Doctor Zhivago (lang-ru??????? ???????, Doktor Zhivago IPA-ru?dokt?r ???va??) is a 20th century novel by Boris Pasternak, first published in 1957 (1957 in literature). The novel is named after its protagonist, Yuri Zhivago, a medical doctor and poet. It tells the story of a man torn between two women, set primarily against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent Russian Civil War of 1918-1920. More broadly, the novel discusses the plight of a man as the life that he has always known is dramatically torn apart by forces beyond his control. The book was made into a film (Doctor Zhivago (film)) by David Lean in 1965 and has also been adapted numerous times for television, most recently as a mini-series for Russian TV in 2005.