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Summary: This book is, in one word, brilliant, a unique diamond...
Review: I was only 14 years old when i first read The Master And Margarita for the first time, and, for I am German, in German.
However, I am now 17 (still a little young some might think), going to school in the USA and have read it about a hundret times; still, whenever I get to the last page, i want to break in tears for both, the fact that it's over and the eternal forgiveness that the three main characters (the master, margarita and pontius pilate) experience. Bulgakov managed to combine a sharp political satire with a heart-breaking romance (believe me: I don't use that word very often...), he created a world that forgot the supernatural, whose tragic heroes literally go through hell to finally receive their well-deserved eternal rest. It is a book mainly about two things: HOPE and FORGIVENESS. And even if you might have trouble getting into it: Once you are, you are lost to it forever, just as poor me, who wishes for only one thing; to be with Voland (or,in the english version, woland)and jesus on the roof on that last day at sunset, or to be one one of the horses on ths sparrow hills and see koroview whistle... It certainly is one of the best books of our time, and will be a diamond of world-literature FOREVER.
Thank you for your patience.
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Summary: Simply the best book ever, in a fine translation
Review: This is, simply put, the greatest piece of literature of the 20th century, quite possible of any century. The complex interweaving of plot, characters, themes and morals make Master and Margarita a novel that is enjoyable an infinite amount of times in an infinite number of ways. Among the innumerable superlatives I could dedicate to this book are the following: greatest satire of 1930s Russian society, particularly the literary society; greatest critique of the inherent hypocrisy of Socialism as it was practiced, namely, that the more people claim to disdain property, the more they use property as the foundation of their moral and social schemas; the most skillful manipulation of prosaic styles--that is, the narration changes distinctly from one chapter to the next, often because of change of point of view (the omniscient narrator's to the Master's novel's), and other times due to a general change of subject matter and mood; the most outrageous and hilarious plot ever; the most engaging and pointed criticism of the ethics of Christianity as practiced by modern believers.... The list could go on and on. Master and Margarita is a masterpiece in the true sense of the word. As for this translation: I have used several different translations of this book, and this seems to be the best. It is heavily annotated; footnotes, denoted throughout the text, are collected in an appendix that takes up a good portion of the book, and this extra information provides a great deal of clarification to the reader, especially the non-Russian-speaking one. Much of this clarification is necessary to proper comprehension of the novel, while some of it is merely to provide a greater insight into the themes addressed and the environment in which the addressing was done. Textually, the translation also seems to be quite good. Unfortunately, my Russian is not excellent; I have read the original Russian, but I am afraid that my senses of nuance and fine shading of meaning are less than adequate to dissect a work of these proportions. From what I can tell, however, this translation is the most successful at remaining faithful to the actual words of Bulgakov while also staying true to the rhythm and style of his writing in a broader sense. If you haven't read this book, buy it now. You'll want to read it again and again--quite possibly because you didn't understand it the first time, but certainly because there is no end to the rewards that immersion in Bulgakov's world can impart on a reader.
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Summary: to add to the feedback above...
Review: Well, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't (pardon the pun!). The translators seem to have done this word by word...and some complain the idiom is lost. But, had they gotten closer to the idiom, purists would've said they messed with Bulgakov's words. Russian and English aren't as easily translated into one another as English and German or English and French. Oh well. Even if you can't read Russian, do buy the English translation. This is a very strange and fascinating book. If, however, you do not have a pretty good attention span, or an interest in the supernatural, don't bother. There are so many characters, and they all have about 3 names which the author uses interchangably. Since all names are Russian, this makes it even harder for the English speaking reader to keep track of. As for supernatural elements, a basic knowledge of the Christian Ressurrection story is required, but at the same time, one might not want to be easily offended by black magic. The two go hand in hand here, which is what makes the book so strange and wonderful. I still can't decide if I liked it, but I surely couldn't leave it unfinished. And it's a bit more cheerful than your usual Russian fare.
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Summary: This is not about GOD or evil ! It is about YOU !
Review: I gave 5 stars To Bulgakov . Translation deserves less then 3 .
I know , it is unpossible to translate a book the perfect way after author's death . The only right way , I think , is the way how I did with mine : I read to translators every frase , than I ecsplained the feeling , which I wanted readers to have . I Wanted readers not to read it , but feel it . And this , what translation of this book lost .
