This is the literature of trip, drug-induced visions and insights, so characteristic of descendants, be it Tom Wolfe, William Burroughs, Aldous Huxley, Ken Kesey or Stephen King.

I either cried, or laughed, or bristled like a hedgehog.

I read under my pillow - crazy, what can you take!

These are the words of Vysotsky that can characterize the reading of Bulgakov’s text “The Master and Margarita” by the average young man in Soviet times.

This “silent” grows up regularly, becomes wiser, and, having decided to re-read the MiM, suddenly discovers with surprise that now, for his matured consciousness, this “ great novel 20th century” is simply inept, with repetitions and lack of logic, tedious stuff, kilometers of lines about nothing, with minor characters and trivial events, with primitive humor, suitable for a pimply teenager...

Fear and mysticism, the tension of a thriller and empathy for a drama - what stuck out in my youth and made me tremble from surging emotions - these feelings, too, are suddenly gone.
There is a farce and a feeling of disbelief, disappointment, regret about wasted time...

And, by the way, dear Viewers, below you can read the introductory part of the entire series, which reveals the goals and objectives of one of our highest-rated last years material:

Oh, and the author of this unusual conspiracy theory, Alexander Grinin, was torn to shreds by his traditionally minded interlocutors - this is a must see!!! :yahoo:
Well, their soul, brought up on Soviet classics, does not tolerate dissent on such a conceptual issue as the greatness of Mikhail Bulgakov in general, and the novel “The Master and Margarita” in particular... 😥

But great works cannot change like that and change the consciousness of the reader, they remain the same, rather they are obliged to enhance the impact on the brain, on the psyche precisely because the experience of life makes you both more honest and kinder, youthful maximalism and childish ruthlessness go away ...

And then everything died, both technically and ideologically.

Technically, this is a torn, shredded narrative, with repeated repetitions and elaboration of eternal Soviet themes about living space, hunger, food, lordship and informing, about the special services, terrible but good, about party committees, house committees and social security...
It’s not that it’s bad that Bulgakov writes about the current, but that he boringly repeats himself and copy-pastes himself from chapter to chapter - this is technical primitivism...

And ideologically:

- this is complete religious and philosophical eclecticism, the strategic views of Christianity and its movements, now mostly heretical, dumped into an unimaginable heap, which have been diligently destroyed for two millennia by the Bogomils, Paulicians, Manichaeans and Albigenses...

– this is a mishmash of Freemasonry and the teachings of secret conspiracy organizations;

– these are esoteric and mystical revelations and developments associated with them, this is Satanism, after all;

- these are the philosophical exercises of Grigory Skovoroda, the first Russian Rodnover, and, more broadly, the Orthodox, we emphasize, the Orthodox, not Christian, world;

– these were ideas about the God-Man, Frankenstein, Golem and other forerunners of the Terminator that were extremely fashionable at that time;

- after all, this is the literature of trip, drug-induced visions and insights, so characteristic of his descendants, be they Tom Wolfe, William Burroughs, Aldous Huxley, Ken Kesey or Stephen King. After all, no one has canceled his morphine addiction past, although it is believed that he quit at the end of his 1920s, and only the last years of his life passed in complete fog...

By that time, most of the plots for literary innovation had been raped a million times, and the ambitious Bulgakov had no choice but to aim at a global unifying plot about everything and for everyone.

He swung, but it didn’t work - he overstrained himself and died, and the untalented Elena Sergeevna “Margaritova-Nuremberg” found and attracted a whole cohort of semi-literary and literary figures to bake pies from Bulgakov’s immature dough/text, who molded them according to their own understanding from what was “ great novel of the 20th century”… :mail:

However, it is better for you to evaluate the details of this discourse yourself in our large and very versatile series

Briefly:

Khrushchev Thaw – 1955 – 1964

“The Life of Monsieur de Molière” (novel, 1933, published in the USSR in 1962)
“Theatrical Novel” (“Notes of a Dead Man”) (unfinished novel (1936-1937), published in the USSR in 1965)
“The Master and Margarita” (novel, 1929-1940, published in the USSR in 1966-1967, second version in 1973, final version in 1990)
« dog's heart"(story, 1925, published in the USSR in 1987)
“To a Secret Friend” (unfinished story, 1929, published in the USSR in 1987)

BES Bulgakova Elena Sergeevna

BES - Bulgakova Elena Sergeevna (nee Nuremberg, in her first marriage Neyolova, by her second husband Shilovskaya; 1893 - 1970) - the third wife of the Russian writer and playwright Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, the keeper of his literary heritage. The main prototype of Margarita in the novel “The Master and Margarita”. Younger sister of Olga Sergeevna Bokshanskaya (1891-1948), employee of the Moscow Art Theater, personal secretary of Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko.

In 1961, philologist A.Z. Vulis was writing a work on Soviet satirists and remembered the half-forgotten author of “Zoyka’s Apartment” and “Crimson Island.” Vulis found out that the writer’s widow was alive and established contact with her. After an initial period of distrust, Elena Sergeevna gave me the manuscript of “The Master” to read. The shocked Vulis shared his impressions with many, after which rumors about a great novel spread throughout literary Moscow. This led to the first publication in the Moscow magazine in 1966-1967. (circulation 150 thousand copies). It should be noted, however, that, despite the picturesqueness of the story about the role of A. Vulis, the key figures in the publication of the novel were still K. M. Simonov and E. S. Bulgakova, who had known each other since the Tashkent winter of 1942. E. S. Bulgakova did a tremendous amount of textual work in preparing the unfinished novel for publication.

“I would give you the manuscript, but I consulted with Him,” she looked at the portrait of an ironically smiling Bulgakov hanging on the wall, “but He does not order.”

A chapter from the monograph “Soviet Satirical Novel,” which outlined the plot of “The Master and Margarita” in detail and examined its characters closely, preceded the first publication of the novel by almost two years.

There is no “novel”, there are a bunch of disparate pieces that can be put together in any order. Storyline no, Margarita is a complete whore, the Master is zero without a stick, well, and the rest is garbage on garbage and contradiction on contradiction.

Where does such success come from then? The answer is obvious: a breath of fresh air. Nobody could read the musty Soviet “literature” at all, so they rushed to fresh stuff, and even anti-Soviet stuff.

Abram Zinovievich Vulis

Abram Zinovievich Vulis (September 7, 1928, Kyiv - 1993, Krasnogorsk, Moscow region) - Soviet writer and literary critic.
Graduated from Central Asian State University(1951). Doctor of Philological Sciences. Member of the USSR Writers' Union (1960).

Author of the first works about the writer Mikhail Bulgakov. In 1961, A. Z. Vulis wrote a work on Soviet satirists and remembered the half-forgotten author of “Zoyka’s Apartment” and “Crimson Island.” Vulis found out that the writer’s widow was alive and established contact with her. After an initial period of distrust, Elena Sergeevna gave me the manuscript of “The Master” to read. The shocked Vulis shared his impressions with many, after which rumors about a great novel spread throughout literary Moscow. This led to the first publication in the Moscow magazine in 1966-1967 (circulation 150 thousand copies). There were two prefaces: by Konstantin Simonov and Vulis.

