Mystical line in the novel The Master and Margarita. The Master and Margarita - mysticism, facts, quotes

Everyone has heard about the great classic Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov (even if not everyone, then very, very many). And those who are familiar with his works remain forever captive to this author. Of course, every work of this man is brilliant and deserves everyone's attention. But most famous masterpiece It is generally accepted to consider Mikhail Afanasyevich’s novel “The Master and Margarita”.

The great writer began writing the novel in 1928 (according to some sources in 1929). The work was very painstaking, and Bulgakov put all his strength into it. But in 1931, when she learned that the production of the play “The Cabal of the Saints” was prohibited Soviet authorities, Bulgakov destroyed the novel with his own hands, throwing his manuscripts into the stove. In 1931, work on the novel resumed, and from that time until his death, Bulgakov continued to work on The Master and Margarita.

Mikhail Afanasyevich finished editing the text of the final version of the novel with the words of Margarita, “So, this means that the writers are coming?” Great writer died of kidney disease on March 10, 1940. He never waited for the publication of his novel, knowing full well that it will still pass more than one year until his creation sees the world. But no matter what situations (mystical or not) accompany this masterpiece, the novel “The Master and Margarita” became classic work world literature is well deserved.

After the death of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, many legends began to circulate about his person and his works, in particular. They said that in his works the brilliant writer encrypted Masonic messages and esoteric symbols. Moreover, there were even rumors that the most famous work Satan himself helped him create the writer. How it really happened, now no one will know, but a certain mysticism hovering over the image of the great writer was transferred to the famous film adaptation of the novel “The Master and Margarita” directed by Vladimir Bortko.

The director himself, in one of his many interviews, noted that nothing mystical happened on the set, and no otherworldly force intervened in the process of creating the film. Although already before the start of filming something very bad happened to him. strange story on the Patriarch's Ponds." Once, while walking on the Patriarch's Street, an unknown passer-by, out of the blue, said to director Bortko: “You won’t succeed!” Despite the fact that at that time almost no one knew about Bortko’s plans to film “The Master and Margarita”. Strange, isn't it?!

It is also worth noting that before Bortko, many directors tried to stage a film adaptation of the novel, but no one succeeded to the end. There were always some reasons that “prevented” the film from reaching the general public. On this occasion, Sergei Bezrukov, who played Yeshua Ha-Nozri in Bortko’s production, said the following: “If the film is made from pure heart and in order to glorify the novel and give the audience the opportunity to once again plunge into those incredible events, Bulgakov himself will help. If a film adaptation is created in order to make money on it, then you will never be able to stage it.” Moreover, many of the actors were confident that Bulgakov himself was helping them play. And although the items are film set did not fly, and the manuscripts did not catch fire on their own; there were several mystical situations over which the “Bulgakovian” spirit seemed to hover.

For example, some actors dreamed prophetic dreams, Oleg Basilashvili (plays Woland in the film) lost his voice before dubbing the film, and the actors’ costumes disappeared almost every day.

Yes, probably, the mysticism that haunts Bulgakov’s works is still real, but a lot depends on how the person himself relates to such statements.

“One of the most powerful impulses leading to art and science is the desire to get away from everyday life with its painful cruelty and inconsolable emptiness, to get away from the bonds of the ever-changing whims of one’s own. But to this negative reason positive is added.

Man strives to create in himself a simple and clear picture peace; and this is not only in order to overcome the world in which he lives, but also in order, to a certain extent, to try to replace this world with the picture he created.”

A. Einstein

"Principles of Scientific Research"

In Bulgakov's works, mysticism and reality are so intertwined that it is not always possible to separate them. It seems that if you remove any mystical detail, reality will lose its significance.

But why do people read science fiction? Probably for the same reasons as children, loving fairy tales, - to believe in the events of the book. It’s scary, of course, to think that Azazello and Woland live somewhere nearby. But this means that somewhere it is written great novel, Pilate flies to the window, Hippopotamus puts on a “tie”, your Master goes for a walk, and your Margarita is already carrying disgusting yellow alarming flowers in her hands

I propose to immerse yourself for a while in the world of fantasy and illusion.

Today, when the planet is gripped by “technological fever,” it may seem that there is nothing strange in the “humanization” of a dog.

Let's dive a little into history.

Even 100-150 years ago, people did not know about computers, or about the possibilities of medicine, or about many concepts and things that modern man ordinary.

In our age of advanced technology, people have completely stopped paying attention to the fact that mystery surrounds them. It seems that any phenomenon can be explained from a scientific point of view. Humanity has forgotten about the world of books - a world where the boundaries between reality and fiction are blurred. The mystical component of life has been forgotten, without which everyday life becomes insipid and boring. But there are books that contain stories telling about incredible events.

Once upon a time, in the Middle Ages, there was Demonology - a section of medieval Christian theology (Western branches of Christianity), which examined the issue of demons and their relations with people. Bulgakov widely used knowledge gleaned from Demonology in the novel “The Master and Margarita.”

Diaboliada is one of Bulgakov’s favorite motifs; it was vividly depicted in “The Master and Margarita”. But mysticism in the novel plays a completely realistic role and can serve as an example of a grotesque-fantastic, satirical exposure of the contradictions of reality. Woland sweeps over Moscow with punishing force. Its victims are mocking and dishonest people. Otherworldliness and mysticism do not seem to correlate with this devil. If such a Woland did not exist in a country mired in vices, then he would have to be invented.

Almost every mystical detail or event has real prototype.

1) Ball at Satan's.

