NOVELIST IN RUSSIA

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28748, 20 November 1958, Page 15

NOVELIST IN RUSSIA

Pasternak Gives Interview (N.Z. Press Association'—Copyngnti NEW YORK, November 19. The Nobel Prize-winning author, Boris Pasternak regarded his novel “Dr. Zhivago,’’ published in the West but condemned by the Soviet authorities, as “the consummation of his life and his writings,” according to a recent interview with him, published today in the “Reporter’’ magazine. The author was interviewed shortly before the announcement of the Nobel award by Dr. Nils Nilsson, director of the Russian Institute at Stockholm University, Sweden. Dr. Nilsson said Pasternak had told him that what he wrote before “Dr. Zhivago’’ no longer interested him very much. He said, according to the interviewer, that one of the reasons given for the book’s rejection by Russian officials was that it would damage his reputation as a poet. “Of course, that’s only an excuse,” Pasternak was quoted as saying. “A writer must be allowed to loosen up. He must be allowed to live and develop. I don’t want to become a slave to my own name.” Dr. Nilsson said the Russian author then described his attitude towards the Soviet State. “I’ve never made a secret of my position,” he said. “Actually, the demands of the hierarchy are very slight. There is only one thing they really want. You should hate what you like and love what you abhor. But this—this is the most difficult of all.” According to Dr. Nilsson. Pasternak said the war had brought him hope for the future. “A war is a game of chess. It doesn’t merely end in the victory of white over black. Other thing's must come out of it. So many sacrifices cannot result in nothing.” he said.