Vulis was simple Soviet man from Tashkent, and not an esthete, a snob and a literary gourmet - this is a happy fact in the literary fate of The Master and Margarita.

Later, when the wave raised by Vulis had already led to the publication of “Theatrical Novel” in the Novy Mir magazine, Elena Sergeevna began to more often allow people to see the book. In particular, the “Akhmatov youths,” young poets, also read the novel. None of them, including Brodsky, liked the book.

Elena Sergeevna checked Vulis’s work very strictly; fragments of the novel could not be taken with her, notes were erased and taken away. And Vulis came up with a clever move. One day he brought a photographer with him and introduced him as his friend. Quite large chunks of the novel were filmed secretly, “spy-style.”
Vulis told this with great pleasure.

Lidiya Markovna Yanovskaya

Lydia Markovna Yanovskaya (née Gurovich; 1926 – 2011) - Soviet (since 1992 - Israeli) Russian writer, literary critic, researcher of the works of Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov, Mikhail Bulgakov. Member of the International PEN Club, Union Russian-speaking writers Israel (SRPI).

Since 1962, Lydia Yanovskaya has been studying the biography and creative heritage of Mikhail Bulgakov. From 1963 to 1968, she worked with M. Bulgakov’s archive at the home of the writer’s widow E. S. Bulgakova (until the transfer of the archive to the State Library named after V. I. Lenin). The first and second editions of Lydia Yanovskaya’s book “Mikhail Bulgakov” (1967 and 1971) were prepared for publication, but for ideological and censorship reasons they were never published. With the assistance of K. M. Simonov, it was possible to publish only Yanovskaya’s third book about Bulgakov “ Creative path Mikhail Bulgakov", which became the first monograph on the writer in the USSR.

In 1988, having again gained access to the main archive of M. Bulgakov in the State Library named after V.I. Lenin, L.M. Yanovskaya discovered the disappearance of Bulgakov’s most important manuscripts and appealed to law enforcement, state and public bodies of the USSR with a request to investigate and search for the missing unique documents. As a result of the ongoing print and public persecution, she was forced to emigrate.

The result of many years of work by L. M. Yanovskaya in Moscow, Kyiv, Caucasus and other archives was the discovery of many unknown or forgotten works of M. Bulgakov. Yanovskaya first opened for the general reader “Khan’s Fire,” “Star Rash,” “The Red Crown,” “Week of Enlightenment,” “It Was May...” and other works, which soon became an integral part of the writer’s collected works.

Among the main textual works of L. Yanovskaya: the first restored original text of the novel “The Master and Margarita” (Kyiv, 1989, Moscow, 1990), the first restored texts of “The White Guard” and “Heart of a Dog” by Mikhail Bulgakov, the first complete edition of “Notebooks” "Ilya Ilf, compilation and preparation for publication of "The Diary of Elena Bulgakova" (Moscow, 1990).

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“The Master and Margarita” is one of the most mysterious novels in history; researchers are still struggling with its interpretation. We will give seven keys to this work.

Literary hoax

Why famous novel Bulgakov is called “The Master and Margarita”, and what is this book really about? It is known that the idea of ​​​​creation was born to the author after being fascinated by mysticism of the 19th century. Legends about the devil, Jewish and Christian demonology, treatises about God - all this is present in the work. The most important sources that the author consulted were the works “The History of Relations between Man and the Devil” by Mikhail Orlov and Amfiteatrov’s book “The Devil in Everyday Life, Legend and Literature of the Middle Ages.” As you know, The Master and Margarita had several editions. They say that the first one, on which the author worked in 1928-1929, had nothing to do with either the Master or Margarita, and was called “The Black Magician”, “Juggler with a Hoof”. That is, the central figure and essence of the novel was the Devil - a kind of Russian version of the work “Faust”. Bulgakov personally burned the first manuscript after his play “The Cabal of the Holy One” was banned. The writer informed the government about this: “And I personally, with my own hands, threw a draft of a novel about the devil into the stove!” The second edition was also dedicated to the fallen angel and was called “Satan” or “Great Chancellor”. Margarita and the Master have already appeared here, and Woland has acquired his retinue. But only the third manuscript received its current name, which, in fact, the author never finished.

The Many Faces of Woland

The Prince of Darkness is perhaps the most popular character in The Master and Margarita. On a superficial reading, the reader gets the impression that Woland is “justice itself,” a judge who fights human vices and patronizes love and creativity. Some even think that Bulgakov portrayed Stalin in this image! Woland is multifaceted and complex, as befits the Tempter. He is viewed as a classic Satan, which is what the author intended in early versions of the book, as a new Messiah, a reimagined Christ, whose coming is described in the novel.
In fact, Woland is not just a devil - he has many prototypes. This is the supreme pagan god - Wotan among the ancient Germans (Odin among the Scandinavians), the great “magician” and freemason Count Cagliostro, who remembered the events of a thousand years of the past, predicted the future, and had a portrait resemblance to Woland. And this is the “dark horse” Woland from Goethe’s “Faust,” who is mentioned in the work only once, in an episode that was missed in the Russian translation. By the way, in Germany the devil was called “Vahland.” Remember the episode from the novel when the employees cannot remember the name of the magician: “Perhaps Faland?”

Satan's Retinue

Just as a person cannot exist without a shadow, so Woland is not Woland without his retinue. Azazello, Behemoth and Koroviev-Fagot are instruments of diabolical justice, the most striking heroes of the novel, who have a far from clear past behind them.
Let's take, for example, Azazello - “the demon of the waterless desert, the demon killer.” Bulgakov borrowed this image from the Old Testament books, where this is the name of the fallen angel who taught people how to make weapons and jewelry. Thanks to him, women have mastered the “lascivious art” of painting their faces. Therefore, it is Azazello who gives the cream to Margarita and pushes her onto the “dark path”. In the novel, this is Woland’s right hand, performing “dirty work.” He kills Baron Meigel and poisons the lovers. Its essence is incorporeal, absolute evil in its purest form.
Koroviev-Fagot is the only person in Woland’s retinue. It is not entirely clear who became its prototype, but researchers trace its roots to the Aztec god Vitzliputzli, whose name is mentioned in Berlioz’s conversation with the Bezdomny. This is the god of war, to whom sacrifices were made, and according to the legends about Doctor Faustus, he is the spirit of hell and the first assistant of Satan. His name, carelessly pronounced by the chairman of MASSOLIT, is a signal for Woland’s appearance.
Behemoth is a werecat and Woland's favorite jester, whose image comes from legends about the demon of gluttony and the mythological beast old testament. In I. Ya. Porfiryev’s study “Apocryphal Tales of Old Testament Persons and Events,” which was clearly familiar to Bulgakov, it was mentioned sea ​​monster Behemoth, together with Leviathan, lives in the invisible desert “to the east of the garden where the chosen and the righteous lived.” The author also gleaned information about Behemoth from the story of a certain Anne Desange, who lived in the 17th century and was possessed by seven devils, among which Behemoth, a demon from the rank of Thrones, is mentioned. This demon was depicted as a monster with an elephant's head, trunk and tusks. His hands were human, and his huge belly, short tail and thick hind legs were like those of a hippopotamus, which reminded him of his name.