According to the memoirs of the writer’s third wife E. S. Bulgakova (recorded by V. A. Chebotareva), impressions from the reception at the American Embassy in Moscow on April 22, 1935 were used in the description of the Great Ball at Satan’s.

For a disgraced writer like Bulgakov, a reception at the American Embassy is an almost incredible event, comparable to a ball at Satan's. Soviet visual propaganda of those years often depicted “American imperialism” in the guise of the devil. In the Great Ball at Satan's, there are real signs of the residence's furnishings American Ambassador combined with details and images of literary origin.

2) Variety Theater.

The prototype of the Variety Theater was the Moscow Music Hall, which existed in 1926-1936. and located not far from the “bad” apartment at the address: B. Sadovaya, 18. Nowadays the Moscow Theater of Satire is located here. And until 1926, the Nikitin brothers’ circus was located here, and the building was specially built for this circus in 1911 according to the design of the architect Nilus. By the way, the Nikitin circus is also mentioned in “Heart of a Dog”. And the program of the Variety Theater contains a number of purely circus acts, like the “miracles of the Julie family’s bicycle technology,” the prototype of which was the famous circus figure skaters of the Poldi (Podrezov) family, who successfully performed on the stage of the Moscow Music Hall.

3) Bad apartment.

The prototype of the Bad Apartment was apartment No. 50 in building No. 10 on Bolshaya Sadovaya Street in Moscow, where Bulgakov lived in 1921-1924. In addition, some features of the layout of the Bad Apartment correspond to the more spacious apartment No. 34 in the same building where the writer lived from August to November 1924. The fictitious number 302 bis is the encrypted number 10 of the prototype building using the formula 10 = (3 +2)x2.

And yet, the most mystical image in Bulgakov’s novel is Woland, who leads the world of otherworldly forces. Woland is the devil, Satan, “prince of darkness,” “spirit of evil and lord of shadows” (all these definitions are found in the text of the novel).

Some fans of Bulgakov's work draw a parallel between Woland and the director psychiatric clinic Professor Stravinsky, noticing the portrait resemblance. Woland “appears to be over forty years old” and is “clean-shaven.” Stravinsky is “a carefully shaved man of about forty-five, like an actor.” Satan has a traditional hallmark - different eyes: “the right eye is black, the left one is green for some reason”, “the right one has a golden spark at the bottom, drilling anyone to the bottom of the soul, and the left one is empty and black, kind of like a narrow coal ear, like an exit to a bottomless well of all darkness and shadows” . The professor is a man with “very piercing eyes.”

Yes, Bulgakov’s novel is about a great and eternal confrontation. It is about good and evil, love and hate, reality and mysticism. However, the author found a very unusual, funny form to express his thoughts about the endless hostility of the world, about the meaning of happiness, about peace and reconciliation. Laughing, humanity says goodbye to its past. History has placed the writer in more difficult situation. Bulgakov's laughter is a form of struggle with his own present.

It is surprising that he is not aggressive, there is no malice in him, no revenge for a trampled, distorted fate, for a poor life, for injustice and for terrible physical suffering. Yes, of course, in the novel everything literally goes to hell. Styopa Likhodeev goes to Yalta on the most in an unusual way in the world, the Griboedov restaurant and a store for not quite ordinary citizens. A mocking Bassoon with a cat and a primus stove makes fun of the employees to their heart's content famous house on the square, but it all has an incredibly chaotic carnival flavor. This is laughter

So, to summarize, we can say that Bulgakov masterfully combines mystical and real components in the novel “The Master and Margarita,” plunging us into a world where a miracle is possible. The enthusiastic reader feels like a guest at Satan’s Ball and at a performance at the Variety Theater, talks with Pontius Pilate along with Yeshua, and even goes into Eternity. At the same time, having a special vision, you can modern city notice Woland passing by or Margarita carrying disgusting yellow flowers, or even a glimpse of the tail of the cat Behemoth. You just need to want it

Yesterday I watched Yuri Kara’s film “The Master and Margarita,” which could not be released for 17 years. According to the director, there was plenty of mysticism on the set. The camera was blessed by the priest before filming, and for six months everything was in order; but after the camera was changed, problems began. Some actors who starred in the film “The Master and Margarita” by Yuri Kara, and in the series of the same name by Vladimir Bortko, died suddenly.
Everything about Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” is shrouded in mysticism and secrets.
Why?

Director Yuri Kara said that when they started filming ancient Judea in the famous Sudak fortress in Crimea, it suddenly began to snow, which happens extremely rarely in October. To top it off, the cameraman didn’t show up and they forgot to bring the film.
When Yuri Kara went to Moscow to get film and a cameraman, right in front of Bulgakov’s house on the Garden Ring, his new Volga broke down and the gearbox flew off. After this, the film crew decided to film the desired scenes in the Holy Land in Israel.
The most dramatic scene, “The Crucifixion of Yeshua,” was filmed in the desert near the Dead Sea in a heat of 50 degrees. Out of curiosity, Yuri Kara himself wanted to hang on the cross, but when after 20 seconds the passionate Burlyaev (in the role of Yeshua) began to scream “Take me down!”, he decided not to risk it.

Already finished, the film could not be released for 17 years. When the State Duma adopted a law according to which copyright is protected for 70 years, the childless Bulgakov suddenly had “heirs.” Sergei Shilovsky, the grandson of Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova and Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Shilovsky, is the heir to their property, lives in America and runs the M.A. Bulgakov Foundation. The one whose grandfather shot Bulgakov when Elena Sergeevna went to see Mikhail Afanasyevich, demanded, under the plausible pretext of protecting the work from distortion, royalties for himself...

