Boris Pasternak Pins and Buttons
Description: Poet and writer Boris Pasternak wanted to write about ordinary things, but "ordinary things" were rough and would hit back maliciously. Somehow, Pasternak survived it all. He became famous internationally with his novel Doctor Zhivago. In 1958, Boris Pasternak won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Description: Russian writer and poet Varlam Shalamov spent the best years of his life imprisoned. At first, he spent two years in gulag and after serving it he became a published writer and journalist. Then he was arrested again and survived seventeen years of extreme labour camp. When he came back, his health was ruined, his family life destroyed. Kolyma Tales, collection of short stories about a labour camp, is considered a masterpiece. It is written in dry, almost numb documentary style. Shalamov also published books of poetry like Flint, Journey and Destiny, and Moscow Cloud.
