The Master and Margarita (Penguin Classics) by Bulgakov

I read the Everyman's Library Glenny Translation.

This is a mixture of the bizarre and the familiar. The writing itself is a bit of both, the story subject is a bit of both and the characters are a bit of both. I thoroughly enjoyed the 'flashbacks' and almost wish the whole story was just those events, but I also enjoyed the chaotic and seemingly random way the modern part of the story developed, not that I even fully understood it all, mayhaps a second read is in order. It is not a difficult read like Dostoevsky or Tolstoy, I think I was at around a page a minute for most of it, it was more or less that, as an American, Russian names are a bit more difficult to follow. I found myself paging back a few times wondering... who was that now? Altogether enjoyable and I will have a look at his other novels too.

Before writing a book review, I always attempt to determine what the intent of the author was and how successfully the desired effect was achieved. So what, exactly, is the purpose of Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita?"

Is it to satire the literary intelligentsia of the Soviets? Is it to criticize the over-regulation and policies of the government? Is it to bash the atheistic policy of the state? Is it to provide an insightful account of Pontius Pilate and the crucifixion? Is it to reveal the vanities and greed of money inherent in society as a whole? Or is it simply to provide a humorous tale of the shenanigans of Satan incarnate and his demonic entourage?

The answer, of course, to all of these questions is yes. "The Master and Margarita" is an enigmatic, unique, and even bizarre novel at times, that will challenge the reader. At first, the intent of Bulgakov is not entirely clear, as the first chapters detail the strange (and seemingly unrelated) tales of ordinary Muscovites and their encounter with an enigmatic foreigner, Woland, and his interpreter and talking black cat. Interspersed in this tale of Stalinist Moscow is the seemingly unrelated (and misplaced) story of a guilt-ridden Pontius Pilate and the crucifixion of two thousand years prior. The third subplot, and a link between the first two, is the story of the "master", an author whose book about Pontius Pilate was widely criticized by the literary Soviet elite, and his vivacious and adulterous lover, Margarita.

Bulgakov does not directly bash the atrocities of the Soviets and collectivism, but through his interrelated tales, he paints a subtle criticism of the institutions and ideals of the Soviets. The fact that his tale (albeit embellished) of Pontius Pilate and the crucifixion is given as fact, this would, of course, directly counter the official state's atheism. The emphasis on official documents and passports provides a window into the life of a Muscovite, for if there is no official document, then that person does not exist.

This is not a novel that should be read piecemeal, as it is best to read it in large sections at a time. The chapters alternate between characters (and millennia) frequently, as a link does not emerge until later. Since this is a Russian novel with a large cast of characters, the names can certainly be confusing and intimidating to keep straight. Overall, I was initially perplexed at the complexity of the novel, but as it progressed, it become more enjoyable.

This is certainly a unique novel. Although it may be difficult to read at first, I would recommend it as an insightful, and humorous, tale of Stalinist Moscow.

I am Russian, and have read this novel (which is my favorite Russian novel), in Russian. However, for some reason, a week ago I decided to look through Michael Glenny's translation of this novel and I was shocked by the various little mistakes in the text. In the very first dialog, one of the main characters asks for a glass of Narzan (which is a famous brand of mineral water in Russia), which M.Glenny translates as lemonade. Close, but no cigar...And it goes further like this. That leads me to believe that the translator probably was not familiar with nuances of Russian language, or may be simply didn't care. Nevertheless, I know that it had been the only one English translation available since 1967 and thanks Mr.Glenny for that. Now we have Mirra Ginsburg's more accurate translation (I have checked), which makes me happy. The novel is truly fascinating. A really remarkable person wrote it. Bulgakov was a doctor by profession, he received an exellent education in the pre-Revolutionary Russia and lived through the horrors and turmoil of the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil war. This is a wonderful satire on Communism and a biblical story. This novel populated by very interesting characters, one of them is "unknown visitor" Woland, who is the Satan visiting Moscow with his entourage. Woland is a complex figure, a diabolical seducer, father of lies - the Devil himself, but also "he, who has brought the light" - Lucifer. He laughs at the Soviet Communists, who mistakenly think that they have rooted out all evil and have build a society which is even beyond the good and evil. In the clash with Woland they watch how the "perfect" and godless society crumbles down. Please read it, and you will enjoy it, because the novel goes beyond Russian culture to the world of archetypal characters and events that have meaning to all humans.

I have always loved Russian literature, but this one is so different from a Tolstoy or Dostoevsky novel -- of course, it was written in, effectively, another country (Stalinist Russia).

The book is strangely haunting. The reader has to get used to long flights of fantasy, almost like an imaginative childrens' book with super-natural happenings (the devil, his consorts including a very drole cat, as well as a witch and her lover). Alongside this is a completely straight retelling of St. Matthew's gospel and an, ultimately, repentant Pontius Pilate which is truly beautiful, descriptive prose that makes you feel as if you were there.

Read this book -- it's like no other you will have read. Possibly, One Hundred Years of Solitude has something of the flavor with, of course, a totally different subject matter. It's sometimes difficult to keep all the (probably) unfamiliar Russian names straight, but persevere, it's well worth it. You may well find it haunts you too for a long while afterwards and, like me, you will strongly recommend it to all your friends.

Every so often, in a vast ammount of writers and works of Art out there, one stumbles upon a true gem. He may not yet conceive it as a true gem, but, as the process of reading and diving into the authors world progresses, so does the radiant brilliance of a gem starts to shine, and everything aorund it simply falls into the darkness...into the nothingness.

To say that Master and Margarite is gem in its fullest, isn't any kind of bold statement. True, you hear that phrase allmost on a daily schedule basis, whenever someone talks about books, trying to assure you that the book they have in mind will change your world and the way how you think». Well, I will not say anythnig like that regarding the Bulgakov work. Simply because it is not true. This kind of book would never be enlisted on any of the top-sellers, and «hits» lists out there, it simply isn't that kind of book. It does not offer cheap philosophy worthy of a soap-opera, it does not give «simple, yet brilliant sollutions» to everyday problems, it does not have powerfull and mind boggling characters (alas, this may be wrong, but in the context I'm talking off isn't), so why should annyone read it.

That is the good question. And one of the simplest answer will be given here. Apart of great work of Russian realist, this is the one of the greatest books that mother Russia has given birth to in century that has passed. It's simple brilliance astonishes one on a single glance. Even if you are going to write academic seminar titled «Reminiscences of Stallinistic dictatorship in Master and Margarita» as one of my friends did, or you just want to sit back and enjoy yourself, you'll find material for everything inside these pages. Without any kind of attempt to hollistic method of any kind.

Bulgakov put lot of elegance, and witty remarks in his writing, but here he is displaying his talent at its best. There are many studies of this bok out there on internet, and on dusty shelves in old libraries, graet number of critics dulled their writing pencil writing about this book. And it deserves to be so. By means of writing (and reading) we keep history (and Art) remembered, as we are (in a way obliged to do). This is the book full of wonders, which shouldn't be forgotten. What one has to do is very simple. One oly has to read it...and do so again...

Mikhail Bulgakov lived during the Stalin era in the Soviet Union. Most of his work, this title included, was banned by Soviet authorities during his lifetime. It was only many years after his death that this book was published. The book is a wonderful myth, filled with both real and mythological characters, and considers the corruptability and mortality of man. The plot involves the appearance of Satan and his retinue, including a large, black tom cat who drinks vodka, and their impact of the good comrades of the city of Moscow. People encoutering the mysterious Prof. Woland try to deal with him and his powers in a rational fashion, but soon learn that this is no way to approach the devil. The mysterious Professor soon takes over the lives of those who cross his path, sending one to an asylum and another to Yalta while a third winds up dead due to "sunflower oil". Also included in the text are stories of the passion of Christ and a sympathetic portrait of Pontius Pilate and his struggles over the crucifixion. This is an excellent fable and should be read by anybody interested in Soviet literature, or literature in general

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.

Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita is a magical realist novel that explores obsession, an artistic underground, the death of Christ, the unraveling of society when given the chance, and the complexities of what happens when a relationship ends. The narrative is a complex series of opening matryoshka dolls, revealing satire within commentary within plot within characterization and back to satire, and in many ways it is almost interdimensional, managing a postmodern juggling act while winking to the audience from its bloodied, severed head. While there are many things to unpack from this text, it is the combination of postmodern point of view and narrative tone that appears to be the biggest technical achievements in Bulgakov's work.

The hyperbolized, witty verbiage of the piece shows intense awareness on the part of Bulgakov to use humorous imagery to its maximum benefit. While there are many examples of hyperbolized imagery throughout the novel, there are a few outlying examples. In an overly theatrical scene where true black magic of the three antagonists is being used to hypnotize the citizens, in one moment the "theater was swept with joy...and happy laughter" as audience members reach and grab for money falling from the ceiling, the next they "scream in unison" as a character is beheaded before them and "blood spurted in fountains from the torn arteries" of his neck but is then restored to an "audience (that) never noticed it," and finally the audience "besieged the stage" when a completely indulgent free shop unfolds out of nowhere (138-145). This leads to a community fervor that carries the people of this bizarre environment for the rest of the novel. When an animated, disembodied suit is furiously "absorbed in work" toward the middle of the novel, it is "oblivious of the wild confusion around it," even as other characters are "scream(ing)" and others "shoot out (of the room) like a bullet" (202-3). Finally, toward the end of the novel, a frantic scene begins when "Margarita rose a meter above the ground and struck the chandelier (and) two bulbs exploded and the crystal pendants flew in all directions" (258). When these exaggerated magical moments happen as a result of pushing through social, visual, and physical laws, the community is in distressed fury that creates a humorous and terrifying environment for the characters. It is through essential exploded imagery that the irony and humor are convincing and relevant to the characters and satiric counterparts to Russian history and culture.

This same humorous tone is most beneficial to characterization. In many parts of the novel when characters are in the midst of absolute terror, the tonal contrast to the seriousness of their plight presents ironic language that disarms the horror of the audience. At the beginning of the novel at the decapitation death of Berlioz, in a fit of confusion the narrative reels at a variety of images that lead the character under a streetcar – and like a scene from a modern sitcom, the ironic, deadpan narrative voice describes a moment "in Berlioz' brain (when) someone cried out frantically 'Really?'" (49). In many instances, the characters' uneventful reactions to terrifying and ridiculous moments such as this are in stark contrast to those moments when the mediocre is given earth-shattering importance. Another example is when the draft of a novel goes missing and when recounting the story, the Master "became so incoherent that the listener could gather only that some disaster had befallen (him)" (160). Even dialogue is used to communicate irony and sarcasm, such as when the night's magician asked, "could there be crooks in Moscow?" And followed it up with the "bartender smil(ing) so bitterly that every doubt vanished: yes, there were crooks in Moscow" (224). As irony is the backbone of comedy, the manner in which Bulgakov presents his characters as being reactionary in a manner opposite of our expectations contributes to his humorous tone many times throughout the text.

Finally, the narrator is like a slapstick Greek chorus, constantly stepping outside of the narrative and breaking the fourth wall to wink at the audience and provide a variety of humorous commentaries on the novel's characters and events. The narrator is constantly speaking clearly and directly to us, "frankly speaking" interjections that provide us commentary for characters they know intimately and can contextualize in the novel's ridiculous and magical Moscow (6). An extended example occurs at the beginning of Chapter 19 when the narrator begs the audience to "follow me, my reader, and only me," and continues on to editorialize the relationship between the Master and Margarita, observing "even my heart, the heart of an honest narrator, but nonetheless a stranger," has an opinion on the relationship presented in the novel (235-6). Even in the smallest examples the narrator will interject small editorial cliches that boundlessly characterize and contextualize events and behaviors, such as the addition of language such as "for some reason" (307), "what took place after that...is unknown" (112), "of course we cannot say for certainty..." (360), and "we do not know what other fantastical events took place in Moscow that night..." (232) that all lead to an explanation (or lack of explanation) of the bizarre surrounding events.

Bulgakov's humorous tone and its myriad examples throughout the novel contributes to a narrative that both delights and defamiliarizes the audience with reality. His masterful execution of using the disembodied narrator who ignores the fourth wall and a humorous and satirical narrative tone create an atmosphere that is truly unlike any novel of his era. The Master and Margarita is truly an incredible achievement in narrative fiction, reminiscent of many of the tricks employed by James Joyce and Laurence Sterne, and the language, magical realism, pacing, and approach are unparalleled in Russian literature.

I immediately added this to my favorite books shelf and enjoyed every moment with it. I am looking forward to many more readings in the future.

This book is worth well more than 5 stars, but unfortunately that is all I am able to give it in this review. This book (the Diana Burgin & Katherine Tiernan O'Conner translation) deals with Moscow in the 1930's and what happens when the devil shows up unexpectedly one day. He doesn't arrive alone, however; he is accompanied by a beautiful (but naked) witch, a sidekick named Bezdomny who dons a broken pince-nez and a talking black cat who has a weakness for chess and vodka. A series of hilarious events events occurs, causing chaos all over Moscow and several people land in a mental institution as a result of these events. This book has frequently been compared to Goethe's "Faust" with its underlying theme of good vs evil and if the reader is familiar with Faust, the similarities between these two books will become immediately obvious. At the back of the book are the footnotes explaining some of the more obscure details that a non-native Russian probably wouldn't understand, such as various departments in the Soviet government, names of prominent Russians at that time, certain untranslatable words, etc. I particularly enjoyed this translation because it was an easy, smooth flowing read and I had no difficulties understanding what was going on. This book should be especially read by anyone who has a passion (or curiosity) for Russian literature or culture because this book was not allowed to be published during the author's lifetime..and the author knew that he would never see his book in print, but he wrote it anyway; and the literary world is all the better because he insisted on writing it.

I read this book a while ago in the Russian original so don't know about this particular translation/edition. The novel is a very bold and subversive book from both a literary and thematic/philosophical approach considering it was written in the peak of early Stalinism in the Soviet Union. In fact, Bulgakov had a long battle with the censors about this work and his others and many were banned.

I don't remember the details well at all, but the novel is a surreal blend of the literary and intellectual world in Moscow in the 1930s and the encounter between Jesus and Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem. The two main settings intertwine and mirror each other as the "true" story of Jesus is told by Woland - the devil who comes to Moscow with his minions including a talking cat. The notions of good and evil draw much from the brilliant Faust but are carried over to the hypocrisy, despair and seeds of goodness in the Moscow setting.

The title describes some of the main characters - the Master who is a writer whose work is rejected leading to his extended melancholy and Margarita, his love. The interplay between them, the rest of the literary world and Woland (Satan) and his minions leads to what I can only describe as a completely topsy-turvy novel that is incredibly rich in ideas many of whom will be missed by those who've never had the misfortune to experience Moscow in the late 20s and early 30s and those who have read this only once (or not at all). Fortunately, the second condition is easily fixed! I guess for me, the necessary cure is a reread of this amazing work.

The novel is a masterpiece therefore it so much more disappointing that the translation which is quite good misses important parts. I have read The Master and Margarita before and was excited to see it in an English translation. I was appalled, though, that entire passages were missing. I wrote to the publisher and their response was far from satisfying which I still find very disturbing--how do I know that I am not getting an incomplete version next time I buy from them? (I have avoided them since.)

Three stars are a compromise. The novel deserves 5 stars, the translation is good for the content it covers, but its incompleteness and the publisher's reaction deserve zero stars.

One hot spring evening two men sit on a bench at Patriarchs Ponds: Berlioz, editor of a literary magazine and Ivan Nikolayevich, a poet. The editor is lecturing his poet friend on the err of his ways in portraying the fictional Jesus in his recent poetic endeavour as a man, albeit a flawed man, but nonetheless a man who did in fact exist in the most mortal sense of the word. During their heated conversation, a tall foreign stranger, who goes by the name Woland and professes to be a professor and an expert in black magic, approaches them as he is very interested in their debate on the existence of Jesus and claims to have been on the balcony the day Pontius Pilate condemned the prophet to death. After a lengthy discussion, Woland prophesizes Berlioz' eminent demise, and then all hell breaks loose.

I have wanted to read this book for many years, and it just kept slipping out of my head until a few months ago when I stumbled upon it while browsing at a small Indie book store. I am a huge fan of Russian Literature, so I am a little embarrassed to admit that I kept forgetting about it all these years, but there was no time like the present to read it. Banned Book week was upon us, and Bulgakov's masterwork was banned in Russia and not released in English until the 1960's in a censored version. We don't have to worry about this anymore and can now read one of many wonderful translations. I do suggest that if you are hunting down a copy, make sure you get a decent translation. The one I purchased, this edition, had a lengthy commentary section that goes over some of the finer points of Russian Politics during the 1930's, and so it made the read more enjoyable.

The story is a complex allegory: part social satire, part contemporary historical, part romance, part farce, part political irony, part theological pontification, yes, this book, written in the theatrical style of a playwright, is magical realism at its finest. The book moves back and forth between three converging storylines: Woland, or rather Satan, and his retinue's descent upon the unsuspecting citizens of Moscow; the heartbreaking unconventional love story between the Master and Margarita; and The Master's own novel, which explores Pontius Pilate's great guilt. However, Woland is not your conventional Satan, often appearing very sympathetic and thoughtful; Yeshua is not the Jesus we are accustomed to; and Pilate manages to redeem himself. I won't say how, because that will ruin it. Now Woland doesn't come to Moscow to reek havoc, nor does he come to whisper in the collective Muscovite ear in order to bring out the worst in people, he merely allows Moscow's disingenuous to come face to face with their own hypocrisy. Where Yeshua teaches, Woland provokes, but in the end, their goal is the same, and that's the religious rub of the story: the two are equal and share the same hope for humanity in the end. There is a lot of allusion to the New Testament as well as folklore representations of Pilate and other Biblical characters as Heresy in all its many forms is the main theme running throughout all three plotlines. Each Moscow miscreant, much like in Dante's Inferno, receives the punishment fitting for their crime. Even The Master's punishment fits his crime. In this Faustian part of the tale, the Master is condemned to an insane asylum because of his cowardice. Cowardice, Yeshua says, is the greatest of all sins. The Master, having received negative commentary in a review of his unpublished novel, broke under the weight of the criticism and lost faith, in himself and his work, and only through Margarita's sacrifice, would he finish the novel and achieve peace, which Yeshua, as requested by Woland, grants him in the end: Peace not Light, or rather not salvation.

This story explores a lot of odd and awkward existential angles and does it with finesse and a black humour blacker than the fur on the pickle-eating, vodka-drinking, gun-toting Behemoth, Satan's Black Cat. The story has a full on narrator who interjects with a vengeance, and the narrative style is operatic and slapstick all at the same time. Besides the main characters: Woland, The Master, and Margarita, there is a litany of other minor characters within the main narrative and also within the Master's inner novel, and all the characters reflect nicely the main themes of the story: Good and Evil, Heresy, Cowardice, Faith, Death, Freedom, Guilt, and Sacrifice or devotional love among others. And so the characters are deliberately grotesque and superficial, ordinary and archetypal. Satan's retinue is particularly diverse: the grotesquely dressed valet Koroviev (Fagotto); a fast-talking black cat who walks on his hind legs and is big as a hog, Behemoth; the fanged little wall-eyed hitman Azazello; the demon Abaddon; and the naked red-headed witch Hella. There is a lot of anti-religious propaganda of the day weaved into the narrative, and so there is a lot of parody: Margarita's stations of the cross as she welcomes the guests at Satan's spring ball, and The Massolit writers' last supper of a sort as they argue over who will go to the summer retreat being two of them. To write a proper review of this book is an exercise in futility because there is just so much going on thematically, philosophically, and theologically, it would take extensive study of the text and essays of great length to capture all its nuances. But you don't have to do all that to just plain old enjoy the story. It's heartbreaking, horrific, action packed, confusing, hilarious, and if you didn't have faith in the cosmos before you read it, you just might afterwards. You don't even need to know much about Russian politics of the time to enjoy the satire, and the language is sublime:

"Gods, my Gods! How sad the earth is at eventide! How mysterious are the mists over the swamps. Anyone who has wandered in these mists, who has suffered a great deal before death, or flown above the earth, bearing a burden beyond his strength knows this. Someone who is exhausted knows this. And without regret he forsakes the mists of the earth, its swamps and rivers, and sinks into the arms of death with a light heart ..."

