In this blog post, I will explore why Pasternak’s “Safe-Conduct Pass” served as a certificate justifying the meaning of his art and existence, by examining the background of its creation and the historical context.

The Place and Significance of Two Autobiographical Works

Boris Pasternak (1890–1960), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, left behind two autobiographical works during his lifetime: ‘Okhrannaia gramota’ (1930) and ‘Ludi i polozheniia’ (1956–1957). What is particularly interesting is that he regarded his first autobiographical work as the most important expression of his ideas on art and culture, and described his novel ‘Doctor Zhivago’ (1945–1955) as another “safe passage” world shaped in the form of a novel.
“Safe Passage” was a kind of final autobiographical work that the author wrote to synthesize and organize his life and art as he contemplated giving up writing. Throughout Pasternak’s entire life, there were two works intended to synthesize his unique artistic world: while “Safe Passage” served as a summary of the early period in which his literary career took shape, the latter was an attempt to build upon that foundation and encompass his entire life, including the years that followed.
However, because ‘Doctor Zhivago’ takes the form of a fictional novel, the author felt the need to later reorganize the ideas and experiences he had not fully articulated in his first autobiographical work. As a result, he wrote his second autobiographical work, ‘People and Circumstances’, toward the end of his life, and he himself stated that this work originated from the intention to supplement the first.
This second autobiographical work goes beyond mere supplementation to embody significant changes. It reveals a perspective that had matured by the 1930s, and, looking back at certain subjects from his first work through the lens of his later years, he expresses different viewpoints. It is also noteworthy that this text was written for the preface to his final poetry collection immediately after completing ‘Doctor Zhivago’.
These two autobiographical works have long been translated throughout the world, including Europe. While secondary translations based on English and German versions have been produced in Korea, translations directly from the Russian original have been rare. Readers encountering this translation based on the original text will be able to experience not only Pasternak’s artistic journey but also the history and culture of Russia and the Soviet era, which are woven into his life spanning more than seventy years.

Creative Background: Artistic Foundations and Personal Turning Points

The fundamental reason these two autobiographical works are highly regarded is that they were published at a time when Pasternak’s creative principles and artistic worldview were already firmly established. He entered the literary scene relatively late, publishing his first collection of poetry in 1913, around the time of his university graduation, and finally solidifying his position as a writer in 1922 with his third collection, ‘Life Is My Sister’. While his first two poetry collections sought their direction under the influence of contemporary movements such as Symbolism and Futurism, it was in his third collection that his unique worldview and aesthetic principles were established.
As scholars have noted, this third collection contains the principles of life and aesthetics that would form the foundation of all his subsequent creative work. His 1918 prose piece “Ryubers’ Childhood” and his fourth poetry collection, ‘Theme and Variations’ (1923), also carry forward this aesthetic creed. Furthermore, the various historical epic poems written from the mid-1920s onward in response to the demands of the times—such as “1905,” “Lieutenant Simit,” “Spektorsky,” and the complementary prose piece “The Story”—were ultimately works that followed the aesthetic trajectory of his third poetry collection.
In short, the fundamental creative principles based on the philosophy of nature and the philosophy of history were formed in his works from the 1910s to the 1920s, and these consistent principles constituted the internal unity that permeated his entire body of work. “Safe Passage” is the very work in which these core elements are most intensely concentrated.
Paradoxically, the period during which “Safe Passage” was written was also the most painful time of Pasternak’s life. From the late 1920s to the early 1930s, he experienced extreme mental exhaustion and a premonition of the end. As political pressure intensified following Stalin’s First Five-Year Plan (1928–1932), the literary world was forced to produce works aligned with Party ideology, and organizations such as the Union of Proletarian Writers (RAPP) took the lead in driving this atmosphere.
The surrounding environment—marked by slander against his colleagues and the waste of his talent on futile tasks demanded by the times—wounded him deeply, and the critics’ hypocritical attitude of exaggerated praise only compounded his suffering. Despite these external pressures, he continued to write; letters from that period reveal that this was driven less by his timid nature and more by the practical necessity of providing for his family as its head.
In 1929, he was preparing to publish his epic poem ‘Spektorsky’, but when the state-run publishing house Rengis harshly criticized the work and demanded ideological revisions, he could no longer tolerate it. As hypocrisy and pressure crossed the line, he resolved to escape the situation entirely and write “Safe Conduct”—a piece intended to defend his art and respond to the criticism—as his final work, after which he would abandon literature.
The title “Safe Conduct” originally refers to a document granting temporary permission to pass through restricted areas. Just as a certificate grants a journalist access to a war zone or the authority to enter and exit a specific location, in the context of Soviet society at the time—where mistrust and threats to one’s status were intensifying—the term took on a metaphorical meaning as a certificate that would guarantee his status as an artist.
In addition to political and social pressures, there were personal events that triggered this work. These included the deaths of two poets—Rilke and Mayakovsky—and his love for Zinaida (the wife of Heinrich Neuhaus), who would later become his second wife. The initial concept for “Safe-Conduct” took root in 1927, when a premonition of the end first emerged.
He had intended to write a short essay in memory of Rilke, who had died in 1926, but changed his plans; after translating Rilke’s elegiac poems, he ultimately decided to write “Safe Passage,” an autobiographical prose piece dedicated to Rilke. Thus, this work took on the dual nature of both a tribute to Rilke and a defense of himself amid political pressure.
Meanwhile, around 1929, while writing “Safe Passage,” he hurriedly completed works he had been planning for a long time (“The Story” in 1929 and “Spectorsky” in the summer of 1930). As he was simultaneously revising his early poems while republishing them, the excessive workload led him to fall ill.
In April 1930, Mayakovsky’s suicide came as a great shock to him, further intensifying his sense of impending doom, and he added another chapter in memory of Mayakovsky’s death. That year was, in a sense, the year in which Pasternak experienced a spiritual “death.”
That summer, he experienced a moment of rebirth. As the political situation grew unstable due to Stalin’s collectivization—which led to the confiscation of private property and food shortages—he left Moscow and spent the summer in Irpen, near Kyiv, with the families of acquaintances. There, he met new friends, including Zinaida, fell in love, and felt as if he had been reborn.
A few months later, when he finalized the draft of “Safe Passage,” the work took on the role of a literary eulogy for Rilke and Mayakovsky, while simultaneously serving as his own literary epitaph—a final reckoning that brought his previous life and creative work to a close and marked his move toward a second life.

