0:00:07.982,0:00:10.572
The Devil has come to town.

0:00:10.572,0:00:14.652
But don’t worry – all he wants to do [br]is stage a magic show.

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This absurd premise forms the central plot[br]of Mikhail Bulgakov’s masterpiece,

0:00:20.317,0:00:22.322
"The Master and Margarita."

0:00:22.322,0:00:24.992
Written in Moscow during the 1930s,

0:00:24.992,0:00:30.632
this surreal blend of political satire, [br]historical fiction, and occult mysticism

0:00:30.632,0:00:34.632
has earned a legacy as one of the 20th [br]century’s greatest novels–

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and one of its strangest.

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The story begins when a meeting between[br]two members of Moscow’s literary elite

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is interrupted by a strange gentleman [br]named Woland,

0:00:45.315,0:00:47.705
who presents himself as a foreign scholar

0:00:47.705,0:00:51.245
invited to give a presentation [br]on black magic.

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As the stranger engages the two companions[br]in a philosophical debate

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and makes ominous predictions [br]about their fates,

0:00:58.278,0:01:01.949
the reader is suddenly transported [br]to first-century Jerusalem.

0:01:01.949,0:01:04.399
There a tormented Pontius Pilate

0:01:04.399,0:01:08.699
reluctantly sentences Jesus of [br]Nazareth to death.

0:01:08.699,0:01:11.497
With the narrative shifting between [br]the two settings,

0:01:11.497,0:01:16.307
Woland and his entourage– Azazello, [br]Koroviev, Hella,

0:01:16.307,0:01:18.788
and a giant cat named Behemoth–

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are seen to have uncanny magical powers,

0:01:21.428,0:01:23.648
which they use to stage their performance

0:01:23.648,0:01:28.348
while leaving a trail of havoc [br]and confusion in their wake.

0:01:28.348,0:01:32.780
Much of the novel’s dark humor comes [br]not only from this demonic mischief,

0:01:32.780,0:01:35.660
but also the backdrop [br]against which it occurs.

0:01:35.660,0:01:39.660
Bulgakov’s story takes place in the same [br]setting where it was written–

0:01:39.660,0:01:43.310
the USSR at the height of the [br]Stalinist period.

0:01:43.310,0:01:46.889
There, artists and authors worked [br]under strict censorship,

0:01:46.889,0:01:50.299
subject to imprisonment, exile, [br]or execution

0:01:50.299,0:01:53.679
if they were seen as undermining [br]state ideology.

0:01:53.679,0:01:55.879
Even when approved, their work–

0:01:55.879,0:01:58.379
along with housing, travel, [br]and everything else–

0:01:58.379,0:02:01.419
was governed by a convoluted bureaucracy.

0:02:01.419,0:02:06.509
In the novel, Woland manipulates this [br]system along with the fabric of reality,

0:02:06.509,0:02:08.519
to hilarious results.

0:02:08.519,0:02:12.749
As heads are separated from bodies [br]and money rains from the sky,

0:02:12.749,0:02:16.431
the citizens of Moscow react with [br]petty-self interest,

0:02:16.431,0:02:22.111
illustrating how Soviet society bred greed[br]and cynicism despite its ideals.

0:02:22.111,0:02:25.539
And the matter-of-fact narration [br]deliberately blends

0:02:25.539,0:02:27.919
the strangeness of the supernatural [br]events

0:02:27.919,0:02:31.659
with the everyday absurdity [br]of Soviet life.

0:02:31.659,0:02:35.869
So how did Bulgakov manage to publish [br]such a subversive novel

0:02:35.869,0:02:38.234
under an oppressive regime?

0:02:38.234,0:02:40.284
Well… he didn’t.

0:02:40.284,0:02:43.484
He worked on "The Master and Margarita"[br]for over ten years.

0:02:43.484,0:02:45.424
But while Stalin’s personal favor

0:02:45.424,0:02:48.904
may have kept Bulgakov safe [br]from severe persecution,

0:02:48.904,0:02:51.904
many of his plays and writings [br]were kept from production,

0:02:51.904,0:02:55.424
leaving him safe but effectively silenced.

0:02:55.424,0:02:57.844
Upon the author’s death in 1940,

0:02:57.844,0:03:00.034
the manuscript remained unpublished.

0:03:00.034,0:03:03.884
A censored version was eventually [br]printed in the 1960s,

0:03:03.884,0:03:07.024
while copies of the unabridged manuscript [br]continued to circulate

0:03:07.024,0:03:09.214
among underground literary circles.

0:03:09.214,0:03:12.674
The full text was only published in 1973,

0:03:12.674,0:03:15.934
over 30 years after its completion.

0:03:15.934,0:03:19.754
Bulgakov’s experiences with censorship [br]and artistic frustration

0:03:19.754,0:03:23.474
lend an autobiographical air to the [br]second part of the novel,

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when we are finally introduced [br]to its namesake.

0:03:26.104,0:03:30.454
‘The Master’ is a nameless author who’s [br]worked for years on a novel

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but burned the manuscript [br]after it was rejected by publishers–

0:03:34.164,0:03:36.964
just as Bulgakov had done [br]with his own work.

0:03:36.964,0:03:41.214
Yet the true protagonist is the Master’s [br]mistress Margarita.

0:03:41.214,0:03:45.467
Her devotion to her lover’s abandoned [br]dream bears a strange connection

0:03:45.467,0:03:48.207
to the diabolical company’s escapades–

0:03:48.207,0:03:51.627
and carries the story to [br]its surreal climax.

0:03:51.627,0:03:55.156
Despite its dark humor and [br]complex structure,

0:03:55.156,0:04:02.406
"The Master and Margarita" is, at its heart,[br]a meditation on art, love, and redemption

0:04:02.406,0:04:05.233
that never loses itself in cynicism.

0:04:05.233,0:04:09.593
And the book’s long overdue publication [br]and survival against the odds

0:04:09.593,0:04:14.060
is a testament to what Woland tells the [br]Master:

0:04:14.060,0:04:17.297
“Manuscripts don’t burn.”