Title: Мастер и Маргарита
First published: 1985
Description: *The Master and Margarita* (Russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940. The story concerns a visit by the devil and his entourage to the officially atheist Soviet Union. The devil, manifested as one Professor Woland, challenges the Soviet citizens' beliefs towards religion and condemns their behavior throughout the book. *The Master and Margarita* combines supernatural elements with satirical dark comedy and Christian philosophy, defying categorization within a single genre. Many critics consider it to be one of the best novels of the 20th century, as well as the foremost of Soviet satires. A censored version, with several chapters cut by editors, was published posthumously in Moscow magazine in 1966–1967 by his widow Elena Bulgakova. The manuscript was not published as a book until 1967, in Paris. A samizdat version circulated that included parts cut out by official censors, and these were incorporated in a 1969 version published in Frankfurt. The novel has since been published in several languages and editions.
Subjects: satire, humor, Politicians, Good and evil, Alienation, atheism, magicians, bands, political fiction, allegories, Fiction, Literature, Fantasy, Mental illness, Classic Literature, History, Russian Political fiction, Continental european fiction (fictional works by one author), Moscow (russia), fiction, Fiction, humorous, Fiction, satire, Slavic philology, E guo xiao shuo, Jerusalem, fiction, Soviet union, fiction, Fiction, historical, general, Fiction, action & adventure, Fiction, humorous, general, Jerusalem, Fiction, general, Literature, history and criticism, Russian fiction, Translations into English, Devil, Fiction, political, Allegory, Bands (Music)
Places: Russia, Soviet Union, Jerusalem, Moscow, Patriarch's Ponds, Griboyedov's house
People: The Devil, Woland, Koroviev, Behemoth, Azazello, Hella, Pontius Pilate, Yeshua Ha-Notsri, Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz, Ivan Nikolayevich Ponyryov, the Master, Margarita, Natasha Prokofyevna, Stephan Bogdanovich Likhodeyev, Grigory Danilovich Rimsky, Ivan Savelyevich Varenukha, Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy, Fagotto, Aphranius, Levi Matvei, Caiaphas, Judas Iscariot
Time periods: 1920, 29–30 CE
LC classification: PG'3476'B78'M314'1968