The Master and Margarita in Reading 1001

Nov 14, 2016 Rebekah rated it liked it

Shelves: e-book, 1001-import, genre-classics, genre-fantasy, genre-literature, genre-cultural-russia, genre-literature-russian-literature, book-club, genre-fiction, nbrc-bom-br

I tried really hard to like this one, but I ultimately found it fairly dull and didn't understand the point. The Biblical re-telling was more interesting than the Russian literary plot in my opinion. ...more

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May 28, 2011 Kristel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, 1001-challenge, russian-literature

The novel is a story with one storyline set in Jerusalem and the other in Moscow. The devil visits Moscow, a country that is identifying itself as atheistic. The setting is the 1930s, Professor Woland visits Moscow with his retinue of the ex choirmaster Koroviev, Behemoth the cat (a kind of Puss in Boots) and a reference to a Biblical monster, Russian word for Hippopotamus and the fanged Azazello. There is also Abadonna (death) and Hella (witch and vampire). The visit is to the literary elite of The novel is a story with one storyline set in Jerusalem and the other in Moscow. The devil visits Moscow, a country that is identifying itself as atheistic. The setting is the 1930s, Professor Woland visits Moscow with his retinue of the ex choirmaster Koroviev, Behemoth the cat (a kind of Puss in Boots) and a reference to a Biblical monster, Russian word for Hippopotamus and the fanged Azazello. There is also Abadonna (death) and Hella (witch and vampire). The visit is to the literary elite of the trade union MASSOLIT. Not a real trade union but may stand for the Moscow Association of Writers. The second setting is Jerusalem and the characters are Pontius Pilate, Yeshua Ha-Notsri, Matthu Levi and Yehudah (Judas). The first book sets up the Variety Show that has women running the streets in their underwear and money turning into worthless labels. The second book really introduces Margarita, the mistress of the Master. She is invited to the Devil鈥檚 midnight Ball where she will be Queen to Satan. She enjoys her supernatural powers, learning to fly and control her passions and to obtain some satisfaction by destroying the home of a literary bureaucrat that has ruined the Master鈥檚 life. This ball coincides with Good Friday and the spring full moon. It is very interesting to look up The Spring Festival Ball at Spaso House and the Master and Margarita. This was a historical event that the author attended. There was decorations that created a forest of birch trees in the chandelier room, dining room covered with tulips and lawn covered with chicory grown on felt. There were pheasants, parakeets and zebra finches from the Moscow Zoo. The festival lasted until early hours of morning.

Margarite and the Master then die but are brought back to spend time in peace but denied light. They will spend eternity in the shadow region. This is a section of the book with many great quotes;

鈥渨hat would your good be doing if there were no evil, and what would the earth look like if shadows disappeared from it?...鈥�

鈥淏ut, then, those who love must share the fate of those they love.鈥�

鈥淓verything will turn out right. That鈥檚 what the world is built on.鈥�

There are several characters in this book, there are characters of Moscow and the theater, there are the characters of Jerusalem and the characters of Satan. The novel deals with good and evil. courage and cowardice and innocence and guilt. This is also a romance, a love story of the Master and Margarita. There are; light and darkness, noise and silence, sun and moon, and storms. Music and literature strongly influence the book. Characters are named after musicians, there are references to Goethe鈥檚 Faust and opera, Nikolai Gogol, and Dostoyevsky and even a reference to Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. There are strong elements of magical realism.

I felt this was a very original work. Some have considered it one of the best novels of the 20th century. The characters were very interesting, the writing was good. The characters were odd and the names being long Russian names added some difficulty but the author was able to make these characters interesting and to the point you actually engaged positively with Satan鈥檚 retinue. It is not a hard read as some Russian writing can be perceived. I felt that the translated I read was good though I have heard there is a better one. I just happened to own this one so it is what I read and I didn鈥檛 find it lacking. ...more

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