Boris Leonidovich Pasternak Under Communist Rule Pasternak at
first embraced the promise of the Revolution of 1917, but he
came to abhor the ensuing Bolshevik restrictions on artistic
freedom. He wrote two long narrative poems, Spektorsky (1926)
and The Year 1905 (1927). His collection of five short stories
includes "The Childhood of Lovers" (1924), a complex and
perceptive portrayal of a young girl. The brief autobiographical
work Safe Conduct (1931) and the collection of poetry Second
Birth (1932) were his last original works for many years. During
the purges of the 1930s, Pasternak came under severe critical
attack and, unable to publish his own poetry, devoted himself to
making superb translations of classic works by Goethe,
Shakespeare, and others. His survival of the purges is
attributed to his translations of Georgian poets admired by
Stalin. In his silence Pasternak became the hero of Russian
intellectuals. His very rare public appearances were greeted
with wild rejoicing. During World War II he publi