The Master and Margarita
Ratings282
Average rating4.1
The first complete, annotated English Translation of Mikhail Bulgakov's comic masterpiece.
An audacious revision of the stories of Faust and Pontius Pilate, The Master and Margarita is recognized as one of the essential classics of modern Russian literature. The novel's vision of Soviet life in the 1930s is so ferociously accurate that it could not be published during its author's lifetime and appeared only in a censored edition in the 1960s. Its truths are so enduring that its language has become part of the common Russian speech.
One hot spring, the devil arrives in Moscow, accompanied by a retinue that includes a beautiful naked witch and an immense talking black cat with a fondness for chess and vodka. The visitors quickly wreak havoc in a city that refuses to believe in either God or Satan. But they also bring peace to two unhappy Muscovites: one is the Master, a writer pilloried for daring to write a novel about Christ and Pontius Pilate; the other is Margarita, who loves the Master so deeply that she is willing literally to go to hell for him. What ensues is a novel of in exhaustible energy, humor, and philosophical depth, a work whose nuances emerge for the first time in Diana Burgin's and Katherine Tiernan O'Connor's splendid English version.
(back cover)
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One sentence synopsis... Completely bonkers political satire that weaves together two tales - in one the Devil and his entourage visit Soviet Moscow and in the other Pontius Pilate is tormented by his choice to sentence Jesus to death. .
Read it if you like... ‘Faust', Gabriel Gracía Márquez, The Rolling Stones song ‘Sympathy for the Devil' (Jagger referenced the book as an inspiration for the song in 1968). This is not your typical Russian novel with painful chapters of peasants doing farm work (looking at you Tolstoy), it's really funny and layered - and features a giant, murderous cat. Woland is a better fictional imagining of the devil than even the legendary classic ‘Meet Joe Black'. .
Dream casting... Baz Luhrmann just bought the rights to make it into a movie. I couldn't think of a better director to take this challenging novel on than him.
This is a really weird 4 stars to give. I couldn't tell you exactly what happened in this book, it mostly read like a chaotic fever dream from start to end, but it was not only readable but surprisingly engaging. Every chapter made me feel like, “Gosh, this is too chaotic, I'm going to skim.” but I generally end up pretty gripped by the action of what's going on.
I definitely feel like I'm missing a lot of historical context here as my knowledge of the USSR, its culture, and the political place it was at is rudimentary at best. Despite that, though, I could definitely see how this whole gimmick of having these fantastical and diabolical characters creating trouble all around Moscow and driving so many of its citizens actually insane, and then how the authorities/militia reacts to this, is quite an obvious commentary in itself.
Overall, a fever dream I'd recommend if you're in the right headspace for some bewildering chaos.
Put this one aside for a while, but ended up loving it. It fulfills my final Read Harder Challenge category, “Read a book that is set more than 5000 miles from your location.” Whee! For extra credit, I'm watching the Russian miniseries version on YouTube. Bizarre and addictive.
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