The Plot Thickens
A New Book Promises an Intriguing Twist to the Epic Tale of ‘Doctor Zhivago’
By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, January 27, 2007; C01
MOSCOW Into one of the most sordid episodes in Russian literary history, the Soviets’ persecution of Boris Pasternak, author of “Doctor Zhivago,” a Russian historian has injected a belated piece of intrigue: the CIA as covert financier of a Russian-language edition of the epic novel.
Ivan Tolstoy, who is also a broadcaster for Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, writes in a forthcoming book that the CIA secretly arranged for the publication of a limited Russian-language edition of “Doctor Zhivago” in 1958 to help Pasternak secure the Nobel Prize in Literature that year.
“Pasternak’s novel became a tool that was used by the United States to teach the Soviet Union a lesson,” Tolstoy said in a telephone interview from Prague, where he works as a Russian commentator for the U.S. government-funded radio stations. The novelist knew nothing of the CIA’s action, according to Tolstoy and the writer’s family.
Tolstoy said his book, “The Laundered Novel,” is based on more than a decade of research and will be released later this year, the 50th anniversary of the publication of “Doctor Zhivago.” He previewed its contents in a recent lecture in Moscow.
A CIA role in printing a Russian-language edition has been rumored for years. Tolstoy offers the first detailed account of what would rank as perhaps the crowning episode of a long cultural Cold War, in which the agency secretly financed literary magazines and seminars in Europe in an effort to cultivate anti-Soviet sentiment among intellectuals.
A CIA spokesperson said the agency would have no comment on Tolstoy’s account. The agency’s files on its cultural underwriting in Europe remain closed, historians said. An official at the Swedish Academy, which chooses the Nobel winner in literature, said that materials on the prize committee’s internal deliberations are sealed for 50 years. The Pasternak file will not become public until 2009.
The CIA connection has dismayed Pasternak’s family and sparked a feud with Tolstoy, himself the grandson of an acclaimed Soviet-era novelist, Alexei Tolstoy.
“It is a detail hardly worth mentioning, a cheap sensation,” said Yevgeny Pasternak, the author’s 84-year-old son and an editor of his collected works, in an interview at his Moscow apartment. “I can add that my father knew nothing about this game. There is no doubt he would have won the prize anyway — in 1959.”
Pasternak, also a renowned poet, finished “Doctor Zhivago” in 1955 and submitted the novel to a Soviet publishing house for consideration. The story of a man torn between two women against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution was rejected.
But Soviet-era documents published in 2001 show that even in unpublished manuscript form it was hardly ignored. “Boris Pasternak’s novel is a malicious libel of the USSR,” wrote Soviet Foreign Minister Dmitry Shepilov in an August 1956 memo to members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. In a memo of its own, the KGB offered the opinion that “a typical feature of his work is estrangement from Soviet life and a celebration of individualism.”
Other Soviet papers show that the KGB knew that Pasternak was looking abroad as well and had reached a deal with the Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli to issue the novel in Italian.
In the months leading up its publication date in late1957, the Soviet authorities called on Italian communists to urge Feltrinelli, himself a communist, not to go forward with it.
Pasternak was pressured into sending Feltrinelli telegrams telling him he was withdrawing his consent for publication. But Pasternak sent separate, secret letters to Feltrinelli urging him to go ahead despite what his officially encouraged cables might have said, according to extensive correspondence between the two that is quoted in a memoir of Feltrinelli by his son, Carlo.
In early November 1957, just days after Feltrinelli received a letter from Pasternak scolding him for lack of decency because of his determination to publish, Pasternak secretly wrote how happy he was that the Italian was not “fooled by those idiotic and brutal appeals accompanied by my signature (!), a signature all but false and counterfeit insofar as it was extorted from me by a blend of fraud and violence.
“We shall soon have an Italian ‘Zhivago,’ French, English and German ‘Zhivagos’ — and one day perhaps a geographically distant but Russian ‘Zhivago’!”
Pasternak had been nominated for the Nobel Prize for his poetry every year between 1946 and 1950. The novel, which after the Italian edition appeared in English and French, received almost universal acclaim abroad, rekindling interest in Pasternak as a potential laureate. In 1958, he was nominated again for the prize by the previous year’s winner, the French writer Albert Camus.
But there was still no Russian-language edition of “Doctor Zhivago,” and the Swedish Academy required that any work under consideration be submitted in its original language, Tolstoy said. Soon a Russian “Zhivago” appeared at the academy, bearing the name of Feltrinelli as publisher. But the Italian house had not printed it.
