Moscow has Ears Everywhere

The conflict between Soviet Communists and Boris Pasternak over the publication of Doctor Zhivago did not end when he won the Nobel Prize, or even when the author died. Paolo Mancosu tells how Pasternaks expulsion from the Soviet Writers Union left him in financial difficulty. Milan publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli and Sergio dAngelo, who had brought the typescript of Doctor Zhivago to Feltrinelli, were among those who arranged a smuggling operation to help him.After Pasternaks death, Olga Ivinskaya, his companion, literary assistant, and the inspiration for Zhivagos Lara, also received some of the Zhivago royalties. After the KGB intercepted Pasternaks will on her behalf, the Soviets arrested and sentenced her and her daughter, Irina Emelianova, to eight years and three years of labor camp, respectively. The ensuing international outrage inspired a secret campaign in the West to win their freedom.Mancosus new bookthe first to explore the post-Nobel history of Pasternak and Ivinskayaprovides extraordinary detail on these events, in a thrilling account that involves KGB interceptions, fabricated documents, smugglers, and much more. While a general reader will respond to the dramatic human story, specialists will be rewarded with a rich assemblage of new archival material, especially letters of Pasternak, Ivinskaya, Feltrinelli, and dAngelo from the Hoover Institution Library and Archives and the Feltrinelli Archives in Milan.