I recently fulfilled a goal I set last summer and read a Russian Novel: Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master & Margarita. It took me a while to really get into it, but once I did, I found it intriguing, intelligent and pretty darn funny. Three stories run throughout the book: one set in Stalinist Moscow, focusing on MASSOLIT (a professional writer's club) and The Variety Theatre. This section of the book contains a lot of political satire (much of which is lost on me, I'm sure, but did get at least some of it). Oh, yeah: then Satan comes for a visit and sets the city in disarray. I usually don't like books/movies where Satan is one of the main characters (go figure!) but this one was different - this Satan (called Woland) wasn't scary in a spiritual sense but in a political sense - like a communist government that can make your life hell in an instant for no apparent reason.
Another story line of the novel has to do with a banned book on the story of Pontius Pilate and the crucifixion of Yeshua Ha Nostri. This plot is tied in with the first one by yet a third: the story of The Master (who is the author of the banned Pontius Pilate manuscript) and his lover, Margarita, who sells her soul to Woland so she can be with The Master.
That's probably not the best recap of events, but that's it in a nutshell. The story is an interesting mix of history, satire and, at times, even has a whimsical, almost sci-fi feel about it. It even had a few laugh-out-loud-funny parts along the way (mostly delivered by Bohemoth, a cat who is one of Woland's minions). I imagine the story is more than a little bit autobiographical - either that or it's just incredibly ironic that The Master & Margarita was not published until after Bulgakov's death in 1940, and even then, an unsensored version was not released until 1973.
I'm a big proponent of reading introductions and footnotes. Unfortunately, the translation I read did not have footnotes. I found footnotes to another version online and read them after I finished the book and they really helped to put a few straggling pieces together in my mind. I have a feeling if I were to immediately read the book again, I would get even more out of it. But I'm not going to right now - too big of a stack of other books to be read. Someday, though, I'll read it again.
So...I decided to bop in to your blog and just about died to see you just read Master and Margarita. I finished it in May. Loved it. But what a random book for two random people to have read. Then throw Song for the Dumped into the mix and wowsers...anyway...just thought I'd share the craziness.
Posted by: Jen at August 2, 2006 10:47 PM