The Master and Margarita

Author: Mikhail Bulgakov

Rating: ⭐ 4/5

Date Read: 2012/09/22

Pages: 448

The Master and Margarita is an allegory about literature in Soviet Russia. Beyond that, it defies explanation. The devil visits Russia as a foreign consultant. He is accompanied by a pince-nez wearing translator and a vodka-swilling talking cat. Since the Soviet Union is an atheistic country, no one believes in the devil, which doesn’t stop him from putting on a dark magic show.

Things get even stranger when Margarita shows up. I can’t really explain what happens next. I guess you could call it a love story.

Embedded within the book are references to Faust, Pontius Pilate, and the absurd realities of life in soviet society. Pilate’s storyline is woven in and out of the storylines of other characters, and is a highlight of the book. I’ve seen it called magical realism, but to be honest it’s heavy on the magic and light on the realism. I would have preferred a more realistic book, but it’s clear that circumstances prevented Bulgakov from writing realistically. His magical world is richly imagined. I’d compare it to the hell created by Dante in The Inferno, if Dante had made the devil up and then refused to take him seriously.