The Late Creative Period and the Era of Silence

After winning Zinaida’s love, the author entered a new phase of creative growth and wrote prolifically; the result was the poetry collection ‘Second Birth’ (1932). However, as the onslaught of Stalin’s dictatorship—which had reached its peak in the 1930s—escalated in 1936 through smear campaigns by the state-controlled media, he ceased his official literary activities and moved to the suburb of Peredelkino. This marked the beginning of a long period of silence, during which the publication of his works came to a halt.
After a long hiatus, the author regained his creative fervor during World War II, a time when political pressure had eased somewhat and all of Russia felt a sense of unity. Amid the heightened atmosphere and expectations for the future born of victory, he began writing ‘Doctor Zhivago’, the epic prose work he had been planning his entire life. If his first comprehensive work, ‘Safe Passage’, contained a series of reflections on spiritual death, his second comprehensive work, ‘Doctor Zhivago’, unfolds its ideas through the joy of life, spiritual rebirth, and a sense of immortality beyond physical death.
After finishing the novel, he prepared a collection of the poems he had written over the years and, in May and June 1956, completed a preface—titled “In Lieu of a Preface”—intended to serve as the final record of his life. However, due to circumstances at the publishing house, the preface could not be published immediately. Ultimately, it was decided to revise the “Epilogue” section, give it the new title “People and Circumstances,” and publish it as a standalone autobiographical essay in the magazine ‘Novy Mir’ in November 1957; however, it was not actually published until 1967, after his death.