In the memoir, Carlo Feltrinelli wrote that his father had suspected a CIA hand in the pirated edition. The agency “allegedly photographed the typescript at the Malta airport when the plane Feltrinelli was traveling in made a bogus emergency landing,” the younger Feltrinelli wrote in his book “Feltrinelli: A Story of Riches, Revolution, and Violent Death.”
Later, in a 1970 article for the Sunday Times of London, the elder Feltrinelli wrote that “while the literary world was acclaiming ‘Doctor Zhivago’ and its author, I became aware of the first signs of a battle between me and a number of persons and institutions (all connected with the same circle of anti-Soviet activities that in one way or another were connected to the CIA). It would seem that someone had printed an edition at the request of some Russian emigres in Paris who had certain ties with Americans.”
According to Tolstoy, among those seeking a Russian-language copy in 1958 was Nikolai Nabokov, secretary-general of the Congress for Cultural Freedom. The organization, based in Paris, was exposed in the 1960s as a leading vehicle of the CIA’s attempt to woo anti-Soviet intellectuals in Europe.
Carlo Feltrinelli remains skeptical that any such secret publication was aimed at the judges in Stockholm. “If there were some fake copies, if there was some CIA edition, I still don’t see the connection with the Nobel Prize,” he said in a phone interview from Milan, where he runs the company founded by his father.
Tolstoy said that he tracked down the Russian emigre who typeset the book, found the publishing house that printed it, and interviewed ex-CIA operatives to unravel a web of agency deceptions behind the publication. The forthcoming book “has all concrete details,” said Tolstoy, who added he was not going to steal his own thunder by revealing all his evidence in advance of publication.
The Soviets, certainly, had no doubt that the writer hadWestern promoters. “In the summer of 1958, a large campaign to award Pasternak a Nobel prize was initiated by Americans and launched in the West,” wrote a KGB official in a memo to the Central Committee of the Communist Party. “All reactionary and anti-Soviet forces took an active part in this campaign.”
Pasternak won the prize on Oct. 23, 1958, “for his notable achievement in both contemporary poetry and the field of the great Russian narrative tradition.”