Black Queen Margot

Margarita is often considered a model of femininity, a kind of Pushkin’s “Tatyana of the 20th century.” But the prototype of “Queen Margot” was clearly not a modest girl from the Russian hinterland. In addition to the obvious similarity of the heroine with the writer’s last wife, the novel emphasizes Margarita’s connection with two French queens. The first is the same “Queen Margot,” the wife of Henry IV, whose wedding turned into the bloody Night of St. Bartholomew. This event is mentioned on the way to Satan's Great Ball. The fat man, who recognized Margarita, calls her “bright Queen Margot” and babbles “some nonsense about the bloody wedding of his friend in Paris, Hessar.” Gessar - Parisian publisher of the correspondence of Marguerite Valois, whom Bulgakov made a participant St. Bartholomew's Night. Another queen is also seen in the image of the heroine - Margarita of Navarre, who was one of the first French women writers, the author of the famous "Heptameron". Both ladies patronized writers and poets; Bulgakov’s Margarita loves her brilliant writer - the Master.

Moscow – Yershalaim

One of the most interesting riddles“The Master and Margarita” is the time when events take place. There is not a single absolute date in the novel from which one can count. The action dates back to Holy Week from the first to the seventh of May 1929. This dating provides a parallel with the world of the “Pilate Chapters”, which took place in Yershalaim in the year 29 or 30 during the week that later became Holy Week. “Over Moscow in 1929 and Yershalaim on the 29th there is the same apocalyptic weather, the same darkness is approaching the city of sin like a thunderstorm wall, the same Easter full moon floods the alleys of Old Testament Yershalaim and New Testament Moscow.” In the first part of the novel, both of these stories develop in parallel, in the second, more and more intertwined, in the end they merge together, gaining integrity and moving from our world to the other world.

Influence of Gustav Meyrink

The ideas of Gustav Meyrink, whose works appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, had a huge impact on Bulgakov. In the novel by the Austrian expressionist "Golem" main character Master Anastasius Pernat in the finale reunites with his beloved Miriam “at the wall of the last lantern,” on the border of the real and otherworldly worlds. The connection with The Master and Margarita is obvious. Let us recall the famous aphorism of Bulgakov’s novel: “Manuscripts do not burn.” Most likely, it goes back to “The White Dominican”, where it is said: “Yes, of course, the truth does not burn and cannot be trampled on.” It also tells about the inscription above the altar, because of which the icon of the Mother of God falls. Just like the burnt manuscript of the master, reviving Woland from oblivion, who restores the true story of Yeshua, the inscription symbolizes the connection of truth not only with God, but also with the devil.
In “The Master and Margarita,” as in Meyrink’s “The White Dominican,” the main thing for the heroes is not the goal, but the process of the journey itself—development. But the meaning of this path is different for writers. Gustav, like his heroes, looked for him in creative beginning, Bulgakov strove to achieve a certain “esoteric” absolute, the essence of the universe.

Last manuscript

The last edition of the novel, which subsequently reached the reader, was started in 1937. The author continued to work with her until his death. Why couldn't he finish the book he'd been writing for a dozen years? Perhaps he believed that he was not sufficiently informed about the issue he was taking on, and his understanding of Jewish demonology and early Christian texts was amateurish? Be that as it may, the novel practically “sucked out” the life of the author. The last correction he made on February 13, 1940 was Margarita’s phrase: “So this means that the writers are going after the coffin?” A month later he died. Last words Bulgakov, addressed to the novel were: “So that they know, so that they know...”.

The novel "Master Margarita" became not only one of the most famous works Mikhail Bulgakov, but also one of the most mysterious books, the interpretation of which researchers have been struggling with for 75 years. Our review contains 7 keys that reveal some key moments of the novel, lifting the veil of mystery and illustrations for different editions of Bulgakov’s novel.

1. Literary hoax

Scientists know for certain that Bulgakov enthusiastically studied German mysticism of the 19th century. It was after becoming acquainted with treatises on God, demonologies of the Christian and Jewish faith, and legends about the devil that the writer decided to create a book, and all this is mentioned in the work. The writer changed his novel several times.

The book was first written in 1928-1929. Several titles were invented for this novel: “The Juggler with a Hoof”, “The Black Magician” and no Master with Margarita. The central character of the first edition of the novel was the Devil and, in fact, the book was very reminiscent of Faust, only written by a Russian author. But his book never saw the light of day, and very little is known about it, since, having received a ban on a play called “The Cabal of the Holy One,” Bulgakov decided to burn the manuscript. The writer informed the government about his new novel about the Devil, who died in the flames.

The second novel was called "Satan, or the Great Chancellor." The main character of the work is a fallen angel. In this edition, Bulgakov had already invented the Master with Margarita, there was also a place for Woland and his retinue, but she also did not see the light of day.

The writer chose the title “The Master and Margarita” for the third manuscript, which was published by publishing houses; unfortunately, Bulgakov was unable to complete the work.

2. The Many Faces of Woland

If you read the novel without thinking too much, you get the impression that Woland is a positive character who has become a patron of creativity and love, a hero who tries to fight the vices inherent in people. But Woland is the Tempter, and upon careful reading, his many faces become noticeable. In reality, Woland represents Satan, a reinterpreted Christ, a new Messiah, the kind of hero that Bulgakov described him as in his first unpublished manuscripts.

You can understand the many faces of Woland only by carefully reading The Master and Margarita. Only then can one notice the hero’s resemblance to the Scandinavian Odin, turned into a devil by Christian traditions, or to the god Wotan, who was worshiped by ancient Germanic pagan tribes. Woland bears a portrait resemblance to the Freemason and great magician Count Cagliostro, who knew how to predict the future and remembered events a thousand years ago.

Attentive readers will definitely remember the moment when the employees remember the name of the magician and suggest that his name is Faland. Indeed, it is in tune with Woland, but that’s not the only interesting thing. Few people know that the devil is called Faland in Germany.

3. Satan's Retinue

Bright heroes with an ambiguous past in The Master and Margarita were Behemoth, Azazello and Karoviev-Fagot. The writer presented them as instruments of justice used by the devil.

