Here's The Deal With This Weird Russian Tweet From The CIA
The CIA tweeted a cryptic quote by Russian novelist Boris Pasternak, author of Doctor Zhivago.
Check it out below.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
? ????? ????? ??? ????, ????? ?? ??? ????? ? ???????? ? ??? ???????? ???????????? ???? ???????? -?????????
— CIA (@CIA) January 15, 2015</blockquote>
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The translation reads: "I wrote the novel in order for it to be published and read, and that remains only desire."
At first glance this looks like yet another twitter hack, but there's actually an incredible story behind this.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
Books & periodicals were smuggled in by travelers & mailed in under the cover of various organizations. #Zhivago
— CIA (@CIA) January 15, 2015</blockquote>
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The CIA was involved in smuggling books into countries, including the Soviet Union. One of these books was Doctor Zhivago.
After working on the <span>novel </span>on-and-off over the course of 20 plus years, Pasternak first submit the it for publication in 1956. However, the KGB rejected it and characterized it as "malicious libel."
<img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54b7fbfd69beddc24cb5bc33-322-494/screen-shot-2015-01-15-at-12.41.41-pm.png" border="0" alt="doctor zhivago">Pasternak so desperately wanted the book to get out, that he gave several copies to people including Isaiah Berlin to take to England, Jacqueline de Proyart to take to France, George Katkov to take to England, and a young Italian jouranlist to take to Italy.
The novel ended up spending 6 months on the top of the New York Times best-seller list, and was a huge sensation around the world.
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">In 1957 — less than a month after it appeared in Italy — a "CIA memo cited an expert's view that it was "more important than any other literature which has yet come out of the Soviet Bloc," reports the New York Times book review.</span>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><span>But it still wasn't available in the USSR.</span></span>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><span>So the CIA had a secret plan to get the novel into the country. After many obstacles, they managed to get the novels published en masse and sent them over to be distributed at the Brussels International World Fair. They also gave copies to sailors bound for the Soviet Union.</span></span>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><span>Long story short: it worked</span></span>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><span><span>A </span>cronym>CIA</acronym><span> memo concluded that "this phase can be considered completed successfully," according to the New York Times book review.</span></span></span><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><span><span>Pasternak won the Nobel Prize at the end of 1958 for his work, but was denounced by the head of the Komsomol as a "pig fouling its own sty." Pasternak was afraid of being deported, and rejected the prize.</span></span></span><p class="p1"><span class="s1">If you want to read the whole crazy story of the CIA's secret involvement, ]>.</span> <b>See Also:</b><ul><li>15 Unbelievable Facts About Russia</li><li>Russia Has A Strange New Law That Bans Transsexuals And Those With Sexual Fetishes From Driving</li><li>The Economist Who Coined The Term 'BRIC' Thinks Brazil And Russia Could Get Kicked Out Of The Club</li></ul></group><group id="BEE539CD-20D9-4A04-85B8-01EF05DD28D1" type="seoLabels"><seoLabels></seoLabels></