Stanton, Rebeca Jane2013-05-292013-05-292013Poznańskie Studia Slawistyczne, 2013, nr 4, s.165–176978-83-232-2525-62084-3011http://hdl.handle.net/10593/6336In Doctor Zhivago, Pasternak brings scientific and political discourses into dialogue with magical ones. In an emblematic episode, two soldiers from opposing sides each wear a protective amulet containing the „miraculous” text of the 90th Psalm. One dies; one survives. While this discrepancy is easily traced to scientific and socioeconomic causes, the episode is designed to foreground the least rational explanation: that done right, magic actually works. Embodying Pasternak’s interest in the interrelationships among science, politics, poetry, and magic, the textual amulet is especially significant because it represents a magical power that is reserved for words. This article finds that Pasternak’s novel contains numerous examples of such efficacious „magical” texts – from the Gospels to peasant songs, from political slogans to Zhivago’s poems – and argues that reading Doctor Zhivago by the light of these „magic words” yields insights into the aesthetics and design of the novel.enPasternakDoctor Zhivagomagicpoliticspoeticsfairy talesocialist realismArtykuł