The writer took the image of Azazello, the killer demon and the demon of the waterless desert, from the Old Testament. This is the name in these books for the fallen angel who taught people how to create jewelry and weapons. He also taught women to paint their faces, which according to biblical books is considered a lascivious art, and therefore it was this hero of Bulgakov who pushed Margarita onto a dark path by giving her cream. Azazello is an absolute evil who poisons lovers and kills Maigel.

Every reader of the novel remembers Behemoth for the rest of his life. This is a werecat, who is Woland’s favorite jester. The prototype of this character was the mythological beast described in the Old Testament, the devil of gluttony from mystical legends. When composing the image of the cat Behemoth, the writer used information that he learned while studying the story of Anne Desanges. She lived in the 17th century and was possessed by seven devils at once. One of them was a demon from the rank of Thrones, named Behemoth. They depicted him as a monster with the head of an elephant and terrible fangs. The demon looked like a hippopotamus with its short tail, huge belly and thick hind legs, but its hands were human.

The only person in Woland's devilish retinue was Koroviev-Fagot. Researchers cannot determine exactly who the prototype of this Bulgakov character is, but they suggest that its roots go back to the god Vitsliputzli. This assumption is based on a conversation between Bezdomny and Berlioz, in which the name of this Aztec god of war, to whom he made sacrifices, is mentioned. If you believe the legends about Faust, then Vitzliputzli is not a simple spirit of hell, but the first assistant of Satan.

4. Queen Margot

This heroine is very similar to Bulgakov’s last wife. The writer also emphasized in the book “The Master and Margarita” the special connection of this heroine with the French Queen Margot, who was the wife of Henry IV. On the way to Satan's ball, the fat man recognizes Margarita and calls her the bright queen, then he mentions the wedding in Paris, which as a result became the bloody St. Bartholomew's Night. Bulgakov also writes about the Parisian publisher Hessar, who in the novel “The Master and Margarita” takes part in St. Bartholomew’s Night. The historical Queen Margarita was a patron of poets and writers. Bulgakov in his book spoke about Margarita’s love for the brilliant writer Master.

5. Moscow – Yershalaim

There are many mysteries in the novel, and one of them is the time in which the events of The Master and Margarita take place. It is impossible to find a single date from which it was possible to continue reporting. The actions date back to May 1-7, 1929, which coincided with Holy Week. In parallel, in the “Pilate Chapters” the actions develop during the week of the 29th or 30th year in Yershalaim, where Holy Week is also described. In the first part of the novel, the actions in these stories develop in parallel; in the second part, they begin to intertwine with each other and then merge into a single story. At this time, history gains integrity and moves into the other world. Yershalaim now goes to Moscow.

6. Kabbalistic roots

When studying the novel, experts came to the conclusion that when writing of this work Bulgakov was interested not only in Kabbalistic teachings. In the mouth of Woland one can sometimes hear the concepts of Jewish mysticism.

There is a moment in the book when Woland says that you should never ask for anything, especially from the strong. In his opinion, people themselves will give and offer. These cabalistic teachings prohibit accepting anything unless it is given by the creator. The Christian faith allows you to ask for alms. Hasidim believe that people are created in the image of God and therefore they are supposed to constantly work.

The concept “about light” can also be traced in the work. He accompanies Woland throughout the book. The moonlight disappears only after Satan and his retinue disappear. Light can be interpreted in different ways; for example, there are teachings about it in the Sermon on the Mount. If you look at everything a little differently, it becomes clear that this concept also coincides with the basic idea of ​​Kabbalistic teachings, according to which the Torah is light. The idea of ​​Kabbalah says that the achievement of the “light of life” depends only on a person’s desires, and this completely coincides with the main idea of ​​the novel about a person’s independent choice.

7. The last manuscript

Bulgakov began writing the latest edition of the book, which was eventually released by publishing houses. Until his death, the writer worked on the creation of this work. The novel took 12 years to complete, and yet it turned out to be unfinished. Scientists cannot figure out the reason. They suggest that the author himself felt little knowledgeable about early Christian texts and Jewish demonology, and an amateur in some matters. Bulgakov gave his last vital energy to his last novel. The last change in the novel was the introduction of Margarita’s phrase about writers following the coffin. It was February 13, 1940, and a month later Mikhail Afanasyevich passed away. His last words to the novel were the phrase “So that they know, so that they know...”.

Continuing the theme of Elena Chernenko, who was able to convey not only the deep images of the characters, but also the mysterious atmosphere that reigns in Bulgakov’s novel.

74 years ago, Mikhail Bulgakov made the last change to his great novel “The Master and Margarita,” the interpretation of which researchers are still struggling with. IN this moment There are seven keys to understanding this immortal work.

1. Literary hoax
Why is Bulgakov’s famous novel called “The Master and Margarita”, and what is this book really about? It is known that the idea of ​​creation was born to the author after his fascination with German mysticism of the 19th century: legends about the devil, Jewish and Christian demonology, treatises about God - all this is present in the work. The most important sources that the author consulted were the works “The History of Relations between Man and the Devil” by Mikhail Orlov and Amfiteatrov’s book “The Devil in Everyday Life, Legend and in the Literature of the Middle Ages.” As you know, The Master and Margarita had several editions. They say that the first one, on which the author worked in 1928-29, had nothing to do with either the Master or Margarita, and was called “The Black Magician”, “Juggler with a Hoof”. That is, the central figure and essence of the novel was the Devil, such a Russian version of Faust. Bulgakov personally burned the first manuscript after his play “Kabbalah the Holy One” was banned. The writer informed the government about this: “And I personally, with my own hands, threw a draft of a novel about the devil into the stove...”! The second edition was also dedicated to the fallen angel, and was called “Satan” or “Great Chancellor”. Margarita and the master had already appeared here, and Woland had acquired his own retinue. But only the third manuscript received its current name, which, in fact, the author never finished.

2. The Many Faces of Woland
The Prince of Darkness is perhaps the most popular character in The Master and Margarita. On a superficial reading, the reader gets the impression that Woland is “justice itself,” a judge who fights human vices and patronizes love and creativity. Woland is multifaceted and complex, as befits the Tempter. He is viewed as a classic Satan, which is what the author intended in early versions of the book, as a new Messiah, a reimagined Christ, whose coming is described in the novel.
In fact, Woland is not just a devil - he has many prototypes. This is the supreme pagan god - Wotan among the ancient Germans, or Odin among the Scandinavians, whom Christian tradition turned into the devil; this is the great “magician” and freemason Count Cagliostro, who remembered the events of a thousand years of the past, predicted the future, and had a portrait resemblance to Woland. And this is the “dark horse” Woland from Goethe’s “Faust,” who is mentioned in the work only once, in an episode that was missed in the Russian translation. By the way, in Germany the devil was called “Vahland.” Remember the episode from the novel when the employees cannot remember the name of the magician: “...Perhaps Faland?”