Characters and Autobiographical Narrative

Pasternak’s two autobiographical works possess a unique character distinct from other autobiographical writings. Formally, they take the form of autobiographies in which a life story is told, but what is essentially revealed is his theory of art; even when describing his life, the focus is on the people around him rather than on the author himself. This tendency toward a biographical narrative centered on others is more strongly evident in the second work than in the first.
The first work is divided into three parts. Part I (early 1900s to the spring of 1912) covers his childhood and adolescence, with episodes of his encounters with Rilke and Scriabin serving as the central theme. This section, which recounts his life up to his departure for Marburg for university, serves as the first half of his journey toward literature. Although the works of Rilke and the Symbolist poets, which he encountered during his adolescence, left a strong impression, it was Scriabin’s music that exerted an even more powerful influence on him earlier. He left for Marburg to transfer to the philosophy department at Scriabin’s recommendation, but after their conversation ended, he actually turned away from music and embarked on the path of philosophy.
Part 2 (Spring–Summer 1912) centers on his attendance at Cohen’s seminar in Marburg and Berlin, his encounter with his first love, Vysotskaya, and his trip to Venice and his introduction to painting. The temporal scope is limited to a few months because the narrative focuses on the circumstances surrounding his entry into the world of literature. As Cohen’s seminars and the heartbreak of his first love intertwine, the author resolves to part ways with philosophy and chooses the path of literature. Upon returning to Marburg, he immerses himself in writing poetry, transforming Marburg from a city of philosophy into the birthplace of a poet. His subsequent trip to Italy and his reflections on Venetian painting reveal deep contemplation of culture and art.
Part 3 (early 1910s–April 1930) is titled “The Chapter on Mayakovsky,” in which the author recounts Mayakovsky’s Futurist activities and death from an observer’s perspective. His first encounter with Mayakovsky was a dramatic moment when the author himself nearly abandoned literature; unlike his reactions upon meeting Scriabin or Cohen, this response stemmed from genuine adoration and love for someone who possessed qualities he himself lacked. Part 3 is a chapter dedicated to a figure he revered as sacred, containing meticulous observations and insights into that figure’s creative world, personality, and each stage of his creative process.
However, the relationship between these two men—who had different inclinations and goals—was doomed to fail from the start. The author views the cause of the breakdown as Mayakovsky’s drift away from his early innovative spirit and his gradual squandering of his talent on propaganda activities for the regime. This shift in direction led to a tragic fate for Mayakovsky, ultimately driving him to suicide under pressure from the regime and those around him. The author sees in Mayakovsky’s life and death the culmination of the tragic fate of artists sacrificed to their era, and through his figure, presents the fate of all artists of that time. The issue of the fate of such artists is addressed in greater detail in ‘People and Circumstances’ through the examples of various poets.

Chapter Structure of “People and Circumstances”

As the title suggests, “People and Circumstances” is also an autobiographical work centered on the stories of people around him. While the first work focused on a few individuals who directly influenced his path to literature, this work expands the narrative focus to include a diverse range of artists, including those mentioned earlier. There is also a distinct difference in form: whereas the first work featured a somewhat disjointed chronological progression, this work is narrated according to a chronological flow (from infancy through childhood and adolescence, to the “second birth” period of the 1930s, and the writing period of the 1950s), taking on a more “authentic” autobiographical form.
The first chapter, “Childhood,” complements the previous work by describing the author’s birth and early childhood in the 1890s. It introduces his life in the dormitory of the art school and his interest in painting, which predated his interest in music. The second chapter, “Scriabin,” details Scriabin’s philosophy and musical world, illustrating how his influence took effect.
The third chapter, “The 1900s,” explores the essence of the artistic worlds of figures who shared creative affinities with the author, such as Blok, Rilke, and Tolstoy. This chapter includes specific quotations from Blok and Rilke, as well as anecdotes about his encounters with Blok and Tolstoy; it also provides an overview of the artistic trends of the time and presents the contents of the related research paper, “Symbolism and Immortality.”
Chapter Four, “On the Eve of World War I,” covers his literary activities centered on Futurism and his relationships with fellow writers. It is interesting to note that, unlike in the first volume, the amount of space devoted to Mayakovsky and the tone of the discussion have been scaled back, resulting in a somewhat different approach. Instead, special emphasis is placed on the Symbolist writers and their influence, as well as the process by which the author’s first poetry collection—which was influenced by Symbolism—was created.
The final chapter, “Three Shadows,” deals with the deaths of three poets who perished during the period spanning the late 1930s—from Stalin’s Great Purge through World War II. This includes the deaths of Tsvetaeva and two Georgian poets, Yashvili and Tabidze. The author details the exchange of letters with Tsvetaeva, their meeting in Paris, and the events leading up to her return to Russia and tragic suicide.

The Georgian Poets and the Meaning of the “Epilogue”

In particular, the story of her friendship with the Georgian poets—forged during her trip to Georgia in the early 1930s—is a new section not found in her first autobiographical work, and it is a part the author added with the greatest significance. These two Georgian poets, who appear after Zinaida, became key figures in ‘Second Birth’, and through them, the author came to view Georgia as synonymous with the worlds of Scriabin and Rilke, Marburg and Venice. Essentially, this was yet another world that opened up a new creative horizon, building upon the characters and worlds presented in ‘Safe Passage’.
Furthermore, the deaths of these two poets serve as yet another symbol of artists sacrificed to their era, following Mayakovsky. However, unlike in Mayakovsky’s case, the issue of government oppression is not directly revealed in their fates but is merely implied indirectly. This point is confirmed in the revised “Epilogue” as well; in the 1957 revision, the author explains that the theme of the Russian Revolution was not fully addressed in this work because, while the subject required a striking and intense portrayal, Russia at the time was not in a position to accept such a depiction.