Personally, I found the film “The Master and Margarita” by Yuri Kara crumpled (in the theatrical version), devoid of tragic depth. Most of all I liked Mikhail Ulyanov in the role of Pontius Pilate. Well, Nikolai Burlyaev in the role of Yeshua Ha-Nozri. Everyone else slightly overacted, turning the film adaptation into a comedy.
Alfred Schnittke's music for the film seemed less expressive than Igor Kornelyuk's music in the series of the same name by Vladimir Bortko. And the series “The Master and Margarita” itself, for all its television prolixity, I liked more.

It’s been a long time since I watched four episodes of Yuri Kara’s film on the Internet. I thought the film would look better on the big screen. But, apparently, not all texts can be adequately filmed.
There are so many “jambs” in Yuri Kara’s film that I don’t want to list them. It is impossible not to notice the spots disappearing and appearing on the face of Ivan Bezdomny, talking with the Master. And the crosses standing in the middle of the deserted desert, made at the Gorky studio...
And why did Yuri Kara need a gag in the form of Peter the Great, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Adolf Hitler who were present at Satan’s ball?!
In short, this is a 1994 film.

The novel “The Master and Margarita” is a classic menippea (according to M.M. Bakhtin’s definition it is philosophical genre literature, "experimental fiction" for artistic analysis metaphysical ideas and “ultimate questions of existence”; “a genre that includes a “ludicrous element,” dreams, daydreams, madness, scandalousness…”).

There is a lot of unsaid things, mysteries and mysticism in the novel “The Master and Margarita”. We can say that the meanings laid down by the author have not yet been deciphered.
So, for example, in the novel there is a lot characters, but only one does not have a name - the master.
Who is hiding behind this meaningful word?

The first versions of the book did not contain any “inner romance” about Yeshua and Pilate, nor the story of the Master and Margarita.
There are six author's editions of the novel in total (some number eight).

The idea of ​​writing a novel about the devil came to Bulgakov back in the late 20s of the 20th century. As a child, he watched the opera Faust 41 times!
Bulgakov began work on the novel (in the final edition called “The Master and Margarita”) in 1928.

In the first edition, the novel had variant titles: “Black Magician”, “Engineer’s Hoof”, “Juggler with a Hoof”, “Son of V.”, “Tour”. The role of the master was played by a humanities scientist named Fesya. According to Bulgakov, he was a professor at the Faculty of History and Philology at the university, who had phenomenal erudition on the demonology of the Middle Ages, which made him similar to Goethe’s Wagner.
In 1929, Bulgakov sent the first edition of “The Engineer’s Hoof” to the almanac “Nedra”, and, of course, was refused.
On March 18, 1930, after receiving news of the ban on the play “The Cabal of the Holy One,” he destroyed the first edition of the novel. Bulgakov reported this in a letter to the government: “And I personally, with my own hands, threw a draft of a novel about the devil into the stove...”.

M. Bulgakov resumed work on the novel in 1931. The rough sketches already featured both Margarita and her then nameless companion, the Master, and Woland acquired his own riotous retinue.
While in Leningrad with his wife, the writer took out an oilcloth notebook and wrote in title page“M. Bulgakov. Novel.1932”... During his few days in Leningrad, Bulgakov wrote and dictated the first seven chapters to Elena Sergeevna (his third wife, née Nuremberg).
The second edition, created before 1936, had the subtitle “Fantastic novel” and variant titles “The Great Chancellor”, “Satan”, “Here I am”.

Bulgakov destroyed both the first and second editions of the novel.
Why?
The remains of the first two editions are kept in the manuscript department of the Russian state library.

The third edition, begun in the second half of 1936, was originally called “The Prince of Darkness,” but already in 1937 the title “The Master and Margarita” appeared.
The author's editing continued almost until the writer's death. Bulgakov stopped it with Margarita’s phrase: “So this means that the writers are going after the coffin?”...

The dying Bulgakov was worried about only one thing: to finish writing before dying! “So that they know, so that they know...” he whispered barely audibly to his wife.

Full text The novel “The Master and Margarita” was first reprinted on June 25, 1938 by the sister of Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova.

It is obvious that in the third version containing " inner romance"about Pontius Pilate, as well as the story of the master and Margarita, Bulgakov described his life, or the life of someone else.

Like any writer, Bulgakov wrote mainly about what he personally encountered. AND " White Guard", and "Theatrical Romance", and "The Master and Margarita" - in many ways autobiographical works.
The prototype of the cat Behemoth was a big one black dog Bulgakov, whose name was Behemoth. This dog was very smart. When Bulgakov celebrated the New Year with his wife, after the chimes, his dog barked 12 times, although no one taught it this.
The master's basement was copied mainly from the mansion of the Topleninov brothers (Mansurovsky lane, 9). The playwright Sergei Aleksandrovich Ermolinsky (1900-1984), who served as the prototype for Aloysius Mogarych, also lived there.
Even Annushka and Sadova, who spilled the oil, actually existed. Not to mention the prototypes of the chairman of Massolit Berlioz, the critic Latunsky, and the writer Lavrovich.
Bulgakov expressed himself that he would reckon with all of them in the new novel “The Master and Margarita”.

At the time the novel takes place, the Master's age ("a man about thirty-eight years old") is exactly Bulgakov's age in May 1929. The newspaper campaign against the Master and his novel is reminiscent of the newspaper campaign against Bulgakov in connection with the story " Fatal eggs"The Master's winning of 100 thousand rubles in the lottery fully corresponds to the 100 thousand prize for which Bulgakov worked on the “Course of the History of the USSR.”

