About the product
Pasternak wrote the novel “Doctor Zhivago” in 1945-1955. The structure of the work is based on the principle of cinematic montage. The book is supplemented with poems by the main character - Yuri Zhivago. In the novel, Pasternak depicted the life of the Russian intelligentsia during a difficult historical period - from the beginning of the twentieth century to the Great Patriotic War. The author focuses on issues of life and death, love, religion, revolution.
On the website you can read online a summary of Doctor Zhivago chapters and parts. The retelling will be useful for preparing for a lesson in Russian literature, for a reader's diary.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.
↑ Part three
Yura Zhivago shows himself early as a talented poet. But he wants to practice medicine, so he goes to university. There he also realizes himself as an outstanding doctor. At the Sventitskys' Christmas party, Yuri meets Larisa. Now this girl is the “slave” of the old lawyer Komarovsky, whom he “warmed up” in exchange for reciprocity. Larisa does not like life with the old man at all, and she decides to get rid of him. One night she shot him, but accidentally hit another man. Komarovsky, however, is not angry with her, spares her from punishment and rents a small room for her.
Main characters
- Yuri Andreevich Zhivago is the main character of the work, doctor, poet, writer.
- Zhivago Antonina Aleksandrovna (Tonya Gromeko) – Yuri’s first wife, lawyer; they had common children: son Sasha and daughter Masha.
- Larisa Antipova - Antipov's wife, the second illegal wife of Yuri Zhivago; teacher at the gymnasium, and then a nurse.
- Pavel (Pasha, Patulya) Antipov (Strelnikov) is the first and legal husband of Larisa Antipova, who became a revolutionary commissar.
- Gordon Mikhail is a classmate and friend of Yuri Zhivago.
- Viktor Ippolitovich Komarovsky – Moscow lawyer, legal adviser to Yuri Zhivago’s father; an acquaintance of Guichard and Larisa.
↑ Second part
Yura's uncle sends him to the intelligent Gromeko family, headed by his father, an agronomist professor. Growing up in this family greatly influenced Yura. There he met Tonya, the daughter of a professor. In the future, she became his first wife. Larisa Grishar is shown - a girl, the daughter of a German woman, Amalia Karlovna. Lara's mother owns a garment factory. Their family friend is Komarovsky, an old Moscow lawyer. He begins to court Larisa, but at first she does not reciprocate his feelings. Meanwhile, the factory workers revolt. They explain to Amalia Karlovna that this will be better even for herself. Lara becomes the teacher of her classmate's sister, and transfers the proceeds to the Antipov family, hoping to soon marry Patulya.
Other characters
- Vedenyapin Nikolai Nikolaevich is the uncle of Yuri Zhivago.
- Zhivago Evgraf Andreevich is Yuri’s paternal brother, major general.
- Innokenty (Nika) Dudorov is the son of terrorist Dementy Dudorov, a friend of Misha Gordon, Yuri Zhivago, Pavel Antipov.
- Gromeko Alexander Alexandrovich is a professor of chemistry at the Petrovsky Academy, the father of Antonina Alexandrovna.
- Gromeko Anna Ivanovna is the mother of Antonina Alexandrovna.
- Amalia Karlovna Guichard is a Russified Frenchwoman, Larisa’s mother.
- Galiullin Osip Gimazetdinovich - White Guard general.
- Mikulitsyn Averky Stepanovich is an acquaintance of the Zhivago family, Livery’s father.
- Mikulitsyn Liveriy Averkievich - partisan leader.
- Marina Shchapova is the third, illegal wife of Yuri Zhivago; they had common daughters Kapka and Klashka.
↑ First part
The novel begins with the funeral of little Yura's mother. Zhivago's family was once very rich, but his parents' marriage was unhappy; the father eventually left the family. Orphaned Yura is first raised by his uncle, a former priest who left the church of his own free will. This is a strong and calm person. The author also introduces readers to other boys - the Jew Misha Gordon and Innokenty Dudorov - the son of a convicted convict and a revolutionary-minded girl. Dudorov strives to imitate his mother in everything - even to the point that he wants to go to Siberia to start an uprising there.
