A Russian poet, whose novel DOKTOR ZHIVAGO brought him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958. Though Pasternak was not a political writer, the award brought him brought him into the spotlight of international politics and he had to decline the honour. The novel was banned in the Soviet Union and Pasternak was expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers. After Doctor Zhivago had reached the West, it was soon translated into 18 languages. Pasternak was rehabilitated posthumously in 1987, which made possible the publication of his major work.