I highly recommend that all writers read this book: the lessons in structure, language, characterization, and theme are well beyond what one will get in a style guide. Bulgakov's articulation of his thesis is flawless, even if the original manuscript has been butchered over the years by clumsy editors and translators.

The Master and Margarita is truly one of the great novels of the 20th century. Hilarious, lyrical, insightful, and profound; Bulgakov's masterpiece will make you think, make you feel, and make you challenge yourself and your beliefs on good and evil. I'll mention that this review refers to the Burgin/O'Connor translation. I've read this translation twice, and I love it. I can't compare it to other translations though, as I haven't read any. I plan on reading the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation soon; I've read several translations by them, and all have been wonderful. One caveat about the Burgin/O'Connor edition: the endnotes, written by Bulgakov's biographer Ellendea Proffer, offer far too much opinion. She should not be telling us how to think, and how to feel about this novel. But that doesn't spoil this awe-inspiring novel.

Don't let the misleading the store editorial review discourage you -- this novel is far, far more than "protest literature" directed at a long-gone tyranny. It is a meditation on good and evil, raising theological and epistemological questions of the deepest sort.

It is also an intellectually dense and witty work, with an engaging plot and vivid characters. It is enormous fun to read.

Commenting specifically on the Burgin/O'Connor translation (without benefit of being able to have read the original Russian): The translation is quite readable, without conveying the illusion that the novel was originally written in English. The translators claim to have tried to stick close to the oddities of the original, which results in an intentionally odd (in a good way) English prose style as well. I only recall one truly awkward passage in the translation, a passage which in the original turns on the usage of the formal versus informal second-person -- the archaic "you"/"thou" distinction, which is now almost impossible to translate effectively into modern English.

The Burgin/O'Connor edition includes highly useful endnotes elucidating some of the more critical but potentially unfamiliar references to Moscow geography, Soviet politics, Russian poetry, 19th-century French opera, biblical scholarship, ancient wine vintages, etc., and also includes explanations of textual decisions (the work was left incomplete at Bulgakov's death.) The endnotes are succinct and limited to a handful of key references per chapter.

Attempts at scholarly analysis of the novel as a whole are, mercifully, left to the very end and kept quite short.

The book was written between the two world wars and is set in the Soviet Union. Weirdest things start to happen when Satan with his assistants appears in Moscow. The bureaucrats of the Socialist state just can't handle the confusion that results and a good laugh is guaranteed for you.

Back in the 80s, I described the contents of the book as "the triumph of the Dark Forces in the capital of Materialism". But they don't just mess up things - some victims of the Soviet state are actually helped out of their hopeless situations.

This book is better read in original than translated. If you are fluent in Russian, you better invest some time and money into finding a Russian version. (I lately found one on the Net.) You won't be sorry.

One thing you should note, too, is that there are two versions of the novel. The version released in the Soviet Union was a censored one. It lacks a few phrases here and there and one whole chapter. The original version was published by Russian emigrants in France or Germany or something. When buying a translated copy, you might want to take a look at the title page to see which version it was translated from.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
(written between 1928 – 1949, first published in 1967)

To much has been sad already about this novel.
The only proper thing to do is just read it and then again and …

Let me just add that The Master and Margarita is about us.
Positive, negative, positively negative and negatively positive, just like we are. The novel delicately points out the fight in each and every one of us. The characters are sympathetic and antipathetic at the same time.
The Master prefers to stay in the Asylum to save himself the pain of living, as we perhaps sometimes like to do. Margarita is just a spoiled brat, she believes that all other people should trade her with respect, be good to her and that her life is great and she has to do nothing to deserve this. Well is that so different from what we like to believe often?

Sympathy for the devil
Hundreds of pop musicians are inspired by The Master and Margarita, the most famous perhaps Sympathy for the devil by The Rolling Stones. It surely has the same play with good and evil.

And for anyone interested in Mikhail Bulgakov or The Master and Margarita the Mikhail Bulgakov Museum in Kyiv (http://www.bulgakov.org.ua/) is well worth a visit.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

This is like Dante's Inferno meets Monty Python. This is like Hellraiser meets The Marx Brothers. This is like Milton's Paradise Lost meets The Far Side.

It is absurd.

It is also one of the funniest and best novels I have read in a long time. Every chapter is abounding with clever quips, absurdist action, and poignant observations. There is a great literary observation going on here on what makes an artist suffer for his art. Another: What is art considered by those in leagues with government control? It also makes you think about the value of good and evil, and why we are so bent on considering one thing evil and another good with punitive absolution. It shows situation as being more complicated than anything really is. And to say that the Devil is an evil thing...well, in this book, it seems like both an overstatement & oversimplification.

One interesting about this novel is things are written as an account; as they happen. There is no real character development. But you learn much about the people (and demons) within the work as they involve themselves within everyone else--much like real life. Because in real life, we do not have our encounters developed for us with all background information known: we experience it...just as everyone else in this novel does, too. Do not expect easy explanations. Just enjoy it as one would enjoy any wild ride in which everywhere one looks there is something new and fascinating.

I have read "The Master and Margarita" three times, and I am sure that I will read it again. I was very lucky because all three times I read it in Russian, and even the best translation can not compare to the original. Every time I would find something new in the book, it would turn to me by different facets. "The Master and Margarita" is deep, very well written book with unforgettable characters. In fact, it is not one novel but three. First, about the adventures of Devil and his entourage in the 1920-th Moscow; second, about Pontius Pilatus and Jesus in Jerusalem, and the third one, about the Master, the writer who wrote the second novel, and his eternal and true love, Margarita. The story about Master and Margarita is the story of Bulgakov and his wife and muse, Elena. All three stories are connected and intertwine. All three of them end with the exactly same phrase. So, what is the book about? Good, evil, betrayal, talent, love, forgiveness? Yes, it is. But it is so much more.

Unfortunately, the translation I have is the terrible Michael Glenny one, the one that was stocked in the campus bookstore when I got this book for a Modern Russian Lit class. It has numerous typos, some "translations" of proper names (Richardovna instead of Rikhardovna, George instead of Georgiy, Claudia instead of Klavdiya), and misleading transliteration. I'm sure the book will be even better in the more updated translations.

Most Russian novels are long, dark, and depressing, but this book is only a bit over 500 pages, and instead of being sad and pessimistic, is lively and funny. The Devil and a hilarious retinue of friends decide to pay a visit to Moskvá (according to the back of my edition, it's 1920), and immediately begin to wreak havoc everywhere they go and to cause weird and unexplainable things to happen, many of which get people in serious enough trouble to get arrested, turn into vampires, or be sent to the insane asylum. He first appears by Patriarch's Pond, where the writers Misha Berlioz and Ivan Bezdomniy (lit. "homeless") are discussing why the latter's anti-religion poem isn't acceptable, since despite deriding religion, it treats the things in the Bible as though they really happened. Berlioz is telling his friend just why they didn't when the Devil (called Woland) comes up and starts to tell them they're both wrong, and he knows, since he was there at the Crucifixion. Based on all of the weird stuff he's saying, they believe he is insane (they already know he's a foreign visitor) and decide to secretly call the asylum on him. But the Devil turns the tables on them, and right away everyone thinks Bezdomniy is the nut. The Devil also predicted the gruesome demise of Berlioz, and no one believes Bezdomniy's explanations for what really happened. He is quickly taken to the insane asylum, while the Devil and his friends move into Berlioz's old apartment just like he predicted they would. In his retinue are Azazello (who has red hair, a huge fang, and a walleye), Hella, a naked female vampire serving as his maid, Koroviyev-Faggot (pr. Fah-GOAT, not the other way), his interpreter, who has a broken pince-nez and wears checkered clothing, and my favourite, a hilarious huge black cat named Behemoth. Behemoth talks, drinks alcohol, plays tricks on people, smokes cigars, wears a tuxedo and bowtie, plays chess, walks upright, gilds his whiskers, and shoots a Browning perfectly. His antics often annoy the others, but he's annoying in a funny and endearing way.

The story from whence the title comes doesn't start until Part Two. An unnamed Master wrote a book about the Passion and Pontius Pilate, a story which is being told throughout the book, and it not only offended the censors, it also drastically went against everything in the Bible. In depression, he burned all copies of his book but for one chapter which his mistress Margarita pulled out of the fire. The Master is now in the same insane asylum as Bezdomniy and the other people who have been sent there since the Devil came to town, and despairs of ever getting out or seeing Margarita again. Margarita in turn loves him so much she is willing to sell her soul to the Devil and his friends just to free him, not even caring what getting in league with these people may entail.

Besides the hilarious main story, I also liked the Master's retelling of the Passion. Like Berlioz and Woland were saying in the beginning, people only take the Bible's word for it because we have no other version of those events to go by. People don't even bother to critically examine what other people tell us, don't want to find out if it's truth, lies, reality, unreality, myth, or historical fact. Who's to say that the Master's version is any more accurate or inaccurate than the Biblical version and Pontius wasn't a sympathetic figure, Jesus wasn't a confused vagabond and coward, there was no Resurrection, or that any of the other people in events in this unique retelling did or didn't happen?

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.

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.

I am not going to argue over who has the better translation. I will just say that this is MY translation; Glenny captures the Prussian mannerisms of Satan's posse to a "T."

Now on to the novel:

I know of no other writer who has so accurately described life as it is. Bulgakov was a savant, not only a soldier and doctor but also a man with a clear grasp on philosophy, aesthetics and power relations. Very often these types of men wonder aimlessly about life until they wind up in a mental ward (as does the Master).

The decisions in life are the following: (1) join the power elite in their lies, schemes, and general mess, as does the character Bezdomney. (2) Fight against the system of manipulative priestcraft, as does Christ. Or (3) Escape the system entirely and life a live of autonomy away from the liars who control the world.

The Master (within us) takes the third option.

Remember not to write bad poetry.

review The bulk of this novel is descriptions of pranks played by Satan's retinue on bureaucrats and other citizens of soviet-era Moscow. It is a little like Terry Southern's The Magic Christian. The pranks fit in a tradition associated with the Faust legend; there are lots in Marlowe's Faust, Goethe's Faust, and Boito's, Mephistopheles, for example. The book has a reputation as a satire of Soviet bureaucracy in the tradition of Gogol or of Dostoyevsky's The Double, but, while you get a sense of what it was like to be a member of one of the all-important writers organizations, to live in their quarters, to face living in overcrowded apartments, and to live in fear of institutionalization in psychiatric hospitals, it is not a satire in the sense that sharply delineates a perspective on his victims. There are a lot of yucks in this book, but the jokes could be on the pretentious and greedy of any nation. The prose style is inconsistent. Part of the book is taken up by several chapters of a conventional historical novel about Pontius Pilate' role in Jesus' crucifixion. Toward the endof the novel, the prose grows more lush and romantic. There is a witch's Sabbath, and the final ride into the darkness of eternity by Satan, his retinue, and a couple of the recently dead, has a Gothic, elegiac quality. There are surprising hits of feminism in Margarita's enthusiastic response to becoming a witch. Characterization is imaginative rather than deep. There are six major characters, Satan, his retinue , and the titular master and Margarita, who by the way, don't appear until about a third of the way through the novel. There are dozens of minor characters, amusing little caricatures of Soviet types. The plot is hard to follow. The book's strengths are imagination, the wealth of secondary characters, and ingenuity of the jokes played by the retinue.

It is little hard to understand why Pontius Pilot is so prominent in this work. Pilate embodies the conflict in early Christianity about whether Christ was killed by the Romans (a version of history preferred by early Christians who were a Jewish sect) or by the Jews (a version preferred by the Church after it become the Roman state religion) and embodies the problems inherent in the concept of predestination, that is -- was Pilate personally guilty of ordering Christ's execution, or was he merely playing a necessary part in a predestined sacred drama. But it is not clear how either conflict fits into the book as a whole. Pilate may represent a darker version of the Soviet bureaucracy.

The novel bares an epigraph from Goethe's Faust where Mephistopheles says, "I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good." This observation made a little more sense out of various parts of the book including role of Pilate.

The book was written in fits and starts over many years during which Bulgakov suffered the alternation of favor with dangerous disfavor many artists suffered in Stalin's time and suffered also upheavals in his personal life. Perhaps if we understood these misfortunes better we would understand the book better. But would that make it better?

This book has got it all -- decapitations, crucifixions, vodka-drinking cats, and naked women flying on broomsticks. What's more, it is a refreshing change of pace from the 19th century works that most people think of when they hear the term "Russian literature." Bulgakov is no Tolstoi or Dostoevskiy, and I mean that as a compliment. All three are top-notch writers, each in his own way. But where Bulgakov differs from the latter two is in his ability to infuse his work with a light-heartedness, even when the subject matter is serious. While Tolstoi is known for epic tales on the grandest of scales, and Dostoevskiy for his penetrating insights into the darkness of the human soul, Bulgakov breaks from his predecessors by creating fiction with flare, stories that dance off the page, with an undeniable element of humor that is extremely rare in Russian literature.
This edition of Master and Margarita is a bit choppy in the translation, but it more than makes up for that minor flaw by providing an excellent set of comments on the text at the back of the book. This is one of those books that is so much easier to appreciate the more you understand the historical references and the social context of the story. Bulgakov, in addition to be a master of the pen, was also a capable historian and keen observer of society and politics. His novels, particularly this one, make this clear. In Master and Margarita, thanks to its novel-within-a-novel structure, you have not one but two socio-historical portraits, both of them exceptionally accurate. Bulgakov showed no fear of the Communist censors, depicting with remarkable honesty the Soviet Union of the 1930s. (No wonder this book didn't see the light of day for several decades.) But perhaps more impressive is his portrayal of a period which he did not witness first-hand. Through the character of the Master, Bulgakov relates a completely unorthodox, though not at all unbelievable, account of Jesus' trial and crucifixion from the perspective of Pontius Pilate, who comes across as most sympathetic and likeable.
As one would expect, the two stories are flawlessly woven together. Parallel plot lines and similarities between the characters in each story make the novel that much richer, that much more of a literary achievement. It is no surprise that most Russians consider this to be their finest example of 20th century literature.

Woland (Satan) and his crew come to 1930s Moscow and wrecks havoc on the city, targeting the MASSOLIT (Moscow Association of Writers) and the Variety Theater. He enlists Margarita as hostess of his Grand Ball. But her only wish is to find her lover, the Master, who wrote about Pontius Pilate's trial of Yeshua Ha-Notsri and whom the secret police has taken away.

The Master and Margarita is a slapstick comedy worthy of Albert and Costello, but also a social satire that targets not only the artistic establishments under the Soviet Union but also of our entire modern society. Woland (Satan) comes to Moscow to punish Berlioz, Likhodeyev and other literary and artistic figures for their greed and cruelty. The Master wrote about the meeting between Pontius Pilate and Yeshua Ha-Notsri to seek spirituality amid the Marxist materialist culture but ends up in jail and then the lunatic asylum.

The Master and Margarita is about good and evil, where one evil overcomes another, but is also about love beyond life. Even when Margarita wasn't sure whether the Master was dead or alive, she devoted herself to him. And in the end, they both die from the poison wine, but their spirits spend eternity together in limbo, eternal love in the wasteland of existence.

The Master and Margarita is magical realism but also a grim depiction of life where the wicked is punished by a greater evil. We are amused when Woland punishes Berlioz and his colleagues, but we couldn't find light amid the darkness.

We may laugh at the absurdities that befall Belioz and his friends; we may tremble at the ways Woland and his gang punish the wicked; we may lament that Ivan gives up writing poetry; we may shed tears when the Master and Margarita die and we may cheer when they can spend eternity together. We can read The Master and Margarita at many different levels and can reflect on the starkness in our modern society but at the same time we can enjoy the amusing and moving story.

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...

The Master and Margarita. For me, the title of this novel conjures up images of ninjas drinking cocktails; the book itself contains images that make that seem banal. Pop culture legend has it that this book was given to Mick Jagger by Marianne Faithfull and is the inspiration for the classic, Sympathy For The Devil.

Anyway, a bit about the origins of this book...

Mikhail Bulgakov started writing this in 1928 and after becoming disheartened with the future for a writer within the Soviet Union, burning the original manuscript and various redrafts, the third version was finished in 1937. The book was banned in the Soviet Union for 27 years due to its subversive nature and comments on Stalin's bureaucracy. Unfortunately, due to the Communist regime, Bulgakov never got to see this book, widely considered to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, published. Bulgakov died blind and in poverty in 1940.

The Master and Margarita sees the Devil, in the form of a foreign professor, visiting Moscow of the 1930s, a Communist and atheist city riddled with corruption and fear, accompanied by: a valet, a demonic hitman, a witch, the angel of death and my personal favourite, a 6 foot tall black cat called Behemoth who has a penchant for guns and trouble. This troupe arrive and begin to unleash their own special brand of havoc on Moscow's elite...

This particular branch of the story is played out against another, in the form of the trial conducted 2000 years ago of a self-proclaimed prophet and the deliberations of one Pontius Pilate over the man's fate...

These two stories are married up with a third narrative, revealing to the reader the titular characters; the Master being a fairly insane young writer (Bulgakov himself?) and Margarita, his adulteress lover who will do anything to restore the Master's lost novel and return them both to their former state of bliss.

The novel truly is a blasphemous and cynical political satire that is without doubt one of the craziest rides I've ever been on in book form. Although I have branded it a "political satire", the novel traverses many themes: the nature of the human condition, the battle between good and evil on many levels and the inherent wrong within the bureaucracy of the Soviet political machine. Similarly, the book has truly funny moments but also quite horrific parts; what else are you to expect when you have the Devil ride into town with a six foot tall black cat and demons in tow?!

My major difficulty with this book was its flow. As a translation from the original Russian, I fear that much may have been lost and the English version seems stunted in parts. For me, this is quite common as I have wrestled with other books such as Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment for the same reason.

Others have criticised the book for mirroring Goethe's Faust. I would submit to you that this is indeed a valid point in that it explores similar themes of deals with the devil, redemption and trust but I am of the opinion that The Master and Margarita can be read on many levels from the absurd to its observations on the shallowness and vanity of people that seem to be as applicable today as they were in the Soviet Union of the 1930s.

There is no question that The Master and Margarita is a highly influential book and it is truly a triumph when you consider that in Stalinist Russia, had Bulgakov been caught with the manuscript for a novel such as The Master and Margarita which satirised the State, he would have undoubtedly been sent to a prison camp in Siberia, without trial.