Summary
First book
Part 1
The mother of the boy Yura, Marya Nikolaevna Zhivago, died. After the funeral, his uncle Nikolai Nikolaevich Vedenyapin took up raising the boy. Yura's father abandoned his son and wife long ago. The boy's mother told him that his father was in St. Petersburg, but in fact the man traveled around Siberia and abroad, went on a spree and squandered their million-dollar fortune. From a rich wealthy family they became poor.
High school student Misha Gordon was traveling on the train to Moscow with his father, attorney at law Gordon. On the way, a suicide jumped out of the train: it was concluded that he was drunk. The deceased visited the Gordons in their compartment more than once and talked about his two families and sons. But every now and then his lawyer, an arrogant lawyer, came for him and took him away to drink further.
Part 2
“Waves of revolution were sweeping across Russia.” The widow Amalia Karlovna Guishar came to Moscow from the Urals with two children - son Rodion and daughter Larisa. She sent Larisa to a girls' gymnasium. On the advice of lawyer Komarovsky, a friend of her husband, Guichard bought Levitskaya’s sewing workshop.
Once, some friends had a name day in Karetny. Amalia got sick and let Komarovsky go with Lara. After the holiday, Lara walked all the way home “like crazy” and only when she got home did she realize what had happened. "Now she is fallen." "He was her curse, she hated him." Their relationship remained a secret.
In the fall, strikes took place on the railways of the Moscow hub. After one of the strikes, Patulya Antipov, the son of the arrested Pavel Ferapontovich Antipov, settled in the Tiverzin family. Patuli's mother was admitted to the hospital with typhus.
"Those were the days of Presnya." The Guichard family found itself in the zone of uprising. Among the vigilantes were Lara’s acquaintances - Nika Dudorov and the “realist” Pasha Antipov. Even then Patulya falls in love with the girl. To avoid being under fire, Lara’s family moved to a hotel.
Nikolai Nikolaevich settled Yura in the professorial Gromeko family, where Yura’s friend and classmate, high school student Gordon, and the owners’ daughter Tonya Gromeko also lived. Tony's father, Alexander Alexandrovich Gromeko, was a professor of chemistry at the Petrovsky Academy and was married to Anna Ivanovna.
Once Alexander Alexandrovich was called to the hotel, and he took Yura and Misha with him. It turned out that Amalia Karlovna became ill: she tried to poison herself. The boys witnessed how a certain girl (it was Lara) and an adult man looked at each other: “as if he were a puppeteer, and she was a puppet.” When the boys left the hotel, Misha told Yura that this was “the same one who soldered and killed your father.”
Part 3
The children were soon to graduate. “Yura ended up as a physician, Tonya as a lawyer, and Misha as a philologist in the philosophy department.” While still in high school, Yura began writing poetry.
Anna Ivanovna had pneumonia, her condition worsened. Once, during a coughing attack, a woman told Yura and Tonya, who rushed to her aid, to definitely get married.
In the spring of 1906, six months of communication with Komarovsky “exceeded the measure of Lara’s patience.” The girl got a job as a teacher in the Kologrivov family and secretly helped Pasha with money. A few years later, she had to borrow a large sum of money from the Kologrivovs to help her brother.
Lara decided to start a new life and repay the debt to the Kologrivovs by asking Komarovsky for money. Lara came to Pasha. They talked in a dark room, by candlelight, on Christmas night. Lara said that she had difficulties, so they should get married urgently.
After the incident with Anna Ivanovna, Yura and Tonya “seemed to see the light and look at each other with new eyes.” On the way to the Svetnitskys’ Christmas tree, when they were driving along Kamergersky, Yura noticed a “thawed hole in the ice build-up of one of the windows,” through which the candle fire shone through. “The candle was burning on the table. The candle was burning...” Yura whispered to himself. It was a candle in Pasha and Lara's room.
Both Lara and Komarovsky were at the Svetnitskys’ Christmas tree. Suddenly a shot rang out: Lara shot at Komarovsky, but missed. “Yura was stunned when he saw her. - The same one! And again this grayish one.”