Genre Characteristics and the Uniqueness of Tense

His insistence on narrating the story through the perspectives of secondary characters is not merely a matter of personal preference but serves to endow the work with unique genre attributes. “Safe Passage” is not merely an autobiographical narrative but also a literary manifesto, a form of self-confession, and, furthermore, a text that spans multiple genres. One critic described it as “interstitial literature” that straddles various genres.
This genre-specific nature leads to a unique use of tense. In these two autobiographical works, the present and future tenses appear alongside the past tense, which is typically used in conventional autobiographies. This mixing of tenses arises because the author experienced past events as vividly as if they were happening in the present, and at times recounted his past thoughts as if they were current ones. Discrepancies in tense between paragraphs are also evident in the translation, which faithfully reflects the author’s intent.

Genre and Realism as the “Content of Artistic Form”

This specific genre form can be seen as stemming from the author’s pursuit of what is known as the “content of artistic form”—an effort to embody his creative worldview within an artistic system. Underlying this is the poetics of realism, and the author aims to realize this realism.
For the author, realism is a worldview. It is established in opposition to the Romantic worldview and aesthetics, and it aims for an artistic form based on the artist’s actual biography rather than a fantastical world. In short, the core of realism is the will to reproduce concrete phenomena of life within art.
Various practices can be proposed as ways to realize realism. These include faithfully rendering the detailed elements of life, creating works that resemble the appearance of nature, deeply engraving biographical facts without self-centeredness, and treating the artist or narrator as a tool for understanding life. All of these methods are practical principles that ensure art remains closely connected to reality.
In particular, in “Safe Passage,” the poetics of realism uses biographical life as material to fully present the interrelationship between life and art. This interrelationship is revealed from multiple angles through three narrative strands: “Literary Biography,” “Travelogue of Venice,” and “Critique of Mayakovsky.”

The Realization of Realism and the Evolution of Autobiographical Narrative Through Three Narrative Strands

First, in the “Literary Biography” section, the author reveals that his path toward literature stemmed from an early interest in the lives of those around him. This interest in the surrounding world is also central to Rilke’s poetry, and the author emphasizes that his own early life and sensibilities were likewise shaped by this external world.
However, several decisive breakaways were necessary before this interest could be concretely expressed in literature. These included a break from Scriabin’s self-centered musical world, a break from Cohen’s Kantian philosophical world, and a heartbreak that awakened him from his dreamlike love. These three breakaways compelled the author to face concrete reality head-on and served as catalysts for his journey into literature.
The Renaissance paintings he encountered during his trip to Venice are presented as models of realist art. Venetian painting emerged through a close interaction between the subject of reality and the painter, amidst the demands of the era and national pressures. In the Venetian painters, the author sees the figure of a genius artist who, when attempting to depict the truth of life but hindered by the times, rebels with moral sensibility in accordance with the truth of art.
In this regard, the author suggests a parallel between Venetian painting and Soviet art of the 1920s. Furthermore, there is an apparent attempt to present the unified essence of global culture through the entirety of Italian culture and art. In other words, the Venetian pictorial tradition holds modern significance not merely as a regional art history, but as an artistic tradition that depicts life.
In critiques of Mayakovsky, he is presented—alongside Pasternak—as a poet who reflects the turbulent modernity of the early 20th century. Both poets pursued a new art that mirrored life, and because they possessed authenticity and self-sacrificing passion drawn from their actual biographical experiences, they were celebrated as “genius-rebels” akin to the Venetian painters.
However, as Mayakovsky gradually succumbed to a romantic and vulgar heroism that treated his own life as a “measure” and placed himself at the center of the world, the author broke with him. It can be argued that the author’s anti-romantic approach—that is, his realist poetics—was formed during this process of breaking away. His poetry collection ‘Life Is My Sister’ is the first work in which this approach is fully realized, clearly revealing that “life” is Pasternak’s central theme and subject of depiction.
In this narrative approach—which reflects on the self through the lens of Mayakovsky’s life and literary criticism—we confirm that both the author and his protagonist serve as mediators in the representation of life and nature. The author’s image is revealed through the concrete phenomena of life, and the first autobiographical work itself—which presents the self through the surrounding world and fellow artists—is, in essence, an embodiment of realist poetics.
If the first autobiographical work was characterized by an attempt to justify his art and the meaning of his existence, the second was written with a more chronological and narrative intent. As the subtitle suggests, this work combines elements of an autobiography and an essay, yet it retains the realist characteristic of revealing the self through the surrounding world. However, in this work, the central narrative focuses more heavily on the people around him.
In particular, the second autobiographical work highlights a newfound maturity of perspective that reflects the author’s later years. While presenting experiences accumulated toward the end of his life, the author’s creative principles continue to recur. Through this, we can gain a clear overview of how the author developed his evolving perspective on artists and their art from the 1930s through the late 1950s.