Just as that other great Russian literary genius Chekhov, Bulgakov was a doctor by profession. His father was a theologian. The combination endowed him with a deep knowledge of both disciplines and it shows in thsi excellent novel.
It's almost unfair to call this book a novel. It is a sarchastic and ironic condemnation of Stalinist Russia; indeed, the novel was forbidden until the quiet thaw that occurred for many years. Bulgakov seems to borrow from Faust, the New Testament and Dante's divine comedy as the devil and his entourage of a witch and a cat who loves chess and vodka visit Moscow. Their visit is welcomed by a writer(master) and his helper (Margarita). The 'Master' is writing a novel about Pontius Pilate and Margarita visits the depths of hell on his behalf. In the background of this almost mythological tale, the novel provides an excellent account of Soviet life in the 1930's.

I've always been a fan of Russian novels, ever since I read my first Dostoevsky novel at the age of 10...(okay, it was a Classics Illustrated comic book version of Crime and Punishment!)but had never run across anything by Bulgakov until a few years ago. A Russian friend of mine really pressed me to read the book. I bought it, but it just stayed on the shelf until a few weeks ago. All I can say is, I didn't know what I was missing. Master and Margarita is a wickedly funny, sad, frightening, and ultimately haunting masterpiece of fiction.
Bulgakov was one of the first generation of Soviet writers who flourished in the 20s, during the short lived Soviet Experimental movement, and then suffered horribly after the stregnthening of Stalin's regime. Bugakov was primarily a man of the Theater, and something of a theatrical quality hangs on to this book. The chapters have an almost tableaux style construction. When the Stalinist purges began, Bulgakov was began work on Master and Margarita, pretty much to please himself. He knew that he would never live to see it published.
The novel itself is nearly impossible to describe. It consists of three separate plots. On the surface is the visit to Moscow, of the Devil in the guise of a professor named Woland, and his henchmen, two grotesque disfigured men, a naked woman and a cat who plays chess among other things. The group proceeds to essentially terrorize the city's intellectual community, mostly by exposing each character's inner hypocracy. The satire of communist society in this section is quite biting, and uproariously funny. Embedded in this story is a "novel within a novel" ...the story of Pontius Pilate and his encounter with the itinerant spiritual man, Yeshua. Finally, there is the story of the separated lovers, the Master and Margarita, who interweave between the other two stories. They live in the present day Moscow, but the Master ostensibly wrote the manuscript which told the story of Pontius Pilate.
This rich and complicated stew of a book works on so many different levels. At it's most obvious, it is a scathing attack on communism and the cultural elite's complicity with the evils of the system. It is also rather pitiless in it's exposure of the greed, corruption and mendacity of human nature. But Bulgakov is not a conventional moralist. The Devil as Woland is an evil figure...sometimes a terrifying figure, and yet he ends up as the instrument of the redemption of both the Master and Margarita. There is a deep spiritual viewpoint at work here...Early in the novel, Yeshua tells Pilate that, "all men are good", to Pilate's incredulity. In the context of the novel, Yeshua seems hopelessly naive, but by the end of the novel, you wonder if this may actually not be the author's central point. Even the devil is capable of some good here.
This book contains a whole world. Characters change in dizzying fasion and events go by with lightening speed. And yet, by the last pages there is a haunting beauty, an almost incandescent light that shines over the prose. Some of these final images stay etched in my brain even now, several weeks after finishing.
I highly recommend that anyone read this book. It may be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. It certainly is the greatest Russian novel of the last 100 years!

In 1998, I was witness to a stage production of THE MASTER AND MARGARITA at the Winnipeg, Manitoba Fringe Festival. A troupe from Detroit, I believe, had translated the novel to the stage. I had never heard of the novel, but went simply because it sounded interesting.
For two hours, I sat transfixed. Never before or since have I had such a satisfying theatrical experience. It's hard to describe, but the use of the stage itself, the language, the acting, the ideas, all added up to something I suspect I will never have again to such a degree. I went back three more times.
I finally decided to sit down and read the novel itself, and true to the play, it is complex, disturbing, at times astonishing, at times confusing. I am reminded of the movie adaptation of THE ENGLISH PATIENT, an unfilmable novel filmed magnificently. This is just such a novel.
As in the play, how do you describe such a tale? It follows the exploits of the Devil in Russia, but also centres on a failed novelist and his lover, a giant cat, an insane poet, a mother who killed her child. This story is not content to sit still.
Why four stars and not five? Because this novel, like the best ones, demands to be read again, to be further understood and savoured. Perhaps I will change it later on, when I reread it. I will read it again.

If you were forced to read Russian literature in high school and felt like you just didn't get it, or worse felt like you were being tortured like I did, give this book a chance. With a few more years on my bones I now appreciate those other works, but had I been introduced to this book back then, I wouldn't have felt that all Russian literature was like eating a bowl of dust while being hit over the head repeatedly with a rubber mallet.
Written with a wry and twisted sense of humor, this fantastic tale is set in the early Soviet Union. The book starts with two members of the writers guild having a conversation about Jesus when the Devil shows up. He joins the discussion, predicts the soon to be death of one of the characters, and when this actually comes to pass, it plunges his friend over the edge. You can take it from there, but it's a far cry from the "suffering is good for the soul" style from Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.
By the way, the quality of these everyman's library classics are top notch and a bargain for what you get.

"The Master and Margarita" is quite simply required reading for anyone who wishes to be friends with modern Russians. Everyone in modern Russia has read this book. Almost everyone loves it. Ask anyone what their favorite book was...and they will say "Master i Margarita". So despite its tediousness...not reading the book would be like not reading "Gone With the Wind."

Russians will always laugh if you say "I don't want to slip on sunflower oil and fall down and get my head cut off by a passing tram car." This is what happened to Berlioz at the beginning of the book, and knowing about this puts you in a special "insiders club" among Russians, that will make you seem less of a foreigner to them.

Plus, don't forget, the comical star of the entire book is the talking cat "Behemoth"! Russians say "Begemot" and any reference to this wonderfully mischievous cat will make Russians squeal with laughter. Try it. I am not kidding. Naming your own cat Begemot will endear you to any Russian.

The book is tedious only in that it gets too fantastical, too dreamlike in many parts (and if you don't know the layout of Moscow's center and don't want to experience Moscow as part of your life, the book would be crushingly boring). But then you realize that, in Stalin's Russia of the 1930s, the world of a Russian was like a dream (nightmare) that never ended and a love like Margarita's would be priceless in that atmosphere (possibly any atmosphere). This is a love story, reflecting Bulgakov's love for his wife Elena whom he met at the outdoor restaurant at the writers' club that forms a central location for the story.

Bulgakov was apparently addicted to drugs in his last years, and faded out of existence on drugs just like one of his main characters does at the end of the book. Stalin never had to have Bulgakov executed. Stalin just sent anyone to the Gulag who became friends with Bulgakov. Stalin somehow admired Bulgakov and allowed him to live in a basement apartment with his wife Elena, who divorced a Soviet military officer to be with Bulgakov.

Many Russians do not know that Master and Margarita uses real-life events much more than they may have thought.

The Devil's Ball is the most important scene in the book...and it reflects the February 1937 (or 36) ball at the American Embassy in which exotic animals were used. In the book, a meddlesome "major" gets his head cut off by Satan (Woland) at the ball. In reality, a real NKVD major bothered Bulgakov and his wife at that ball and later tried to get Stalin to execute the pair. Stalin, amusingly, decided to execute the major instead. This is a true story and is even more interesting than its own fictional account. Master and Margarita is less fiction than many believe.

If you go to Moscow, take the subway to Mendelevskaya Metro Stantsiya and walk 300 meters to the Patriarchal Ponds (now one big square pond) where the book opens with two communist poseurs chatting. Walk up to the side with the small restaurant. Facing the restaurant from the left side of the pond, look to your left and one of those benches is where the fictional conversation took place. Berlioz got his head cut off at the small gate to the park on your left.

On any given spring, summer or fall day...you will probably meet someone at the gate who, like you, is specifically standing there because they loved the book and wanted to see where "it all began" (as morbid as that sounds, considering that we are talking about a man slipping and sliding head first under a tram). Very few other spots on Earth get that kind of "literary landmark" appeal. I can think of the stone steps at the beach at Lyme in England where a fictional girl breaks her leg trying to impress the captain in Jane Austen's "Persuasion"...and this spot is now a Jane Austen landmark for those who are "in the know."

Go out the gate and turn to the right and head diagonally towards Pushkin Square. Within 7 or 8 minutes you will be nearing the McDonalds Restaurant on Pushkin Square...but well before that on your right you will pass an unimposing 300 year old building that is still a school for young writers: It is now called House of Gorky (Dom Gorkova). In the book it was called Dom Griboyedeva (House of Griboyedov). In Soviet times (when the book was written) the place was called Dom Gertsina (Hertsin House). This is the "Soviet writers house" where the talking cat, Begemot (Behemoth), wreaks havoc and eventually burns the place down before running to the west down the beautiful park ring which is still located on the other side of the building.

Near the end of the book, the devil sits on the roof of the national library and many of the main characters fly off to the Sparrow Hills near Moscow State University where many of the characters leave the Earth to go to Heaven or Hell. By using such familiar landmarks, Bulgakov guaranteed that this work would hit the emotions of his fellow citizens and become the timeless classic it now is.

Now you are ready to walk into any Russian market, grab a bottle of Sunflower oil, and say to the cashier "Nadeus shto ya ni budu pokskolznutsya s maslom i otrezit menya golovu." (I hope I don't slip with this oil and get my head cut off).

The tales in this book are a testament to an unbounded imagination. Reading it, you can't tell what's real and what's a fantasy and you can never predict where the story might go.

Throughout the book, humor, sarcasm, irony, and outrageousness abound. The style of writing is original, very unique, and brazen. I have read pieces of the book many times because I enjoy the mastery and artfulness of this author and his unconventional style.

Only a writer as skilled as Bulgakov could pull off a story that interweaves the crucifixion of Jesus into a Faustian tale featuring the devil. But The Master and Margarita is so much more than the typical good versus evil novel. It's also an eye-opening social and political commentary, one that's so scathingly obvious that it didn't see the light of day until forty years after Bulgakov's death. The deep themes and hidden undertones are everywhere, but you don't need a Ph.D. in literature or a Master's degree in Russian history to enjoy this book. Although a little slow-going at first, the action quickly picks up in part two and the chapters leading up to Satan's ball will have you breathlessly ripping through the pages. The dark and bitter cold Moscow provides a fitting backdrop for this well-deserving classic.

This is Bulgakov's magnum opus. "Master and Margarita" was written in the years 1929-1940. It was completed months before Bulgakov's death. The book was posthumously published in the Soviet Union in the mid 1960s, with some provocative passages censored by the paranoid communist ideological machine. This is one of the most imaginative allegories I have ever encountered. Bulgakov's imagery and satire ran a scathing trace along the fabric of the Soviet society, oppressed by totalitarian institutions and bureaucratic narrow-mindedness. There is here also a story within a story--a retelling of the confrontation between Jesus and Pontius Pilate. Bulgakov's raises the issue of meaning of love, faith, forgiveness, and human decency. This also is a funny novel. And I think that to truly appreciate all of its nuances one should read it in Russian, and I am privileged to be able to do so. However, this book is not beyond the average English-speaking reader, on the contrary, most people will enjoy reading it for its sheer humour and inventiveness, even if they are not familiar with the society which is allegorically depicted here.
I prefer this translation to other translations. It feels accurate and natural. The flow of narrative is smooth and enticing. In the real world, Bulgakov seems to show, love does not always conquer all, but it remains unconquered even in the face of oppression and tragedy.
Michael Hart

A great big thank you to Professor White, in whose 20th Century Russian Prose class I read this book! The book has many levels - and even if you look no further than the very surface, it is a bizarre yet hilarious story. If you put more thought into the reading, it delves in to themes of good and evil and all that good stuff (and thankfully, Bulghakov is much more eloquent than I am). It was several years ago that I read this so I don't remember many of the details, but I do remember that it was my favorite piece that we read in the course. I lent my copy to a friend and I never got it back, which is too bad because I'm dying to read it again. One of these days when I can justify spending the money on a book I've already read, I'll get myself another copy. Until then, I'll just leave you with my highest recommendation! By the way, you do not at all need an extensive background in all things Russian in order to read this book. I am a scientist, not a historian, and I loved it!

This is a beautiful, tragic, and uniquely written work. However, much of its beauty depends on Bulgakov's command of the Russian language, and the English translation does not manage to bring across the full magnificence of this book. This novel is inaccessible to Americans for one further reason. It is, in a way, a political and social commentary, and to those who do not know the times in which Bulgakov wrote, who do not understand his veiled thrusts at the Soviet system. . .this book has no meaning. Do not imagine for a moment that it is merely a fantasy, or even a philosophical novel (though that is partially true), it is first and foremost a commentary on the Russian society of the time. And without understand of that society, the book will have little meaning to the reader. If you have enough Russian at your disposal to read the original, do it! If not, read this translation, but I fear that a great deal of the magic, the beautiful language, the unique power of the written word that characterizes Bulgakov will be lost to you.

Are the dachas allocated to those with the most talent or those at the top? Ivan Nikolayich is taken in his underwear to the lunatic asylum. The poet Ryukhin takes him there. After sleeping Ivan feels better. He remembers that Berlioz is dead. He finds the building he is in to be wonderfully equipped. It seems that Ivan is in the hospital because he went to a restaurant in his undershorts and because he wanted to tell everyone about Pontius Pilate. Ivan draws Pontius Pilate and a cat walking on its hind legs.
Rimsky, manager of a Variety Show, is driven nearly mad by the telegrams of a magician supposedly from Yalta. A mysterious person, Varenkha, disappears and then suddenly reappears in the story. Nikanor Ivanovich is supposed to turn over his foreign currency. Until his dream Nikanor Ivanovich knew nothing of the works of Pushkin. Nikanor Ivanovich claims that he has no foreign currency.
At the Variety Theater there is concern because Rimsky is nowhere to be found. The aliens bureau has never heard of anyone called Woland, the black magician. Berlioz's nephew tries to claim his inheritance. Ivan's beloved mistress is called Margarita. Margarita flies silently at second story heighth.
Woland, Margarita, and the cat attempt to play chess. Margarita calls the author of a novel about Pontius Pilate, Master to Woland's surprise. The cat jumps off of a pile of manuscripts. No one can say whether the figures are real or imagined. Woland says the Master's novel is unfinished.
I had trouble following the allegory. I will take responsibility for being a poor reader in this instance. The book is splendid.

Written in the darkest years of Russia's unfathomably brutal totalitarian dictatorship, long before the idea of "postmodernism" had arisen, Bulgakov's brilliantly crafted, mischievously conceived masterpiece boldly challenges the tenets of his time and culture, rejecting both traditional religious dogma and modern atheism while having quite a bit of fun with the story of Faust. The Devil is raised up as a kind of anti-hero; Pontius Pilate is portrayed as a conflicted and guilt-ridden bureaucrat; and the Devil's followers and retinue are shown as both more powerful and more free than the common masses.

Far from a paean to sociopathy and dropping out, however, and despite its phantasmic form and plot, The Master and Margarita is in fact a work of deep humanistic Romanticism in the Russian literary tradition. Bulgakov's title characters manage to escape the constraints of their lives and exult in true freedom by the only means available to them: by rejecting society around them and living by their emotions, by fleeing society's brutal imposition of mediocrity and meaninglessness, and by trusting their inner integrity, thereby exposing the culture they are fleeing for its degraded venality and materialistic status-seeking.

Subversively, it is only those characters who follow the Devil who can be free and be granted absolution. The Devil offers not only darkness but contrasts, and notes that light cannot be appreciated without shadows--a subtle but serious critique of Communism's ideology and aesthetics (both of which caused Bulgakov much suffering in his life). Only the Devil can restore an artist and his lover to what they truly yearn for: the peaceful daily idealism of doing good work and loving one another. Perhaps in a better world, the Devil would not be required for such liberation; in Bulgakov's Moscow, however, he definitely is. In Bulgakov's world, the primary imperative is to restore a sense that the Devil exists, that ethics exist, that integrity exists and that it can be violated.

The narrative's fragmented, multi-perspective style reflects the imperatives of the society in which the characters are embedded. Most are painted sketchily, even mechanically, defined by their functions and their status. Don't look for deep Tolstoyesque psychological portraits here: these are mechanical people in a mechanical society in which fear rules. Liberation for Bulgakov's characters comes through resurgent Romanticism, not analysis or intellectuality. As the title characters start to discover their freedom, the language itself becomes more sweeping and heroic, more emotional, and more narrative. The themes of the novel are therefore borne out not only through the story and the characters, but through the way the story is itself told. A staggering achievement of the novelist's craft.

I only wish I were able to read it in the original Russian -- I am sure we can only appreciate a fraction of the richness of the text in translated form. However, this translation is a wonderful read. (I read the Vintage edition translated by Diana Burgin and Katherine Tiernan O'Connor; Penguin Classics has another translation.) I recommend reviewing the endnotes and comments for each chapter after reading it, so you can appreciate the references before moving on. The chapters are short.

Highly recommended!

I went into this novel knowing next to nothing about Russian or Soviet culture, but as it is often cited as one of the most important books to come out of Russia, I decided to give it a whirl. I was surprised by how fun the story was, how slick and cool the characters are. It was definitely tough to dive into - The first few chapters are disjointed and packed with confusing details - but it is worth working through. The details come together to produce a fantastical story that left my thoughts returning to the characters again and again. I cannot say much about the accuracy of the translation, but in terms of reading quality, it was very smooth and natural sounding, which is hard to find in translated stories.

Bulgakov's MASTER AND MARGARITA is the greatest work ever written in the last century by a Russian. It is also the bravest book written in that same time period. Imagine writing a novel critical of your country when the leader of that country happens to be one of the greatest mass murderers in history. Obviously written for posterity, if it had gotten into the wrong hands, or come to the attention of the wrong people at that time, Bulgakov would have been in grave danger.

I will not go on at length to describe this novel because many of the reviews here have already done so. It is also rather difficult to describe because it has many elements in it's composition. There is the obvious reference to the Faust legend, the Biblical references, the Dostoevsky and Tolstoy references, the symbolism, social satire, and allegorical treatment of contemporary political concerns. There is great humor in this book, and a love story that proceeds in phantasmagorical fashion and climaxes in what can only be described as a symbolic epiphany.