3. Satan's Retinue
Just as a person cannot exist without a shadow, so Woland is not Woland without his retinue. Azazello, Behemoth and Koroviev-Fagot are instruments of diabolical justice, the most striking heroes of the novel, who have a far from clear past behind them.
Take, for example, Azazello - “the demon of the waterless desert, the demon killer.” Bulgakov borrowed this image from the Old Testament books, where this is the name of the fallen angel who taught people how to make weapons and jewelry. Thanks to him, women mastered the “lascivious art” of painting their faces. Therefore, it is Azazello who gives the cream to Margarita and pushes her onto the “dark path”. In the novel, he is Woland's right hand, performing "dirty work." He kills Baron Meigel and poisons the lovers. Its essence is incorporeal, absolute evil in its purest form.
Koroviev-Fagot is the only person in Woland's retinue. It is not entirely clear who became its prototype, but researchers trace its roots to the Aztec god Vitzliputzli, whose name is mentioned in Berlioz’s conversation with the Bezdomny. This is the god of war, to whom sacrifices were made, and according to the legends about Doctor Faustus, he is the spirit of hell and the first assistant of Satan. His name, carelessly pronounced by the chairman of MASSOLIT, is a signal for the appearance of Woland.
Behemoth, a werecat and Woland's favorite jester, essentially comes from the legends of the devil of gluttony and the mythological beast of the Old Testament. In I. Ya. Porfiryev’s study “Apocryphal Tales of Old Testament Persons and Events,” which was clearly familiar to Bulgakov, the sea monster Behemoth was mentioned, living together with Leviathan in the invisible desert “to the east of the garden where the chosen and righteous lived.” The author also gleaned information about Hippopotamus from the story of a certain Anne Desanges, who lived in the 17th century. and possessed by seven devils, among which is mentioned Behemoth, a demon from the rank of Thrones. This demon was depicted as a monster with an elephant's head, trunk and tusks. His hands were human, and his huge belly, short tail and thick hind legs were like those of a hippopotamus, which reminded him of his name.

4. Black Queen Margot
Margarita is often considered a model of femininity, a kind of Pushkin Tatiana of the 20th century. But the prototype of “Queen Margot” was clearly not a modest girl from the Russian hinterland. In addition to the obvious similarity of the heroine with the writer’s last wife, the novel emphasizes Margarita’s connection with two French queens. One of them is the same “Queen Margot,” the wife of Henry IV, whose wedding turned into the bloody Night of St. Bartholomew. This event is mentioned on the way to the Great Ball at Satan's. The fat man, who recognized Margarita, calls her “bright Queen Margot” and babbles, “some nonsense about the bloody wedding of his friend in Paris, Hessar.” Gessar is the Parisian publisher of Marguerite Valois's correspondence, whom Bulgakov made a participant in St. Bartholomew's Night. In the image of Margarita, researchers also find similarities with another queen - Margarita of Navarre, one of the first French women writers. Both historical Margaritas patronized writers and poets; Bulgakov's Margarita loves her brilliant writer - the Master.

5. Moscow - Yershalaim
One of the most interesting mysteries of “The Master and Margarita” is the time when the events take place. There is not a single absolute date in the novel from which one can count. The action dates back to Holy Week from the first to the seventh of May 1929. This dating provides a parallel with the world of the “Pilate Chapters”, which took place in Yershalaim in the 29th or 30th year during the week that later became Holy Week. “...over Moscow in 1929 and Yershalaim on the 29th there is the same apocalyptic weather, the same darkness is approaching the city of sin like a thunderstorm wall, the same Easter full moon floods the alleys of the Old Testament Yershalaim and the New Testament Moscow.” In the first part of the novel, both of these stories develop in parallel, in the second, they become more and more intertwined, eventually merging together, gaining integrity, and moving from our world to the other world. Yershalaim “transitions” to the streets of Moscow.

6. Kabbalistic roots
There is an opinion that when writing the novel, Bulgakov was not so much under the influence of Kabbalistic teachings. The concepts of Jewish mysticism are put into Woland’s mouth:
1. “Never ask for anything. Never and nothing, especially among those who are stronger than you. They will offer and give everything themselves.” As you know, Kabbalah interprets the Torah as a prohibition to accept anything not from the creator, which contradicts Christianity, in which, on the contrary, “asking for someone else’s mercy” is not forbidden. Hasidim (representatives of the mystical movement of Judaism based on Kabbalah) interpret the statement that God created man in his own image, therefore man must become like the Creator in creation. That is, it should work.
2. The concept of “light”. Light accompanies Woland throughout the novel. When Satan and his retinue disappear, the lunar road also disappears. At first glance, the “teaching of light” goes back to the Sermon on the Mount: “You are the light of the world.” On the other hand, this context strikingly coincides with the core idea of ​​​​Kabbalah about “Or Chaim” - “the light of life”, which claims that the Torah itself is “light”. Achieving it depends on the desire of the person himself, which, you see, corresponds to the idea of ​​the novel, where the independent choice of a person comes to the fore.

7. Last manuscript
The last edition of the novel, which subsequently reached the reader, was started in 1937. The author continued to work with her until his death. Why couldn't he finish the book he wrote for 12 years? Perhaps he believed that he was not sufficiently informed about the issue he was taking on, and that his understanding of Jewish demonology and early Christian texts was too amateurish? Be that as it may, the novel practically “sucked out” the life of the author. The last correction he made on February 13, 1940 was Margarita’s phrase: “So this means that the writers are going after the coffin?” A month later he died. Bulgakov’s last words addressed to the novel were: “So that they know, so that they know...”.

Yesterday I watched Yuri Kara’s film “The Master and Margarita,” which could not be released for 17 years. According to the director, there was plenty of mysticism on the set. The camera was blessed by the priest before filming, and for six months everything was in order; but after the camera was changed, problems began. Some actors who starred in the film “The Master and Margarita” by Yuri Kara, and in the series of the same name by Vladimir Bortko, died suddenly.
Everything about Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” is shrouded in mysticism and secrets.
Why?

Director Yuri Kara said that when they started filming ancient Judea in the famous Sudak fortress in Crimea, it suddenly began to snow, which happens extremely rarely in October. To top it off, the cameraman didn’t show up and they forgot to bring the film.
When Yuri Kara went to Moscow to get film and a cameraman, right in front of Bulgakov’s house on the Garden Ring, his new Volga broke down and the gearbox flew off. After this, the film crew decided to film the desired scenes in the Holy Land in Israel.
The most dramatic scene, “The Crucifixion of Yeshua,” was filmed in the desert near the Dead Sea in a heat of 50 degrees. Out of curiosity, Yuri Kara himself wanted to hang on the cross, but when after 20 seconds the passionate Burlyaev (in the role of Yeshua) began to scream “Take me down!”, he decided not to risk it.

Already finished, the film could not be released for 17 years. When the State Duma adopted a law according to which copyright is protected for 70 years, the childless Bulgakov suddenly had “heirs.” Sergei Shilovsky, the grandson of Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova and Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Shilovsky, is the heir to their property, lives in America and runs the M.A. Bulgakov Foundation. The one whose grandfather shot Bulgakov when Elena Sergeevna went to see Mikhail Afanasyevich, demanded, under the plausible pretext of protecting the work from distortion, royalties for himself...