“Infinitely grateful, moved, proud, amazed and confused,” wrote Pasternak in a telegram hurriedly sent to the Swedish Academy.
“He was very happy for a few hours,” recounted his son.
But Soviet authorities quickly unleashed a torrent of abuse on the celebrated author. He was forced to turn down the honor and was expelled from the Writers’ Union, where 29 members, including some old acquaintances, spoke against him.
Tolstoy argues that the Nobel Prize kept Pasternak out of prison because such a punishment would have been too embarrassing internationally for the Soviets. “The KGB wanted to destroy him,” said Tolstoy. “A Russian publication and a Nobel Prize were necessary to save him.”
That is an interpretation that Pasternak’s son contests. He said the writer’s health, already fragile, buckled under the official onslaught. Boris Pasternak died of cancer in 1960 at the age of 70.
“Some of his friends believed that it would be fine if he got the prize one year later — the scandal would be over and everything would be quieter,” said his son, who accepted the honor on his father’s behalf in 1989. “I don’t know.”
《聊斋·佟客》里的末尾，附着一个笑话，说有个捕快，发现老婆偷汉子，很是愤怒，丢了根绳子给老婆，让她自尽。他那老婆老婆倒是胆色非凡，要求化个妆再死。捕快同意了，一边喝酒一边等着。等她老婆打扮地花枝招展，哭着盈盈一拜说道：“君果忍令奴死耶？”说着就进房开始打绳结了。结果那捕快酒杯一扔，喊道：“咍，返矣！一顶绿头巾，或不能压人死耳。”
据柏杨说这个故事其实脱胎于高欢和他老婆小尔朱氏的典故，小尔朱氏为羯族，有白种人血统，高鼻深目，想来也是美艳非凡；高欢不忍下手，却不一定是忍得住那顶绿帽子，更可能是胡俗对此根本不以为怪，且不说高氏父子胡天胡帝，光看小尔朱氏被流迁之后还能再嫁给卢景璋，这就根本不是汉俗所能想象的。所以，那位捕快同志的勇气着实可嘉。相对于对妇女的苛求，明清士人对待气节问题上对人都是按照节妇标准严格要求，对己则更普遍的宏扬捕快同志的精神。
这故事原本是蒲松龄用来讽刺解缙，他说“昔解缙与方孝儒相约以死，而卒食其言；安知矢约归后，不听床头人呜泣哉？”解缙与方孝儒相约以死，这个记载还没见过；不过靖难之时，解缙倒与胡广、王艮相约死节。当时吴溥与解缙、王艮、胡广都住得邻近，在城破之前四个江西老乡都跑到吴溥家议论，解缙和王艮都慷慨激昂，表示一定要赴死；而王艮独自垂泪。等三个人走了，吴溥的儿子和老爹讨论谁真的会去死，说“胡叔能死，是大佳事”，这个态度就好象是赞赏一个寡妇能死节，他老爹不同意，认为只有王艮真的会死——需要说明的是，吴溥和他儿子都没死节。等了会就听到隔壁胡广在对家里人喊：“把家里的猪看好（谨视豚）。”胡广同志在大难临头的时候还不忘照顾他的猪，表明他是个对生活充满热情的人，吴溥很肯定地说这样的人不会去死，否则就是连猪都不如了（一豚尚不能舍，肯舍生乎）。而王艮同学则回去和老婆说：“食人之禄者，死人之事，吾不可复生矣。”撇下老婆不管，磕药死了。至于大才子解缙同学呢，“缙驰谒”，还没等城破，这位慷慨陈辞表示一定要为祖国献身的才子跑着去拜见朱棣了。（这里还有个八卦，王艮和胡广同是江西吉安府人，结果建文二年高考的状元、榜眼和探花都被江西吉安府的人给包了。王艮取第一，可是建文帝嫌他长的丑，就让第二名的胡广做了状元——丑人就是弱势群体啊~~~需要说明的是，当年的探花江西老乡李贯也投降了朱棣——说明考试成绩好的人要么是丑八怪，否则都是政治上靠不住的小白脸。此条规律希望公务员招考中心能采纳）。
王艮的表现表明这个绿头巾在某一小部分人看来还是会压死人的——明朝还有个王艮，是泰州学派的创始人，他发挥孟子的“天下有道，以道殉身，天下無道，以身殉道，未聞以道殉人者也”，认为“以道殉人，妾婦之道也”。要用自己生命去维护一个信念，说明天下已经很无道了；假如牺牲自己的信念去迎合别人，那和女人没什么两样。
从捕快的角度说，假如这个绿头巾问题已经提高到“道”的高度，变成一种信念问题的话，唯一能做的就是把老婆休掉，怎么样也轮不到以别人的身来殉自己的道；从捕快老婆的角度来说，假如追求生命欢爱本身就是自己的信念自己的“道”，要自己自尽来迎合丈夫的要求，那根本就是“以道殉人”，最最低贱的行为。所以不但捕快老婆不自尽是“行道”，假如我们认为捕快把爱妻之情当成自己的道，那么他能和老婆和好如初也是“行道”——反倒要是他迫于于舆论压力，定要老婆自尽，那才是“以道殉人”。