"The Master and Margarita," Mikhail Bulgakov's sparkling fantasy of Satan's visit to Moscow under the guise of a magician named Professor Woland, must rank as one of the greatest acts of literary heroism of the past century. Bulgakov wrote the novel in the late 1930s, under what was arguably the most repressive government ever on earth--the Soviet Union at the height of Stalin's power. When even the mildest criticism of the regime led to a death sentence, Bulgakov dared to place all the cruelty, venality and treachery of 1930s Russia under a microscope. The book was of course unpublishable in Bulgakov's lifetime; it only appeared in its original form nearly a half-century after the author's death. We can chuckle at the wicked tricks Woland and his retinue play on various arrogant, incompetent Soviet officials, but knowledge of the power wielded by the real-life counterparts of those officials gives the chuckles a grim undertone indeed. The titular characters don't even appear until the book is nearly half-over: the Master, a despondent writer sent to an asylum after his novel about Pontius Pilate is rejected by the Soviet writers' union, and Margarita, the beautiful woman who loves him and will literally go to Hell for his sake. Through their dealings with Woland, Bulgakov exalts the power of the imagination, the need for the spiritual dimension in life and the courage to live by one's own convictions--virtues that Stalinist Russia strove, mostly successfully, to undermine. Interspersed with the tale of Woland, the Master and Margarita are chapters from the Master's novel, depicting Pontius Pilate's dealings on the day of the Crucifixion with Yeshua Ha-Notsri (Jesus of Nazareth), Levi Matvei (St. Matthew) and Judas of Kerioth (Iscariot). The leading theme of those chapters is the essential nature of humankind: are people good, as Yeshua argues, or bad, as Pilate does? Bulgakov never answers this question, and Christian fundamentalists will be outraged to find Levi Matvei and Woland at the end to be allies, albeit uneasy ones. But in the Stalinist moral vacuum that denied the existence of both Heaven and Hell, how could they avoid working together? Bulgakov insists that people have moral choices, and that the greatest evil comes from abdicating those choices, as Stalin not only encouraged but demanded. The Vintage International edition of "The Master and Margarita" benefits mightily from the idiomatic, easily flowing English translation by Diana Burgin and Katherine Tiernan O'Connor, and the afterword by Bulgakov biographer Ellendea Proffer provides invaluable information, from the standpoint of both the societal context and Bulgakov's own life history.

I woke up late this morning, still recovering from Christmas festivities. My mother was having a nightmare, talking in her sleep and groaning. I gently woke her up, told her she was having a bad dream. She thanked me after confirming my diagnosis. I checked my email and got the most terrible news. Benazir Bhutto had been murdered, shot in the neck amid a suicide bomb wreckage.

I was going to start this review with a summary of all of Joseph Stalin's crimes, specifically those against Christians and Jews. Mikhail Bulgakov was a christian from Kiev, Ukraine and fought for the white army during the Russian revolution. His father was a theology professor in Kiev. The nascent communist regime was, of course, very much opposed to religion of any kind. In the decades after the revolution, the number of Orthodox churches decreased from over 10,000 to 500. Hundreds of thousands of priests were murdered just in the first decades of communism. If we had a precise record of Stalin's victims, he would make Hitler look like a pussy cat.

Funny how the most evil people in the world's history keep being replaced by others just as terrible. But this should not be news to a christian since Christ foretold that evil would persist until the end of time. Mikhail Bulgakov's masterpiece, The Master and Margarita was the Soviet Union's first and only dose of the gospel, though the book was not widely circulated or published until 1967, 37 years after Bulgakov's death. The Master and Margarita is a tale of good and evil and is a satire of Stalinist Russia. Needless to say, the book was banned in Stalin's day.

The Master and Margarita reads like a crazy dream interrupted by a few moments of consciousness. It's a crazy, but well told story. A friend of mine from Uzbekistan read it in Russian years ago and asked me wasn't he (Bulgakov) schizophrenic? "My head, my head," the variety theatre's MC repeated over and over as he was whisked to a psychiatric hospital following a wild night of black magic at the theatre. Woland, a satanic figure, took off his head and then placed it back on for the excited crowd. Many other writers were at the very same hospital suffering from schizophrenia and were regularly tranquilized. Room 118's occupant was a writer called the master who had written a novel about Pontius Pilate and suffered much because of it. The love of his life was a young, married woman named Margarita from whom he was separated by the malicious forces that invaded the city of Moscow, Woland and his cortege. The story begins at Patriarch's Ponds in Moscow where Bulgakov resided with his third wife who was the prototype for Margarita.

Despite the fact that the master, who has no name and no identity to steal, had burned his story about Pontius Pilate and Jesus Christ's crucifixion, named Yeshua Ha-Notsri in Bulgakov's story, Woland of course knows what he's written, and the words have a permanence in people's minds, like Margarita's and the publisher's that made the master's life on earth hell...

"The mist that came from the Mediterranean sea blotted out the city that Pilate so detested."

Anyway, The Master and Margarita is a classic, one of my favorites. I'm so glad I'm an American despite my country's faults, it's one of the best countries in the world.

"Master and Margarita" its one of a kind, a true literary masterpiece, one of the most profound and imaginative writings I have ever read. Bulghakov brilliantly combines diverse ingredients of content and style to bring a resonant depiction of humanity. The soviet horrid reality interlaces with martyrdom of Christian `mythology', social and situational humor blends with human tragedy of the highest proportion, the prose depicting everyday lives of Muscovites intertwines with poetic narrative unveiling the ancient city of Jerusalem in the course of its infamous trial and execution. Bulghakov had been working on this book for thirteen years, rewriting and reediting his ultimate tour de force. As a result of this prolonged writing labor combined with enormous literary talent, a masterpiece- full of remarkable beauty and complexity, was born. Bulghakov like his eponymous protagonist, have become immortal, though not on account of evil spirits but his own genius.
(Mirra Ginsburg translation is to my taste the best available)

THE MASTER AND MARGARITA kept yearning for my attention because one of my favorite characters, the devil, is a big player in the book. Once I started reading this master piece, with its clever satire and elaborate allusions, I couldn't stop until I got to the end!

"She looked at me with surprise, and I suddenly and completely unexpectedly realized that this was the woman I had loved my whole life! Amazing, isn't it? Naturally, you'll say I'm a madman, right?"

What an amazing, passionate quote that encapsulates so much of what this novel is about coming from the Master, while locked up in an insane asylum, professing his love at first sight with Margarita. Love, passion, pain, and many other motifs run through this seminal classic that defies and remains impervious to any one type of genre classification. In many ways this novel is an autobiography where Bulgakov vicariously uses the Master to express his anguish of rejection from the literary circle he once flourished in.

Bulgakov wrote the novel, on and off, subsequent to critics destroying his career because they viewed him as an anti-Soviet, between the years 1928 and 1940. The incredible thing was he wrote the work with full awareness it would not be published in his lifetime. Not only was this period marked by Stalin's repressive regime, it also marked an era in the former Soviet Union where atheism was in and religion was out.

One of the many things that make this book great is Burgin/O'Connor's enlightening, dense, and in depth commentary. It distinguishes, for example, when Bulgakov's allusions to Faust are inspired by Gounod's opera or Goethe's poem. We also learn the numerous sources the author used in creating his disturbing Pontius Pilate scene.

With religion being attacked in the Soviet Union on all fronts, it is only satirically fitting that the novel begins with the devil, posing as professor Woland, meeting two literary elites and advocating the existence of Jesus Christ. Shortly thereafter, the devil's retinue including, among others, a chess loving, talking cat and a beautiful, naked woman wreak havoc in a faithless Moscow.

Before this, though, the devil reminisces with his new acquaintances the day Pontius Pilate authorized the crucifixion of Jesus. The imagination and intricate detail the author provides in this historical event makes the reader feel like he's there, like this is how it actually went down. The novel alternates scenes between the Master and Margarita's Moscow and the Jerusalem of Pontius Pilate.

There's a dramatic mood shift, some hope, when in part 2 of the novel the narrator claims, "Who ever told you there is no such thing in the world as real, true, everlasting love? May the despicable liar have his despicable tongue cut out!" Margarita wakes up in the morning with a premonition that something is going happen, no matter what, that day. She is right and soon flies off naked on a broom to meet the devil at his midnight ball. Eventually, the devil obliges to Margarita's wish to be reunited with the Master, the latter is freed after he frees Pontius Pilate, and the two lovers walk off in the dawn to their eternal home. The rebellious nature, unorthodox style, and unique circumstances Bulgakov was under while writing this work, makes this novel a one of a kind, must read love story.

The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov, is a story that is one of a kind. The story starts with two men, an editor of a literary magazine named Berlioz, and a poet who goes by the pen name of Bezdomny. Both of them meet at a nearby pond to discuss if Jesus ever existed, both of them are atheists but, Berlioz claims that although Jesus wasn’t God he did exist. As they are discussing this topic a very odd stranger that goes by the name of Woland happens to pass by and the story progresses from there.
The book is a wonderful tale following the lives of many people, it all ties together to form 3 main stories. First, it follows the events that come about around this new stranger, Woland, on his visit to Moscow. Second, follows the story of the Master and his lover Margarita. Finally it also follows the lives of Pontius Pilate and Yeshua, otherwise known as Jesus. Each part of the story is crafted in a way that, in the beginning, you can’t event really imagine how they could relate to one another. But, sure enough, in the end Bulgakov ties them all together masterfully and seamlessly, making for a great read.
As the story progresses the reader is painted a beautiful picture that is a mix of almost every genre, at times it is a love story, sometimes it is a horror story, at times it will make you laugh and at others it can tear at your heart strings. Mikhail Bulgakov shows off his writing skills by pulling the reading into his world of mysticism and depth, he describes everything in the world in such vivid detail that, if you have a good imagination, you can almost picture yourself being there. A good example of this is when the author goes about describing the headquarters of Berlioz’s magazine, Griboyedov. He describes to the reader the restaurant in the basement, what food is served on what days, what bands would be playing, and even how much the food costs! Almost every little thing about the building is described; even the partial history of the building is given. Not many other books can give you this feeling of depth and atmosphere.
The only problem with this depth is that the book is a very slow read for some people, myself included. For example the description of Griboyedov takes a good 8 pages or so, although this is probably the most described single object in the whole book. Another factor that doesn’t help with reading speed is the translation. All of the original Russian names are still used, and for me this made the people very hard to keep track of. I often found myself referencing back to earlier chapters to figure out who is who. I also highly recommend looking into what translation you want to get as my translation (not from the store) was a bit lacking. Many sentences were a bit hard to read, some sentences are constructed in a way that is very confusing. I often found that some letters were replaced by Russian letters or symbols and were accidentally left when someone translated it.
Overall I really love this book, characters have such depth and the stories each character tells are so different that it almost feels like a collection of short stories. No matter who you are or what kind of book genre you like you will love this book, just make sure you set aside enough time to read it!

I found this book in tatters underneath a moldy mattress in a Bornean bordello. Unlike my "date", this book was only tattered and soiled on the outside. What a surprise this book is (much like the surprise I discovered several weeks after my encounter with a different "Margarita") and I can highly recommend it to one and all.
I should warn you now, this is one of those books that requires an imagination as many of the things that occur are out of the ordinary (more like Garcia Marquez or Murakami than King or Carroll). If that bugs you, stay away. On the other hand, if you like subversive, metaphor-laden lollipops, this could be your sucker. It's a crazy ride, and the commentary included with this translation is most helpful. But nevermind all of that. What makes this worth reading is the darn cat. For once, the cat is not annoying. The black cat in this book (read Ch. XXVIII for example) is very very amusing. My wife's insipid terror-cat is nothing like this boozehound blackie and that's just too bad. I tried to get the philistine (Bessie) to read it, but all she did was complain about how unbelievable certain events were (she was particularly offended by how much vodka the cat drank). No matter, it's a great book and a nekkid redhead even makes an appearance. Better than most!

Bulgakov's classic masterpiece is the best read you will find. It can be taken on so many levels, that is hard to make an argument against it's brilliance. It's social inferences, historical references and economic overview of Moscow all lend to a fascinating map of a civilization in despair.
Apart from its importance in the understanding of the Russian people, it is one of the most astounding and interesting philosophical works ever written. By using Faust as a central theme and working through both good and evil, Bulgakov seemingly, not directly, presents answers to the eternal questions and tells the tale of eternal struggles that go on within man and spirit alike.
It is a fabulous story and it is presented in such vivid and alarming detail, that it creates a timeless and utterly re-readable story. This book is crammed with the supernatural, the natural and the inevitable, and it makes for either a quick and thoroughly enjoyable bedtime story or an in depth read into the rationality and irrationality of man.
Buy this book.

This book was the first piece of literature that I read. It was sometime just after I left high school and I picked the book up in a corner store near where I lived. One of the owner's was a force for good and took it upon herself to make literature available in the neighbourhood. Ours was a university town but our neighbourhood was the poor one and the residents were regarded with genteel contempt by the university and business groups. Robertson Davies lived there and captured all of this in his Salterton trilogy which describes the town and with it its attitude to the 'North End' among other things. (If you have not read the books of the trilogy, I highly recommend them.)
The owner insisted that her book rack be stocked with some literature over the protests of the distributors who said that only pulp would sell in the North End. I bought the book and with it I saw what the power of imagination and words could be. I had not been exposed to anything like it previously. In a real way, it did give me the opportunity to change my life. Now that is not bad for a paperback that cost me only a few dollars.
I see from the ratings given here that others agree with me that this is a wonderful book full of imagination. It would be a great gift to a young relative or an old one for that matter.
I recommend it strongly.

This delightful and powerful novel was written when Stalin was subjecting Soviet society to the great purges that killed millions. Bulgakov was fortunate to escape the fate of quite a number of his fellow writers. The Master and Margarita is part fantasy, part allegory of persecution, and a wonderfully written book. The motor of the plot is the idea that the Devil is loose in post-revolutionary Russia. As with the so-called magical realist fiction from Latin America, these fantastic elements are treated in a matter of fact, realistic manner. It is very funny. Dealing with the nature of love and forgiveness, this is a very unlikely work to emerge from the grim prison of the Stalinist state. While more recent translations have been praised, I find the Ginsburg translation to be very satisfactory

I first read this novel in about 1992. As soon as I finished the novel, it replaced the one that was at the top of my list of all-time favorites. I just recently reread it and it it still #1.

There are so many synopses here for the book, so I won't waste your time by rehashing what you've probably already read.

Had Bulgakov written this today, it would probably fall onto the shelf under urban fantasy or magical realism. But it is so much more. There is satire, a harsh critique of the Soviet system, romance, magic, comedy. In short, this book has something for just about everyone.

Where else will you get a three-foot tall cat that walks on his hind legs, eats pickled mushrooms with a fork, and talks?

Check it out. You'll love it.

The devil has descended in Moscow, and settles in to wreak havoc on its inhabitants. The first victim is a magazine editor who sat on a park bench to discuss at length with the devil how the devil can't possibly exist. This man's demise is just a warm up, though. Soon much of the literary and artistic world of the city is bound up in one of the schemes of the devil and his mischievous companions.

As the evil troupe gallivants through the city, people find themselves in a variety of uncomfortable situations. It seems that only Margarita, obsessed with love for a failed writer called The Master, is unafraid of what the devil might have to offer her.

I liked the devil and his companions. They were colorful and amusing, and their antics seemed more like pranks than evil deeds. I really liked the sections with Pilate and his interaction with the prisoner.

I didn't feel as though I was truly grasping a lot of the satire of this book, though, as I know so little about Russian politics and history.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov in the 1967 Mirra Ginsburg translation is nothing short of a literary masterpiece. Re-reading the novel recently, I found the novel to be sublime and to transcend time. M& M is a timeless classic. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read imaginative and well-written literature. This book belongs with the very best. It shows Bulgakov to be a great writer, one of the few really great Soviet writers. There are other translations now and there are stage adaptations and even an opera of Master and Margarita. Mirra Ginsburg's 1967 translation still stands up and is very readable. There are translations that incorporate some of the passages cut out in the 1966-67 Russian version in MOSKVA. Nevertheless, Ginsburg's translation is excellent and stands up well. The republication edition is excellent. What can you say. This is a great book. It is highly recommended.Bulgakov wrote other stuff too, plays, novels, sketches, etc. The White Guard, Black Snow, The Heart of a Dog, Flight, are some of his other works. Bulgakov needs greater exposure in the US. His style will certaily appeal to most readers. The Master and Margarita is a 20th century classic, and required reading.

This novel was especially exciting for myself in that in addition to being just a plain old great story, the setting gave an insight to the Moscow of the revolution. After reading Radzinski's biography of Stalin soon after reading Master and Margarita and finding out that Bulgakov was initally commissioned to write a Soviet revolution period biography of Stalin (back in those days, imagine being a person writing the biography of Stalin or Hitler or someone else completely insane like that in those insane times) the insights he gives as to the daily lives of the Soviet citizen of the times in the time of the novel make Master and Margarita all the more intriuging. Will definetly read it again.

I don't know that I can add anything more about how wonderful this book is than what has already been said. This is a wonderful read, complex, philosophical, political, and it can be enjoyed on many levels. I read it non-stop from cover to cover because this book is that enthralling and compelling - it transports you to a different world. It left me breathless with my heart pounding at 5am when I finished it. However, I did want to contest what one review said about which translation was better since I have read both - I felt that the Ginsberg edition was slightly better than the other published by Vintage since it does a far better job of catching the magical element of the novel, but that may simply be a matter of taste. On the other hand, it will be a gripping - even heartstopping read - which ever translation you read.

I've been a fan of 19th and 20th century Russian novels for years, having read all of Dostoevsky's major novels, Gogol short stories, Gogol's Dead Souls, and now this. Up until now, I have had no cause to doubt Pevear and Volokhonsky's translations-having read Dostoevsky's The Idiot and Demons by them, and all the Gogol works done by them as well. However, before buying a translation of The Master and Margarita in a bookstore, I took about an hour and a half comparing three different translations--theirs, Ginsburg's, and another one that was relatively new. I ended up buying the Ginsburg, even as I knew what painstaking work Pevear and Volokhonsky do. In this case though, I quickly dismissed the third translation (whose name escapes me) and eventually decided on the Ginsburg. It was more fun to read, and the author's delight in oddity, satire, and feelings for his characters came through much more. This is, as some of you probably know, quite a bit in the style of Gogol's Dead Souls, and the similarity came through the most in the Ginsburg translation.

The husband and wife team of Pevear and Volokhonsky has done great work so far, but that's no reason to read any more of their translations without comparing others (I've also read a lot of critical reviews about their Tolstoy translations). Ginsburg is a great translator, she's also done a good rendering of Notes from Underground, which I recommend as well.

There are three strands in this amazing book. There is aplausible, 'realistic' picture of 1930s Russia, with its communalapartments, erratic services, eternal drabness, and suppressed terror, its phoney 'official' literary culture, its labyrinthine bureaucracy, but, most of all, a populace ready to dob in their neighbour to save their own skin, inventively greedy, like the bourgeoisie of many classic novels...This book is about many serious things - life under a tyranny where every sense of the individual, moral, cultural and spiritual has been wiped out; the duty of the artist in the face of this; the consequences of moral cowardice; the transformative power of culture. In one way the novel is a Calvino-like detective story, as characteers and readers hunt for the end of the Pilate novel.
But what are unforgettable are the set-pieces searing your imagination, the mixture of terror and comedy, despair and romanticism; the sheer iconcoclasitc glee of such a work bursting out of a dour, bleak, rigid culture; the growth of an extraordinary heroine; the cast of varied, marvellous characters. If only all books were like this - it has everything you could ever need.

I read the book in Spanish the first time and thought it was one of the best I had ever read, but I had borrowed it from a friend. I bought the Everyman's Glenny translation and found it as delightful as the first time. It's definitely one of the best novels I've read: it's satirical to the limit, very critical of the society of Bulgakov's time, and it definitely wants to stay in your hands for the next chapter once you read the first. I'm sorry this edition has no footnotes, though the preliminary essay, if read after the novel, helps a lot in contextualizing. I'm really sorry I don't speak a word of Russian because the original must be really exceptional.

I have lived and worked in Russia for the last ten years. I remember when I first read this book - I felt that it helped me understand Russia, although I can't point to the exact parts of the book that did this. I re-read it at least once a year, and always find something new to enjoy. The plot and the characters are very rich, and the ending is uplifting, in stark contrast to the reality of Bulgakov's life. I find it difficult to recommend books to people. It is unlikely that they will read something in the same way as you. This is the only book that I recommend to everyone, who suggests to me that they might be interested in my recommendation.