One of my friends wrote thesis on the topic “The linguistic personality of the character (based on the material of M.A. Bulgakov’s “Theatrical Novel”).” As a linguist, she analyzed the language of Bulgakov's characters. The language of each character, like the style of each author, is original and unique. Mikhail Bulgakov in “Theatrical Novel” in the image of Sergei Leontyevich Maksudov expressed his life story and the production of “Days of the Turbins” on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater, his relationship with Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko.

Bulgakov worked on the novel “The Master and Margarita” for twelve whole years. After his death, his last wife, Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, worked on editing the novel for twenty-three years.
Only twenty-six years after the writer’s death in 1966, the novel was published in the Moscow magazine, whose circulation was 150 thousand copies. The magazine “Moscow” was not sold in kiosks and was available only by subscription. Therefore, many reprinted the text on typewriter and passed it on to each other.

At that time I was studying at preparatory department Faculty of Philosophy. Mikhail Bulgakov was not studied either at school or at university. The story " Heart of a Dog"was prohibited. Friends from the faculty gave me a typewritten copy of it to read.

Like many, I love Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita.” For the first time I was able to read the novel in a typewritten reprint given to me, which I still keep. It seemed that this was the manuscript of Mikhail Afanasyevich himself... I read it in one day and two nights!

Already at the first reading, the novel “The Master and Margarita” surprised me with its versatility and some eclecticism. I was amazed by the abundance historical details, titles, names. However, later I found out that many of them are wrong and have nothing to do with true history don't have.

In Bulgakov’s novel, Pontius Pilate says a phrase that the real Pilate could not have uttered: “There has never been, is not, and will never be a greater and more beautiful power for people than the power of Emperor Tiberius.”
Emperor means winner. This was the name given to the commander-in-chief of the Roman army. Therefore, the title “emperor” was not considered hereditary, and was not the most honorable.

What rank was Pontius Pilate? In one case, Bulgakov calls him a tribune (which corresponds to the rank of colonel), in another case, a commander of a cavalry tour (which corresponds to a lieutenant).

Well, and the famous white cloak with a bloody lining, which Bulgakov sometimes calls a mantle. Of course, men, especially military men, wore cloaks, but never a mantle! Because the mantle is in ancient Rome worn by women of brothels (lupanarii).

In Bulgakov's depiction, a bread shop in Jerusalem of the 1st century AD has nothing in common with historical reality. I saw in Jerusalem that the bakers themselves sell bread, and only men, and only whole flatbreads or loaves.

But imagine my disappointment when I learned that the main ideas of the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, to put it mildly, were borrowed from other authors.
We are talking, of course, not about primitive plagiarism, but about what was the source of inspiration. In the end, all culture is based on borrowing.
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, as we know, was also a talented interpreter of other people's ideas. The idea of ​​the conversation between the Grand Inquisitor and Christ in the novel “The Brothers Karamazov”, the story of a poor student and a prostitute in the book “Crime and Punishment” did not belong to him; as well as the plot with 100 thousand rubles in the novel “The Idiot”, which Nastasya Filippovna throws into the fire blazing in the fireplace.

But the talent of Dostoevsky, like Mikhail Bulgakov, lies in the fact that they wrote better, expressed the idea better. That’s why they are read and remembered, but the “fathers of the idea” have been forgotten.

We still do not know exactly who the true author of the tragedies “Hamlet” and “Romeo and Juliet” is. They are still arguing about who is the author of the novel. Quiet Don».
I also chose not to put my name on the title page, and under the copyright is the name of my friend who helped me publish the novel.

It is curious that Mikhail Bulgakov never mentions the name of the master. Although was it difficult for him to come up with a “speaking” surname?
Or maybe Bulgakov did not want to reveal the name of the master, and therefore did not name him, leaving us to unravel this mystery?

It is believed that by Master Mikhail Bulgakov meant himself. He was a member of the Writers' Union. MASSOLIT also stands for Masters of Socialist Literature.

“Are you a writer?” - asks the poet Bezdomny.
“I am a master,” answers the night guest.

Some believe that the prototype of the master was Maxim Gorky. And there are a lot of hints about this in the text. Alfred Barkov, the author of the book “Mikhail Bulgakov’s Novel “The Master and Margarita”,” also thinks: alternative reading". He is trying to prove that in the images of the heroes of the novel the writer's contemporaries are encrypted: the Master - Maxim Gorky, Margarita - Maria Andreeva, Levi Matvey - Leo Tolstoy, Woland - Lenin, Ivan Bezdomny - Bulgakov himself.

Or maybe everything is simple, and Bulgakov really portrayed himself? The USSR is a madhouse, the devil sits in the Kremlin, and he - Bulgakov - is a master, unlike many thousands of massolite writers..?

Bulgakov scholars offer various concepts readings of the novel: historical and social (V.Ya. Lakshin), Marietta Chudakova - biographical; aesthetic with historical and political context V.I. Nemtsev.

But even such a famous Bulgakov scholar as Marietta Chudakova, who wrote the book “The Biography of Mikhail Bulgakov” and personally knew the writer’s wife Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, will never tell the whole truth, will not reveal the secret of the writer’s genius.

Nowadays, many books are dedicated to the work of Mikhail Bulgakov. One of them is “The Life of Bulgakov”, author Viktor Petelin. In it, he writes, in particular: “We know nothing about the origin of the plan for the second novel” (about Yeshua and Pontius Pilate - NK.)