Suddenly they came for Yura and Tonya from home. “They no longer found Anna Ivanovna alive.” She died of suffocation due to pulmonary edema.
Part 4
After the incident, Lara became very ill and was delirious. Komarovsky rented a room for her. When Lara recovered, she and Pasha got married. After the wedding, Lara told Pasha her whole story. Lara and Pasha completed their studies brilliantly and both received an offer to work in the same city in the Urals.
“It was the second autumn of the war.” Yura, who was now called Doctor Zhivago, and his wife Antonina Alexandrovna gave birth to a son.
The Antipovs lived in Yuryatin, they had a daughter, Katya. Lara worked in a girls' gymnasium. Pavel Pavlovich also taught at the gymnasium, and along the way independently mastered the exact sciences. He was burdened by his relationship with his wife, so he decided to enter a military school in Omsk. After graduating from college early, Antipov was immediately sent to the active army. Lara passed the exam for the title of sister of mercy, took her daughter to Moscow to see a friend, and she herself “entered the hospital train as a sister, leaving through the city of Liski to Meso-Laborch” to find Antipov.
Gordon arrived at the front, at the infirmary where Zhivago served. “These days the front has begun to move.” Ensign Antipov was captured. Antipov's documents came to Galiullin. At night the village came under fire. Zhivago sent Gordon with the first echelon.
Yuri was wounded - “he was knocked down by the air wave of the explosion and wounded by a shrapnel bullet.” Zhivago was treated at the evacuation hospital in Melyuzeev. Galiullin was in the same room with him. The nurse caring for them was Lara. Galiullin told Lara that Antipov was in captivity and gave her his things.
Gordon and Dudorov published his book without Zhivago’s permission; they praise it and predict a “great literary future.”
A message arrived that there were street riots in St. Petersburg and a revolution had begun.
Part 5
As Yuri recovered, he began to prepare to leave. On the way to Moscow, Zhivago was troubled by thoughts about Tona, his home, about the revolution, about his sister Antipova.
Part 6
Arriving in Moscow, Yuri Andreevich immediately went home. Zhivago saw his son for the first time: Sasha was born when the man was called up. Antonina said that Nikolai Nikolaevich came from Switzerland. Yuri was very happy with his uncle, they had something to talk about: “two creative characters, connected by family kinship, met.”
“August has passed, September is ending. The inevitable was looming." “People in the cities were helpless.” There were fights on the streets of the city, and bystanders were often wounded. That winter was hard, “dark, hungry and cold.”
Zhivago was called to the house to help a woman suffering from typhus. Soon he himself fell ill with typhus and was delirious for two weeks. In order for Yuri to recover faster, Tonya was helped by Yuri’s half-brother, Evgraf Zhivago.
“In April of the same year, Zhivago’s whole family went to the distant Urals, to the former Varykino estate, near the city of Yuryatin.”
Part 7
Last days of March. The Zhivago family traveled in a freight car: there were no passengers. The train was often stopped in the middle of a field and documents were checked. On the way, at one of the stations, Zhivago personally met with the non-party commissar Strelnikov, who was given the nickname “Rassrelnikov” due to his cruelty.
Second book
Part 8
A local old man helped the Zhivago family - Yuri, Tonya, Alexander Alexandrovich and little Sasha - get to Varykino. Averky Stepanovich Mikulitsyn was surprised by the arrival of the guests, noting that they would be a burden for him, that they would put him in danger. But he still provided the guests with a room. Over tea, the hosts talked about the mathematician Antipov, who lived in Yuryatin, and “Commissar Strelnikov, known for his cruelty, is Antipov come to life.”
Part 9
In winter, Yuri began to take notes. Soon Zhivago noticed that Tonya was pregnant.
Yuri dreamed of creating something “major” - scientific or artistic work. Once, while in the library in Yuryatin, Zhivago saw Antipova. After Lara left, Yuri looked up her address in the catalog and went to look for her.