"The Master and Margarita," possesses a remarkable quality -- everyone loves it. I refer of course to Russians, who read, read, and re-read this book on a regular basis. I shall not dwell on the book itself -- it has been done by others, but refer specifically to this translation. The translation fails. It is more accurate than the mediocre Ginsburg and the abominable Glenny translations, but it lacks in exactitude, and the English is dry and boring. People do glimpse the wonder of the original through this attempt at re-telling, but it is merely a glimpse. My hope is that the upcoming (fourth!!!) translation, done by the same team that did the wonderful work on the "Brothers Karamazov" will be worthy of the original.

There are three strands in this amazing book. There is aplausible, 'realistic' picture of 1930s Russia, with its communalapartments, erratic services, eternal drabness, and suppressed terror, its phoney 'official' literary culture, its labyrinthine bureaucracy, but, most of all, a populace ready to dob in their neighbour to save their own skin, inventively greedy, like the bourgeoisie of many classic novels...This book is about many serious things - life under a tyranny where every sense of the individual, moral, cultural and spiritual has been wiped out; the duty of the artist in the face of this; the consequences of moral cowardice; the transformative power of culture. In one way the novel is a Calvino-like detective story, as characteers and readers hunt for the end of the Pilate novel.
But what are unforgettable are the set-pieces searing your imagination, the mixture of terror and comedy, despair and romanticism; the sheer iconcoclasitc glee of such a work bursting out of a dour, bleak, rigid culture; the growth of an extraordinary heroine; the cast of varied, marvellous characters. If only all books were like this - it has everything you could ever need.

I read the book in Spanish the first time and thought it was one of the best I had ever read, but I had borrowed it from a friend. I bought the Everyman's Glenny translation and found it as delightful as the first time. It's definitely one of the best novels I've read: it's satirical to the limit, very critical of the society of Bulgakov's time, and it definitely wants to stay in your hands for the next chapter once you read the first. I'm sorry this edition has no footnotes, though the preliminary essay, if read after the novel, helps a lot in contextualizing. I'm really sorry I don't speak a word of Russian because the original must be really exceptional.

I have lived and worked in Russia for the last ten years. I remember when I first read this book - I felt that it helped me understand Russia, although I can't point to the exact parts of the book that did this. I re-read it at least once a year, and always find something new to enjoy. The plot and the characters are very rich, and the ending is uplifting, in stark contrast to the reality of Bulgakov's life. I find it difficult to recommend books to people. It is unlikely that they will read something in the same way as you. This is the only book that I recommend to everyone, who suggests to me that they might be interested in my recommendation.

"The Master and Margarita," possesses a remarkable quality -- everyone loves it. I refer of course to Russians, who read, read, and re-read this book on a regular basis. I shall not dwell on the book itself -- it has been done by others, but refer specifically to this translation. The translation fails. It is more accurate than the mediocre Ginsburg and the abominable Glenny translations, but it lacks in exactitude, and the English is dry and boring. People do glimpse the wonder of the original through this attempt at re-telling, but it is merely a glimpse. My hope is that the upcoming (fourth!!!) translation, done by the same team that did the wonderful work on the "Brothers Karamazov" will be worthy of the original.

“Follow me, reader! Who told you that there is no true, faithful, eternal love in this world! May the liar's vile tongue be cut out! Follow me, my reader, and me alone, and I will show you such a love!”

I reread The Master and Margarita year after year, and it still surprises me. I have fallen in love with many books and authors throughout the years but I always come back to "her", my favorite book.

I never could write a proper review for it though, I freeze for hours in front of the screen or I write pages and pages and then discard them all. “Why try to pursue what is completed?”

A smart, twisted satire by Bulgakov, this book provides
sheer entertainment along with thought provoking philosophy. Set against
the background of the communist era, the Russian author
makes Satan come to Moscow and turn the regular-paced city
upside down. Spiced with bits of political satire, Master
and Margarita revolves around an almost fairy-like story
of two lovers, torn apart by life and brought back
together by the devil himself. This is a surrealistic
book filled with surprises. Any open-minded reader with a sense
of humor will surely add it to their favorite list.

I first got attracted to this book when I knew it was a major influence on Mick Jagger's "Sympathy for the Devil", a song I liked since long ago. Then I researched a bit on Bulgakov at Wikipedia and downloaded a pdf version of the book. I just could not stop reading from the early beginning. It is the kind of book you wish you have written, for it deals with thoughts and feelings you already experienced but were not able to put in words. The bitter taste of envy, I have to confess, is difficult to wash out. Any wannabe writer would chop his finger to write something close to it. I always liked and felt related to Pilate. He is the Bible's character who seem to think closer to me. He is a skeptic. Nonetheless, he is the only non-follower that sympathizes with Jesus. He likes him without believing in him. It is such a riddle to believers, but unbelievers like me understand this mixed feeling pretty much. Read it and answer: quod ist veritas.

I have read Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita three times, but it is only after I gained some experience in life, that I more fully appreciated its beauty: Because this is a liberating book, a book that consoles and soothes the pain of realizing what humanity has turned into. When the times are such that the Satan himself is repulsed by human vice, don't we all wish to have that special ointment and rise above our petty struggles to achieve what we truly love. Never before have I read about as just Devil as Woland, or as spiritually joyous God as Ha-Nozri. And yet the book is not religious--it is Bulgakov's personal, tormented symphony of imagination, both tragic and hilarious, sad and uplifting and one, he knew, that will never be read in his lifetime.

Update 24 Oct. 2012: A very pleasant Russian TV show (10 episodes) based on the novel was released in Russia in 2005, directed by Vladimir Bortko (Владимир Бортко, Мастер и Маргарита).

This is one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. A grandson of Faust and an ancestor to the Tin Drum, the 100 Years of Solitude, the Midnight's Children, the Wind-up Bird Chronicle...
And surely Mick Jagger must have read it before coming out with Beggars' Banquet!
Bulgakov and Nabokov (in his Sirin period) make me regret that I never learned Russian. (maybe after retirement?)
Written and set in Moscow during the Stalin time, but published only in the 60s, posthumously, it ought to have far more attention than it gets. In Germany, it has just been re-published in a series by Der Spiegel, which includes bestsellers from the last 40 years. It was a bestseller when it came out and should stay in print. I noticed in the store that a new pocket book edition will come in February. Good.
With sympathy for the devil, we watch mayhem spreading in a dictatorial setting which has no place for non-dictatorial goings-on. They need the devil to tell them that Jesus existed. The devil shows up as a professor for black magic. He uses the name Voland, one of his names in Goethe's Faust. He dislocates Moscow's social life endlessly. The resulting extravaganzas are masterfully subversive and anarchic. On a second level, a Jesus story is told, a kind of Voland Gospel. Bulgakov introduces himself as the 'master', residing in a lunatic asylum, very appropriately, the author of the gospel.
A highly entertaining masterpiece.
There is some importance of music, but I have not quite figured out, what the use of supporting characters called Berlioz and Strawinsky and the cameo appearance by Johann Strauss means.

It's difficult to find this information online, so for those interested, the unabridged audiobook edition by Naxos was translated by Michael Karpelson. This is the only translation I have "read," but I find it fabulous, for what it's worth.

By 1928, Mikhail Bulgakov was already an established, though, due to the harsh party censorship, disreputed writer. That year he ended his volatile second marriage to Lyubov Byelozerskaya and started his great love affair with Elena Sergeevna, who served as the inspiration for the character of Margarita in his masterpiece novel "Master and Margarita" (originally, "A Novel About the Devil"). He worked of M&M for twelve long years, until his death in 1940, and poured all of his great literary gift, and some suggest even his entire soul, into the novel.
Master and Margarita is, characteristically for Bulgakov, a delightfully funny, highly inventive and almost diabolical masterpiece of modernist prose. It is, also, a tremendously complex novel, into which Bulgakov included a number of literary archetypes and autobiographical sketches. The novel is at once a metaphysical wandering, a modern telling of the Faustian legend, a retelling of an important episode from the Gospel, a carnivalesque social and political satire of totalitarianism, a wonderful romance and a personal confession. It simply would not make any sense for me to attempt the writing of a short synopsys of the novel, because all the mentioned themes are cleverly intertwined and the novel's compexity makes any systematic analisys seem futile.
Master and Margarita was not published in Russia until 1967, and then only in a heavily revised text. The full text was finally published in the late 1980's, and the novel quickly became a cult phenomenon in Moscow, where it seems everyone has read it. Phrases from the novel have actually been incorporated into daily speech. I have not read the English translation of the novel, and seriously doubt that it does any justice to the original. Bulgakov's puns are untranslatable. Still, this is novel I am sure everyone will love, and I warmly recommend it for reading and re-reading.

Bulgakov has written a bizarre and very enjoyable book where he takes digs at the contemporary to him (1930s) Soviet (Russian) literary establishment (including the poet Mayakovsky), the atheism of Communist Russia.
Although he doesn't seem to be an atheist he isn't a normal Christian either. Woland (the devil character) actually helps the two lovers of the title get together so presumably he isn't that bad, and he apparently runs errands for God.
It has been noted in other reviews that the writing gets more lyrical towards the end. This is true, and one of my favourite passages is near the end - where the demons turn into fairie nights and princes and fly back to wherever they came from.
I have also seen this book referred to as an inspiration for the Rolling Stones song 'Sympathy for the Devil'.

What do you do in 1930s Communist Russia when you cannot believe in God (not allowed) and the Devil shows up. Can you believe in him? Can you talk about him? What if you write about him? Souls goes up in smoke. People die. The writers union upholding Communism falls. The world goes crazy and then true-love Magarita saves the hero. Again, Faust-like, but this time working with mr. D. Oh. Also, Jesus gets it again when he meets up a nice'guy Pontius Pilate. Special note> The Devil's vodka-drinking cat should be enough to make you want to read the book.

Either love it or hate it. This book was enthusiastically recommended to me as a modern masterpiece, but I got bored halfway through and plodded through the rest. Written in 1939 by Russian writer Bulgakov, the notion is that the devil visits communist Moscow in the guise of a strange professor along with two cohorts. Moscow, the center of communist xenophobia towards oursiders, is where state-sanctioned athiesm should preclude the devil's very existence. It's cute, and ultimately touches on themes of the purpose of evil, the duality of good and evil, and political hypocrisy. But it's written in that maddening Russian style, full of little references to obscure 19th-century literary gazettes, minor Soviet functionaries, and Goethe. These reference, of course, are coded by self-censorship. As a result, there are pages and entire chapters where nothing seems to happen - a guy walks around the streets, but the commentary pages in the back of the book patiently explain how the names of the streets and apartment numbers carry important, obscure references. The commentary is good and insightful, but ultimately it really demonstrates how far the book is from its readers. You need the commentary just to understand what's going on. I'm told this is a great book that gets better with subsequent readings. Maybe so. Maybe I'll pick it up again later and give it another try.

As a Russian, I had an advantage to read it in original language. As one of my fellow compatriots already mentioned, please be careful with the translation. I think this one is one of the best translations.
If you have imagination, ever wondered if there are forces of evil, and if there are - what would they look like and what would they do, if you are fascinated by magick, if you ever thought that there must be something out there to punish the mass stupidity - then it is a book for you.
Mihail Afanasievich Bulgakov, my favorite Russian writer, the authour of this masterpiece of the world literature, has lived through every word of this book. If you read about the author, you will see who is behind every character in this book. If you are familiar with the Russian culture, you will know that this book is a classic not to miss. It is just so Russian - innocent and diabolique at the same time.
When I first read it I was around 14 and I read it non-stop until I finished. I could not tear myself away. It is so fascinating and full of believable unbelievable - like everything what Bulgakov writes about. He certainly is a master of grotesque, and makes a reality a grotesque which remains with you forever and makes life more fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!I have a book and carry it around everywhere I move around the world, and I read it on a regular basis. Together with Alice in Wonderland from my childhood, definitely a #1 book for me!!!

Albeit I love George Orwell and Kurt Vonnegut, I have to label "The Master and Margarita" as the best book I've ever had the priviledge to read. Clearly, Bulgakov is an insane author, which kind of makes sense of the cat who rips the emcee's head off, and the naked witch riding a pig. I loved every second of this book, and actually stopped reading "Breakfast of Champions" because Bulgakov's work was so much more fascinating. If you have a day to set aside, I guarantee you, you'll devour the entire work. The devil wreaking havoc in Moscow makes for fast reading.

This has become one of my favorite books. There are a few qualities in particular that I love. First, there is the wonderful, honey-thick Russian language. The translation successfully draws you into the vocabulary and imagery of Russia. Second, it is a funny book. I imagine that it is most amusing to people who have a good knowledge of Goethe's Faust and Russian culture and politics, but there is plenty of humor that is surface level. Third, there are some very moving passages, in particular the scenes with Pontius Pilate.
I have recommended this book to many friends and family. I have only read this edition of the book; but in reviewing other copies, I would strongly recommend this one with the notes. Some of the historical, political and literary allusions are too specific for the average reader and the notes very unobtrusively guide you through the book.

The novel which was the inspiration for the Rolling Stone's sympathy for the devil. At one point Woland says ... please allow me to introduce myself ... This is one of my favorite books. I have read all the translations and none has ceased to please. A truly remarkable novel of the Devil coming to Moscow and the hilarious adventures which ensue for him and his retinue, and their affect on the citizens. On a deeper level a scathing commentary on Communism in Soviet Russia. Bulgakov is a masterful writer and this is a masterful work. Highly recommended.

This is my favorite Russian novel. I don't understand why it isn't a part of every senior high school's reading requirements. It is great because it has a very interpretive story. Basically the devil comes to Russia and frees people from the oppression of their lives. This is symbolic of the destruction of totalitarian government. This book is very funny very horrifying, and also, at many times very touching. The heart of the book lies though with the devil. It is just amazing the way he changes everyone's life that is in the story in a profound way. Definitely a good read if you are looking to get into good Russian literature.

Anyone with even a remote interest in great fiction should definitely read this book. Banned in the Soviet Union for many years, it is the author's masterpiece.
When Satan arrives in Moscow with an entourage including a talking cat that walks upright and a faithful "translator," anyone standing in this bizarre threesome's path is swiftly dealt with-usually via a trip to a famed Moscow mental health institution.
Satan is used to represent of the "official" Soviet view of foreigners--suspicious, evil and not to be trusted. The tyranny of Soviet life is also well documented through the character's offbeat adventures and actions. Through the main character, the poet Homeless, as well as the elusive Master, writers as represented as an oppressed society in Soviet life. This is a clear political statement of the author's and adds to the controversy of the book.
Although politics are usually the subject of mockery and satire, this book is highly unique and certainly not to be missed. New insights into a dark period of Soviet history will be gained in a delightful and entertaining way.

I was given this book by an ex-boyfriend, and, I must admit, I was skeptical (his taste sometimes leaves something to be desired). I was pleasantly surprised by its intelligence and its elegant prose.

Bulgakov is beyond masterful.

One note, however, is that, if you are to read this book, you should do some background "research" on the climate when this is written. I am sure most people who read this are intelligentsia beyond my own experiences, but I definitely needed to read it twice. After the first read, I really attempted to understand the satire and power of the parable by really studying the environment in which it was written. The second read was even more enjoyable than the first.

Whatever your preconceptions about the former Soviet Union and Russian culture, throw them out the window. THIS BOOK IS FASCINATING! You'll laugh over and over again. I was assigned to read this book and had plans to skim the pages and write my paper. This time my paper was late because I couldn't stop reading. If you think the former communist culture is God-less, think again. This book will entertain you on every page while providing fascinating highlights to Russian culture. Looking for something that's a bit off the BestSeller's list . . . Try this classic

I speak fluent Russian, so I'm familiar with problems in translation from Russian to English.
Overall, Bulgakov's writings show his talent and wit. However, to a non-Russian, most of the allegories will be lost anyway, so to attempt to endear the reader with some understanding of what the writer is getting at, the translator needs to consider the language of the reader, the colloquialisms of the reader and the times of the reader.
There are better translations available. This translation is accurate to the words, but will leave the reader wondering what the heck the writer was getting at. If you are a history buff with knowledge of Russian life in the 1920s-1930s, this will be a good book for you.
Else, if you just like Bulgakov, this translation is okay. There is a reason why this is the cheapest of the translations, and that is because you're getting what you paid for, a rote translation of words with little translation of thought, which is the mark of an A-grade professional translator.

I just finished reading THE MASTER AND MARGARITA by Mikhail Bulgakov. What a trip. It's my practice to read these books from Russia twice, once to get a sense of the story, and then again to enjoy the flow of the language. The version I read first was translated by Burgin/O'Connor, and now I will read the Glenny translation, to compare them. This book is as twisted as the Stalin years, and it reminded me of the best of the magical bits of Camus's writings, like THE BUCKET RIDER, even though Bulgakov preceded Camus by decades. For me, there is a new trail through the universe, with signposts that read in order KAFKA-BULGAKOV-CAMUS.

I first read the 1967 paperback translation by Michael Glenny. It claimed to be the "only complete, unexpurgated edition" of the book and was the only version I was aware of in 1968. I read it once on my own (on the recommendation of a professor) and again in the 1968-69 school year in a Russian literature class. I loved it then for all the reasons given in the many reviews listed below. I read it a third time several years later and still loved it.
So now it's been 30 years since I withdrew from the second year of a masters degree program in Russian, and I decided I wanted to read "The Master and Margarita" in the original. I'll confess over the years I have had very few occasions to use my Russian and so have forgotten a great deal. I started reviewing my Russian and convinced several friends to read this book in translation so I'd have others with whom to discuss it. I purchased the Burgin/O'Conner translation (which seems to be the favorite among the many reviews given here) and currently await the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation from the store.com. My happiest moment came when I found the book in Russian on the Internet. I now am able to read a chapter in English, then in Russian. I am not yet at the point where I can read the Russian only, but I plan to get there soon. I will say that I do find the Burgin/O'Conner translation superior to the Glenny, but it is interesting to compare how the different translators have dealt with the Russian text. When I receive the Pevear/Volokhonsky version I will have a third opinion to compare.
The real reason I am writing this is to say that I disagree with those who say if you can't read it in the original, it's not worth it. It is definitely worth it. In 1967 I fell in love with this book using the translation that seems to be regarded as the poorest of them all, and while I am enjoying the new translation much more, I would recommend reading this book in any translation you can get. It is simply a book that is so good it is worth reading no matter what. Get the best translation available, read it, and don't be discouraged by those who say you have to read it in the original.
However, if you can read Russian and want to get a copy in the original, it is available from the White Nights Bookstore... The entire site is in Russian, and it offers an impressive array of books from "Internet for Dummies" in Russian to translated Danielle Steele novels (horrors!). I was amazed at the Russian language sources on the net. From siber you can get instructions on Russifying your computer so that with the click of a toggle, you can type in Russian or back to English. Another source of books in Russian is Hermitage... Znanie Bookstore in San Francisco has a site in progress... There are many others, so go searching!
Thanks to the store.com for providing this forum for all of us to tell the world about this incredible book! Everyone should read it!

This book belongs on the list about world's best books. I think it truly deserves its place there. Even though it's a Russian book, it's good and and well written. I like that the love story is a bit different, but I didn't like that the introduction was too long. Had to wait like 50 pages until it started talking about the Master and Margarita. Everyone should give it a try.

