Mikhail Bulgakov`s ” The Master & Margarita” is a fiercely satirical fantasy that remained unpublished in its author`s home country for over thirty years. This ” Penguin Classics” edition is translated with an introduction by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky, the acclaimed translators of Tolstoy`s Anna Karenina. In Soviet Moscow, God is dead, but the devil
- to say nothing of his retinue of demons, from a loudmouthed, gun-toting tomcat, to the fanged fallen angel Koroviev
- is very much alive. As death & destruction spread through the city like wildfire, condemning Moscow`s cultural elite to prison cells & body bags, only a madman, the ” Master & Margarita”, his beautiful, courageous lover, can hope to end the chaos. Written in secret during the darkest days of Stalin`s reign & circulated in samizdat form for decades, when ” The Master & the Margarita” was finally published it became an overnight literary phenomenon, signalling artistic freedom for Russians everywhere. This luminous translation from the complete & unabridged Russian text is accompanied by an introduction by Richard Pevear exploring the extraordinary circumstances of the novel`s composition & publication, & how Bulgakov drew on carnivalesque folk traditions to create his ironic subversion of Soviet propaganda. This edition also contains a list of further reading & a note on the text. After finishing high school, Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) entered the Medical School of Kiev University, graduating in 1916. He wrote about his experiences as a doctor in his early works ” Notes of a Young Country Doctor”. His later works treated the subject of the artist & the tyrant under the guise of historical characters, but ” The Master & Margarita” is generally considered his masterpiece. If you enjoyed ” The Master & Margarita”, you might like Jonathan Swift`s ” Gulliver`s Travels”, also available in ” Penguin Classics”. ” One of the great novels of the 20th century, a scary, darkly comic allegory”. (” Daily Telegraph”).