A Reader's Companion to Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita

Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, set in Stalin's Moscow, is an intriguing work with a complex structure, wonderful comic episodes and moments of great beauty. Readers are often left tantalized but uncertain how to understand its rich meanings. To what extent is it political? Or religious? And how should we interpret the Satanic Woland? This reader's companion offers readers a biographical introduction, and analyses of the structure and the main themes of the novel. More curious readers will also enjoy the accounts of the novel's writing and publication history, alongside analyses of the work's astonishing linguistic complexity and a review of available English translations.

“"This new volume is an excellent appreciation of Bulgakov's second, final and greatest novel The Master and Margarita . Curtis is a brilliant Bulgakov scholar and her 1991 edition of his letters and diaries delivers an incredibly moving and powerful examination of his relationship with his wife and the ways in which writers were oppressed by the Soviet state. These acts of oppression are generally discussed in a circumspect way in The Master and Margarita and Curtis is at pains to dismiss previous critics' readings of the novel as something which must be '"decoded" before it will reveal its secrets.' ... Curtis is an erudite and engaging guide to this wonderful book. It's a well-known text to me and I still found a huge amount to enjoy here." --Fortochka, Medium”

“This new volume is an excellent appreciation of Bulgakov’s second, final and greatest novel The Master and Margarita. Curtis is a brilliant Bulgakov scholar and her 1991 edition of his letters and diaries delivers an incredibly moving and powerful examination of his relationship with his wife and the ways in which writers were oppressed by the Soviet state. These acts of oppression are generally discussed in a circumspect way in The Master and Margarita and Curtis is at pains to dismiss previous critics’ readings of the novel as something which must be ‘“decoded” before it will reveal its secrets.’ … Curtis is an erudite and engaging guide to this wonderful book. It’s a well-known text to me and I still found a huge amount to enjoy here.” —Fortochka, Medium

“A Reader’s Companion to The Master and Margaritasucceeds in unpacking a novel which is complex thematically, textologically andfrom a narrative perspective. The companion does this with rigour, clarity andsubtlety and, as such, represents an indispensable guide to a twentieth-centuryRussian classic.”

—John Cook, University ofMelbourne, Australian Slavonic and East European Studies

“As its title suggests, this book is designed for thoseapproaching The Master and Margarita for the first time (perhaps on anundergraduate Russian course), and as such it makes an excellent introduction tothe text. However, it is also suitable for those who are already familiar with TheMaster and Margarita and with Bulgakov scholarship, and perhaps arereturning to teaching the text after a break, since it provides a comprehensiveoverview of scholarly literature on the novel and contains some particular andoriginal insights into it. … Overall, this is a hugely enjoyable read. It isbeautifully written and carefully curated, yet allows Curtis’s own nuancedreadings to shine through.”

—Elizabeth Harrison, BASEES Newsletter

J. A. E. Curtis has been exploring the life and works of Mikhail Bulgakov since the 1970s, when The Master and Margarita sensationally appeared for the first time. She teaches Russian Literature at the University of Oxford, and has also published research on Evgenii Zamiatin, and on 21st-century Russian drama.

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