I gotta join the chorus and say how much I love this book. It represents a watershed in 20th Russian culture and many of its phrases have become idiomatic expressions in Russian. This edition is great: I love the translation, and the limited annotations allow you to follow on some of the inside jokes and the religious symbolism of the book. The story is engaging and entertaining, but above all I highly respect what this book represents: Bulkagov's rant on his own position as an artist in the USSR. This is a man who was so talented, that Stalin, who was a great fan, allowed his contoversial work to be published and performed (albeit not before the censors had their way).
Bulgakov was a fine author who died too young...like many of his predecessors in the great Russian literary tradition. His other works: Heart of a Dog, White Guard (originally a play that even though sympathetic to the anti-Bolsheviks, was allowed by Stalin to run in Moscow), and A Country Doctor's Notebook (based on Bulgakov's personal experience as a doctor in the Russian countryside) are worth checking out. Black Snow, a novel that revolves around his obsession with the theatre, is also interesting.

This review does not refer to Master and Margarita, which is a powerful and genius work of art. This review, instead, refers to the Classics House translation of a powerful and genius work of art.

I will sum it up like this: I came across the phrase 'bum-freezer made of air' on the second page of the Classics House translation. I am fluent in Russian and have many Russian friends, and I asked one of them for their Russian copy of Master and Margarita, so what in the world the translator was intending to convey. In short, they had translated 'vasdooshnei pidjakot' (which means an airy or diaphanous jacket) as 'bum-freezer made of air'. Good job, translators!

Throughout the text, I found extremely strange phrases and sentence constructions that were clearly the result of some of the shoddiest translation I have ever seen. What more, the typeset of this book was chock-full of typos and mistakes - I have counted seventeen on the page I am looking at right now. When reading a novel, it is not fun to be constantly jolted out of the reading experience by noticing all the strange typesetting mistakes and constant strange phrases that make me wonder what word the translator bungled this time. And I really do not recommend this edition to anyone who is not reading it for the laughs.

I feel compelled to add my own meager voice to the chorus of praise Master and Margarita has received. I first read Master and Margarita (the Diana Burgin/Katherine O'Conner translation) as a second year slavic languages and literatures major on the recommendation of my professor. Although skeptical at first (I still had the notion that great literature was supposed to be boring), after I read Master and Margarita that first time I was enraptured by the complexity, depth, phliosophy, wit and sensitivity of this obvious master piece of russian literature. I have since read the book eight more times, carried it with me on trips and given it a permanent place on my night stand. As with every great work of literature, I have never tired of it. It speaks to me in a different way every time. On translations, I must say unequivocally that the Diana Burgin/Katherine O'Conner translation is by far the best. Translation is not about transcribing word for word the literal meaning of the text. It is about capturing the voice of the author, recreating the style and expression of his work. This is done admirably in the Burgin/O'Conner translation. They capture beautifully the nuances of Bulgakov's style, which is so much a part of his charm as a writer. Their translation truly adds to the international prestige of both Bulgakov and Master and Margarita. Having enjoyed it so much, I decided to devote my research paper this semester to a study of his satire and have seriously considered making it my area of specialization. Once again I can only say that this is by far the best book I have ever read and that I hope others who read it will be as inspired by it as I was.

This book is one of those that achieve what most books aspire to achieve: it colors your dreams and changes the way you think. It is an amazing series of interwoven tales about Pontius Pilate, Jesus, and writers in twenties-era Moscow that call into question mythologies and conventional Judeo-Christian notions of good and evil. There are few novels I've read that have so skillfully alternated between comedy and tragedy. It explores love, despair, and hope--subjects that are constantly written about in a trite and contrived fashion--in a beautiful and ultimately poignant way. (This is an alternative classic in Russia: hard-core fans make pilgrimages to the apartment in Moscow upon which Bulgakov based the apartment in the book to paint the stairwell with drawings of the characters.) In short, I could not give it a higher rating.

This was Bulgakov's masterpiece and it spawned a cult in Russia which is alive to this day. If you're ever in Moscow, visit the apartment near Mayakovskaya metro station where Bulgakov used to live, and you'll see what I mean. It's a place of pilgrimage, and the staircase outside is covered in respectful graffiti - a section of which was used as the front cover for a British edition of the book. What's all the fuss about? Well, it's a book that tries to do many very different things at once and actually succeeds. It brings the reader tantalisingly close to a religious revelation of world-shattering importance. It is a hilarious satire on Soviet life. It is a valiant defence of the intrinsic value of literature. And it is a deeply moving love-story. The cult was also nurtured by rumours that Bulgakov was still trying to finish the book on his death-bed, dictating alterations and additions to his wife. But you don't have to believe Bulgakov was a prophet to fall in love with this book.

I am from Ukraine... But I read the book for the first time while in college in the U.S (at BYU). I was house-sitting for a friend and she had a bunch of russian books. I found Master and Margaritta, a full Russian edition published in W.Germany back in the seventies. Back then, copies in the USSR were quite "abridged" by the party censors.

Anyway, I read the book in about three days. I read it in between work and classes. I'd stay reading it late into the night. I could not put it down. I found the book so purely russian it made me a bit homesick.

Woland, the Satan, comes to Soviet Russia and causes havoc. But he does not just do it himself; he toys with people who get tangled themselves. It seems the more people try to oppose Woland, the more they get tangled in Woland's web of tricks. Many of those people end up in an insane asylum. Woland has a couple of "assistants" a talking cat and another geezer... oh, there is also the naked diva who ricks of grave... The symbols and the imagery used are absolutely amazing, especially during the Satan's annual ball.

Woland is not the Master... In fact the Master does not appear till much later in the book... Especially interesting parts of the book are the flashbacks to Jesus Christ and Pontius Pilat. However, anyone will find themes and parts to which he or she can relate. Just keep in mind, This is not just a love story, even though it can be read as such very easily.

Enjoy.

This novel belongs in its own category, for there has never been another like it. A really great novel is like a best friend. We love to see them praised and are hurt when they are attacked. I am elated to see that so many the store readers share my love for this great work. I have been reticent to write a critique, as I really can't do it justice. Words are too meager a medium to convey my true response to this masterpiece. Suffice it to say that this has long been my first recommendation whenever anyone approached me about books I most enjoyed. Now with the appearance of Diana Burgin's and Katherine O'Connor's superb translation, I can recommend it even more unreservedly. I've read the Ginsburg and Glenny translations, as well, and have to agree with the other reviewers here who take exception to them. I haven't read the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation, but haven't been too excited by their work with Dostoevsky, so will probably skip it. I envy those who can read Bulgakov and other Russian masters in the original language, but I make do with finding the best translation I can and pay heed to what native speakers have to say about the various translations. I haven't heard any negatives about Burgin's and O'Connor's efforts. The volume also contains some useful annotation, particularly helpful if you are unfamiliar with the era and with the layout of Moscow. There are also some great Bulgakov sights on the net that have detailed maps of 30's-era Moscow, for those interested in getting a clearer mental picture of the sites Bulgakov describes (Patriarchs Pond, The Aryat, etc.). As far as placing Bulgakov in the Pantheon of Russian novelists, this novel alone propels him to the front ranks. Some of his other works, most notably Heart of a Dog and White Guard have not been adequately translated yet, so it is difficult to assess them. If you are a Pasternak fan (which I am not) you will probably enjoy White Guard, however. It is not satire, though, which in my estimation is Bulgakov's strong suit. Nor is there much humor there (at which he also excels in M&M). In fact I would be hard-pressed to come up with any other work in any literature that is as scathingly humorous and dead-on-target satirical as M&M. Burgess and Vonnegut are rungs below Bulgakov in either category. Bulgakov skewers every Moscow bureaucrat and literary hack (unfortunately in the Stalinist era most of those who maintained positions of authority in literary circles were obsequious no-talents who mouthed party-line propaganda) that ever did him harm (and these were legion). Yet there is not an ounce of vitriol involved in the skewering, which is remarkable in itself. Bulgakov had to be one of the most good-natured people ever to pick up a pen. That is the overall impression one gleans from the accounts of his contemporaries and it is evident throughout this book. Yes, stupid people behave stupidly and predictably
(Annushka is Annushka ! ) but in most cases the divine forces at work here let them off the hook. If you haven't been convinced by all these testimonials to give this novel a try, I am probably wasting space here anyway. This novel is the reason I go on reading. I hope someday to come across another like it. There aren't enough stars in the the store galaxy to do it justice.

This review refers to the Pavear & Volokhonsky translation. More than two years ago, I expressed a hope that this translation will take place. My hope came through. While not perfect (a perfect translation is not possible) we have a valiant attempt at conveying the poetry of the original Russian sound. This is the only English translation of this magnificent book that should be read by anyone. I am baffled by the fact that the book is not available in the States -- I had to buy it in Australia! The magic is back -- believable love at first sight, believable prayer that conjures up a miracle, believable Moscow and Jerusalem.
Pavear and Volokhonsky took great care in rendering the tonalities and oddities in Bulgakov's Russian. They did not shy away from diminutives or alternative pronunciations of Biblical names and places. If you are not fluent in the Russian language and culture, this is a close as you can get to it in English.

This novel illustrates true mastery of every aspect of literature! It is exceptionally complex and yet amazingly simple and pleasurable to read! This is what makes the writer great! His ability to express difficult ideas and still be able to enchant the reader with the story of the Master and his Margarita. The book is impossible to put down... If you pick it up, do not expect to do anything else until you have reached the end... However, I must admit that the true beauty of the novel can only be seen by those who are capable of reading it in the original language... While it is likely that an english translation will be very enjoyable, unfortunately it does not (and can not!) fully express all of the subtle humor and symbolism of the original version... Nevertheles, READ IT! You will undoubtedly benefit from it and, very likely, fall in love with it like so many others have...

For anyone who tends to think of Russian literature as dull, depressing, and overly long, I would suggest this novel. It is witty, and a wonderful tale of the devil's visit to Moscow, which also satirizes the Soviet system.

The translation accurately captured the nuances and connotations of the original Russian texts, and does well at combining Bulgakov's various versions which he apparently continually revised.

Russian literature produced in the Stalin era is usually really awful or really excellent.This book falls into the latter category, as it was a real joy to read. There are various plot lines, a historical novel, and enough hilarity to make one laugh out loud. It is quite posible to read the book without referring to the notes at the end, but occasionally they add something to the book, or explain why the author wrote something the way he did. This is a timeless classic of literature and should be read by all serious scholars of 20th century Russian literature.

The Master and Margarita is one of the best books written in any language. No translation, regardless how pure, can ever capture the essence of the original language. This is the reason Pushkin was never as famous outside Russia as he deserved. But this translation, especially if one reads the footnotes, comes as close as possible to the original sense of the work. I'm sure Bulgakov would be pleased. Highly recommended to anyone who loves literature.

A great piece of literature and not stale at all. Discourses and allegories to Goethe's Faust, many a biblical reference, a lot to provoke the mind... but he doesn't forget about the entertaining aspect of reading, you got Satan running around predicting people's deaths for them even though there's nothing they can do, a giant, evil, vodka-swilling cat, and a demon zombie girl out for blood, everyone going insane and / or selling their souls... This book might just become my favorite which depicts Satan as a main character.

The Master and Margarita is first-class satirical farce; a glorius manifestation of magic realism; a personal and artistic triumph for its doomed author. It is a sweeping love story of the old-fashioned sort, a riveting re-telling of the death of Christ, but more than that- it is a spell-binding affirmation of what it means to be a human being, what it means to stay integral to ones beliefs, to ones art, in the face of darkness and depravity.

It makes you laugh until you realize you are crying.

IN the arena of 20 th century world literature Bulgakov is certainly an important writer. His masterpiece novel "master and margarita" is a shocking reality. When man becomes irrational in life and thought nobody would believe anything and you could find no solace in anything. Soviet regime under Joseph Stalin had created a nightmarish experience of hell. For imagination and emotion, it was a terrible revelation of what not civilization.When Satan appears with his associates in Mosco theatre, everybody was deceived. The women from all classes in a moment found themselves in costly garments and in another moment allon sudden, they found themselves naked in the middle of streets. Once people forsake faith in goodness and love, they will become victims of beastial instincts, in short, all are devils. Master and Magarita was warning from the totalitarian society.From artistic point of view the novel was an amazing success. Once started reading, you will be carried away on the wings of imagination. It is definitely a must read for all lovers of fiction. suggesting for students also, who study the history of soviet union.

My Russian friend claims this is possibly the best book he has ever read, at least from Russian literature. I have a difficult time disagreeing; Bulgakov's tale is a masterly exercise in weaving multiple plots into one story. The three separate plots all contain witty and sardonic critiques of society's problems, from greed to pettiness, and it criticizes the Stalinist society, which led to its suppression. The full text was not published until 1989 because of its contents. The full version is an excellent read and I reccommend it to anyone, especially those with an interest in Russian literature.

Mr. Richards is so far off the mark, that I will not bother you with criticism of his commentary.
Suffice it to say, that this work is so far beyond anything I've ever read as far as christ alegories, as to want for description at all.
If you have known the gospel, fallen away from it, and have no intention of coming back to it, but recognize it's truth, take up this book and sublimate the exquisite literary portrayal of what might happen afterwards....
And this is from a zen buddhist. Christ comes off just fine, TYVM, and the robust nature of the message thereto remains unabated, for those not too myopic to see beyond their own, selfish noses.
Everyone should read this work. Period.
God bless you and keep you, Mr. Bulgakov, you have shown, if ever so briefly, the attenuation between black and white, and a path for those who seek the same.

Forget your prejudices and cynicism, Reader! Stalinist terror permeates the atmosphere of this unusual story, exposing the nefarious consequences of political correctness on free-thinkers. A frightened, servile intelligentsia is concerned more with personal privileges that shaping a moral society. One of the best known moralists, Jesus is the allegorical subject of a parallel plot, in which the oppressor, Pontius Pilate, suddenly realizes that salvation means the avoidance of THE capital sin: cowardice. The bravery of the modern Jesus, the Master, whose revisionist story of Jesus is an allegory for the fate of revolutionary thinkers in the Stalin era, is viewed as insanity. With two exceptions: the first is Margarita, the positive mirror image of the quintessential femme fatale. Her adulterous love and total devotion, however, does not save the Master in this world. But now comes the second revolutionary, the true Savior, who is recognizing the bravery of the Master and plots with the conventional Savior to reward it. The true Savior is none-other than the so-called evil-doer, Satan, whose actions instill love and courage in the oppressed people. His colorful retinue mocks the Authority of the State and punishes pettiness. The convergence of the two Saviors is an amazing twist of old religious prejudices, which melt in the face of selfless love. Saint Bernard's assertion that "Hell is full of good intentions" is finally realized.
Peace be unto you, Reader, but beware of black cats if your soul is not pure.

I really had no idea what to expect from this book before I started it. I read the back and was immediately attracted to the Bizarre plot. It became my favourite book after the first chapter. For a week I existed to read this book. School, food and friends were just obstacles in the way of my reading this book. It just became greater and greater as it went on. Bulgukav describes settings and characters so well (and in so few words) you feel as if you are there. This book also carries the widest selection of odd and creepy characters in one novel. most of all this book led me to ask the question, how come all books can't be this good?

Which is to say, I dont think this novel compares to Lolita, Mrs. Dalloway, Gargantua and Pantagruel, Wuthering Heights, and The Stranger in literary quality. The horrific scenes of Satan's taking full advantage of human stupidity and avarice are stunning and entertaining--at least at first. Then they become redundant and tiresome. The second half of this novel suffers from the same flaw that Milton's Paradise Regained suffers. The latter is the story of absolute good winning over evil, the former about absolute evil winning over good. Both stories are deficient in that the forces (either good or evil) are absolutely invincible; there is no question of their success, thus no tension, thus really no reason to go on reading. I found it difficult to plod through the second half of the novel, principally because I knew that Woland would succeed, would free the Master and Margarita, would drive half of Moscow insane, yadda, yadda. This did not make for very interesting reading. Evil has a huge potential to be interesting, because it is imaginative and energetic. Woland is imaginative and meticulous, but after the first several hundred people he kills/drives mad fails to interest me in the second half of the book. Also, the others of his retinue fail to develop beyond their initial presentations; they become repetitive rather than increasingly intriguing. How many times do we need to hear about Koroviev's check suit and flawed pince-nez, or Azezallo's one fang? And I didnt think much of Behemoth's antics, either; at first they were amusing (like his attempting to board a tram) but again it gets redundant after several chapters of the same. The structure of the novel is intricate, but flawed in my opinion. For instance, the epilogue was rather dry and unnecessary. I enjoyed the fanciful scenes of Margarita flying over the city and later on horseback, the devil and his retinue flying through the cosmos. I especially enjoyed it after having to endure the seventy-fifth destruction of some part of Moscow by Woland and his band. Don't get me wrong, I do think highly of Bulgakov's attempt at an intricate and ambitious novel. For the most part it is provoking, especially when considering the atheist, Stalinist Russia in which it was written. But I expected more of a crescendo. I didn't care for Woland. He was as interesting as one of the many MacBeth rambling soliloquy's. His ball was about as scarey as a typical halloween costume party. In fiction, Satan can (and has) been much more interesting. The Master and Margarita's tale begins as touching, but ends rather stale and predictably. To sum up, the book succeeds and fails wildly. I would give the first half of the book five stars, the second one and a half. Thus, the final tally of three.

The Master and Margarita is my ultimate favorite book. It is an suprising allegory which manages to make one rethink subjects like religion, good and wrong, love and philsophy. Bulgakov lets us enjoy a creative and inventive combination of fantastic litterature and high love in a setting of a burlesque adventure. It has some of the complexity of a Dostovesky novel and a story worthy of Robertson Davies, wherin there lives the same kind of people as in the works of Herman Hesse. It is a very brave achievment, not only to write it, but also to try to publish it in a time whan Josef Stalin governed Russia. It is very difficult not to fall in love with Margarita and to hope for a world where people like her and the Master lives and breaths and where other Bulgakovs are still at their writing. Its a great achevment to be able to create a book that plays itself out on your mind and that for some never will leave it. It is one of those books that may change the reader.

The Master and Margarita is certainly different from the 19th century Russian literature most of us read in school, and provides a unique view into the Soviet culture of the 1930's. This is a big part of what makes the book important, but a more compelling reason, perhaps, is that the book is smart, funny and just plain entertaining. If I ever get a cat, I think I'll have to name it Behemoth. . .

This masterpiece, has always been a favorite of mine, for its beautiful writing, hilarious characters, Faustian theme with a romantic twist, and satire.
This particular edition with its annotations, added to the reading experience. I read the annotations, chapter by chapter, which describes the political background, references that only would make sense in Russian, to people who knew the times.
Even if you have read it before, the annotations alone make it worth reading again.

Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita provides a scathing social commentary on life in Russia during Stalinism. This Gnostic work taking place in the 1930s serves as an excellent new historical look on life under Socialism. Bulgakov's masterpiece, which was censored and unpublished until 1972, tells the story of Satan's visit to Moscow and all the unusual events that take place while he's there. Much of the imagery and pranks Satan pulls are symbolic of serious problems facing the average Muscovite. This book will help you, the reader, to understand some of the problems facing 1930s Russia. Bulgakov is one of the most authoritative authors to write on the topic of Socialism, as he had first-hand experience with several of issues addressed in the work. This novel provides an interesting perspective on the ills of Stalinism and it should be read by anyone looking for a creative way to read about those ills. The story is told by a third person omniscient narrator (presumed to be Bulgakov himself) and is divided into two main sections. The first section focuses on the coming of Satan and introduces the characters on which the story focuses, and the second section focuses on the Master and Margarita's love story and the conclusion of Satan's time in Moscow. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a novel which will challenge them on a personal, intellectual, and spiritual level, as well as to anyone doing research on Socialism/Stalinism.

