The Master and Margarita provided Bulgakov with a lifeline to the imagination in the midst of the stultifying culture of Stalinist Russia. Instead, Bulgakov develops an extended allegory where flight equals freedom, where greed and small-mindedness are punished, and where weary artists are afforded some mercy and peace. The action takes place in a compressed time frame, so readers looking for character development will be disappointed. In the novel, Bulgakov threads together three different storylines, which intertwine, especially at the novel’s conclusion: the often slapstick depiction of life in Stalinist Moscow, seen in part through the antics of the devil Woland and his demonic helpers the story of Pilate, with names and details transformed from the familiar Biblical versions and the story of the Master and Margarita. One approach to The Master and Margarita that appeals to me is understanding it, in part, as a fairy tale. In the end, The Master and Margarita is, by virtue of its own existence, a testament to the necessity of art in times of repression, and to the urgent need for artists to veer from cowardice and hold firmly to their commitment to living a true human life, with fantasy and reality combined, with history and invention feeding into each other, with good and evil providing the shadows and depth that make life meaningful and real. I believe that the novel’s profound humanity stems from these imperfections, these facets not quite fitting neatly together, these jarring movements from scene to scene. The Master and Margarita shows evidence of Bulgakov’s struggles to complete it, especially in part two, which illness prevented him from revising. This approach is at odds with the fear-ridden, desperate, and yet transcendent reality of Bulgakov’s experience in writing, revising, destroying, reconstructing, and then revising the novel, up to his death in Moscow on March 10, 1940. Others posited a religious formula to understand the relationships between good and evil in the novel.Īfter giving myself time to think, I believe that any attempts to reduce the novel to a formula reflect some readers’ desire for neat, safe boxes to contain the world. Some viewed the novel as a political roman à clef, laboriously substituting historical figures from Stalinist Moscow for Bulgakov’s characters. In the decades following the publication of The Master and Margarita, myriad critics have attempted to find a key to unlock the meaning of Bulgakov’s unfinished masterwork. Also note that you are sure to find the widest selection of odd and creepy characters in this book. Other interesting stories set in Russia are The Union Moujik, Taras Bulba, Putin’s Russia, Life and Death of Lenin, War and Peace. I have recommended this book to many friends and family and recommend it to any reader interested in the enigma that is Russia, especially Stalinist Russia. There are so many layers and so many little details that one wonders how the author managed to put them together.īulgakov is the Soviet version of Imperial Russia's Dostoevsky, but unlike Dostoyevsky who had a mastery of the mind/soul Bulgakov mastery is in the literature of oppression. One is constantly left anticipating what the next page holds. Like animal farm, the greater meaning of the book is revealed through the intelligent though bizarre, compelling and humorous story. The curious thing about this book is that the purges are depicted not to have been carried out Stalin's men, but rather by Satan himself, and in the manner of Baron Munchaussen, we get to know of a huge talking cat. "Master and Margarita" is about purges Stalin ordered in the Soviet Union. It is an absolute masterpiece, a classic accepted in Russia and the rest of the world. Nevertheless, this is the best book written by Mikhail Bulgakov. Not only that, I developed an interest in the author's other works. My friend recommended this book to me, and what actually made me to buy it was because he considered it his favorite book of all time.
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