Doctor Zhivago: Strelnikov's/Antipov's suicide
rjs19 at COLUMBIA.EDU
rjs19 at COLUMBIA.EDU
Thu Apr 17 16:15:46 UTC 2014
Dear colleagues,
when teaching DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (and struggling valiantly to pack the
whole novel into four class sessions), I've always taken the suicide
of Strelnikov aka Pasha Antipov at face value. But a sharp-eyed
student has just drawn my attention to the following details (page
numbers refer to the Hayward/Harari translation, American editions):
"It was Yuri [Zhivago] who decided it was suicide after observing
that he was lying in the snow several steps from his house with blood
streaming from his temple. Of course, it was reasonable for him to
conclude he had been shot. But Yuri apparently was not awoken from
his deep sleep by the shot. All he recalled was the sound of breaking
glass when he was waking up (p 463-4).
"Yuri never mentioned that any weapon was found at the scene.
Antipov arrived with a rifle, but, I would say, that it would only be
with great difficulty for one to shoot oneself in the temple with a
rifle.
"Curiously, Komarovsky, when departing with Lara, mentioned he had
a gun and he certainly had unsavory colleagues in his pay. Obviously,
Antipov alive threatened him from fulfilling his obsession with Lara.
"Finally, I am pleased that at least one person questioned whether
Antipov killed himself: Lara (p 497)."
Has anyone on the list written, or encountered, a scholarly treatment
of this question? If so, I'd be very grateful to be directed to it!
Many thanks,
Rebecca Stanton
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