Apr 22, 2014
THE ZHIVAGO AFFAIR – Peter Finn and Petra Couvée
“You are hereby invited to watch me face the firing squad.” – Boris Pasternak’s words on handing over his manuscript to his Italian Publisher’s representative in the Soviet Union.
This tells the story...

THE ZHIVAGO AFFAIR – Peter Finn and Petra Couvée

“You are hereby invited to watch me face the firing squad.” – Boris Pasternak’s words on handing over his manuscript to his Italian Publisher’s representative in the Soviet Union.

This tells the story of a forbidden book, one that becomes a secret CIA weapon in the ideological battle between East and West. The story of how Pasternak’s masterpiece – banned in the USSR – is secretly translated into Russian by the CIA, printed in the Hague and distributed to Soviet tourists via a secret Vatican library. Copies are later found in a Russian fairground with their covers torn off and discarded in an attempt to conceal the pages from watching KGB.

The cover design references this scene and contains the stamp which classifies the text as ‘to be held under absolute KGB embargo’.

Until now, the CIA has never acknowledged its role in the printing of Doctor Zhivago however the agency has agreed to open its classified files exclusively for this book.

It is published by Harvill secker in July 2014.

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