以上故事教育我们，假如你的道德膨胀，信念坚挺，那么你就自己以身殉道好了，你可以学丑八怪王艮那样磕药死节，也可以像个节妇那样投井悬梁；但是你不可以逼着人家当忠臣节妇，非得一边嚷嚷着谁不死节谁就是反革命叛徒人渣，一边却回家开始数自己的猪，这样就太不厚道。深圳公安把妓女嫖客们拉上街游行的时候，怎么也该想想，谁家还没有几头猪呢。
看论坛上掐架，说的是鲁迅，王小波，钱钟书，架掐得没个所以然，自然最后又可以被人用仁者见仁智者见智的无聊老话总结过。但是发现有人为鲁迅，王小波反驳，对于钱钟书说的却甚少，许是《围城》很多人看过，但若被人奉上一句不足够伟大，却也让人无话可说，而其他的东西如管锥之类，看得人比较少，真的有人出来挑三捡四，到也无从反驳。不过我自己是比较喜欢《围城》这本书，不是最喜欢，也足够写上两句，想想自己为什么喜欢《围城》的理由，和读到过的别人的感观却不大相同，于是记录下来，也算是一个迟到了十几年的读书笔记。
很久很久以前，我那时候还读琼瑶小说，其中有一个故事叫做《秋歌》，里面有一段，我至今一直记得很清楚，一个富家男孩爱上了穷人家的女孩（这真是老掉牙的故事），有一天，男孩带女孩到他常去的一家餐厅去吃饭，然后就碰到了自己的姐姐和姐夫，姐姐和姐夫不知道女孩背景，很随意的打招呼，言语间对自己弟弟的女朋友，到也没什么怠慢之处，但是这个女孩立刻感觉浑身不自在，因为她观察到姐夫手里一直在玩一把高级跑车的车钥匙，那种漫不经心的随意姿态刺激了女孩，于是她回去和男孩就说我们不适合分手云云，后面的当然是琼瑶的大哭大闹的那一套，这里就可以不讲了，不过这是我人生我第一次意识到出身这种东西在一个人身上潜移默化的作用，和对另外一个世界的人的微妙的刺激。当时的我，满心为女孩倔强自尊的姿态而着迷，直到后来的日子里，才渐渐懂得，她的反应实在是有些过度了，却不能说是她的错，有时候很多观念上的差异，并没有那么大的是非，只是没有人能够选择自己生长在什么样的家庭里，所以没有对错，只有隔膜。
萨特说，存在决定意识，虽然钱财是身外之物，但有时候这身外之物给人的一生所带来的影响却是流淌在一个人的血液里，怎么也撇不清的，就像穷人，暴发户，和天生的富家子弟对待金钱势力的态度绝对不会一样，虽然穷人并非天生就该受鄙视，但是从个人角度而言，我往往会喜欢后者更多一些，我发现这些孩子心思总是要更单纯一些，因为他们在成长的岁月中，不需要练就很深的心机去抢夺生存资源。
这也是我所以喜欢钱钟书了，其实知识也和钱财一样同样是身外之物，有趣的是，他们有着异曲同工之妙，家学渊源的子弟身上所带有的那种纯粹干净的读书人的气质，就像贵族气质一样，不是猛读几本书就能够练就的，钱钟书抖落学识的姿态就像有钱人家的孩子玩车钥匙的姿态一样，有一种满不在乎的气质，随便抖抖，却也不是为了炫耀，因为没有人会很在乎的炫耀他从小浸淫的空气，那是只有暴发户才做得出来的事情，但就是这种满不在乎，也已经足够人诟病的了，特别是那种要靠很用功，很努力去读书，才能抬高自己一点点，才能抖落出来一点点东西的人，那些要靠读书，要靠抖落学识来赢得别人尊重的人，那些把读书当成很实用的比赛的工具的人，对他们来说，钱钟书这个老头，简直是可恶死了。所以就算不能在学识上批判他，就要尽可能的在其他方面批判他好了。
我偷偷的把这种人，叫做知识暴发户，其实这并不是一种人，而是一种读书的心态，而这种读书的心态，在现在我生活的这片土地上，很多人的心里或多或少都是有的。他们并不是坏人，他们甚至是可爱的人，有的是我的朋友，有的把读书这件事看得很重要，当然，是很重要的和人较量的工具。于是我就看着读书这么自我私密的事情，这么有趣的事情，有时候就成了论坛里互相贬低的由头，贬低得彼此又都无趣之极，成了肉博，若是碰到死磕的打法的，就互相背了大箩的书本，引经据典的一本一本朝对方的脑袋砸过去，若是碰到个剑走偏锋的打法的，除了读过点书还赚了点钱的，也出不了什么精彩来，无非就是卖狠卖得更厉害些，和穷酸书生比有钱，和有钱的比比读书罢了。总之就是要赢嘛，赢的是什么，也没个人知道。
这都什么和什么呢？我看得无聊，反倒想起围城里的一群书生来，在国破家亡的日子里尚且还能保持优雅，当初觉得他们都很复杂，现在从头看来，和现实的读书人来对比，方鸿建也好，杜辛眉也好，其实都是很单纯善良的读书人，也就是钱钟书这样的人写得出这样的一群人来，他虽然嘲讽，却并无心机，其实这和他自己的主人公一样，可能是有趣而无用的，但在今天，就连这有趣，也成了一种奢侈品了。这种骨子里流淌着读书人的血液的优雅风度，经了一个49年，再经一次十年，对于这片土地来说，简直是一种奢侈品，中国没有贵族，甚至也没有精神贵族。钱钟书的风度，虽然不似海明威那种硬汉式的压力下的风度，却也别有一番中国式的举重若轻，谁若说这优雅很容易，去看看现在报纸上的论战满篇你死我活的政治调调，去看看论坛里动不动就问候老母的掐架，甚至看看别人在给他压力的时候他自己的反应，他就知道，优雅二字，是何其难得了。
恶狠狠的读书，我有时候看到我身边带着痛苦的表情，读着好多艰深的大部头的书的朋友，就会想到这个词，其实爱读书的人会一不小心就成了知识暴发户，所以有钱钟书这样的人戳在那里有一个很大的好处，就是你会知道，你可以和人比掉书袋，可以和人比赛引经据典，比这些外在的东西，但是，一个读书人骨子里的干净和纯粹，那种浑然天成的优雅气质，和无所谓的态度，却不是一个心怀杂念的人能够比得了的。知道比不了，就可以放弃比较的心，炫耀的心了。就可以把读书这件事，放得低些，再低些，低到功利心都无趣了，褪去了，再看看自己还能不能读得下书，那时候，读书就反倒变成了快乐的事情了。而这个世界的很多快乐都是这样来的。
