Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков: Мастер и Маргарита (2012, Alma Classics)
Paperback
English language
Published Sept. 12, 2012 by Alma Classics.
As a mysterious gentleman and self-proclaimed magician arrives in Moscow, followed by a most bizarre retinue of servants - which includes a strangely dressed ex-choirmaster, a fanged hitman and a mischievous tomcat with the gift of the gab - the Russian literary world is shaken to its foundations. It soon becomes lear that he is the Devil, and that he has come to wreak havoc aomong the cultural elite of the disbelieving capital. But the Devil's mission quickly becomes entangled with the fate of the Master - the author of an unpublished historical novel about Pontius Pilate - who has turned his back on real life and his lover Margarita, finding shelter in a lunatic asylum after traumatic publishers' rejections, vilification in the press and political persecution.
Will the Devil manage to enlist the fiery Margarita into his ranks, will she remain faithful to the Master to the very end …
As a mysterious gentleman and self-proclaimed magician arrives in Moscow, followed by a most bizarre retinue of servants - which includes a strangely dressed ex-choirmaster, a fanged hitman and a mischievous tomcat with the gift of the gab - the Russian literary world is shaken to its foundations. It soon becomes lear that he is the Devil, and that he has come to wreak havoc aomong the cultural elite of the disbelieving capital. But the Devil's mission quickly becomes entangled with the fate of the Master - the author of an unpublished historical novel about Pontius Pilate - who has turned his back on real life and his lover Margarita, finding shelter in a lunatic asylum after traumatic publishers' rejections, vilification in the press and political persecution.
Will the Devil manage to enlist the fiery Margarita into his ranks, will she remain faithful to the Master to the very end and come to his resue? At the same time a satirical romp and a daring analysis of the nature of good and evil, innocence and guilt, The Master and Margarita is the crowning achievement of one of the greatest Russian writers of the twentieth century.
(back cover)
Excellent read - well-constructed, engaging, and unpredictable. The many Russian names could be a bit confusing to track as are some of the elements of 1950's culture that are satirized, but it is still relevant - universal in its themes. First book I've really loved in quite a while.
It's hard in soviet russia. It's harder when the devil shows up.
This book is a delight to read. This novel is similar to Dostoevsky when he is at his best: writing with an undercurrent of frenzied genius. It's absurd and philosophical all at once.
