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The Master and Margarita - Book Review |
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Book Reviews -
Women's Fiction
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Written by The Creole Cat
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 The
Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov
Imagine life in 1930s Russia. Now, imagine the Devil disguised
as a professor (of black magic, of course) coming to town to perform
at an exposition. Using the alias Professor Woland, the Devil
is accompanied by his two trusty cohorts: a translator dressed
in multi-coloured rags and sporting a cracked pince-nez, and a
humongous black cat who walks on its hind legs.
Welcome to the world of magic realism, where poets and prophets
play verbal volleyball, we take a trip to the insane asylum, and
a couple of characters lose their heads - figuratively and literally.
Mikhail Bulgakov's The
Master and Margarita is a novel of black humour littered with
weird dreams, spirited women, chess pieces that come alive, and
birds who dance the foxtrot. People break out in song uncontrollably,
undergo hypnosis (or are they just plain hallucinating?), and
have a tendency to metamorphous from one being to another (and
from one place to another - thanks to some stinky bewitching cream).
Think of Monty Python in a Russian version of The Twilight Zone,
and you'll get the picture.
But what's really on Professor Woland's agenda? To find the gentleman
who wrote an unpublished novel on Jesus Christ and Pontius Pilate
and to let everyone who will listen know (and you will listen),
that he, the Devil, and Christ did indeed exist- despite what
Moscow's literary elite want to believe. Professor Woland explains
in minute detail the meeting between Christ and Pilate, for he
was present he'll tell you, and his narration is surprisingly
touching. And in the middle of it all is a wonderfully, sweet,
love story. A story in which the Devil himself plays a huge part:
reuniting two lovers - the Master and his beloved Margarita.
Did I mention the cat has a penchant for cheese and vodka?
With several stories nestled within a story, like one of those
Matryoshka dolls, The
Master and Margarita
travels between Stalinist Russia and ancient Jerusalem (Yershalaim). I
found myself reading a paragraph, laughing, re-reading the paragraph to
make sure I read it correctly, then laughing again. And I loved the way
Bulgakov "talks" to the reader. But although the book is a roller
coaster ride of bizarre antics - within a communist climate - there are
a number of poignant and shocking moments; Bulgakov's re-telling of
Jesus' trial and death is sensitive and thought-provoking (almost
making Pontius human), and his Devil, while charming and cunning, (and
who has rheumatism, by the way), is never out-and-out evil.
Oh, did I mention the cat talks and gets offended if you refer
to him as "Puss in Boots"?
Bulgakov (c'mon, say that name three times really fast!), was
originally trained as a physician in the city of Kiev but left
to become a writer in Moscow. His father was a professor at a
theological academy and his mother was a teacher at a private
girls' school. This explains Bulgakov's religious and academic
leanings. But the twisted humour? During the time The
Master and Margarita was being written, Bulgakov had already
made a name for himself (and a reputation, no doubt) by writing
witty expos»s for several Soviet newspapers. However, the
book did not see the light of day until some thirty years after
his death. Evidently, Stalin just didn't see fit to having anyone
taking satirical jabs at his regime. Spoil sport.
I mentioned the cat pays its own fare when it travels by streetcar,
didn't I?
Wickedly funny, and devilishly clever, The
Master and Margarita is a caviar of good and evil served with
political, historical, and biblical references, and it's a delicious
riot.
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