Seeing Zhivago on the street, Larisa invited him to her apartment. Yuri told her how he and his family got to the Urals, about his meeting with Strelnikov. Larisa said that Galiullin “turned out to be a big shot with the Czechs” and with his help she saved many lives. Antipova admitted that Strelnikov was her husband Pasha, but she was still proud of him.
Zhivago began to visit Larisa regularly. Two months later, he stayed with Antipova for the first time, lying to Tonya that he had spent the night at an inn. Once, when Yuri was driving to Larisa, three armed men stopped him on the road and mobilized him.
Parts 10 – 11
“Yuri Andreevich spent the second year in captivity among the partisans.” He made transitions with them. Yuri tried to escape three times, but it all ended with his capture. “He was reconciled by the partisan leader Liveriy Mikulitsyn.”
Part 12
“The doctor was denied transportation,” and it was difficult to obtain medications. A frosty winter set in, and people in the camp began to develop scurvy. Livery told Zhivago that “the civil war is over. Kolchak is completely defeated.” Zhivago thought that “the fanaticism of the whites and reds competed in cruelty.” Thinking about his loved ones, about Lara, Zhivago left the camp at night.
Part 13
“Emaciated, not washed for a long time” with a knapsack on his shoulders and a stick, in cast-offs from someone else’s shoulder, Yuri Zhivago arrived in Yuryatin. The doctor headed towards Lara's house. He found a note addressed to him: Lara and Katenka went to Varykino. On the back of the paper was written: “You know about yours. They are in Moscow. Tonya gave birth to a daughter.” Zhivago stayed at Lara's apartment.
Zhivago ate and fell asleep. Between falls asleep, he realized that he was sick, but he could not even get out of bed, and immediately fell asleep again. One day he woke up on a clean bed - undressed and washed, Lara was sitting next to him.
“Yuri Andreevich recovered quickly. Lara fed him and nursed him with her cares.” "Their love was great." Lara believed that he should definitely return to his family. She said that Strelnikov had fled and was hiding: as a non-party member, he was now in danger.
Zhivago shared with Lara that Komarovsky was the legal adviser to his millionaire father. Komarovsky soldered Zhivago, drove him to bankruptcy and pushed him to commit suicide.
Lara admitted that she still loves Antipov. If he had become the old Pashenka, she would have given up everything and returned to him.
Zhivago was brought a letter from Tony, which almost got lost. She wrote that she named their daughter Masha, that many public figures and professors, including their family, were being sent abroad.
Part 14
Komarovsky arrived in Yuryatin and reported that Larisa, Zhivago and Strelnikov were in mortal danger. He offered to take them to Vladivostok, from where Yuri could reach his own by sea, but Yuri did not agree. Zhivago noticed that Larisa was pregnant.
Yuri, Lara and Katya moved to Varykino. They stayed at the Mikulitsyns' house. It was clear that someone had recently lived in the house. Zhivago began writing again at night, recording “The Christmas Star,” “Winter Night,” and other poems.
Komarovsky arrived in Varykino. He told Zhivago that Strelnikov had been executed. In order for Lara to agree to leave with Komarovsky, Yuri lied to her that he would join them later.
Left alone, Yuri “slowly went crazy.” “He neglected the house, stopped taking care of himself, turned nights into days and lost track of time.” One day Strelnikov wandered in to see him and he turned out to be alive. They talked for several hours. Strelnikov confessed his crimes to Yuri, remembered Lara, and reflected on the revolution. Yuri said that Lara still loved him, this made a strong impression on Pavel. Strelnikov stayed overnight with Zhivago. In the morning, Yuri found him not far from the porch in the snow: Pavel had shot himself.
Part 15
During the last eight or nine years of his life before his death, Zhivago “sank more and more, losing his doctoral knowledge and skills and losing his writing skills.” His heart disease worsened. “He came to Moscow at the beginning of the New Economic Policy.” After another change of housing, Yuri abandoned medicine and began to live in poverty.
