The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (EPUB)

Description

I first read Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita on a balcony of the Hotel Metropole in Saigon on three summer evenings in 1971. The tropical air was heavy and full of the smells of cordite and motorcycle exhaust and rotting fish and wood-fire stoves, and the horizon flared ambiguously, perhaps from heat lightning, perhaps from bombs. Later each night, as was my custom, I would wander out into the steamy back alleys of the city, where no one ever seemed to sleep, and crouch in doorways with the people and listen to the stories of their culture and their ancestors and their ongoing lives. Bulgakov taught me to hear something in those stories that I had not yet clearly heard. One could call it, in terms that would soon thereafter gain wide currency, “magical realism”. The deadpan mix of the fantastic and the realistic was at the heart of the Vietnamese mythos. It is at the heart of the present zeitgeist. And it was not invented by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as wonderful as his One Hundred Years of Solitude is. Garcia Marquez’s landmark work of magical realism was predated by nearly three decades by Bulgakov’s brilliant masterpiece of a novel. That summer in Saigon a vodka-swilling, talking black cat, a coven of beautiful naked witches, Pontius Pilate, and a whole cast of benighted writers of Stalinist Moscow and Satan himself all took up permanent residence in my creative unconscious. Their presence, perhaps more than anything else from the realm of literature, has helped shape the work I am most proud of. I’m often asked for a list of favorite authors. Here is my advice. Read Bulgakov. Look around you at the new century. He will show you things you need to see.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Such a fantastic imagination! You don’t expect tenderness, forgiveness, and peace in a story about the devil, but there it is. The worlds are complicated places.

⭐It’s hard to know where to begin when talking about this book. It is an absolute masterpiece. In my opinion, the conversation that surrounds this book centers too much on the political controversy surrounding Bulgakov’s works in his lifetime, which are frankly irrelevant. That the book was censored by the Soviet Union until well after Bulgakov’s death is irrelevant- the book is not some takedown of communism or of the Russian government or anything like that, and in fact, as an American reading it for the first time nearly 100 years after it was written, the book feels just as applicable to this current society as the one Bulgakov was writing within, as the book is more a criticism of our refusal to look at the world in magical ways in the modern world and how we kind of think we know everything.The book is about the Devil appearing in Soviet Moscow and the chaos that ensues following his arrival. Much of the chaos that the Devil (Woland) causes is as a result of his not being recognized by the secular society he appears in. The controversy at the time would have been the assumption on the part of the story that these Christian figures are real (as well as satirization of pretty much every type of official) but to a Christian, the book would also be blasphemous, as the depiction of Christ (Yeshua) is the least mystical aspect of the book, Christ himself is a beggar whom people seem to appreciate for his charisma. Yeshua even denounces the writers of the Gospels, saying their depiction of him completely misinterprets his teachings. On top of this, you find yourself really rooting for Woland as he rampages around Moscow, turning our modern society on its head. Woland isn’t a bad guy- the spirituality of this book is very holistic, with Woland and Yeshua seeming to teach the same lesson but from opposite viewpoints- Yeshua offers forgiveness and redemption for those who side with him, whereas Woland punishes those who refuse to recognize him for what he is. Woland is the necessary foil to Yeshua, something which he himself points out in a late chapter.This edition of the book is also my favorite translation. Ginsberg captures the kinetic energy of the story like no one else, and while I can fly through this edition (I read it 10 times in a single year when I first read it, it’s really that good) other translations are a lot harder to get through. Though later translations may be “more complete” this is somewhat irrelevant, as Bulgakov died before completing the work. This version is much more streamlined than any other translation I’ve read. Nothing is missing from the story, and in fact, other translations I’ve read which include entire chapters which are not in this edition seem to drag a lot and you just spend more unnecessary time with irrelevant characters that don’t necessarily add anything to the story. This is absolutely the definitive English edition of the story, a must read for anyone into spirituality, absurdist fiction, or just an entertaining read. 10/10

