The Master and Margarita

Mikhail Bulgakov

Penguin, 1997 - Fiction - 411 pages

A masterful translation of one of the great novels of the 20th century

Nothing in the whole of literature compares with The Master and Margarita. Full of pungency and wit, this luminous work is Bulgakov's crowning achievement, skilfully blending magical and realistic elements, grotesque situations and major ethical concerns. Written during the darkest period of Stalin's repressive reign and a devastating satire of Soviet life, it combines two distinct yet interwoven parts, one set in contemporary Moscow, the other in ancient Jerusalem, each brimming with incident and with historical, imaginary, frightful and wonderful characters. Although completed in 1940, The Master and Margarita was not published until 1966 when the first section appeared in the monthly magazine Moskva. Russians everywhere responded enthusiastically to the novel's artistic and spiritual freedom and it was an immediate and enduring success. This new translation has been made from the complete and unabridged Russian text.

 

What people are saying

Master and the Margarita

User Review  - OstkUser1370381 - Overstock.com

Delightful book with a different tone than the other famous Russian writers. This book makes for a good compare and contrast to Brothers Karamazov. I highly recommend this book for group discussion otherwise many points are lost when only read alone.

Contents

• Never Talk with Strangers: 7
• Pontius Pilate: 19
• The Seventh Proof: 42
• The Chase: 47
• There were Doings at Griboedovs: 55
• Schizophrenia as was Said: 67
• A Naughty Apartment: 75
• The Combat between the Professor and the Poet: 86
• Korovievs Stunts: 95
• News From Yalta: 104
• Ivan Splits in Two: 115
• Black Magic and Its Exposure: 119
• The Hero Enters: 133
• Glory to the Cock: 151
• Nikanor Ivanovichs Dream: 159
• The Execution: 171
• An Unquiet Day: 183
• Hapless Visitors: 195
• Margarita: 217
• Azazellos Cream: 230
• Flight: 235
• By Candlelight: 248
• The Great Ball at Satans: 261
• The Extraction of the Master: 276
• How the Procurator Tried to Save Judas of Kiriath: 299
• The Burial: 310
• The End of Apartment No 50: 331
• The Last Adventures of Koroviev and Behemoth: 347
• The Fate of the Master and Margarita is Decided: 359
• Its Time Its Time: 364
• On Sparrow Hills: 376
• Forgiveness and Eternal Refuge: 379
• Epilogue: 385
• Notes: 397

About the author

Mikhail Bulgakov (1891–1940) was a doctor, a novelist, a playwright, a short-story writer, and the assistant director of the Moscow Arts Theater. His body of work includes The White Guard, The Fatal Eggs, Heart of a Dog, and his masterpiece, The Master and Margarita, published more than twenty-five years after his death and cited as an inspiration for Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have produced acclaimed translations of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol, and Bulgakov. Their translation of The Brothers Karamazov won the 1991 PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize. They are married and live in Paris, France.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Master and Margarita; Fontana Russian novels; Fontana modern novels; Penguin Classics; Penguin twentieth-century classics
• Author: Mikhail Bulgakov
• Translated by: Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Penguin, 1997
• ISBN: 0141180145, 9780141180144
• Length: 411 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Literary