How did the idea of ​​the story about Jeusha Ha-Nozri and Pontius Pilate – the so-called “Gospel of Michael” – come about?

Priest Andrei Kuraev in his book “The Master and Margarita”: for Christ or against?” calls the novel within a novel (the Yershalaim story) “The Gospel of Satan.” Indeed, in the early editions of the novel, the first chapter of Woland’s story was called “The Gospel of Woland” and “The Gospel of the Devil.”

Victor Petelin (author of the book “The Life of Bulgakov”) tells how a friend of the artist N.A. Ushakova gave Mikhail Afanasyevich a book for which she made the cover - “Venediktov, or Memorable Events of My Life.” The author, who has not been revealed anywhere, is Professor Alexander Vasilyevich Chayanov.

“N. Ushakova, while illustrating the book, was amazed that the hero on whose behalf the story is told bears the name Bulgakov. Mikhail Afanasyevich was no less amazed by this coincidence.
The whole story is connected with Satan’s stay in Moscow, with Bulgakov’s struggle for the soul of his beloved woman, who fell into submission to the Devil.”
“I say with complete confidence that this short story served as the origin of the idea, the creative impetus for writing the novel “The Master and Margarita.”

“L.E. Belozerskaya (second wife of M.A. Bulgakov), comparing the speech structure of Chayanov’s story and the first edition of “The Master and Margarita,” comes to the conclusion: “Not only is the speech structure the same, but also the content of the introduction: the same fear, that the author, a non-professional writer, cannot cope with describing the “memorabilia” of his life.”

“Words have their own conscience,” said Akhmatova and Mandelstam. In the film “Black Snow,” Mikhail Bulgakov confesses that he, of course, “stained his lips”!

Irina Lvovna Galinskaya (author of the book “Cryptography of the novel “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov”), analyzing sources on the Albigensian wars and, in particular, “The Song of the Albigensian crusade"15th century, finds Bulgakov's construction of the murder of Judas in the real murder of the Roman legate de Castelnau."

The text that we all read was edited by A.A. Sahakyants, editor of the publishing house " Fiction».
As a result of Sahakyants’ work, 25 sentences disappeared from the manuscript, and 65 new sentences were inserted in their place. She changed 317 Bulgakov words, replaced 115 grammatical constructions and made 500 lexical substitutions.
As a result, the text, in my opinion, acquired a more correct artistic appearance, but lost the author’s “breath”.

A.A. Saakyants said: “The novel “The Master and Margarita” can be called a plot-complete thing, but internally not quite complete, that is, it was completed, but Bulgakov returned to many of its chapters again and again, because the novel was written for more than ten years .
Moreover, it is curious that all the corrections, sometimes even completely new pieces, relate only to the “Moscow” pages, that is, to the living and changing modernity; The “Yershalaim” pages – about Pontius Pilate and Yeshua – remained absolutely unchanged, they were established in the writer’s mind once and for all...”

Already sick in 1939, Bulgakov dictated the final edits to his wife. She wrote them down in her notebook. “In the margins of the typescript there is a reference to “notebook No. 2,” but this notebook was not found in Bulgakov’s archive. E.S. Bulgakova handed over his archive in ideal (! - NK) order to the Manuscript Department Lenin Library».

Why did notebook No. 2 disappear, and what was in it?

Once on one literary forum I read that the image of the Master had a real prototype. This man was an officer in his youth, then retired, was ordained, began writing a novel about Pontius Pilate, and even obtained a business trip to Jerusalem. But the revolution began, he returned to Russia, where he could no longer find a place for himself, and hid in madhouse. From there he was taken by a caring woman, with whom he allegedly lived, almost in the same house as Mikhail Bulgakov. Bulgakov allegedly even knew him, and after his death, he used the remaining manuscripts and the very story of his life.

Know what to use real story simpler and easier than inventing.

Why did Bulgakov destroy the first two editions of the novel and many drafts?
It turns out that the manuscripts are on fire?!

I will quote several eloquent facts from “ Bulgakov Encyclopedia».

« Big role in interpretation early history Christ in the novel "The Master and Margarita" was played by Sergei Chevkin's play "Yeshua Ganotsri. An impartial discovery of the truth" (1922)... Chevkin's play has numerous parallels with the Yershalaim part of "The Master and Margarita". From this source Bulgakov drew a principle of transcription of names and geographical names…»

“At the feet of Pontius Pilate there is a puddle of red wine from a broken jug - a reminder of the just shed innocent blood of Yeshua Ha-Nozri. The episode with which the emergence of this puddle is connected has a clear parallel in Chevkin’s play.”

“Most likely, like Falernian, Caecuba wine was white. But Bulgakov deliberately sacrificed the detail for the sake of the symbol... Azazello poisons the master and Margarita with red Falernian wine, which does not exist in nature.”

“Chevkin and Bulgakov not only have the same symbolism, but also psychological motivation.”

“The unconventional interpretation of the behavior of the disciple who betrayed Yeshua, given by Chevkin, was partially reflected in Bulgakov in the image of Judas from Kiriath, while in Pontius Pilate of the Yershalaim scenes the influence of Georgy Petrovsky’s poem “Pilate” (1893-1894) is noticeable.”

« Important role in the interpretation of Christ in “The Master and Margarita,” Bulgakov’s acquaintance with Anatole France’s story “Procurator of Judea” (1891) played a role... Bulgakov’s cordon of Bald Mountain exactly repeats the cordon of Mount Gazim in “Procurator of Judea.”

