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The Devil has come to town.
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But don’t worry – all he wants to do
is stage a magic show.
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This absurd premise forms the central plot
of Mikhail Bulgakov’s masterpiece,
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The Master and Margarita.
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Written in Moscow during the 1930s,
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this surreal blend of political satire,
historical fiction, and occult mysticism
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has earned a legacy as one of the 20th
century’s greatest novels–
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and one of its strangest.
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The story begins when a meeting between
two members of Moscow’s literary elite
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is interrupted by a strange gentleman
named Woland,
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who presents himself as a foreign scholar
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invited to give a presentation
on black magic.
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As the stranger engages the two companions
in a philosophical debate
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and makes ominous predictions
about their fates,
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the reader is suddenly transported
to first-century Jerusalem.
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There a tormented Pontius Pilate
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reluctantly sentences Jesus of
Nazareth to death.
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With the narrative shifting between
the two settings,
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Woland and his entourage– Azazello,
Koroviev, Hella,
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and a giant cat named Behemoth–
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are seen to have uncanny magical powers,
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which they use to stage their performance
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while leaving a trail of havoc
and confusion in their wake.
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Much of the novel’s dark humor comes
not only from this demonic mischief,
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but also the backdrop
against which it occurs.
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Bulgakov’s story takes place in the same
setting where it was written–
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the USSR at the height of the
Stalinist period.
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There, artists and authors worked
under strict censorship,
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subject to imprisonment, exile,
or execution
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if they were seen as undermining
state ideology.
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Even when approved, their work–
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along with housing, travel,
and everything else–
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was governed by a convoluted bureaucracy.
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In the novel, Woland manipulates this
system along with the fabric of reality,
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to hilarious results.
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As heads are separated from bodies
and money rains from the sky,
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the citizens of Moscow react with
petty-self interest,
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illustrating how Soviet society bred greed
and cynicism despite its ideals.
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And the matter-of-fact narration
deliberately blends
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the strangeness of the supernatural
events
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with the everyday absurdity
of Soviet life.
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So how did Bulgakov manage to publish
such a subversive novel
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under an oppressive regime?
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Well… he didn’t.
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He worked on The Master and Margarita
for over ten years.
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But while Stalin’s personal favor
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may have kept Bulgakov safe
from severe persecution,
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many of his plays and writings
were kept from production,
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leaving him safe but effectively silenced.
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Upon the author’s death in 1940,
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the manuscript remained unpublished.
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A censored version was eventually
printed in the 1960s,
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while copies of the unabridged manuscript
continued to circulate
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among underground literary circles.
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The full text was only published in 1973,
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over 30 years after its completion.
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Bulgakov’s experiences with censorship
and artistic frustration
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lend an autobiographical air to the
second part of the novel,
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when we are finally introduced
to its namesake.
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‘The Master’ is a nameless author who’s
worked for years on a novel
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but burned the manuscript
after it was rejected by publishers–
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just as Bulgakov had done
with his own work.
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Yet the true protagonist is the Master’s
mistress Margarita.
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Her devotion to her lover’s abandoned
dream bears a strange connection
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to the diabolical company’s escapades–
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and carries the story to
its surreal climax.
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Despite its dark humor and
complex structure,
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The Master and Margarita is, at its heart,
a meditation on art, love, and redemption
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that never loses itself in cynicism.
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And the book’s long overdue publication
and survival against the odds
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is a testament to what Woland tells the
Master:
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“Manuscripts don’t burn.”