"A literary creation can appeal to us in all sorts of ways-by its theme, subject, situations, characters. But above all it appeals to us by the presence in it of art. It is the presence of art in Crime and Punishment that moves us deeply rather than the story of Raskolnikov's crime."

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Source: Fictional character: Zhivago. Doctor Zhivago, www.imdb.com. 1965.

About the author

Boris Pasternak

Poet, Novelist

Boris Pasternak was a Russian poet and novelist, best known for his novel Doctor Zhivago, which explores themes of love and freedom against a backdrop of revolution.

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"The writer is the Faust of modern society, the only surviving individualist in a mass age. To his orthodox contemporaries he seems a semi-madman."

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