Boris Pasternak

1890–1960 · Poet & Novelist

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, the eldest son of Leonid Pasternak, became one of the greatest Russian poets of the twentieth century. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958 for his novel “Doctor Zhivago,” he was forced to decline it under Soviet pressure. His lyric poetry, translations of Shakespeare, and prose remain cornerstones of world literature.