Personally, I found the film “The Master and Margarita” by Yuri Kara crumpled (in the theatrical version), devoid of tragic depth. Most of all I liked Mikhail Ulyanov in the role of Pontius Pilate. Well, Nikolai Burlyaev in the role of Yeshua Ha-Nozri. Everyone else slightly overacted, turning the film adaptation into a comedy.
Alfred Schnittke's music for the film seemed less expressive than Igor Kornelyuk's music in the series of the same name by Vladimir Bortko. And the series “The Master and Margarita” itself, for all its television prolixity, I liked more.

It’s been a long time since I watched four episodes of Yuri Kara’s film on the Internet. I thought the film would look better on the big screen. But, apparently, not all texts can be adequately filmed.
There are so many “jambs” in Yuri Kara’s film that I don’t want to list them. It is impossible not to notice the spots disappearing and appearing on the face of Ivan Bezdomny, talking with the Master. And the crosses standing in the middle of the deserted desert, made at the Gorky studio...
And why did Yuri Kara need a gag in the form of Peter the Great, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Adolf Hitler who were present at Satan’s ball?!
In short, this is a 1994 film.

The novel “The Master and Margarita” is a classic menippea (according to M.M. Bakhtin’s definition, it is a philosophical genre of literature, “experimental fiction” for artistic analysis metaphysical ideas and “ultimate questions of existence”; “a genre that includes a “ludicrous element,” dreams, daydreams, madness, scandalousness…”).

There is a lot of unsaid things, mysteries and mysticism in the novel “The Master and Margarita”. We can say that the meanings laid down by the author have not yet been deciphered.
So, for example, in the novel there is a lot characters, but only one does not have a name - the master.
Who is hiding behind this meaningful word?

The first versions of the book did not contain any “inner romance” about Yeshua and Pilate, nor the story of the Master and Margarita.
There are six author's editions of the novel in total (some number eight).

The idea of ​​writing a novel about the devil came to Bulgakov back in the late 20s of the 20th century. As a child, he watched the opera Faust 41 times!
Bulgakov began work on the novel (in the final version called “The Master and Margarita”) in 1928.

In the first edition, the novel had variant titles: “Black Magician”, “Engineer’s Hoof”, “Juggler with a Hoof”, “Son of V.”, “Tour”. The role of the master was played by a humanities scientist named Fesya. According to Bulgakov, he was a professor at the Faculty of History and Philology at the university, who had phenomenal erudition on the demonology of the Middle Ages, which made him similar to Goethe’s Wagner.
In 1929, Bulgakov sent the first edition of “The Engineer’s Hoof” to the almanac “Nedra”, and, of course, was refused.
On March 18, 1930, after receiving news of the ban on the play “The Cabal of the Holy One,” he destroyed the first edition of the novel. Bulgakov reported this in a letter to the government: “And I personally, with my own hands, threw a draft of a novel about the devil into the stove...”.

M. Bulgakov resumed work on the novel in 1931. The rough sketches already featured both Margarita and her then nameless companion, the Master, and Woland acquired his own riotous retinue.
While in Leningrad with his wife, the writer took out an oilcloth notebook and wrote on the title page “M. Bulgakov. Novel.1932”... During a few days of his stay in Leningrad, Bulgakov wrote and dictated the first seven chapters to Elena Sergeevna (his third wife, née Nuremberg).
The second edition, created before 1936, had the subtitle “Fantastic novel” and variant titles “The Great Chancellor”, “Satan”, “Here I am”.

Bulgakov destroyed both the first and second editions of the novel.
Why?
The remains of the first two editions are kept in the manuscript department of the Russian State Library.

The third edition, begun in the second half of 1936, was originally called “The Prince of Darkness,” but already in 1937 the title “The Master and Margarita” appeared.
The author's editing continued almost until the writer's death. Bulgakov stopped it with Margarita’s phrase: “So this means that the writers are going after the coffin?”...

The dying Bulgakov was worried about only one thing: to finish writing before dying! “So that they know, so that they know...” he whispered barely audibly to his wife.

The full text of the novel “The Master and Margarita” was first reprinted on June 25, 1938 by Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova’s sister.

Obviously, in the third version, containing an “inner novel” about Pontius Pilate, as well as the story of the master and Margarita, Bulgakov described his life, or the life of someone else.

Like any writer, Bulgakov wrote mainly about what he personally encountered. AND " White Guard", and "Theatrical Romance", and "The Master and Margarita" are largely autobiographical works.
The prototype of the Behemoth cat was Bulgakov’s big black dog, whose name was Behemoth. This dog was very smart. When Bulgakov celebrated with his wife New Year, after the chimes, his dog barked 12 times, although no one taught it this.
The master's basement was copied mainly from the mansion of the Topleninov brothers (Mansurovsky lane, 9). The playwright Sergei Aleksandrovich Ermolinsky (1900-1984), who served as the prototype for Aloisy Mogarych, also lived there.
Even Annushka and Sadova, who spilled the oil, actually existed. Not to mention the prototypes of the chairman of Massolit Berlioz, the critic Latunsky, and the writer Lavrovich.
Bulgakov expressed himself that he would reckon with all of them in the new novel “The Master and Margarita”.

At the time the novel takes place, the Master's age ("a man about thirty-eight years old") is exactly Bulgakov's age in May 1929. The newspaper campaign against the Master and his novel is reminiscent of the newspaper campaign against Bulgakov in connection with the story " Fatal eggs"The Master's winning of 100 thousand rubles in the lottery fully corresponds to the 100 thousand prize for which Bulgakov worked on the “Course of the History of the USSR.”

One of my friends wrote thesis on the topic " Language personality character (based on the material of “Theatrical Novel” by M.A. Bulgakov).” As a linguist, she analyzed the language of Bulgakov's characters. The language of each character, like the style of each author, is original and unique. Mikhail Bulgakov in “Theatrical Novel” in the image of Sergei Leontyevich Maksudov expressed his life story and the production of “Days of the Turbins” on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater, his relationship with Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko.

Bulgakov worked on the novel “The Master and Margarita” for twelve whole years. After his death, his last wife, Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, worked on editing the novel for twenty-three years.
Only twenty-six years after the writer’s death in 1966, the novel was published in the Moscow magazine, with a circulation of 150 thousand copies. The magazine “Moscow” was not sold in kiosks and was available only by subscription. Therefore, many retyped the text on a typewriter and passed it on to each other.

At that time I was studying at the preparatory department of the Faculty of Philosophy. Mikhail Bulgakov was not studied either at school or at university. The story "Heart of a Dog" was banned. Friends from the faculty gave me a typewritten copy of it to read.