“…came into Bulgakov’s novel from Flaubert’s story “Herodias” (1877)…probably this significant detail Pontius Pilate’s robes are like a bloody lining on a white cloak - a harbinger of the coming shedding of innocent blood.”

“The very construction of the scene of Yeshua’s interrogation by Pilate in Bulgakov’s novel is also connected with the work of D.F. Strauss “The Life of Jesus.”

“In “The Master and Margarita” there are amazing similarities with the book of the famous Russian writer, poet and thinker Dmitry Sergeevich Merezhkovsky (1865-1941) “Jesus the Unknown”, published in Belgrade in 1932.”

“... a number of specific coincidences with Merezhkovsky’s book appeared in “The Master and Margarita” in the mid-30s, probably under the influence of acquaintance with “Jesus the Unknown.”
Merezhkovsky and Bulgakov’s image of Pontius Pilate turned out to be almost identical.”

“Quote from Goethe’s Faust: “... so who are you, finally? “I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good,” came into Bulgakov’s novel as an epigraph also from “Jesus the Unknown.”

“The author of The Master and Margarita borrows from Merezhkovsky some realities of the era, such as the mosaic in the praetorium, where the procurator is interrogating, or the centurion’s camp chair, on which Afranius sits during the execution. The procurator's order to untie Jesus' hands is also from “Jesus the Unknown.”

The purpose of this article of mine was not to expose the plagiarist, but to understand the mechanisms of the origin of the idea and how it is embodied in the finished work.

I read the novel “The Master and Margarita” several times, and was so inspired by it that ten years later I wrote my own research novel, “Strange Stranger, Incomprehensible Extraordinary Stranger.” It also has a story about Jesus Christ. I saved all eleven editions of the novel that took six years to write.

Of the mass of books I read, like Mikhail Bulgakov, I most liked the work of the English researcher F. Farrar, “The Life of Jesus Christ.” This book convinces with its historical facts. But what attracted me to this book was the fact that both the robber Bar-Rabban and the preacher Ha-Nozri had the same name - Jesus (as Farrar claims). This is what I built the collision of my plot on.

Of course, I was impressed not only by the novel “The Master and Margarita”, but also by Dostoevsky’s “legend of the great inquisitor” from the novel “The Brothers Karamazov”, I watched many films about Jesus Christ, and attended the play “The Master and Margarita” by Yuri Lyubimov.. .
But I deliberately did not read other people’s novels about Jesus Christ, so that this would not affect my own vision. I read the story “Judas Iscariot” by Leonid Andreev later.

And so, when on the night of good friday Before Easter, a story about two Jesuses was written in one breath, putting an end to it, I felt that the novel would definitely see the light of day. Although there was no reason for this - after the disaster I was a lonely disabled person with broken legs.
And it’s still a miracle for me that the novel was published!

“Alien strange incomprehensible extraordinary stranger” is also a menippea, but not a classic one, although it is dedicated to the eternal question - Why does a person live?!
The conclusion I came to as a result of writing the novel is LOVE TO CREATE NECESSITY!

But to understand this, you had to die, be resurrected, go through long haul co-crucifixion with Christ...

“My spirit soars over fallen people crowded at the cross of shame. Golgotha ​​and suffering are behind us, and salvation and freedom are ahead. I love, I love, I am saved by love, only because I believed in it. Like a bird, I am inspired by love, because I entrusted my soul to God. I believed without a doubt in my soul that God would hear all my prayers and would not leave me alone in trouble, giving me a cross instead of a battlefield. A miracle has happened! The shameful cross became a triumph of Love instead of humiliation. Jesus Christ, take me with you, freeing my spirit for the Ascension.”
(from my novel “Stranger Strange Incomprehensible Extraordinary Stranger” on the New Russian Literature website

"The Master and Margarita" is one of the most mystery novels in history, researchers are still struggling with its interpretation. We will give seven keys to this work.

Literary hoax

Why famous novel Bulgakov is called “The Master and Margarita”, and what is this book really about? It is known that the idea of ​​​​creation was born to the author after being fascinated by mysticism of the 19th century. Legends about the devil, Jewish and Christian demonology, treatises about God - all this is present in the work. The most important sources that the author consulted were the works “The History of Relations between Man and the Devil” by Mikhail Orlov and Amfiteatrov’s book “The Devil in Everyday Life, Legend and in the Literature of the Middle Ages.” As you know, The Master and Margarita had several editions. They say that the first one, on which the author worked in 1928-1929, had nothing to do with either the Master or Margarita, and was called “The Black Magician”, “Juggler with a Hoof”. That is central figure and the essence of the novel was precisely the Devil - a kind of Russian version of the work “Faust”. Bulgakov personally burned the first manuscript after his play “The Cabal of the Holy One” was banned. The writer informed the government about this: “And I personally, with my own hands, threw a draft of a novel about the devil into the stove!” The second edition was also dedicated to the fallen angel and was called “Satan” or “Great Chancellor”. Margarita and the Master have already appeared here, and Woland has acquired his retinue. But only the third manuscript received its current name, which, in fact, the author never finished.

The Many Faces of Woland

The Prince of Darkness is perhaps the most popular character in The Master and Margarita. On a superficial reading, the reader gets the impression that Woland is “justice itself,” a judge who fights human vices and patronizes love and creativity. Some even think that Bulgakov portrayed Stalin in this image! Woland is multifaceted and complex, as befits the Tempter. He is seen as a classic Satan, which is what the author intended in earlier versions books, as a new Messiah, a rethought Christ, whose coming is described in the novel.
In fact, Woland is not just a devil - he has many prototypes. This is the supreme pagan god– Wotan among the ancient Germans (Odin among the Scandinavians), the great “magician” and freemason Count Cagliostro, who remembered the events of a thousand years of the past, predicted the future, and had a portrait resemblance to Woland. And this is the “dark horse” Woland from Goethe’s Faust, who is mentioned in the work only once, in an episode that was missed in the Russian translation. By the way, in Germany the devil was called “Vahland.” Remember the episode from the novel when the employees cannot remember the name of the magician: “Maybe Faland?”