And from my point of view : this is not about GOD or evil , It is about you ! Yes , for most of us -- the real world is a grey and unwanted . It is a world to escape , not a world to live in . And Bulgakov makes an exellent point : your world is , what you make it . You don't wait for someone to make it perfect ! YOU make it the way you want it . In his scenario: ALL you need- is LOVE . And I surrunder ... he said it the way , I hope I can say it one day ... but it is only hope .
For me - THE best book ever written ... it did change all my life for better . And if one day , just one person will say it about my books ... I'll die a happy man...
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Summary: Whimsical, surprising, and substantive
Review: I really need to learn Russian one of these days. Then I could read this book in the original. It is truly a masterpiece--funny, sad, engaging, and thoroughly well-crafted. Split between the uproarious devil-in-Moscow scenes and the novel- within-a-novel about Pilate, The Master and Margarita isn't like anything else you've ever read. It has a lot to say about the big themes of art, life and humanity but it's never pretentious and always highly readable. Truly unforgettable and highly recommended.
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Summary: ANOTHER MASTERSTROKE
Review: This is one of the best books written by Mikhail Bulgakov and probably the most known and the most accepted in Russian. He was a master and this is a masterpiece.
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Summary: What the devil?
Review: THE MASTER AND MARGARITA has long been one of my favorite novels, so I was delighted when I came across this new (and improved) translation, which gave me an excuse to re-read Bulgakov's masterpiece. The devil, in the guise of the foreign magician, Woland, comes to Soviet Moscow, and hilariously turns the place upside down. But Woland's mastery of sleight-of-hand pales in comparison to that of Bulgakov himself. Partly because of fear of censorship and partly because of the climate of post-modernism, Bulgakov's text is brimming with irony and double-meaning. Nothing is quite what it seems. Is Woland a bad guy or a good guy? Is Bulgakov critiquing his totalitarian regime, or the premises of modernity all-together? Who wrote that novel within a novel about Pilate? What is truth? My favorite irony is that against the post-modernists, Bulgakov clearly does believe in truth. Not the easy black-and-white truths that many hold, but something which lies beyond - in a vision where our simple notions of good and evil are mocked (in all good humor) and then set aside in favor of a vision which still has a sense that in the end, all will be as it should be. That is the greatness of Bulgakov - he gets the better of almost every argument that WE face (not just the Stalinists), and yet he likes us still, as he observes us in our flaming human weakness. You should read this book. It's really fun. Bulgakov draws you into a world where cats can talk and pigs can fly; where lovers love with passion, but you never see them have sex; and where Pontius Pilate can wait through all eternity with his loyal dog Banga for one last talk with that strange prisoner Yeshua Ha-Nostri. A book for the ages.
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Summary: Nothing Sacred
Review: In his biting social satire, Bulgakov take no prisoners. His chef d'oeuvre tells us of Satan's descent into 1930's Moscow and the chaotic consequences of the absurd meeting between a supernatural entity and a society that denies him. The devil, a paradox ironically explained as a hypnotist by a bureaucratic social monolith that is itself hypnotized (or, perhaps more accurately, enslaved, by Stalin), exposes the silliness of mass atheism, the materialistic pettiness of a rationed socialist economy, the moral excesses of self-righteous hypocrites, and the self-disgust of corrupt artists. One of the more interesting things to consider in this book is the 'hierarchy of creation,' highlighted by the parallel narration of the Pilate-Jesus story. Since Satan tells the same story that the Master conjures up in his mind, what are we to make of the origins of good and evil, of God, of Satan, and of human beings themselves? Further, the original take on the Christ story raises issues such as the accuracy of Gospels. "Manuscripts don't burn," Satan famously declares, and indeed, Berlioz and his Stalinist compatriots don't seem fated to eradicate the Bible. This quote also seems to encapsulate Bulgakov's own hopes that his works would survive the test of time and ultimately find appreciation in a country and time whose leaders suppressed his talents. Bulgakov's prose is light and comical, if his ideas are substantial. After the devil is done debunking Moscow society, there is a headless master of ceremonies, an invisible bureacrat, literateurs and other hacks flooding the mental hospital and disappearing. The demonic cat Behemoth and translator Koroviev/Fagot provide ample satire with their high-flown speech and ironic ersatz naivete. The presence of an irrational power in a rationalistic system provides subversive elements suggesting a postmodern ethos. Some of the passages concerning the romance between the title characters are surprisingly moving, given the satirical undercurrents of this novel. Recommended reading (in Russian if you can)!
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Summary: A novel that operates on several levels.
