The Nobel Prize for Literature that was returned

2018 isn’t the only year that the Nobel Prize in Literature came with a side dose of drama.

To be specific, today is the sixtieth anniversary of Boris Pasternak’s win for Doctor Zhivago. The award brought Pasternak little joy and much grief, in the form of extreme pressure from the Soviet government.

Within a week, Pasternak would reject the award, a move that nevertheless earned him no credit in his country’s eyes.

The New York Times takes a look back at the drama, as told by its own contemporary reporting, here.