Awards

• Short-listed for National Book Critics Circle Awards 2014

Overview

The Zhivago Affair is the dramatic, never-before-told story—drawing on newly declassified files—of how a forbidden book became a secret CIA weapon in the ideological battle between East and West. In May 1956, an Italian publishing scout went to a village outside Moscow to visit Russia’s greatest living poet, Boris Pasternak. He left carrying the manuscript of Pasternak’s only novel, suppressed by Soviet authorities. From there the life of this extraordinary book entered the realm of the spy novel. The CIA published a Russian-language edition of Doctor Zhivago and smuggled it into the Soviet Union. Copies were devoured in Moscow and Leningrad, sold on the black market, and passed from friend to friend. Pasternak’s funeral in 1960 was attended by thousands who defied their government to bid him farewell, and his example launched the great tradition of the Soviet writer-dissident. First to obtain CIA files providing proof of the agency’s involvement, Peter Finn and Petra Couvée take us back to a remarkable Cold War era when literature had the power to stir the world. (With 8 pages of black-and-white illustrations.)

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9780345803191

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Reviews

Beautifully crafted and scrupulously researched...Finn and Couvee have taken a complex and difficult history with many moving parts and turned it into a kind of intellectual thriller. They have to control a lot of information, yet they keep the book well-paced and often exciting. The Zhivago Affair is a prime example of hard work and fidelity to a good story. -- Washington Post A work of deep historical research that reads a little like Le Carre, this is the backstory of the foreign publication of Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago, and it bears its multiple burdens lightly: a sideways biography of Pasternak; a psychological history of Soviet Russia; a powerful argument for the book as literature; an entry into the too-small canon on the CIA's role in shaping culture. In new reporting on the Agency's distribution of the book behind enemy lines, the authors show how both sides in the Cold War used literary prestige as a weapon without resorting to cheap moral equivalency. -- New York Fascinating...Told in its entirety, the story of how Doctor Zhivago helped disrupt the Soviet Union holds some intriguing implications for the present and future of cultural conflict. -- The Atlantic A rich and unanticipated story...[Finn and Couvee] demonstrate a sophisticated appreciation for an artistic quest that was haunted by dread, persecution, and loss. They also share an avid eye for detail...Finn and Couvee's poignant depiction of Pasternak is the book's greatest strength. --The Daily Beast [Finn and Couvee's] riveting, well-researched book reads like a literary thriller...a fascinating essay on mid-century politics...illuminating, humane. -- New Republic Thrilling...Deftly combining biography, cultural history and literary tittle-tattle, [Finn and Couvee] have shone a light on a shadowy operation...Crushingly poignant. -- Newsday Brisk and thrilling...The authors use rich archival research, including previously classified CIA files, to depict the oppressive political conditions that gave rise to Pasternak's masterpiece, and the international firestorm that occurred when the novel was banned in the Soviet Union. The book offers nuanced depictions of the people in Pasternak's life, including his lover, Olga Ivinskaya, who championed his work and shared his torment at the hands of the KGB. The torturous ideological policing by the Soviets is discussed to great effect; for indeed, the tale of Doctor Zhivago itself is very much about the long psychic scar left by Russian Revolution. It's a story expertly told by Finn and Couvee, who unsparingly present the role played by the Kremlin in persecuting Pasternak and his loved ones, as well as the role of the CIA in using his masterpiece in a game of ideological warfare--overall, a triumphant reminder that truth is sometimes gloriously stranger than fiction. -- Publishers Weekly, starred review A detailed reconstruction of one of the most fascinating of the Cold War's cultural skirmishes... The Zhivago Affair ought to bring a new generation of readers to it, curious to know what kind of a novel could make a superpower tremble. --Tablet A fast-paced political thriller about a book that terrified a nation. -- Kirkus Reviews A riveting account...[Finn and Couveee] have drawn not only on archival documents and interviews with surviving actors in the international drama but also on newly declassified files of the Soviet, American, and Dutch intelligence services. -- Bookforum It is quite simply a remarkable story and fully sourced book, the scholarship peerless but never eclipsing one amazingly humanist story of a towering figure of 20th century Russian literature. --New York Journal of Books With groundbreaking reporting and character-rich storytelling, Peter Finn and Petra Couvee uncover the high-stakes drama behind one of the Cold War's strangest turning points. Passionately written and acutely aware of the historical context, The Zhivago Affair almost makes one nostalgic for a time when novels were so important that even the CIA cared about them. --Ken Kalfus, author of A Disorder Peculiar to the Country A thrilling literary espionage yarn, but much more than that. Finn and Couvee shed new light on the Cold War struggle for the hearts and minds of millions of people, introducing a cast of characters--poets and spies, idealists and cynics, politicians and dissidents--who could have stepped out of the pages of Doctor Zhivago itself. --Michael Dobbs, author of Six Months in 1945: FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman--from World War to Cold War A sparkling and fascinating account of how one of the most important novels of the twentieth century found its way back to Russia, a juggernaut of truth thrust into the Soviet darkness. Finn and Couvee elegantly and authoritatively capture Pasternak's brilliance, the courage of his friends, and the CIA's hidden role in bringing the forbidden book to Russian readers. --David E. Hoffman, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy The most detailed account to date of the events that suddenly placed one of Russia's greatest poets in the center of the struggle between Soviet and Western propaganda machines at the height of the Cold War. Pasternak's personal courage in the face of this totally incongruous conflict is the quality that emerges most clearly from this well-paced narrative, which is especially commendable for its avoidance of all romantic exaggeration--a quality Pasternak himself strove for in Doctor Zhivago. The book is of great relevance today, when such conflicts seem (but only seem) to have disappeared. --Richard Pevear, co-translator of Doctor Zhivago