Satan's Retinue

Just as a person cannot exist without a shadow, so Woland is not Woland without his retinue. Azazello, Behemoth and Koroviev-Fagot are instruments of diabolical justice, the most bright heroes novels, behind which they have a far from clear past.
Let's take, for example, Azazello - “the demon of the waterless desert, the demon killer.” Bulgakov borrowed this image from the Old Testament books, where this is the name fallen angel, who taught people to make weapons and jewelry. Thanks to him, women have mastered the “lascivious art” of painting their faces. Therefore, it is Azazello who gives the cream to Margarita and pushes her onto the “dark path”. In the novel it is right hand Wolanda performing “dirty work”. He kills Baron Meigel and poisons the lovers. Its essence is incorporeal, absolute evil in its purest form.
Koroviev-Fagot – the only person in Woland's retinue. It is not entirely clear who became its prototype, but researchers trace its roots to the Aztec god Vitzliputzli, whose name is mentioned in Berlioz’s conversation with the Bezdomny. This is the god of war, to whom sacrifices were made, and according to the legends about Doctor Faustus, he is the spirit of hell and the first assistant of Satan. His name, carelessly pronounced by the chairman of MASSOLIT, is a signal for Woland’s appearance.
Behemoth is a werecat and Woland's favorite jester, whose image comes from legends about the demon of gluttony and the mythological beast old testament. In I. Ya. Porfiryev’s study “Apocryphal Tales of Old Testament Persons and Events,” which was clearly familiar to Bulgakov, the sea monster Behemoth was mentioned, living together with Leviathan in the invisible desert “to the east of the garden where the chosen and righteous lived.” The author also gleaned information about Behemoth from the story of a certain Anne Desange, who lived in the 17th century and was possessed by seven devils, among which Behemoth, a demon from the rank of Thrones, is mentioned. This demon was depicted as a monster with an elephant's head, trunk and tusks. His hands were human, and his huge belly, short tail and thick hind legs- like a hippopotamus, which reminded him of his name.

Black Queen Margot

Margarita is often considered a model of femininity, a kind of Pushkin’s “Tatiana of the 20th century.” But the prototype of “Queen Margot” was clearly not a modest girl from the Russian hinterland. In addition to the obvious similarity of the heroine with last wife writer, the novel emphasizes Margarita’s connection with two French queens. The first is the same “Queen Margot,” the wife of Henry IV, whose wedding turned into the bloody Night of St. Bartholomew. This event is mentioned on the way to Satan's Great Ball. The fat man, who recognized Margarita, calls her “bright Queen Margot” and babbles “some nonsense about the bloody wedding of his friend in Paris, Hessar.” Gessar is the Parisian publisher of Marguerite Valois's correspondence, whom Bulgakov made a participant in St. Bartholomew's Night. Another queen is also seen in the image of the heroine - Margarita of Navarre, who was one of the first French women writers, the author of the famous "Heptameron". Both ladies patronized writers and poets; Bulgakov’s Margarita loves her brilliant writer- Masters.

Moscow – Yershalaim

One of the most interesting mysteries of The Master and Margarita is the time when the events take place. There is not a single absolute date in the novel from which one can count. The action is attributed to Holy Week from the first to the seventh of May 1929. This dating provides a parallel with the world of the “Pilate Chapters”, which took place in Yershalaim in the year 29 or 30 during the week that later became Holy Week. “Over Moscow in 1929 and Yershalaim on the 29th there is the same apocalyptic weather, the same darkness is approaching the city of sin like a thunder wall, the same Easter full moon floods the alleys of the Old Testament Yershalaim and the New Testament Moscow.” In the first part of the novel, both of these stories develop in parallel, in the second, more and more intertwined, in the end they merge together, gaining integrity and moving from our world to the other world.

Influence of Gustav Meyrink

The ideas of Gustav Meyrink, whose works appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, had a huge impact on Bulgakov. In the novel by the Austrian expressionist "Golem" main character master Anastasius Pernat in the finale reunites with his beloved Miriam “at the wall of the last lantern,” on the border of the real and other worlds. The connection with The Master and Margarita is obvious. Let's remember famous aphorism Bulgakov's novel: “Manuscripts don’t burn.” Most likely, it goes back to “The White Dominican”, where it is said: “Yes, of course, the truth does not burn and cannot be trampled upon.” It also tells about the inscription above the altar, because of which the icon falls Mother of God. As well as the burnt manuscript of the master, reviving Woland from oblivion, who restores true story Yeshua, the inscription symbolizes the connection of truth not only with God, but also with the devil.
In “The Master and Margarita,” as in Meyrink’s “The White Dominican,” the main thing for the heroes is not the goal, but the process of the journey itself—development. But the meaning of this path is different for writers. Gustav, like his heroes, looked for him in creative beginning, Bulgakov strove to achieve a certain “esoteric” absolute, the essence of the universe.

