The material retained by the University of Michigan Press, related to the publication of Dr. Zhivago , Poems, and Collected Works , comprises correspondence between the books’ editors and the directors of the Press. Other items, such as a first edition with marginalia, photographs of letters from Pasternak to Eugene Kayden, and assorted newspaper clippings, help document the history of this unusual endeavor. The 1.5 linear feet of material span the years 1958 to 1988, with the bulk of the papers dating between 1959 and 1962. The Pasternak records of the University of Michigan Press have been divided into three series: Dr. Zhivago (0.5 linear feet), Eugene Kayden Translation -- Poems (1959) (0.5 linear feet), Sochineniia [Collected Works] (1961) (0.5 linear feet), and Media (3 items).
The Dr. Zhivago series consists of two subseries: Pre-publication and Publication. Pre-publication includes newspaper clippings related to the Nobel Prize awarded to Pasternak in 1958, correspondence pertaining to the copyright negotiations with Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, and promotional materials for the book's release. Most of the correspondence to Feltrinelli is carbon copies. Permissions Granted is correspondence between the Press and other authors regarding use of the novel in other publications. These letters date between 1960 and 1988. Additional material includes a limited amount of University of Michigan Press business records, galleys of the text, and other miscellaneous documents.
In the Eugene Kayden Translation -- Poems (1959) series much of the material is correspondence from Press directors Glenn Gosling, Ed Watkins, and Robert Erwin. Photographs of letters written to Eugene Kayden from Pasternak are included as well. The photographs are quite legible, and the text is in Russian. Related material, particularly the agreement signed between the Press and Eugene Kayden, is also in this series. Some of the folder dates will overlap in an attempt to maintain the original order of the materials.
Sochineniia [Collected Works] (1961), the Russian publication of Pasternak's poetry by scholars Gleb Struve and Boris Filippov, is the final series in the collection. Correspondence in this series, dated between 1959 and 1984, is arranged chronologically. A smaller amount of topical correspondence is arranged alphabetically by topic. As is the case with the previous series, some of the folder dates will overlap in an attempt to maintain the collections' original order.
The Media series contains two microfilms of the Collected Works , and an audiotape copy of the 45rpm vinyl recording of Pasternak Speaks . The tape documents a reading at Pasternak's home in 1958. Included are the poems "Night," "At the Hospital," "Literature Today," "To a French Musician," and an excerpt from "An Essay in Autobiography."
The University of Michigan Press was founded in 1930 with a goal of publishing books that would impart important scholarly research. In the late 1950s, as a reaction to Cold War era politics, the Press embarked on a program to publish Russian language materials. Their first undertaking was Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago . Although Dr. Zhivago had been published in many languages, it had never before been printed in its original Russian.
A lengthy debate began between the Press and two other publishers. Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, an Italian publisher, claimed to hold copyright as they had published an edition in 1957. In New York City, Pantheon Books, Inc. claimed to hold the rights to publications of the novel in English, having made previous arrangements with Feltrinelli. In February 1959, the Michigan Press entered into a licensing agreement with Feltrinelli and a similar agreement with Pantheon. Michigan was granted the right to distribute the novel in the United States, its territories and dependencies, in Canada, and in all other countries of the Western Hemisphere, the Philippine Islands, and Japan. Feltrinelli would publish in Europe, the Middle East, and all other countries not included in the agreement.
Subsequent to the Dr. Zhivago publication, the Michigan Press published a translation of Pasternak's poetry. Russian-born Eugene M. Kayden, then an economics professor at the University of the South, undertook the translation. A few years later, Boris Filippov and Gleb Struve edited a three volume set of Pasternak's Collected Works .
The collection was acquired by the Special Collections Library in June 1990.