Like many, I love Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita.” For the first time I was able to read the novel in a typewritten reprint given to me, which I still keep. It seemed that this was the manuscript of Mikhail Afanasyevich himself... I read it in one day and two nights!

Already at the first reading, the novel “The Master and Margarita” surprised me with its versatility and some eclecticism. I was amazed by the abundance of historical details, titles, names. However, I later found out that many of them are erroneous and have nothing to do with the true story.

In Bulgakov’s novel, Pontius Pilate says a phrase that the real Pilate could not have uttered: “There has never been, is not, and will never be a greater and more beautiful power for people than the power of Emperor Tiberius.”
Emperor means winner. This was the name given to the commander-in-chief of the Roman army. Therefore, the title “emperor” was not considered hereditary, and was not the most honorable.

What rank was Pontius Pilate? In one case, Bulgakov calls him a tribune (which corresponds to the rank of colonel), in another case, a commander of a cavalry tour (which corresponds to a lieutenant).

Well, and the famous white cloak with a bloody lining, which Bulgakov sometimes calls a mantle. Of course, men, especially military men, wore cloaks, but never a mantle! Because the mantle is in ancient Rome worn by women of brothels (lupanarii).

In Bulgakov's depiction, a bread shop in Jerusalem of the 1st century AD has nothing in common with historical reality. I saw in Jerusalem that the bakers themselves sell bread, and only men, and only whole flatbreads or loaves.

But imagine my disappointment when I learned that the main ideas of the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, to put it mildly, were borrowed from other authors.
We are talking, of course, not about primitive plagiarism, but about what was the source of inspiration. In the end, all culture is based on borrowing.
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, as we know, was also a talented interpreter of other people's ideas. The idea of ​​the conversation between the Grand Inquisitor and Christ in the novel “The Brothers Karamazov”, the story of a poor student and a prostitute in the book “Crime and Punishment” did not belong to him; as well as the plot with 100 thousand rubles in the novel “The Idiot”, which Nastasya Filippovna throws into the fire blazing in the fireplace.

But the talent of Dostoevsky, like Mikhail Bulgakov, lies in the fact that they wrote better, expressed the idea better. That’s why they are read and remembered, but the “fathers of the idea” have been forgotten.

We still do not know exactly who the true author of the tragedies “Hamlet” and “Romeo and Juliet” is. There is still debate about who is the author of the novel “Quiet Don”.
I also chose not to put my name on the title page, and under the copyright is the name of my friend who helped me publish the novel.

It is curious that Mikhail Bulgakov never mentions the name of the master. Although was it difficult for him to come up with a “speaking” surname?
Or maybe Bulgakov did not want to reveal the name of the master, and therefore did not name him, leaving us to unravel this mystery?

It is believed that by Master Mikhail Bulgakov meant himself. He was a member of the Writers' Union. MASSOLIT also stands for Masters of Socialist Literature.

“Are you a writer?” - asks the poet Bezdomny.
“I am a master,” answers the night guest.

Some believe that the prototype of the master was Maxim Gorky. And there are a lot of hints about this in the text. Alfred Barkov, the author of the book “Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”: an alternative reading,” thinks the same. He is trying to prove that the images of the novel's heroes encode the writer's contemporaries: the Master - Maxim Gorky, Margarita - Maria Andreeva, Levi Matvey - Leo Tolstoy, Woland - Lenin, Ivan Bezdomny - Bulgakov himself.

Or maybe everything is simple, and Bulgakov really portrayed himself? The USSR is a madhouse, the devil sits in the Kremlin, and he - Bulgakov - is a master, unlike many thousands of massolite writers..?

Bulgakov scholars offer different concepts for reading the novel: historical and social (V.Ya. Lakshin), Marietta Chudakova - biographical; aesthetic with historical and political context V.I. Nemtsev.

But even such a famous Bulgakov scholar as Marietta Chudakova, who wrote the book “The Biography of Mikhail Bulgakov” and personally knew the writer’s wife Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, will never tell the whole truth, will not reveal the secret of the writer’s genius.

Nowadays, many books are dedicated to the work of Mikhail Bulgakov. One of them is “The Life of Bulgakov”, author Viktor Petelin. In it, he writes, in particular: “We know nothing about the origin of the plan for the second novel” (about Yeshua and Pontius Pilate - NK.)

How did the idea of ​​the story about Jeusha Ha-Nozri and Pontius Pilate – the so-called “Gospel of Michael” – come about?

Priest Andrei Kuraev in his book “The Master and Margarita”: for Christ or against?” calls the novel within a novel (the Yershalaim story) “The Gospel of Satan.” Indeed, in the early editions of the novel, the first chapter of Woland’s story was called “The Gospel of Woland” and “The Gospel of the Devil.”

Victor Petelin (author of the book “The Life of Bulgakov”) tells how a friend of the artist N.A. Ushakova gave Mikhail Afanasyevich a book for which she made the cover - “Venediktov, or Memorable Events of My Life.” The author, who has not been revealed anywhere, is Professor Alexander Vasilyevich Chayanov.

“N. Ushakova, while illustrating the book, was amazed that the hero on whose behalf the story is told bears the name Bulgakov. Mikhail Afanasyevich was no less amazed by this coincidence.
The whole story is connected with Satan’s stay in Moscow, with Bulgakov’s struggle for the soul of his beloved woman, who fell into submission to the Devil.”
“I say with complete confidence that this short story served as the origin of the idea, the creative impetus for writing the novel “The Master and Margarita.”

“L.E. Belozerskaya (second wife of M.A. Bulgakov), comparing the speech structure of Chayanov’s story and the first edition of “The Master and Margarita,” comes to the conclusion: “Not only is the speech structure the same, but also the content of the introduction: the same fear, that the author, a non-professional writer, cannot cope with describing the “memorabilia” of his life.”

“Words have their own conscience,” said Akhmatova and Mandelstam. In the film “Black Snow,” Mikhail Bulgakov confesses that he, of course, “stained his lips”!

Irina Lvovna Galinskaya (author of the book “Cryptography of the novel “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov”), analyzing sources on the Albigensian wars and, in particular, the “Song of the Albigensian Crusade” of the 15th century, finds Bulgakov’s construction of the murder of Judas in the real murder of the Roman legate de Castelnau."

The text that we all read was edited by A.A. Sahakyants, editor of the Khudozhestvennaya Literatura publishing house.
As a result of Sahakyants’ work, 25 sentences disappeared from the manuscript, and 65 new sentences were inserted in their place. She changed 317 Bulgakov words, replaced 115 grammatical constructions and made 500 lexical substitutions.
As a result, the text, in my opinion, acquired a more correct artistic appearance, but lost the author’s “breath”.

