The Master and Margarita

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.

There is no greater misfortune in the world than the loss of reason.”
― Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

This novel was a pleasant surprise. I read it as part of my exploration of magical realism and it ended up being my favorite of the books in this genre.

Among my favorite elements are the crazy slapstick and surreal scenes involving a being known as Woland (the devil) and his entourage, who came to Moscow to torment the Soviet literary elite of the time (1930s). The supernatural band also makes fools of the citizens of Moscow who come to his theatrical show, greedy for money and material possessions. I'm not deeply familiar with Russian history (though I do remember the basics) so some themes and allusions, as well as the people Bulgakov was satirizing, were probably lost on me, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the ride.

Oddly, the title characters don't come into the book until the second half. The lovers Master and Margarita are separated by the Master's struggle with his novel, which drives him to madness. His novel won't be accepted by publishers because it is not permitted to write about Christianity in a positive light. As much as I enjoyed the sillier stuff, I was emotionally invested in this part of the story.

Woland doesn't torment these two. He helps them as repayment to Margarita for hosting his demonic party. Woland seems less of an evil character to me but more of a mischief maker who is there to trick people who are already full of themselves anyway. (Traditionally we see the devil as there to tempt the innocent or the lost and despairing.) Woland exists to punish those who go along with what they are told and deny the truth. (One of the truths being that artists in Stalin's Russia are not allowed to be daring but only to write and enforce government propaganda.)

One of the most amusing bits is the epilogue of the story, in which the Moscow authorities spend time covering up all the damage that Woland and company have done. The surreal things people saw–all the people that end up in the mental institution, the deaths, the fire, the guy that was magically transported to Yalta–are all spun with some rational explanation.

Interspersed in the novel is a story about Pontius Pilate and the crucifixion of Jesus from Pilate's point of view. (It is relevant because this is the novel the master is working on.) Pilate is guilty of the same cowardice as the modern Russians because he feels inside it is wrong to destroy Yeshua (Jesus) but he goes along with it anyway. There's a variation on the Judas aspect of the story as well. Having been raised Catholic, I'm very familiar with the crucifixion story, and I appreciate an interesting re-telling.

This is one of those books that the more I think about it, the more I like it. I'm sure I will have to come back to it and reread it at some point.

Premier classique russe que je lis, et magnifique découverte. L'histoire est entêtante, puissante, emplie de mystères et de secrets, le texte projette des images plein la tête avec virtuosité. Le côté fantastique de l'histoire est extrêmement bien amené, avec beaucoup d'humour, toujours bien maîtrisé. La critique sous jacente est très bien maîtrisée et révèle beaucoup de l'esprit d'époque. Une superbe découverte.