесенский А. На виртуальном ветру. М.: Вагриус, 1998, 517 с. [Voznesenskii, A. Na virtual'nom vetru [On the virtual wind]. Moscow, Vagrius, 1998, 517 p. (In Russ.).

17. Christie, Ian. Doctor Zhivago (BFI Film Classics). British Film Institute, 2015, 100 p.

18. РГАЛИ. Ф. 631, оп. 27, ед. хр. 197. [RGALI, 631-27-197] (In Russ.).

19. РГАЛИ. Ф. 2528, оп. 2, ед. хр. 452. [RGALI, 2528-2-452].

20. Molano Campuzano, Joaquín. La Amazonía Colombiana, perfil geográfico y económico de la comisaría especial del Amazonas. Bogotá, 1967. Separata del Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfica de Colombia (Academia de Ciencias Geográficas), vol. XXIV, Tercero y cuarto trimestres de 1966, N 90–91.

21. El poeta ruso Yevtushenko, la gran figura del XX Festival Internacional de Poesía de Medellín. El Tiempo. 12.07.2010. Available at: https://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/docu-mento/CMS-7801923 (accessed: 17.09.2021).

22. Arango, Gonzalo. El oso y el colibrí. Medellín: «Bookwire», 2019, 186 p.

23. Tsalickis, Mike. Jungle Mike — From Animal Trapper to Being Caged like an Animal: This is the True Story of the “Largest Cocaine Bust in Florida”. Kindle Edition, 2015, 142 p.