Last manuscript

The last edition of the novel, which subsequently reached the reader, was begun in 1937. The author continued to work with her until his death. Why couldn't he finish the book he'd been writing for a dozen years? Perhaps he believed that he was not sufficiently informed about the issue he was taking on, and his understanding of Jewish demonology and early Christian texts was amateurish? Be that as it may, the novel practically “sucked out” the life of the author. The last correction he made on February 13, 1940 was Margarita’s phrase: “So this means that the writers are going after the coffin?” A month later he died. Last words Bulgakov, addressed to the novel were: “So that they know, so that they know...”.

Mysteries of "The Master and Margarita"

But his colleague Yuri Kara, who previously directed a film version of Bulgakov’s novel, claims just the opposite. And the very fact that his film did not appear in wide release, perhaps, cannot be called anything other than a manifestation of demonic forces. Many actors and directors of this novel theater stage they claim that during rehearsals or while already playing in a play, strange things sometimes happened to them - they forgot the text, got injured, lost objects needed in one or another scene, and some even ended up in a hospital bed with a serious illness.

Such mystical things happen not only when trying to film or dramatize Bulgakov’s novel, but also when creating illustrations for it. This is the story told by the famous Donetsk painter and graphic artist, People's Artist of Ukraine Vladimir Shendel.

I first read the novel “The Master and Margarita” in 1971, while still a student at the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I. Repin. They gave me two Moscow magazines with a novel printed in them for just one night. Bulgakov's work shocked my imagination. It wasn’t scary; most likely, a youthful interest in everything forbidden and unusual manifested itself.

The Polish film "The Master and Margarita" hit me hard. Its creators distorted everything - the era, the characters, the atmosphere, even the idea. And then I had a seemingly crazy idea: to show myself and other people how I see this work and its characters.
He began collecting material around 1975: he visited museums, libraries, studied Moscow in the 20-30s - costumes, everyday life, transport, architecture, biography and creativity of Bulgakov. He specially came to Moscow to see with his own eyes the places where the events of the novel unfolded. I used to walk in circles all day, but I still couldn’t find right place: as if someone didn’t allow me to see him. Only on the third visit my legs themselves led me to the house where the apartment in which the Master lived was located.

Also, on a whim, I found the Patriarch's Ponds. I circled for a long time, when suddenly I found myself on the shore of a well-kept pond, where there was a monument to the fabulist I. Krylov. I asked a woman walking with her child where the Patriarchs were. “So that’s what they are,” I heard in response. I had no idea that the Patriarch's Ponds are actually one pond. I looked at the surface of the water, and I immediately imagined a snack bar, a tram line, and the terrible death of Berlioz. I tried to live the life of each character in the novel. I went all the way in Ivan Bezdomny’s pursuit of the trio, was inside Griboedov’s house, found the square where Massolit was located. I visited the grave of Mikhail Afanasyevich on Novodevichy Cemetery. The same story happened there: I found the grave without difficulty, as if I knew in advance where to go.

I re-read “The Master and Margarita” ten times, and each time I discovered something new, previously unnoticed. It felt like the author of the novel was invisibly helping me. In my home library, books began to appear spontaneously that had one or another relation to the writer, but the fact was that I did not buy them. When friends gave me books, they were precisely those books that revealed new sides of the heroes of the novel “The Master and Margarita,” its author and that era.

I am an artist, and to accurately recreate the image of a character, its description is very important. But as I read the book, I didn't always find it. However, the most interesting thing: the description of the characters, which I did not find today, suddenly appeared on the page tomorrow, and the very next day, in a way completely incomprehensible to me, disappeared again.

Only in 1995 did I start making illustrations for Bulgakov’s novel. Suddenly - and this remains a mystery to me to this day - five etching boards disappeared. They were not finished - I painted them, etched them with nitric acid and left them in the studio. When I decided to continue working, they were nowhere to be found. I had to start all over again.

When half of the graphic work was completed, my right hand began to hurt. Every day the pain became stronger and stronger: in order to hold the needle and pen, I had to make incredible efforts. A psychic I met by chance on the street, after listening to what I was doing, said: “You don’t understand what you got yourself into. Quit it before it’s too late, otherwise your hand will be taken away altogether.” I had to stop work, but I was used to finishing everything, so when after some time I felt better, I decided: come what may. Probably, otherworldly forces appreciated my determination and perseverance and allowed me to successfully complete the work.

I didn’t bring the completed illustrations home: I was afraid of causing trouble. I gave one etching from “The Master and Margarita” to a friend who was researching Bulgakov’s work. One day this work, which was hanging on her wall, fell with a crash. The bad sign came true: soon this woman was diagnosed with cancer and died.

I believe there is a powerful energy around this piece, and it reacts differently to those who try to dig deeper. The fate of "The Master and Margarita" is dramatic, mysterious and to this day completely unknown. Bulgakov began working on the novel in 1929, and made the last correction to the text four weeks before his death - in 1940. The novel remained unfinished.

A curious incident occurred on May 15, the birthday of Mikhail Bulgakov. For this date, the staff of the Donetsk House of Cultural Workers asked me to create a portrait of the writer. When I was working on it, there was a constant feeling of his presence in the workshop. And when the portrait was exhibited, everyone was amazed by the piercing gaze with which Bulgakov looked at those present from the canvas.

But the matter did not end there. Exhibition visitors brought huge amount flowers, which the staff of the House of Cultural Workers then placed throughout the hall. A bouquet of scarlet roses was placed near the portrait of Mikhail Afanasyevich; by the way, these were his favorite flowers. In the morning we were surprised to discover that it was near this portrait that the flowers withered, while all the other bouquets remained fresh and fragrant. They even called flower shop with complaints, but they assured that absolutely all the flowers were fresh.