⭐Today’s read: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Satirical magical realism translated from Russian.Interweaving Faust w/ a tale of Pontius Pilate & the lunatic stylings of a demonic vaudeville circus act, Bulgakov presents absurdist satire of life in 1930s communist USSR. Completed in 1940, Soviet censorship kept it from publication, but it finally saw print in Paris in 1967 where it is rumored to have inspired The Rolling Stones song, “Sympathy for the Devil.”On one hand the story follows Satan’s visit to Moscow w/ his retinue of a giant black cat, a wall-eyed demon, a naked witch, & an assistant sporting broken pince-nez. Their antics result in bloody, but laughably ridiculous deaths, or trips directly to the mad house, to greedy society ladies left standing naked in the streets or people being disappeared. Its frivolity produces a surreally satirical view of life in the USSR, so bleak & full of oppression, one can find hope for laughter only in black magic.On the other hand, is the love story of a writer (the Master) & his mistress (Margarita). The writer was sent to the mad house after his novel about Pontius Pilate was rejected. To gain his release, his mistress, agrees to be the Queen of the Devil’s Sping Ball. The ball itself is fashioned after a real soiree given by the American Ambassador to the USSR in the 1930s–a real but equally absurd, extravagance in the face of the people’s poverty.Interspersed is the narrative of the tragic Pontius Pilate whose washing of hands leaves him forever regretful of his cowardice. In contrast w/ the racousness of the rest, his chapters are quiet, serious, &, while just as dark, also full of hope. His last scene brings tears.Unlike much absurdist literature, & certainly Russian literature, this novel ends w/ hope & redemption. I can’t promise all is light, but the smiles are no longer jeers, no longer tinged w/ horror.Bulgakov, I think, would see today much like his own time. Corruption, greed, & power-grubbing leading to indescriminate destruction. Still, he offers hope, showing even in moments of darkness, selfless choices can be made, & it’s through those acts of bravery that redemption is offered.

⭐Was happy to read with my English-language partner, very good translation of a great book

⭐Exactly as described

⭐I was attracted to this book after learning it was Mick Jagger’s inspiration for the song “Sympathy for the Devil.” Upon reading it, I learned two things of importance, one being that the Stones’ song was only very loosely based on the actual story and text, and was more of a springboard from which Jagger synthesized his ideas. The book, on the other hand, is a wild romp through Stalinesque Moscow, with the devil and his crew as hell raisers, but with a second theme being the crucifixion of Christ and Pontius Pilot’s role in the event, among others. It’s how the author connects these two plot lines that’s incredibly interesting. Having read much Kurt Vonnegut in my youth, I wondered if Vonnegut acquired some of this skill and inspiration for connecting disparate elements from Mikhail Bulgakov. It’s a great read and has inspired me to ingest more Russian literature from the period.

⭐Bulgakov started this novel at about the same time that Stalinism began to weigh heavier and heavier on the Soviet Union. Like a dark cloud slowly but surely filling the sky, the paranoia, hypocrisy and fear engendered by Stalinism is reflected in “The Master and Margarita”.Bulgakov takes direct aim at the selfishness and the suffocating bureaucracy that was growing ever more intolerable in Stalinist Russia. The selfish, hypocritical writers living the good life at “MASSOLIT”, the neighbour who would turn you in to the authorities just to get your apartment, the paranoia about foreigners, it’s all there. But so is the humour, the sly wink and the three ring circus.Bulgakov wrote with wit, a very sardonic wit, about what he saw happening around him. “The Master and Margarita” has it all: wit, slapstick humour, philosophy, a hatred of authority, a disliking of modernity and a yearning for redemption; it’s like Monty Python meets Dostoevsky.I haven’t read any of the other translations but I found Mirra Ginsburg’s version to be very readable, she seems to have retained that sense of humourous fatalism that Russians always carry with them.

⭐This is the second time I tried to read Master & Margarita, and I’m so glad I picked up this translation of it. It’s an incredible story and I devoured it. I even became a little obsessed with it. I don’t read as much as I used to but this book reminded me of how great a story can be. Also, for this particular book, the cover art is stunning.

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