The Master and Margarita

“Please allow me to introduce myselfI'm a man of wealth and tasteI've been around for long, long yearsStole a million men's soul and faithI was around when Jesus ChristHad his moment of doubt and faithMade damn sure that PilateWashed his hands and sealed his fatePleased to meet youHope you guess my nameBut what's puzzling youIs the nature of my game”- Mick Jagger, ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ (1968)************“May I sit down?' the foreigner asked politely. 'Unless I heard wrong, you were pleased to say Jesus never existed?' ‘No, you did not hear wrong, that is precisely what I was saying.' 'Amazing! Forgive me, but as I understand you also do not believe in God? ' 'No, we don't believe in God, but can speak of it freely!’ 'You are atheists? Oh, how lovely!' 'In our country atheism does not surprise anyone. We have ceased believing in fairy tales about God.’ The stranger went on: 'But here is a question that is troubling me: if there is no God, then who governs the order of things?' 'Man governs it himself.' 'Pardon me,' the stranger responded gently, 'but in order to govern, one needs to plan for a certain length of time. Allow me to ask you how can man govern when he cannot even vouch for his own tomorrow?”“Answer, then, do you know a certain Judas from Kiriath, and what precisely did you say to him about Caesar, if you said anything?' 'It was like this.' the prisoner began eagerly. 'The evening before last, near the temple, I met a young man who called himself Judas. He invited me to his place in the Lower City and asked me to give my view of state authority. He was extremely interested in this question.' 'And what did you say?' asked Pilate. 'Among other things, I said that all authority is violence over people, and that a time will come when there will be no authority of the Caesars. Man will pass into the kingdom of truth and justice, where there will be no need for any authority. Then men ran in, bound me, and took me away to prison.’ ‘There never has been, is not, and never will be any authority in this world greater or better for people than the authority of the emperor Tiberius!' Pilate's voice swelled.”“One day I opened a newspaper and saw in it an article by a critic in which he warned to all and sundry that I had attempted to foist into print an apology for Jesus Christ. Two days later appeared another article, in which its author recommended striking hard at ‘Pilatism’ and at the icon dauber who had ventured to foist it into print. I opened a third newspaper. There were two articles in it. I assure you the earlier critiques could be counted as jokes compared to what this was. Suffice it to say one article was entitled "A Militant Old Believer".“The fire roared in the stove. I took the heavy manuscript of the novel from the desk drawer and started burning it. This was hard to do because paper written upon it reluctantly burns. I tore up the notebooks, stuck them vertically between the logs, and ruffled pages with the poker. The novel was stubbornly resisting but nevertheless perishing. Familiar words flashed before me as the yellow climbed steadily up the pages, but the words still showed through. They would vanish only when the paper turned black and I finished them off with the poker.”- Mikhail Bulgakov ‘The Master and Margarita’ (1928 - 1940)************The Devil visits 1930’s Moscow and he meets two literary friends in the park having a conversation about atheism and the non-existence of Christ. He tells them Christ did exist and gives them a detailed account of Pontius Pilate’s moral dilemma as he condemned him to the cross. But how did he know? Because he was there. He then predicts the death of one of them later that night in exact detail. After seeing this happen the Poet becomes mentally disturbed and he tries to follow the Devil. He visits the literary club his dead friend planned to attend that night and is sent to a madhouse.When citizens begin to mysteriously disappear it is difficult to tell if police or the Devil is responsible. He is a Professor of Black Magic, engaged by a resident of an accursed flat for seven performances which the man has no recollection of contracting. He meets the Devil and his retinue of a tall thin man and a black cat big as a hog, who walks on two legs and speaks. The Devil requires more space in shared government apartments and transports tenants to the Black Sea. They frame the flat manager who gets arrested for black market activity. Characters wind up in the same psychiatric hospital.In the madhouse the Poet meets the Master, another patient who describes a love affair with Margarita and psychological descent after his novel about Pontius Pilate was censored by critics, which he burns. The Devil and his entourage perform a seance driving the audience to insanity. Currency hoarders are interrogated to cough up their cash. The seance had rained down ten rouble bills which infect the city with all sorts of mayhem, bureaucrats replaced by empty suits and money transformed into labels. As mass hypnosis reigns, people across the city begin to sing the same song in unison.Originally written in 1928 the manuscript was burned by Bulgakov out of a fear of state repression. He continued to work on it until his death in 1940. A censored version was published in 1966 in the Brezhnev years and a manuscript smuggled to Paris in 1967. It is a brilliant satire of Josef Stalin’s USSR with nighttime disappearances, communal housing and denunciation of neighbors. Bulgakov asked Stalin if he could emigrate to write in freedom but was denied. Churchill said: “It’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside of an enigma” as this masterpiece has remained.

