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Golubtsova Anastasia V.,
Candidate of Philology, Senior Researcher
Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences
e-mail: ana1294@yandex.ru
The article analyzes the relationship between Boris Pasternak and Angelo Maria Ripellino, Italian academic, translator and poet, who was one of the key figures in Soviet-Italian cultural contacts during the Thaw period. The study is based on archival documents from RGALI, publications in Italian press and memoirs. We consider personal meetings and correspondence of the two intellectuals, as well as Ripellino’s contribution to the popularity of Pasternak’s work in Italy. The article focuses on Ripellino’s attitude towards the novel “Doctor Zhivago” and the circumstances of its publication. The Italian academic respected Pasternak as a man, highly appreciated his poetry, but was extremely critical towards his prose. The controversy around the novel distracted public attention from Ripellino’s anthology of Pasternak’s poetry and, according to Ripellino himself, compromised the propagation of Soviet literature in Italy. These factors determined his ambiguous attitude: on one hand Ripellino disliked “Doctor Zhivago” and tried to maintain friendly relationship with his Soviet ‘friends’, on the other hand he sympathized with Pasternak and was committed to the principle of freedom and nonconformity in art. Ripellino failed to take an active part in discussion around “Doctor Zhivago”, but expressed his support of Pasternak in his own poetry and in 1967 finally broke with the USSR by publishing an article, which harshly criticized Soviet literary establishment.
Keywords: A.M. Ripellino, B. Pasternak, G. Breitburd, “Doctor Zhivago”, translation, publishing, correspondence, Soviet-Italian literary contacts
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