The Master and Margarita | Mikhail Bulgakov | Allow me to introduce myself, I am a man of wealth...

The Master and Margarita | Mikhail Bulgakov | What? No Reviews yet?

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The Master and Mar...

	The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov Vintage, 1996 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 341 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Allow me to introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and taste

This is one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. A grandson of Faust and an ancestor to the Tin Drum, the 100 Years of Solitude, the Midnight's Children, the Wind-up Bird Chronicle... And surely Mick Jagger must have read it before Beggars' Banquet!
Bulgakov and Nabokov (in his pre-English period) make me regret that I never learned Russian. (Maybe it is not too late, could I do it after retirement?)
Written and set in Moscow during the Stalin time, but published only in the 60s, posthumously, it ought to have far more attention than it gets. In Germany, it has just been re-published in a series by Der Spiegel, including bestsellers from the last 40 years. It was a bestseller when it came out, and ought to stay in print. It is not an ephemeral phenomenon.
With sympathy for the devil, we watch mayhem spreading in a dictatorial setting which has no place for non-doctrinarial goings-on. They need the devil to tell them that Jesus existed.
The devil shows up as a professor for black magic. He uses the name Voland, one of his names in Goethe's Faust. He dislocates Moscow's social life endlessly. The resulting extravaganzas are masterfully subversive and anarchic. On a second level, a Jesus story is told, a kind of Voland Gospel. Bulgakov introduces himself as the 'master', residing in a lunatic asylum, very appropriately, the author of the gospel. A highly entertaining masterpiece.
My friend Giordano Bruno may be interested, from a musician's point of view, that two supporting characters are called Berlioz and Strawinski. And Johann Strauss gives a cameo appearance. I have not yet figured out what that means.

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What? No Reviews yet?

Hows that possible??? This is one of the best books not only in Eastern European literature but period, at least to me! This is also a fantastic translation which I enjoyed much more than the previous one.

Dazzling nightmare of a book...

The Master and Margarita is a novel in which the Devil, a man called Woland, appears in Moscow with his familiars, an monstrous cat and a naked girl. All hell breaks loose, literally, Inexplicably,in the midst of the madness Woland takes under his wing the Master and Margarita, a writer in an asylum and the woman he loves. Mikhail Bulgakov wrote this under Stalinist oppression between 1928 and 1938. It was not published until 30 years after his death. The symbolism is clear when one learns that Stalin for some reason protected Bulgakov at a time when writers were being persecuted. Chaotic, garish, and violent, 'The Master and Margarita' is a dazzling nightmare.

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Terrific

Fantastic, wickedly funny satire of Russian life in the Soviet Union. I picked this up on impulse and really, really enjoyed it. It's challenging and entertaining and very rewarding. A great read.

M&Ms Soviet Style

I bought this book here after getting two independent recommendations and seeing it mentioned in another book about Russia. As mentioned by others, the satirical humor about fatalism and the all out battle for class being fought on a square foot by square foot basis in the "classless" society of the Soviet Union is priceless, even to someone who has no first hand knowledge of the society. The foibles of bureaucracy is a universal theme.

The second half of book was a wild ride for sure. The Devil and his retinue's exploits in Moscow finally involve "The Master", a failed author whose life's work is a non-religious account of Pontius Pilate and the last days of Yeshua (Jesus). Margarita is The Master's mistress, who sells her soul to the devil for her beloved. Bulgakov explores the nature of good and evil, of religion and history, and of freedom and totalitarianism, all in a world where the illusion of reality can be fractured in an instant. A good background in literature and religious history will help the reader, but the story can also be appreciated for its humorous and satirical aspects. Not for everyone, but certainly of interest to avid readers of all ilks.

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