I am beginning now to reread this masterpiece. I am not sure yet why the book is so great, but I know it is. And, because I read the book, I know that everything I know is wrong and in the next world I am on my own.APace10-24-2018

Great quality book, nice presentation to give someone as a gift, but it's really small. Not exactly comfortable to hold while reading. It would have been perfect if it was larger.

I've been searching for this version for years. Long out of print, it's by far the best translation of Bulgakov's masterpiece that anyone's ever done. That's including Michael Glenny himself, who for some reason translated the book twice. His hardcover is a collector's item, but this one is better! I was SO excited to find it again after all these years, and in great condition, too! It manages to be funny, spooky, magical and absurd, while also being deeply philosophical. One of my favorite books of all time!

I love the book small size and quality, but sad that outer paper was damaged in the box, I wish the sender wrapped it.

As this is my first reading of this book (and I admit that I probably read through it too quickly), I will have to revisit this volume again as there are so many complexities that come to the reader especially towards the end of the novel.I’m not saying this to discourage anyone from reading it (not at all!), but there are many elements and stories tied into other stories and elements that after having finally read this book, I need sufficient time to digest its intricacies.

I had no idea the book would be so small, 6" x 4" and the print size is tiny too, which is too much of nuisance. It is likely a good read, as it was recommended so highly, but the drawbacks outweigh my pleasure.

This amazing book was written during the time of Stalin in the USSR. It was only shown to the author’s friends and not published until 1966 - after the author’s death. It is a critique of so many things on so many levels - there isn’t the space here to go into detail. On many levels, this may be the best fantasy for adults.

Better than all the rest. Like Russian authors? Then just read it, it will not disappoint. I really and truly looked forward to my next reading slot.

Infelizmente veio com este defeito. Espero que se tome mais cuidado em edições futuras.

La edición es hermosa, de gran calidad, de esos libros que sólo por lo bonito dan ganas de devorarlos. Además, EL MAESTRO Y MARGARITA es una lectura vivaz, entretenida, única. No hay manera de no pasar una película propia con todas las imágenes que las aventuras del libro evocan en la mente. Además, es un libro de crítica al sistema soviético, un libro que a través de situaciones absurdas pero brillantemente expuestas nos lleva a pensar.

I have read the Master several times in English, German and French. A few months ago I asked a Russian colleague for her preferred English translation, and she pointed me to Diana Burgin/Katherine O’Connor’s translation. In fact, never before has the read be so lively and the Russian original shining through in the translation. I strongly recommend this version to all fans who cannot read the original version.

After so many years when I had read it for the first time and found myself fascinated by it and swept into its currents, I re-read "The Master and Margarita" with relish. It is a literary classic because it has stood the test of time and it transcends its original settings and social commentary of the day it was written.In “The Master and Margarita” Satan, going by the name of Professor Woland, descends on the Soviet Russia, and wreaks absolute havoc. Heads roll, people go insane and events occur that make the reader’s hair stand on end. Yet, the existence of Satan defies not only logic but also the atheistic mantra of the communist state. The citizens cannot afford to believe in the supernatural causes of the goings on. Those who do are dismissed as lunatics and placed in a mental asylum. This is where poet Ivan Bezdomny meets the Master who is the author of a novel about Pontius Pilate and the times of Jesus Christ and his crucifixion. The story is retold from the point of view of a direct observer (the Devil himself) and gives an eerie sense of intimacy with the tormented Procurator of Judea. Still, nobody believes in it. In fact, just in case somebody might, the Master’s book is denigrated and he burns his manuscript in despair. His lover and devotee, Margarita is in despair. Even though she wants to stand by the Master he leaves her and checks himself into an asylum.This book may be a revered classic but it is also a vivid, engaging, funny and utterly intriguing piece of fiction. The message of condemnation of the soviet regime, human greed, stupidity and narrow-mindedness is masterfully hidden within the plot and brilliant story-telling. The reader is immersed in the supernatural, the surreal, the macabre and burlesque all at the same time. The book bristles with satirical humour. And it is as relevant today as it was in the Stalinist Russia.