Historical Fiction
Doctor Zhivago follows several different characters and gives us a lot of insight into each of their lives. But at its heart, the novel is about… well… Doctor Zhivago and his struggle to live as an individual during and after the Russian Revolution. Throughout his journey, Zhivago must survive the historically true events of World War I and the Russian Civil War (the war that broke out between Whites and Reds immediately after the Revolution).
Along the way, he even fights against certain characters who were actually real historical people, like the "Supreme Ruler" Alexander Kolchak. That's a strategy that Tolstoy used about a century earlier in War and Peace, which was about the Napoleonic campaigns in Russia. That book, too, is a mixture of fiction and historical fact: fictional characters battle alongside real historical figures like Napoleon and General Kutuzov. That's how the Russians like to roll with their historical fiction.
Pasternak constantly weaves together fictional events with actual Russian history. So while you read through this book, you might want to Google half of the stuff that gets referenced just to see if it's real or made up. Or maybe you might want to check out our handy "Historical References" section in this module to save some time.