Boris Pasternak

'Christopher Barnes's Literary Biography, of which this solid work is the first of two volumes, will certainly become the standard and indispensable guide for students not only of the poet but of his age and literary milieu.' John Bayley, London Review of Books 'Barnes's book is admirably full and scholarly; it is also self-effacing; he does not offer judgements, but seeks to understand and situate the young Pasternak in his time, against a background of European symbolism, futurism and revolution.' Scotsman '... an impressively thorough and sensitive account of Pasternak's life in the period up to 1928, with a well judged balance between the private and the public ... In all, this volume conveys a sharp and consistent intuition of a complex poetic personality.' Slavonic and East European Review 'Christopher Barnes's book ... rests on a mountain of scholarly research: when completed, it is likely to become the definitive reference work to Pasternak's life.' The Sunday Times