This book was beautiful prose, humor, and intelligent reading all wrapped into one. It has so many layers and so many little details that I'm glad I went out and bought it, for I'll definitely be reading it again! I fell in love with it, and the only thing I'm sad about is that I can't read Russian, so I can't read the original. I have no doubt that so much was lost in the translation, which is a shame. A beautiful book, definitely worth the time and money!

this my favourite book of all time -- i must have read it 30 times or more, each time extracting something new i hadn't noticed before. on all levels this is a staggering work. i used it as a great courting test. everytime i became involved with someone new i'd give them the book. anyone who didn't rave on about it was soon shown the door. if i were ever stranded on a desert island with just one book, this would be it.

I had some doubts when I first started this book. I thought this was probabaly another surpressed novelist who tried to let out his frustration to the communist regime. Well, turns out I am not completely wrong, however this book is definately in the legue of its own, not just "another" russian novel. Bulgakov has a talent to lure his readers into his kingdom of vivid imaginations by hypnotizing them with his lively writing style.

I especially enjoyed his great depictions about Jesus and Potinus Pilate. In the beginning of the book Woland once mentioned that he was on the balcony with Potinus Pilate when he sentenced Juses to crucification, the way Bulgakov wrote thes chapeters impress me as if he had been there by himself! Although I am not to crazy about the protagonists Master and Magarita, who in my opinion show less character than Woland and his mischievous entourage. Long story short, great book, highly recommend!

The reason I picked up this book was because I had read an article wherein the writer remarked that for her, the world was divided into those who had read The Master and Margarita, and those who had not. I was intrigued and just had to read the book. Bulgakov is an absolute genius. His brand of magical realism is so much more accesible, despite the era (1930s) difference, than say that of Salman Rushdie, whom I also enjoy. Rushdie's cultural settings are magical but still alien at the end of his novels. Bulgakov's Moscow is real and very dark magic and you are truly with him- Wolland's magic show takes place before you eyes. You may hardly believe it. Or you might glance skywards to catch the raining roubles, preferably in hard currency instead. I have to agree with the writer of the article, the world is divided up into The Master and Margarita readers and non- readers. I have not been able to stop gabbing about since I finished it yesterday and have sent my best friends out to buy a copy. They can't loan mine- I love it too much.

I don't speak or read Russian, so I am unable to tell whether or not this was a true translation of the original. What I can tell is that this translation is amusing, cynical, and smooth. The book is much in the style of Catch-22, the same over-the-top ridiculousness to underscore a similar seriousness and futility. I read this book on a vacation and never felt like I was being pretentious; it was just too much fun!

a friend of mine reccomended this book to me when i was living in maine...and i read it out of curiosity...bulgakov takes on religion, atheism, the arts, dilletantes, and puts them all on shish-kebob...to me the romance between the novelist and his woman, was the loveliest part of the book. of course, if you like biting sarcasm and satire, you will treasure this also; approach this book with an open mind, and get a good translation...

Bulgakov uses many of the same stylistic (poetic) devices as well as fantastic elements, but where Gogol wrote humorous, frightening magical fantasy Bulgakov wrote fantastical satire and that is his novel's biggest handicap. Satire plays off culture, cultural references become obsolete and more often than not are unfamiliar to outsiders. "Master and Margarita" does not spend much time on exposition.

The story of "Master and Margarita" is actually that of Satan and his four knights visiting Moscow in the thirties to play subversive pranks off the common traits and rites in that period of soviet society. Devil here does not so much seduce as exposes people for what they are. The milieu is mostly writers and artists and if you are one of them you might recognize and enjoy the natural buffoonery of the scene.

The story of Master and Margarita is second storyline, the story of "true love". The common motif running through it is that of dignity. No quips about this one except for the idyllic ending - a cozy country house "somewhere over the rainbow", is rather coy to be good.

The third is the short, tight story of Pontius Pilate, crucifixion and bears some references to The Terrible Vengeance by Gogol, I think.

The first few reviewers said it all... this is a wonderful book, one of my faves, and if you havn't read it yet then pick it up- trust us, you'll love it. I liked Behemoth the cat, and Pilate's dog. And Woland's style, and the fact that The Master was called The Master, and the road Pilate walks down, ...and I could go on all day about this great book. Probably the most lovable thing ever written, this book can garner praise from all kinds of people.

This is my favorite book in the world, I have read it five times in the original language (Russian). While there are some very good translations into English, they pale in comparison with the original. Bulgakov's genious, extrodinary wit and intelligence, and brilliant imagination has no equal in the world of literature. I don't want to give away any of the plot, I think veryone should have the chance to encounter it for themsleves without any outside versions. All I will say is the book will enthrall you from the first chapter and keep you on your toes until the very end. It rarely happens that a book grabs your mind for the entire ride, including the unbelievable ending. It is an absolute crime not to read this book, and it is very possible that once you start it you won't sleep until you finish it.

I don't speak or read Russian, so I am unable to tell whether or not this was a true translation of the original. What I can tell is that this translation is amusing, cynical, and smooth. The book is much in the style of Catch-22, the same over-the-top ridiculousness to underscore a similar seriousness and futility. I read this book on a vacation and never felt like I was being pretentious; it was just too much fun!

a friend of mine reccomended this book to me when i was living in maine...and i read it out of curiosity...bulgakov takes on religion, atheism, the arts, dilletantes, and puts them all on shish-kebob...to me the romance between the novelist and his woman, was the loveliest part of the book. of course, if you like biting sarcasm and satire, you will treasure this also; approach this book with an open mind, and get a good translation...

Bulgakov uses many of the same stylistic (poetic) devices as well as fantastic elements, but where Gogol wrote humorous, frightening magical fantasy Bulgakov wrote fantastical satire and that is his novel's biggest handicap. Satire plays off culture, cultural references become obsolete and more often than not are unfamiliar to outsiders. "Master and Margarita" does not spend much time on exposition.

The story of "Master and Margarita" is actually that of Satan and his four knights visiting Moscow in the thirties to play subversive pranks off the common traits and rites in that period of soviet society. Devil here does not so much seduce as exposes people for what they are. The milieu is mostly writers and artists and if you are one of them you might recognize and enjoy the natural buffoonery of the scene.

The story of Master and Margarita is second storyline, the story of "true love". The common motif running through it is that of dignity. No quips about this one except for the idyllic ending - a cozy country house "somewhere over the rainbow", is rather coy to be good.

The third is the short, tight story of Pontius Pilate, crucifixion and bears some references to The Terrible Vengeance by Gogol, I think.

The first few reviewers said it all... this is a wonderful book, one of my faves, and if you havn't read it yet then pick it up- trust us, you'll love it. I liked Behemoth the cat, and Pilate's dog. And Woland's style, and the fact that The Master was called The Master, and the road Pilate walks down, ...and I could go on all day about this great book. Probably the most lovable thing ever written, this book can garner praise from all kinds of people.

This is my favorite book in the world, I have read it five times in the original language (Russian). While there are some very good translations into English, they pale in comparison with the original. Bulgakov's genious, extrodinary wit and intelligence, and brilliant imagination has no equal in the world of literature. I don't want to give away any of the plot, I think veryone should have the chance to encounter it for themsleves without any outside versions. All I will say is the book will enthrall you from the first chapter and keep you on your toes until the very end. It rarely happens that a book grabs your mind for the entire ride, including the unbelievable ending. It is an absolute crime not to read this book, and it is very possible that once you start it you won't sleep until you finish it.

Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita. ISIN-10:0141187792

Phantasmagorical - a hilarious and a ripping yarn.
A Soviet mockery, tripping through the darkside of life - exploring the influences of evil and good, malice, mischief aforethought.
All about hate and love, lies and truth, nihilism and anarchy - misplaced idealology.
Wonderfully wicked and demonic, a well organized but chaotic read.
Inspirational and inspiring in a boisterous romp.
It's just a lot of fun - never boring.
Burlesque - it's satire at it's best.

While everyone comments on the novel itself, I feel the need to comment on the quality of existing translations. The one done by Michael Glenny is very elaborate and verbally close to the original text. However, it is apparent that he never cared to find out the details of life in the Soviet Russia in the '20s, thus his text does not relay all the esoteric details of subtle Bulgakov's humor and sarcasm. Read Mirra Ginsburgh's translation for better understanding of the sole of the book -- but beware, she completely let out big parts of the novel, some of them are essential. There is not a single word in this book that is out of place or has no purpose -- I urge you, read carefully and read both translations -- after all, it is only the best book ever written

Bulgakov died in 1940, this book was rediscovered in 1966. There are so many things to be said about this work and there are lots of different levels to explore. It's a fantastic bizarre story where nothing is impossible, for example a cat smokes cigar and knows how to use a gun. The restrictive cultural climate in USSR by this time is also something Bulagov critizes. It's a fascinating piece of work, with a great sense of humour that is absurd. The fictional land Bulgakov has painted is incredibly colorful. The book begins with a mystical stranger who enters Moskow and soon dreadful things starts to happen, still that doesn't stop the story from being very funny. This is a timeless novel that I think will survive through the years.

Other than saying that this is probably THE greatest book to come out the Soviet Union I would like to focus on the translation issues. Being a nativae Russian speaker and having read the book in Russia, I feel that picking the right translation is crucial to fully enjoying the book.
In my opinon the Ginzburg translation stays very true to the original Russian. Master and Margarita language was one of the things that made this book so great. While this edition is not a complete one, the much better translation compensates for it. The Glenny translation, while a more complete one lacks the soul of this one.

I have already written a few reviews of this book here at the store.com, and each time I read a different translation, I feel that it improves a little each time. Now I have read the best. The Pevear and Volokhonsky translation is without hesitation the best translation I have read. The characters in Woland's retinue are so lively, and each personality stands out like it never has in previous translations. The notes in this book are so incredible, you can invision the darkest stalin reign in contemporary moscow and rely on the notes to explain every detail in ancient Jerusalem. Unless you can read Russian, get yourself a copy of this book...nothing is left out, and this Russian Materpiece finally gets a worthy english translation.

Translating foreign classics is very competitive business.
I am sorry to write it, but this translation is a looser. Just compare the very beginning of the first Chapter with translation by R.Pevear and L.Volokhnsky (Penguin Classics edition):

“At the hour of the hot spring sunset two citizens appeared at the Patriarch’s Ponds. One of them, approximately forty years old, dressed in a grey summer suit, was short, dark-haired, plump, bald, and carried his respectable fedora hat in his hand. His neatly shaven face was adorned with black horn-rimmed glasses of a supernatural size. The other, a broad-shouldered young man with tousled reddish hair, his checkered cap cocked back on his head, was wearing a cowboy shirt, wrinkled white trousers and black sneakers.”

It is not only better English; it is amazingly close to the original text: when reading this
book in Penguins’ edition I keep forgetting I am not reading it in Russian.

Yes, OK, here we have a nice translation (O'conor and Burgin) of one of the best works of art ever, so what are you waiting for?
Last year I was lucky enough to stumble upon this gem. It made happier then I've been for some time. I can't believe this was not taught to me in college. I want my money back! Forget whatever it is you are currently reading and read this.

I love this book. I've also forced all of my friends and most of my acquaintances to read it. Needless to say, my dogeared paperback is wearing a bit at this stage. I'm in the process of reading all of the other Bulgakov books, I liked it so well...buy it, if you don't like it I'll probably buy it off you to replace my exhausted copy.

The translation by Michael Glenny is the best there is! I've tried to read 3 other translations that exist, but none of them could compare to this work! Being a native Russian speaker and having read the masterpiece "in original", I bow to Mr. Glenny.

I wanted to add my own review, not so much that I could add more than some of the very good reviews already written, but there is one that is misleading. It refers to Volokhonsky/Pevear's translation of The Master and Margarita. Just so you understand that This paperback is translated by Diana Burgin and Katherine Tiernan O'Connor.
I'll accept the review on the other, as I haven't read it, but this version absolutely is amazing. When that reviewer said "preserve the easily flowing bubbling like champagne Bulgakov's speech", it struck me that that is precisely how this version came across. Bubbling like champagne. Hints of flavor and smell with each pop and fizz, it read easily, consumed with delight. The only way it could be better is if I spoke Russian and could read the original. ;)

I just reread this after about 7 years since I first discovered it while living in Eastern Europe, and it was as amazing as the first read. This book is required reading in high school in Hungary, and is well known throughout Europe, yet unfortunately it remains little known among my American friends. Truly one of the great novels of all time, a magical, wild ride.

The beautiful grad-student who strongly recommended Bulgakov's _Master & Margarita_ to me, was as adamant that I avoid Michael Glenny's translation.
Glenny just doesn't seem to 'get it,' as I found out for myself when I mistakenly bought his translation of _Heart of a Dog_, only to have discard it and start over with Ginsberg's version.

First, I am Russian and I've read this book in Russian. It's much better this way.

However, if you don't know Russian, this book is the next best thing.

I bought it so I can have my girl read it to better understand me.

My own personality as well as personality of my Russian friends is embedded in this work. So, if you want to better understand me you have to read this.

Although, I can imagine the text to be a little difficult for an American -- some of the names are difficult to read and pronounce and you completely loose their meaning (some are transliterated rather than translated).

There is a laugh on ever page and by the end of the book you will be in good mood and in deep thoughts.

Although it's nothing to do with the quality of the book (except perhaps obliquely), here nonetheless is a fascinating tidbit - this is the novel that Marianne Faithfull insisted Mick Jagger should read, back in the late 1960s... and the result was one of the Rolling Stones' most piquant songs, Sympathy for the Devil, rich with imagery which Jagger pulled from the text.

Russian is one of my native languages and this has been one of my favorite books; I must have read it a few dozen times since adolescence. I had never read an English translation of this book and having bought it for a friend of mine, borrowed it from her out of curiousity.
I can't believe how much is lost in this translation! Partly, it may be because the translator did not have a good grasp on the idiomatic English, as I found far too many "word for word" translations that loose the smooth flow and the humor of the original. In all fairness, though, this book would be a nightmare to translate, precisely because so much of its magic comes from Bulgakov's style and choice of words. In this translation, much of the nuance is sadly and irrevocably lost.... solution: learn Russian and read the original.. :-)
-Alain.

I am a huge fan of Bulgakov's, however i gave this edition four stars for a reason. Ginsberg's translation is based on the incomplete text that was censored by the Soviet government. In order to appreciate the elements of social satire, I'd recommend the Michael Glenny translation, which works off of the full original source (and is simply a better translation). Of course, if you can't find the Glenny, Ginsberg is certainly better than not reading it at all. But be aware that you are missing crucial scenes.

I loved this quirky little novel. First off it came with it's own book mark, even if the book was awful I would still love it just for that lol. Satan and his group are almost the comic relief for the story. Strangely enough the part of the story I loved the most was the interaction between Jesus (using his Hebrew name no less!) and Pilate. I enjoyed this tremendously and wished the author would have published a full sequence of the events. For me this is saying alot because I am no where near christian. I also thought the end and how everything gets brought together a joy.

My boyfriend and read it toghether and i got addicted to it since page 1! what a book!
Its very funny, cause the characters are one of a kind, it is interesting because it reflects the Russian society, it is deep because you also get both of these features related to yes...Pontius Pilates and Christ! and it is easy to read, has many many helpful comments at the end so you dont get lost in history!
This is a must for everyone

Untill recently I had no clue this book was translated in into English, so when I felt homesick I asked my friend, who brought all her favorite books with her, if she had "Master and Margarita". I enjoyed reading it for the 8th time in my life: its language, its sarcasm and humor as well as the deep idea of the author. Since I work in the college library I was curious what this book looked like being translated (I would never have thought somebody actually did it) and I was dissapointed. The version of M.Glenny has nothing to do with what Bulgakov wrote. Sorry. I feel very sorry for those who cannot read it in Russian, however this is the first book one should read in Russian literature.

This book is somethig special. I've been reading

a lot of books in my life, and this is my alone-

on-an-island-book. I read it over 20 times and

more to come...
For all who like to dream, who like fairy tales,

who like a good story.

I was turned on to this book by Mick Jagger, of all people! As a Rolling Stones fan for close to 25 years, I had long known that one of their all-time classic songs, "Sympathy for the Devil" was based on this book, as it was a favorite of Jagger's. So, I finally broke down and ordered it, and I'm BLOWN away! It's a wild ride throughout! I found myself gasping at every turn of the page, alternately shocked, and laughing! This book causes you to THINK. I'm no student of literature, so I can't speak for the various translations, (I read the Ginsburg translation) but this book is simply MARVELOUS and utterly enjoyable.

i am one of those unfortunate souls that suffers the burden of being born atheistic. God has never touched me, i have never glimpsed the divine. well, almost never. but then there is the master and margarita....
what can i say? somehow, bulgakov knew something about the intrinsic nature of the world and had the ability to share it. and i owe him a lot for it. the book is more than magic and satire- it is faith, in some way the ultimate sort of faith- do i know exactly what i mean? no- of course not. but i think most others who read the book can understand.
i don't know if i will ever be able to shake my curse of atheism- but after reading this book, sometimes i think i see God.

it's beyond any description how this book has touched my heart all over again since I first opened it. I remember I first read it when I was 16. Since then I opened it at least ten times and it told me a different story each time.
Master and Margarita is like a surprise egg: you can give a hint but you can never tell for sure what is hidden within: it's a surprisingly funny novel, it's magic, it's an astonishingly unexpected rollercoaster that doesn't let you slip away while you're riding it at full speed. Be prepared for the ultimate brain fast-lane. And do be prepared to be provoked and fascinated.
It's a book like nothing before.
Dragica Susnik, 29, Slovenia, Europe

My sister gave me a paperback copy of "The Master and Margarita" in 1969. I started reading it in the morning and finished it before I went to sleep that night. Many of the reviews here touch on the elements of the story, or I should say stories, in this novel and as I read them it reminds me that I need to read this book again. It truly is a masterful work, written by an author who lived through as Dickens might say "the worst of times" and wrote a magical story, full of hope, and reminds us that we are all Pontious Pilot struggling with that most troubling of questions..."What is Truth?"

If you look for an intelligent, funny, grotesque, phantastic, never-boring, hilarious book - this is it. On one side, you become weak with laughter on many pages, on the other, you will witness a sophisticated story on philosophy, religion and politics. This book has been written before and during WWII, during the most powerful repression by Stalin. Has there ever found been such a powerful, humorous and complex answer to malignant circumstances?