A.A. Sahakyants said: “The novel “The Master and Margarita” can be called a plot-complete thing, but internally not quite complete, that is, it was completed, but Bulgakov returned to many of its chapters again and again, because the novel was written for more than ten years .
Moreover, it is curious that all the corrections, sometimes even completely new pieces, relate only to the “Moscow” pages, that is, to the living and changing modernity; The “Yershalaim” pages – about Pontius Pilate and Yeshua – remained absolutely unchanged, they were established in the writer’s mind once and for all...”

Already sick in 1939, Bulgakov dictated the final edits to his wife. She wrote them down in her notebook. “In the margins of the typescript there is a reference to “notebook No. 2,” but this notebook was not found in Bulgakov’s archive. E.S. Bulgakova handed over his archive in ideal (! - NK) order to the Manuscript Department of the Lenin Library.”

Why did notebook No. 2 disappear, and what was in it?

Once on one literary forum I read that the image of the Master had a real prototype. This man was an officer in his youth, then retired, was ordained, began writing a novel about Pontius Pilate, and even obtained a business trip to Jerusalem. But the revolution began, he returned to Russia, where he could no longer find a place for himself, and hid in a madhouse. From there he was taken by a caring woman, with whom he allegedly lived, almost in the same house as Mikhail Bulgakov. Bulgakov allegedly even knew him, and after his death, he used the remaining manuscripts and the very story of his life.

It is known that using a real story is simpler and easier than making it up.

Why did Bulgakov destroy the first two editions of the novel and many drafts?
It turns out that the manuscripts are on fire?!

I will quote several eloquent facts from the Bulgakov Encyclopedia.

"A large role in the interpretation early history Christ in the novel "The Master and Margarita" was played by Sergei Chevkin's play "Yeshua Ganotsri. An impartial discovery of the truth" (1922)... Chevkin's play has numerous parallels with the Yershalaim part of "The Master and Margarita". From this source Bulgakov drew a principle that differs from the Gospel transcription of names and geographical names...”

“At the feet of Pontius Pilate there is a puddle of red wine from a broken jug - a reminder of the just shed innocent blood of Yeshua Ha-Nozri. The episode with which the emergence of this puddle is connected has a clear parallel in Chevkin’s play.”

“Most likely, like Falernian, Caecuba wine was white. But Bulgakov deliberately sacrificed the detail for the sake of the symbol... Azazello poisons the master and Margarita with red Falernian wine, which does not exist in nature.”

“Chevkin and Bulgakov not only have the same symbolism, but also psychological motivation.”

“The unconventional interpretation of the behavior of the disciple who betrayed Yeshua, given by Chevkin, was partially reflected in Bulgakov in the image of Judas from Kiriath, while in Pontius Pilate of the Yershalaim scenes the influence of Georgy Petrovsky’s poem “Pilate” (1893-1894) is noticeable.”

“An important role in the interpretation of Christ in The Master and Margarita was played by Bulgakov’s acquaintance with Anatole France’s story “The Procurator of Judea” (1891) ... Bulgakov’s cordoning off of Bald Mountain exactly repeats the cordoning off of Mount Gazim in “The Procurator of Judea”.”

“...came into Bulgakov’s novel from Flaubert’s story “Herodias” (1877) ... probably such a significant detail of Pontius Pilate’s attire as the bloody lining on his white cloak is a harbinger of the coming shedding of innocent blood.”

“The very construction of the scene of Yeshua’s interrogation by Pilate in Bulgakov’s novel is also connected with the work of D.F. Strauss “The Life of Jesus.”

“In “The Master and Margarita” there are amazing similarities with the book of the famous Russian writer, poet and thinker Dmitry Sergeevich Merezhkovsky (1865-1941) “Jesus the Unknown”, published in Belgrade in 1932.”

“... a number of specific coincidences with Merezhkovsky’s book appeared in “The Master and Margarita” in the mid-30s, probably under the influence of acquaintance with “Jesus the Unknown.”
Merezhkovsky and Bulgakov’s image of Pontius Pilate turned out to be almost identical.”

“Quote from Goethe’s Faust: “... so who are you, finally? “I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good,” came into Bulgakov’s novel as an epigraph also from “Jesus the Unknown.”

“The author of The Master and Margarita borrows from Merezhkovsky some realities of the era, such as the mosaic in the praetorium, where the procurator is interrogating, or the centurion’s camp chair, on which Afranius sits during the execution. The procurator's order to untie Jesus' hands is also from “Jesus the Unknown.”

The purpose of this article of mine was not to expose the plagiarist, but to understand the mechanisms of the origin of the idea and how it is embodied in the finished work.

I read the novel “The Master and Margarita” several times, and was so inspired by it that ten years later I wrote my research novel “Stranger Strange Stranger Extraordinary Stranger.” It also has a story about Jesus Christ. I saved all eleven editions of the novel that took six years to write.

Of the mass of books I read, like Mikhail Bulgakov, I most liked the work of the English researcher F. Farrar, “The Life of Jesus Christ.” This book convinces with its historical facts. But what attracted me to this book was the fact that both the robber Bar-Rabban and the preacher Ha-Nozri had the same name - Jesus (as Farrar claims). This is what I built the collision of my plot on.

Of course, I was impressed not only by the novel “The Master and Margarita”, but also by Dostoevsky’s “legend of the great inquisitor” from the novel “The Brothers Karamazov”, I watched many films about Jesus Christ, and attended the play “The Master and Margarita” by Yuri Lyubimov.. .
But I deliberately did not read other people’s novels about Jesus Christ, so that this would not affect my own vision. I read the story “Judas Iscariot” by Leonid Andreev later.

And so, when on the night of Good Friday before Easter the story about two Jesuses was written in one breath, putting an end to it, I felt that the novel would definitely see the light of day. Although there was no reason for this - after the disaster I was a lonely disabled person with broken legs.
And it’s still a miracle for me that the novel was published!

“Alien strange incomprehensible extraordinary stranger” is also a menippea, but not a classic one, although it is dedicated to the eternal question - Why does a person live?!
The conclusion I came to as a result of writing the novel is LOVE TO CREATE NECESSITY!

But to understand this, it was necessary to die, be resurrected, and go through the long path of co-crucifixion with Christ...

“My spirit soars over fallen people crowded at the cross of shame. Golgotha ​​and suffering are behind us, and salvation and freedom are ahead. I love, I love, I am saved by love, only because I believed in it. Like a bird, I am inspired by love, because I entrusted my soul to God. I believed without a doubt in my soul that God would hear all my prayers and would not leave me alone in trouble, giving me a cross instead of a battlefield. A miracle has happened! The shameful cross became a triumph of Love instead of humiliation. Jesus Christ, take me with you, freeing my spirit for the Ascension.”
(from my novel “Stranger Strange Incomprehensible Extraordinary Stranger” on the New Russian Literature website

Before his death, Mikhail Afanasyevich said: “I wanted to serve the people... I wanted to live and serve in my own corner... I did no harm to anyone...”.

P.S. I would be grateful to everyone who will complement or clarify the content of this article of mine.

© Nikolay Kofirin – New Russian Literature –