Historical Thinking In Boris Pasternak's Novel Doctor Zhivago

The novel Doctor Zhivago is the fruit of years of work of Boris Pasternak.The book reveals the author's philosophical thinking about art,religion and revolution,and his reflections on history and the relationship between life and death.The motivation of choosing the current topic of this dissertation is that despite the rise of modem literary,themes like history and philosophy of history in the book have been barely studied.The aim of the present thesis is to analyze the philosophy of history in Pasternak's works.The literary legacy and philosophical thinking of Pasternak thus pose to be the subject of the present study.The author aims to identify the evolution of the philosophy of history in Pasternak's different works,and to interpret different views of philosophy of history in the novel Doctor Zhivago.The present thesis consists of the introduction part,three chapters,conclusion and bibliography.The introduction part includes the justification of choosing the current theme of the dissertation,the introduction to the tasks of the study,and the theoretical and practical significance of the study.The first chapter studies the evolution of the description of the historical process and the development of philosophy of history in Pasternak's works of different periods.The second chapter analyzes different interpretations of the history of the heroes in the novel Doctor Zhivago,including the gospel concept of history,the revolutionary theories during the upheavals in Russia,quack Kubarihi's view of history based on traditional religion and animism,as well as the historical doctrines of egoistic lawyers Samdevyatova and Komarovsky.The third chapter is devoted to analyze the leading character Dr.Zhivago's views of the philosophy of history.Inheriting the thoughts on history of Vedenyapina,Dr.Zhivago clearly stated his anti-war stance.His reflections on art is an integral part of his philosophy of history,for he advocates that art embraced two aspects:relentlessly thinking about death and relentlessly creating life based on it.In the present study,the author tries to show that freedom is one of the most important ideas and significant core of the novel Doctor Zhivago.The process of Pasternak's relentless thinking about history is also a process to pursue freedom.