New Releases by Boris Pasternak

These letters cover the period from 1931 to 1959, a few months before Pasternak died in official disgrace, and are written to some of his intimate friends in the Soviet republic of Georgia. Also included is a section on his Georgian friends from his autobiographical sketch/ Remember. It is a moving and tragic collection. Pasternak first went to Georgia in 1931, and the letters make clear how immediately fascinated he was by the great vitality of the Georgian literary elite. It is also made clear that if, in Russia, many writers lost their lives in the purges, an even greater number, proportionately, were wiped out in Stalin''s homeland, Georgia. The larger part of the letters are addressed to his two closest friends, the two most talented Georgian poets of our century, Paolo Yashvili and Titian Tabidze, and their families. Both were victims of the great purge of 1937, and Tabidze was arrested and murdered in the same year, but his death was not made known until 1955. Pasternak remained devoted to their memory and their families until the end of his life- corresponding with them, meeting them, assisting them financially-at a time when such behavior could be dangerous, and was therefore extremely rare. The letters are a testament to his nobility and courage. As a true Russian intellectual, Pasternak pours out his soul in these letters. They contain a great deal of information about his private life, the persecutions to which he was subjected, his writings, and his views on literature. They provide many intimate insights into the Soviet literary scene. Their importance, particularly in view of Pasternak''s world-wide reputation, is incontestable.