Zhivago began visiting the janitor Markel Shchapov, who had previously served the Zhivago family. His daughter Marina began helping Yuri with housework. “One day she stayed with him and never returned to the janitor’s room. So she became the third wife of Yuri Andreevich, not registered in the registry office.” They had children: two daughters, Kapka and Klashka.
Once, visiting Gordon, who lived nearby, Zhivago said that he had begun to receive letters from Paris from Tony. In the morning, after the conversation, Marina came running to Gordon - Yuri had disappeared. Three days later, letters arrived from Zhivago saying that he wanted to be alone. Soon he sent Marina a large sum of money.
All this time, Zhivago lived nearby, he was helped by his brother Evgraf, who also helped in recruiting the doctor into good service. On the day when Yuri was going to the Botkin hospital, he became ill on the tram. Zhivago came out and immediately fell on the pavement. “It was soon determined that he was no longer breathing and his heart was not working.” Among the people who came to the funeral were Evgraf and Larisa, who happened to come in (the farewell to the deceased took place in the Antipovs’ former house). Evgraf told Larisa that her husband Antipov was not actually executed, but shot himself. Larisa asked for help finding her second child.
“Larisa Fedorovna spent several days in Kamergersky,” she began helping Evgraf with sorting out Yuri’s papers. One day Larisa left and did not return: apparently, she was arrested and died somewhere in a concentration camp.
Part 16
In the summer of 1943, “after the liberation of Orel,” junior lieutenant Gordon returned to the military unit. The linen worker Tanya, an orphan girl, during a conversation with the now Major General Evgraf Zhivago, told her story, which greatly interested the man. He promised to help her. Gordon, from Tanya’s story, realized that this was the illegitimate daughter of Lara and Yuri, whom the woman left at the railway siding with a watchman.
Five or ten years passed, Gordon and Dudorov sat in Moscow, leafing through the notebook of Yuryev’s writings compiled and printed by Evgraf. “It seemed to the aged friends that this freedom of the soul had come,” that they had entered the “future” and “from now on are in it.”
↑ Part four
Lara falls in love with her childhood friend, Pavel Antipov, and marries him. Together they leave for Yuryatino-on-Rynve - a city in which they have an estate. Their daughter Katya is born. Yuri and Antonina Zhivago also have children. However, quiet family life is suddenly interrupted - the First World War begins. Yuri and Pavel go to the front. Larisa becomes a military nurse and also goes to the front to look for her husband. She learns that he was captured. There, at the front, Larisa meets Yuri again.
↑ Part Nine
This part is devoted to Yuri Zhivago’s thoughts on medicine, art, and history. He also sees Larisa again. She said that Pavel went with the Bolsheviks to fight in Siberia against Galliulin. However, according to her, the Bolsheviks simply tolerated him, so that they could later abandon him if they no longer needed him. Yuri makes a difficult decision for both lovers: he will no longer visit Larisa, so as not to deceive his wife. On the way home, he was picked up by partisans who needed a doctor.
↑ Fifteenth part
Doctor Zhivago decides to go on foot to Moscow. Along the way, he meets the peasant Vasily, who joins him. In Moscow they live together for some time, and then Yuri meets his former janitor, who agreed to shelter him. The doctor liked the janitor's daughter Marina and became his third unofficial wife. She bore him two daughters. The doctor received letters from abroad from Toni, who knew about his new wife, but again was not angry with him. Zhivago’s life began to improve, he got a job as a doctor. But one day he got off a stuffy tram and fell dead on the road.
↑ Part fourteen
Yuri and Larisa lived in Varykino. He actively wrote poetry. But suddenly Komarovsky arrived and invited everyone to go to the Far East: Pavel was sentenced to death, and Larisa, as the wife of a traitor, could also be caught and shot at any moment. Yuri refused the offer to leave, convincing Larisa that he would go for them later. After their departure, he is left alone, but constantly thinks about his beloved. Soon Pavel, who escaped execution, appears. They talk for a long time, while Yuri convinces Pavel that Larisa loved and was waiting only for him. Pavel explains that he went to war only in order to gain more freedom. The next day he committed suicide.