Beautifully crafted and scrupulously researched. . . . A kind of intellectual thriller. . . . Well-paced and exciting. --Alan Furst, The Washington Post A fascinating book that is thoroughly researched, extraordinarily accurate in its factual details, judicious in its judgments, and destined to remain the definitive work on the subject for a very long time to come. --New York Review of Books Riveting, well-researched . . . Reads like a literary thriller. --The New Republic A rich and unanticipated story. . . . Finn and Couvee's poignant depiction of Pasternak is the book's greatest strength. --The Daily Beast A work of deep historical research that reads a little like Le Carre. . . . The authors show how both sides in the Cold War used literary prestige as a weapon without resorting to cheap moral equivalency. --New York An informative, fascinating, and often moving account of personal courage, espionage and propaganda, and the role of literature in the political struggle for the hearts and minds of people. --Huffington Post Thrilling. . . . Deftly combining biography, cultural history and literary tittle-tattle, [Finn and Couvee] have shone a light on a shadowy operation. . . . Crushingly poignant. --Newsday Fascinating. . . . The story of how Doctor Zhivago helped disrupt the Soviet Union holds some intriguing implications for the present and future of cultural conflict. --The Atlantic A remarkable story and fully sourced book, the scholarship peerless but never eclipsing one amazingly humanist story of a towering figure. --New York Journal of Books The authors persuasively argue that the ripples from the publication of this single book affected not only the author, his family and his friends, but also changed the balance of power in the world during a critical period. -- Columbus Dispatch A galloping page-turner and a stark picture of a nation ruled by terror and unreason, which reads like a sinister rewrite of Alice in Wonderland. --Sunday Times (London) Extraordinary. . . . There is much to think about in The Zhivago Affair the nature of genius; the terror that leads people to betray friends; and, above all, the potency of fiction. . . . The Zhivago Affair reveals the story of that triumph with vibrant authenticity and calm analysis. --The Independent on Sunday (London) Excellent, superbly researched, and as exciting in its way as any Cold War thriller. Pasternak himself emerges clearly and strongly in all his complexity. This was the most important literary controversy of the post-war world, and Finn and Couvee have presented it with immense care and colour. The aftermath of the affair still has resonance even now. --John Simpson, BBC News Finn and Couvee deal objectively with the characters involved and tell the story with exceptional vivacity. --Literary Review Fascinating... [Finn and Couvee] manage to shed new light on both the period and the characters involved. --Financial Times An extraordinary, gripping tale of art and espionage, The Zhivago Affair embodies the belief shared by its flamboyant cast of geniuses, barbarians, lovers and eccentrics: books matter. --A. D. Miller, author of Snowdrops

Beautifully crafted and scrupulously researched. . . . A kind of intellectual thriller. . . . Well-paced and exciting. --Alan Furst, The Washington Post A fascinating book that is thoroughly researched, extraordinarily accurate in its factual details, judicious in its judgments, and destined to remain the definitive work on the subject for a very long time to come. -- New York Review of Books Riveting, well-researched . . . Reads like a literary thriller. -- The New Republic A rich and unanticipated story. . . . Finn and Couvee's poignant depiction of Pasternak is the book's greatest strength. -- The Daily Beast A work of deep historical research that reads a little like Le Carre. . . . The authors show how both sides in the Cold War used literary prestige as a weapon without resorting to cheap moral equivalency. -- New York An informative, fascinating, and often moving account of personal courage, espionage and propaganda, and the role of literature in the political struggle for the hearts and minds of people. -- Huffington Post Thrilling. . . . Deftly combining biography, cultural history and literary tittle-tattle, [Finn and Couvee] have shone a light on a shadowy operation. . . . Crushingly poignant. -- Newsday Fascinating. . . . The story of how Doctor Zhivago helped disrupt the Soviet Union holds some intriguing implications for the present and future of cultural conflict. -- The Atlantic A remarkable story and fully sourced book, the scholarship peerless but never eclipsing one amazingly humanist story of a towering figure. -- New York Journal of Books The authors persuasively argue that the ripples from the publication of this single book affected not only the author, his family and his friends, but also changed the balance of power in the world during a critical period. -- Columbus Dispatch A galloping page-turner and a stark picture of a nation ruled by terror and unreason, which reads like a sinister rewrite of Alice in Wonderland. -- Sunday Times (London) Extraordinary. . . . There is much to think about in The Zhivago Affair the nature of genius; the terror that leads people to betray friends; and, above all, the potency of fiction. . . . The Zhivago Affair reveals the story of that triumph with vibrant authenticity and calm analysis. -- The Independent on Sunday (London) Excellent, superbly researched, and as exciting in its way as any Cold War thriller. Pasternak himself emerges clearly and strongly in all his complexity. This was the most important literary controversy of the post-war world, and Finn and Couvee have presented it with immense care and colour. The aftermath of the affair still has resonance even now. --John Simpson, BBC News Finn and Couvee deal objectively with the characters involved and tell the story with exceptional vivacity. -- Literary Review Fascinating... [Finn and Couvee] manage to shed new light on both the period and the characters involved. -- Financial Times An extraordinary, gripping tale of art and espionage, The Zhivago Affair embodies the belief shared by its flamboyant cast of geniuses, barbarians, lovers and eccentrics: books matter. --A. D. Miller, author of Snowdrops

Author Information

Peter Finn is National Security Editor for The Washington Post and previously served as the Post’s bureau chief in Moscow.   Petra Couvée is a writer and translator and teaches at Saint Petersburg State University. The Zhivago Affair is their first collaboration together.

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