Review: Bulgakov's Master and Margarita is one of the best novels to have come out of Russia in the twentieth century. Written during the repression of the Stalinist '30s Bulgakov literally risked his life to write this. In fact it wasn't published until 26 years after his death, even then in abreviatted form. I won't add to what others have said of the substance of the novel except it operates on a personal, political and theological levels. From each reading you'll take something from this gem. I have read both the Glenny and the Burgin/O'Connor translations(My Russian is only at an intermediate level so I did not attempt it in its native tongue). Glenny's translation is extremely readable and flows like great literature. He does make mistakes in his choice of words but you won't go wrong with it. It was the version that got me hooked on Bulgakov. Burgin/O'Connor come very close to Bulgakov's Russian with the added bonus of notes and an essay at the back of the novel. While less flowing than Glenny it's more accurate and also a wonderful read. Grab a copy of either and you won't be sorry. One of the great books of the 20th century.
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Summary: A poorly penned satire that seems more a personal vendetta
Review: Mikhail Bulgakov's novel THE MASTER AND MARGARITA was far too scandalous to be published during the author's lifetime, the era of Stalin's reign, and was revealed to the public only in the late 1960's. It immediately became, as Pasternak's DOCTOR ZHIVAGO several years before it, the darling of Western intellectuals who believed that simply consisting of stabs at the Soviet regime sufficed to make a book great literature. THE MASTER AND MARGARITA, however, is a poor work, full of hackneyed allegory, buffoonish action, an annoying B-movie shootout and, most infuriatingly, offensive dismissal of Christianity. The novel begins with the conversation of two men of letters at Patriarch Ponds in Moscow. The editor Berlioz is attempting to convince the young poet Bezdomny ("Homeless") that Jesus Christ never existed, and that the Gospels are pure myth. A menacing foreign gentleman, having overheard them, joins them and asks if Berlioz would also claim the devil doesn't exist, for this foreigner is the devil himself, come to Moscow in the guise of a professor named Woland. For the first half of the novel Woland, with his assistants two demons, one witch and an enormous talking black cat, causes chaos in the lives of various Muscovites, driving many insane and spreading confusion throughout the city. In the second half, a woman named Margarita, searching for her lost lover the Master (a literary maestro) uncovers the truth of what is happening as she finds herself hired by Woland. Interwoven with the Moscow tale is the story of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate as he judges the itinerant philosopher Yeshua Ha-Notsri. THE MASTER AND MARGARITA never makes any meaningful statement or presents any important metaphor about life. It consists of only the devil's wacky adventures in driving insane various residents of Moscow and various jabs at Christian sensibilities. That many of Woland's victims are the Soviet beauracrats whom Bulgakov so despised doesn't add any significance to the novel; instead, Bulgakov can be compared to a high school outcast who pens a tale in which all the mean bullies perish in some terrible cataclysm. Bulgakov makes the mistake of creating a satire that is personal instead of universal, and thus the reader could really care less about what he's trying to say. THE MASTER AND MARGARITA may infuriate the Christian leader just as Salman Rushdie's novel THE SATANIC VERSES infuriated Muslims (indeed, Rushdie claims that THE MASTER AND MARGARITA was his greatest influence in writing that great novel). The chapters dealing with the judgement and crucifixtion of Jesus, which are presented as "what really happened", portray Christ as a pathetic wimp who has only a sole follower, a man named Matthew who went on to forge the New Testament. Meanwhile, in the Moscow chapters, the devil is something of a hero, a suave personality whom the Master and Margarita adoringly serve with the full approval of Bulgakov. Nowhere does the author ever give a moral message, but instead praises blind obedience to the very embodiment of evil. This novel's assertion that Christianity is an intentional fraud will be disturbing to any Christian reader. I can't comment on this particular translation, having read the British translation by Michael Glenny. However, THE MASTER AND MARGARITA loses some of its humor in translation, as the names of nearly all characters have some telling meaning in Russian. Should one undertake reading this novel in English, it would be helpful to obtain critical notes which explain the more obscure jokes, or at the very least a pocket dictionary. All in all, I most certainly cannot recommend THE MASTER AND MARGARITA. If one wants to understand how difficult life was for writers during the Soviet regime, try the wrenching later poetry of Osip Mandelstam (sentenced to a Siberan gulag where he ultimately perished) or the memoirs of his wife. This poor novel of Bulgakov, a man who was treated relatively decently by the people he was satirizing, is merely childish venting of steam.
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