Zhivago and Meursault

The article presents a comparative study of novels Doctor Zhivago by B. Pasternak and The Stranger by A. Camus. The focus is on the images of main characters, each of which expresses the author’s important idea. We understand this idea as an attempt to resolve the conflict between the world and man. Camus’s and Pasternak’s characters are largely alien to the society to which they belong; they feel alienated from dramatic events and try to express “their own truth”. The paper analyzes links between the images on the different levels of narration, but insufficiency of interpreting Yuri Zhivago as another “stranger” typologically close to Camus’s character is also pointed out. There is a conflict not only between two characters’ points of view, but between two authors’ worldview paradigms on the aesthetic level. B. Pasternak’s position who believes in the artist-creator’s power with his aspiration to unity with life, deep belief in God and “active love” confronts A. Camus’s existential approach that logically and convincingly argued futility of forces and absurdity of human existence. It is especially pronounced in the finals of both novels.