The Master and Margarita

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Continuing on with my mission to read my way through my entire personal library as well as broaden my literary horizons, this week I have taken a trip to Soviet Moscow and witnessed some delightful mayhem at the hands of the Devil himself. This week the book of choice was Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita.

On a warm summer day, the Devil turns up in Moscow. He strikes up a conversation with two artists that ends with one being decapitated by a train and the other in the asylum. This seemingly innocuous occurrence sets the city abuzz with strange happenings: people disappearing, money turning into champagne labels, and people being turned into witches and flying pigs. At the centre of it all is Woland, an eccentric magician of the black arts and his entourage of various curious characters including a naked woman and a giant black cat. But while the law buckles underneath the weight of the chaos and the asylum becomes in danger of being packed to capacity, it seems that some people are immune to the destructive powers of the Devil: a despondent writer known as The Master and his adulterous lover Margarita.

Time for a little history. The Master and Margarita was originally digested and circulated underground, having been written during Stalin’s reign of Soviet totalitarianism. Despite Bulgakov being praised as one of Stalin’s favourite playwrights, the book didn’t come into public consciousness until after his death when, in 1966 (almost thirty years after Bulgakov’s death), the first part was published in the Moskva journal. Since then, it has endured, gone from strength to strength, with many of its poignant phrases becoming modern Russian proverbs and even having reach in the West – apparently the Rolling Stones’ song Sympathy For the Devil was inspired by Woland.

The book is made up of two stories that become interconnected. The first being set in modern Moscow where the Devil turns up to wreak a little havoc, and the second in ancient Jerusalem starring Pontius Pilate. The entire story is a cheeky and mischievous satire of Soviet life mixed with religious allegory: the joke being that only the morally- fluid (to just the right degree) can come through a visit from the Devil unscathed.

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Bulgakov’s cast of colourful and charismatic characters, described with a nonchalant omniscient narrator’s voice, reminds us of the chaos of Carrol’s Alice In Wonderland – but with more nudity and decapitation. What’s really delightful about the whole thing is that there is no targeted character to hate or properly vilify. While Woland and his entourage are definitely the cause of the chaos and destruction of social law, they are not painted as villains: indeed, when the Master and Margarita encounter them, they are perfectly pleasant and gracious hosts. The mayhem that ensues after their little party tricks highlights the flaws of a rigid social structure and a binary belief system. Neither the Master nor Margarita are saints, but they are rewarded for their moral ambiguity, committing sins which are textbook-wrong but do not badly hurt or inhibit other parties, thanks to the way they approach and handle them.

The Master and Margarita is an out-of-control carnival of magic, flesh, vodka, madness, drama, and comedy. It’s a story with many layers, each one a very tasty treat.

Author: Mikhail Bulgakov

Published: Moskva Journal, 1966. First published in Great Britain by Collins and the Harvill Press, 1967. Pictured Vintage edition published 2003.