I just finished reading the Michael Glenny translation of the novel recently, and I must say, despite all the supposed shortcomings of that translation, it was a great read. Like others have said, it combines many elements of fiction into one novel. It is overtly a dark comedy (I loved the Koroviev/Behemoth sequences) and romance novel (not in a sappy sense, but a very real one), but there is definately more to it. Covertly, it is quite philosophical and satirical. Be sure to get an edition with footnotes, it will help you to pick up on the philosophy and satire in the novel.
This is not the best book I've ever read, or my favourite, but it is now amoung my favourites for these reasons. It was an entertaining read, although a bit thick at times (perhaps because of the translation).
Andrew

Okay, so it's a classic. Writers had a different idea of delicate plot building in those days. And it's Russian. Being bored in a long cold night might provide the right mindset for detailed descriptions of bewildered citizens running around Moscow. To me it all seemed a bit pointless. If the point is to show Satan is omnipotent, this was clear after a couple of pages of chaos. Omnipotence makes a boring story. Limitations or motives give a story a soul. It starts getting interesting when Margarita and the Master and their love affair are introduced. At first I suspected this was just another intro to a devious humiliating scheme, but no, great, finally a story starts to unfold. From that moment on I was hooked. Beautiful prose and imagery, funny situations, food for thought. Some minor points aside, like, what exactly was the function of Satan's party? And why did he need a Margarita for it? Bulgakov will not immediately be my favorite writer, but the book was well worth reading.

a heart wrenching love story, a satirical political critic, an outrageously funny farce; Ladies and Gentlemen, Satan has come to Moscow for his grand ball. Expect much trouble in days to come. And keep in mind that man's greatest flaw is cowardice...

This is an amazing literary feat, mixing together a fantastic story about the devil visiting Moscow, hilarious caustic satire about the literary society in the Soviet Union of the '30s, and a story-within-a-story about Pontius Pilate in ancient Jerusalem.
But be careful! Not all translations are equally well done. In particular, the translation by Diana Burgin and Katherine O'Connor is the best one by a large margin. Among my friends, the ones who have read that translation have loved this book and ones who have read other versions have not. Your mileage may vary.

First time reading "The Master and Margarita"
by Mikhail Bulgakov was for a Soviet Literature class and I couldn't read it fast enough. Since then I have read it many times and picked up other Bulgakov works (he is great, but TMM is the crown jewel). All the other reviews here go into details about the plot, so I won't. If you buy this book, you will not be disappointed!

When a year ago we lost everything we ever owened to a fire, to lose this book was one of the biggest devastations ever, in its original language, from publication dated back to 1966. What a freedom, language, humor, love, story! Hats off to this masterpiece and a vision of a genius. Please make this book available as soon as possible.

This book has been on my 'to read' list for a long time. And now that I have read it, I really cannot understand what all the critical praise is for. It's okay as heightened reality fiction and a thinly veiled critique on Stalinist Russia, but I think it's dated terribly. Other books that satirize or address similar topics like Animal Farm, 1984 and Darkness at Noon or magical-reality genre examples like Hundred Years of Solitude, hold up as great literature even now but I feel Master and Margarita does not retain much of interest. The tediously extended fantasy sequences bored me and the book simply does not tie together into a cohesive whole. It felt like a planning draft to me. Disappointing to say the least.

Have read it first, 25 years ago (first Hebrew translation, titled: "The Satan in Moscow")Must have read it another 25 times since, and every time I enjoy it more and find new sides and aspects in it. A MUST book.

This translation is better than the Ginsburg and I've heard that the Gleny is awful. The book is, ofcourse, phenomenal on all levels, one of the best I've ever read (lighter, easier and in a sense deeper than most Gogol and Dostoevesky, almost on the level of Pushkin).

Bulgakov was obviously a sympathizer to all things diabolique. His masterful novel has the clear-cut intention of inverting the universe, praising the murderers and murdering the praised. That his nefarious tale has spawned a cult in Russia is no surprise. Wolland is just fascinating as a murderer, a leader of slayers, hell-bent on denying the "Sinless One" and being the ruin of those who get in his way. Truly, Wolland is Lord of the universe, with the globe at his fingertips, destroying the innocent and condemning those who dare deny him to an eternity of pain. Obviously, this was Bulgakov's mindset, his paramount objective in his dying years. It's so delightful, it's a shame he only wrote one book like this. A classic of truly Satanic literature.

This may be the only place you can find anyone besides Soviet censors giving Bulgakov a one-star rating... Of course it's in Russian. That's why I got it.

Всего хорошего из Вирджиний в США!

I just finished this book and it's the best I've read in a long time! Bulgakov tells his story about Satan's visit in Moscow with humor, limitless imagination and also social criticism, involving all kinds of characters, from Pontius Pilate to a talking cat by the name of Behemoth... It's inspired and interesting, and I recommend this book to anyone!
My only regret is that I don't know enough Russian yet to be able to read it in the original language - I believe it could be even better then.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOK OF THE CENTURY...travel with the procurator of judee to the last day of the life of jesus...to moscow jet set driving crazy...via the satanic lovely magician Professor Woland!! ENJOY IT FAST!!

This book is a classic! Very complex characters, who are not boring (compared to some other Russian authors). This book will make you laugh, and it will make you cry. And what is interesting- is that each time I re-read this book I find something new. Action in the novel takes place in the Soviet Russia, but it could be anywhere, and any time. There are two story lines, one in the present, and one in the past during the time of Christ. The two lines are linked together by ever present of Woland, who is the Devil himself. This book is about good and evil. I would say that this is one of the top 10 book EVER written. Strongly recommended.

The Master and Margharita is a treasure chest of wild, creative thought and enthralling characters. I recommend it to anyone, particularly those tired of reading painfully dry Jane Austen or Emily Bronte novels.

A little less than halfway through Bulgakov's restrainedly weird The Master and Margarita the titular Master describes how "Love leaped up out at us like a murderer jumping out of a dark alley. It shocked us both - the shock of a strike of lightning, the shock of a flick-knife...", which rather neatly explains what this novel did not manage to do for me.

I went into it quite hopeful, but either my sense of Soviet satire is underdeveloped (possible), my distaste of slapstick humor is too developed (probable), or my disbelief that the Devil could seem to have had more fun in the 3 minutes and 37 seconds he went down to Georgia than in the entirety of the weeks he spent in Moscow is too great (definitely) to have let me truly be swept away by Bulgakov's pointed silliness. Historically interesting, I suppose, but simply not my bag, baby.

All of a sudden I feel bad for seemingly being the only person that picked this book up because it was Mick Jagger's inspiration for the lyrics of Sympathy For Devil. Like everyone else I feel that this is a great book that will blow away the reader and leaves one in a different mindset while reading it and in the following days. That is a very good thing where I come from.

Despite a horrid pun, Master and Margarita is a masterful work and my favorite of Bulgakov's works. In addition to sardonic humor of the literary circles in russia, a vodka-drinking tom-cat, and naturally a devil's ball--one has to admire the political and opinionated nature of the author. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in reading Russian literature and who enjoys heavy, thought-provoking humor. Note that this is not an easy book to read, but rather a book for an intellectual to take to the beach.

This book is a literary masterpiece. Three stories interwoven that tell the of the atheistic Stalinist times, the story of Pontius Pilate and a love story. This book makes you question your religious beliefs and gives "character" to Satan and his entourage. Never have I read such brilliantly written book. I only wish I could read Russian. I am sure that we are losing some of his genius in translation. It is a must read!

I had this version of the book in a Soviet literature class in the university. There were other students who had different translations but Mirra Ginsburg, for some reason, leaves out whole sections of the book, filling in with suspension points. I read the other translation (the first that was on this list) with the red cover and a cat and it was much more extensive, in terms of the end notes.

It has been my favorite book ever since I was 14. What captivated me then was obviously the beautiful love story. Re-reading it as I was growing up opened up many more dimensions to the book and it never stops. All my close friends have at some point received Master and Margarita as a gift from me and also fell in love with it. I can't speak for the quality of the English translation, but one of the reviews provides an excellent recommendation, so I hope you'll choose the version that best represents the magic of Bulgakov's writing.

I love Bulgakov. I know the Master and Margarita by heart. And I was dismally disappointed in my anticipations of usual delights interacting with this book. I write interacting, because this book is more then just reading material. But back to the translation. It has missing passages, whole paragraphs, it uses wrong terms and notions. I had to return my copy. I expect to have more luck with RICHARD PEVEAR AND LARISSA VOLOKHONSKY translation published in PENGUIN BOOKS 1997, since I pre-viewd it one of the on-line libraries.

I had this version of the book in a Soviet literature class in the university. There were other students who had different translations but Mirra Ginsburg, for some reason, leaves out whole sections of the book, filling in with suspension points. I read the other translation (the first that was on this list) with the red cover and a cat and it was much more extensive, in terms of the end notes.

It has been my favorite book ever since I was 14. What captivated me then was obviously the beautiful love story. Re-reading it as I was growing up opened up many more dimensions to the book and it never stops. All my close friends have at some point received Master and Margarita as a gift from me and also fell in love with it. I can't speak for the quality of the English translation, but one of the reviews provides an excellent recommendation, so I hope you'll choose the version that best represents the magic of Bulgakov's writing.

I love Bulgakov. I know the Master and Margarita by heart. And I was dismally disappointed in my anticipations of usual delights interacting with this book. I write interacting, because this book is more then just reading material. But back to the translation. It has missing passages, whole paragraphs, it uses wrong terms and notions. I had to return my copy. I expect to have more luck with RICHARD PEVEAR AND LARISSA VOLOKHONSKY translation published in PENGUIN BOOKS 1997, since I pre-viewd it one of the on-line libraries.

I was told how great this book was. I soldiered through reading to the end, but it left me utterly bereft of any satisfaction. There are other fantasy fiction selections that might intrigue you more. The best: Borges "Labyrinths," etc.

OK. I can think of only two reasons:
1) You still have not read this book
2) You have read this book and even written a review and now you wish to see your own review on the Internet (kinda makes you proud ;)).
So then, if it is (1), please read some of the 100+ reviews and if you still can not make up your mind, don't worry, some people even punch two holes on the presidential ballots
case (2), (and you all know who you are out there!), I empathize, sympathize, consent, assent and endorse. Spread the Word!
And yes, it is much better in Russian, but any translation is kind of forgery, better or worse, don't you think?

What a great book. If Tom Robbins wasn't inspired by "The Master and Margarita", I'd be shocked. Trippy plot twists, serious satire -- overall, a hilarious read. The book starts a little slow, but quickly picks up, and is difficult to put down once the story gets rolling. One of the most delightful discoveries in recent memory.

I suppose that I can start by saying that "The Master and Margarita" has been my favorite book for over 7 years now (that says a lot since I read quite a bit!). I don't think it is necessary to discuss the plot of the book, since you can read what the book is about by looking at the editorial reviews. However, I will comment on the various translations.
Without a doubt, the book in the original Russian is incomparable, but if you don't read Russian I would recommend the Burgin/Tiernan O'Connor translation. The first translation I ever read was Mirra Ginsburg's - although it is very charming and enjoyable, certain bits of conversation as well as almost an entire chapter are omitted from this translation. I have also read parts of Michael Glenny's translation, and I don't feel that his translation accurately relays the depth, rhythm and richness of Bulgakov's style. Burgin/Tiernan O'Connor has given the most complete and accurate translation of this work. Another superb feature of this translation is the commentary section at the end of the text, which is very helpful in understanding what influenced Bulgakov, and is especially helpful if the reader is not familiar with certain aspects of Soviet culture while the book was written (during the 1930's).
Lastly, I have to comment on the thing that I love most about "The Master and Margarita" - it is impossible to classify this book as one certain genre. This book is a philosophical and religious novel, an historical novel, a satire, a love story, an action/adventure, and a fantasy all rolled into one. Simply put, it is timeless - an original, brilliant and beautiful novel.

I know little about the author of "The Master and Margarita", Mikhail Bulgakov, what I am farmiliar with is American Literature, and this is nothing like it. The difference in the focus is one of the main chararcters actully being the devil, but no evil seems to be involved, no real price is paid for this involvement Margarita has with him. The outcome does not seem to be affected in a negative way. This is a pleasant change of scenery from other stories.

I was chatting with a chatroom friend who asked me if I had read this book. The chatmate, who lives just outside Moscow, said this book is very popular in Russia right now. His comment made me curious. I thought I'd read a couple of reviews on this book since I'd never heard of it. The reviewers said this is a great read, so I ordered the book.
I really didn't see the genius in this "masterpiece." I could follow the story line, and had no problem with the Russian names, but I wasn't able to even find a central plot to this book. I was really intrigued with Satan's ball in which Margartia was the naked hostess, where all of the guests had to kiss her knee as they entered. After this, I felt the story fell apart. I felt that this was the climactic moment in the story, and this scene was in the middle of the book.
I would recommend this book to someone who is studying Russian literature, but this just isn't the kind of book that you will want to wrap yourself in a blanket and read on a rainy weekend.

It is an excellent book! It is about a romantic affair of Master and Margarita, the eternal struggle between Satan and God, and moral values of Soviet citizens at the beginning of 1920's. I have read it in Russian many years ago, seen movies, and now really hope to get it on my Kindle soon and read over again!

Enough of sentimentality! Yes, Russian authors ARE capable of modernist brilliance! Bulgakov combines real feelings (not overblown ones) and odd and histerical situations that make for a completely wonderful 330 pg. novel that draws you further into its world(s) and builds a connection with its characters. Simply amazing.

20 years since I first read this now and have still never read anything like it. Dark, powerful, funny and beautiful. To this day, I make it my business to recommend and lend it as many people as I can. Life changing read.

This is a very strange book which is a rather cryptic satire of different aspects of Soviet society. One of the things that I didn't like was the translation. Often times, I have read books in similar Russian and translated them literally: this edition is just that, a literal translation. And some phrases sound quite strange in English, which could have been more loosely translated for better literary effect.
I would say that this book is sort of like "The Nose" by Gogol, but more bizarre. So if "hyper fiction" is your thing(I prefer more realistic accounts of fiction myself) then you will enjoy this book. Personally, I don't think he is a better writer than Gorky, but that is just my opinion.

I fell in love with "The Master and Margarita" when I was seventeen. OK, one easily falls in love at this age. Yet so many years have passed and the novelty and magic of Bulgakov's masterpiece have never worn off even though I can recite whole passages by heart. I envy those who have not read this book yet. Za mnoi chitatel'! You won't be disappointed. About once a year I take a 24-hour break from the "real world" and immerse myself in the world of Yeshua and Woland and the glorious broom-riding Margarita.

This is a must read- I recommend it to anyone, even those who have nothing to do with Russia and the Russian language. Because although there are things mentioned only russians/former USSR citizens would understand, the story itself is really worth the read. It's exciting, insane and thought-provoking!

I love this book - the first time I read it was back home in a land of Far Far Away... when I finished the book, it was 2 AM, the snow was covering everything, the air was crisp, the sky was clear, it was blue moon, it was quiet and peaceful... I opened my windows and stared at the moon for what seems like hours... that is what I saw in this book, mystery, heart wrenching star-crossed love... alongside with the satire (which was very clever).

GREAT book - it left a deep impression on me.

If there really is a Devil somewhere in the universe, I'm sure he closely resembles Bulgakov's Woland (along with his infamous band of sidekicks). Overall, a brilliantly funny, inventive, and poignent novel! Read it for the laughs, sublime social commentary, and historical and religious insights that you will glean from its memorable storyline.

This is not a novel. This is a special product offering a view over a style of life and political events which distroyed and affected millions of people. To have the power,hallucination, talent and humor to create this story was unparallel. The proof is that even people living in US can appreciate and enjoy this book. For us who lived the hell, this book is like a Bible which helped us to survive.

This book is wild. It reminds me a lot of Salman Rushdie and Gunther Grasse. It is easy to follow without ever becoming trite, fast paced enough to stay interesting, without losing the plot. Full of imagery, and twists of logic and perception, this book also makes important points about living in the USSR and writing literature under oppression.

What a delightfully strange little tale! Comical and yet very serious in bits, and offering intriguing glimpes into bulgakov's subconscience. The bits with Jesus and Pilate are beautifully detailed, but my favorite part was satan's ball. Not much of a plot, but the novel has a story, which matters more to me, anyway.

If there really is a Devil somewhere in the universe, I'm sure he closely resembles Bulgakov's Woland (along with his infamous band of sidekicks). Overall, a brilliantly funny, inventive, and poignent novel! Read it for the laughs, sublime social commentary, and historical and religious insights that you will glean from its memorable storyline.

There are lots of great reviews for this book already. So I will only repeat after them that this is a must read for every person capable of thinking.
This book is not really about satire on Stalin's Russia - it could have been written about any historical period of pretty much any country. This book is about how human nature doesn't really change and how love is the most redeeming thing in the world.

Pontius Pilate and Moscow's citizens are oddly coupled in this examination of the new class of soviet people. Even without the social commentary, this is a beautiful and engaging atypical love story. Best read with Goethe's Faust. Margarita is the Russian version of Margaret/Gretchen.

Satan and his cohorts come to Moscow and wreak havoc. People disappear or need urgent psychiatric treatment and as a hostess for satans ball Woland chooses Margarita who willing accepts in order to free and be with the Master,an oppressed author of a novel about Pontius Pilate...
Written during Stalins infamous show trials, Bulgakov's use of magic realism does invoke the climate of enforced thinking and terror,and in turn satarises the drabness and tedium of soviet life, but for me this book just doesn't shine. Its no '1984' or 'Gullivers Travels' and neither does it give the joy of Garcia Marquez's use of the style. Yes, I got the idea abour cowardicw being terrors greatest ally and there's plenty of qoutable scenes, but you're often left wondering exactly is the point he is making.(The reading of the introduction and annotations are a must to keep the novel alive)
The book was written, re written and revised many times between 1928 and 1940 and as a result it does seem over egged. I was put in mind of Bernard Malamud's story about Feidelman whom, on painting a masterpiece, thought he could make it better and kept altering it so that in the end his masterpiece became a mess!
'The Master and Margarita ' isn't a mess,but it just doesn't pack the punch its reputed to do. Perhaps you would of have to have suffered the tediums and terrors-not to mention mind numbing 'proliterian literature' controled by the state-to get the full impact.

I have read the 1992 Glenny version, and it is Undoubtedly the best book I have ever read. I was laughing and fascinated by the views of the government, the way he poked fun of gossip, and the way he told three stories interwoven and connected. I will read as many versions as I can find.

The grad student who strongly recommended Bulgakov's The Master & Margarita to me, was as adamant that I avoid Michael Glenny's translation.

Glenny just doesn't get Bulgakov's sense of humor, as I found out for myself when I mistakenly bought his translation of Heart of a Dog, only to have discard it and start over with Ginsberg's version.

I may not understand all of the politics of the day in which MB lived and was writing, but I did understand many of the events or themes, such as the denial of Satan's existence, the audience's greed and hypocracy at the majic show, the regrets of Pontius Pilate, etc. That said, I did not find this novel to be a very good critique on the times. In fact, I found much of it to be pointless. If the point is as others who thought highly of this novel have said, it could have been done in a much better way and probably has. The only enjoyable part, if I can call it that, was imagining the shootout in the apartment between Behemoth and the police. It gave me a chuckle. Several of the five star reviews I read dealt with the accuracy of the translation and not the story. For me, it was not worth killing a tree.

I asked a friend from St. Petersburg what I should read after the War and Peace translation (P&V) I just finished. He suggested this. It makes W&P look like a comic book. This book is taking me longer to read (I'm slow), and I feel the urge to buy the commentary, which will really slow me down. If you read this book you will think you are going insane!

I admire this book and always wondered how it might have been translated into English. I reviewed several editions and versions, and found this one is a bit harsh in translation style, and not quite exact. I would recommend the edition from Penguin Classics, translation done by Richard Pevear; or the edition translated by Mirra Ginsburg.