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The Most Outstanding Work of an Idealistic Tendency: Hemingway, Pasternak, and the 1958 Nobel Prize for Literature
- The Hemingway Review
- The Hemingway Foundation and Society
- Volume 40, Number 1, Fall 2020
- pp. 10-28
- 10.1353/hem.2020.0016
- Article
- Additional Information
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Abstract:
Soon after Ernest Hemingway won the Nobel Prize, his works returned to the Soviet literary market. However, cultural relations between the United States and the USSR were disrupted when Boris Pasternak was selected for the prize in 1958. This article examines Hemingway’s reaction to Pasternak’s refusal of the prize, as well as his understanding of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli’s role in the publication of Doctor Zhivago abroad. It also explores the precarious position of authors in literary markets by examining how Hemingway became an iconic figure in the USSR, while Pasternak was simultaneously denied similar accolades for his work.