Anyone read Master and Margarita? If so what did you think? I liked it a lot...

Anyone read Master and Margarita? If so what did you think? I liked it a lot. Also anyone have any citable essays or critics writing on it/context or Bulgakov himself?

As a russian I really appreciate him for being one of the easiest/lighter classics of my motherland. I really loved his use of devil related lexis which ironic as hell. And his henchmen are just great

I just made it to the scene where Woland gets rid of the theater director. I'm butchering the names but it's pretty good so far.

awful cover

Here's a based cover

What did you like about it, OP? Maybe something compared to other lit, Russian or otherwise?

I liked it, he's a funny split between stuff like M&M, Fatal Eggs and Heart of a Dog and his more serious stuff like Black Snow (which i love), White Guard and Country Doctors Notebook which are much more realistic.
Its funny the similarities between some of Bulgakov's work and Kafka, Diaboliad is hugely Kafkaesque and one part of Country Doctors Notebook reads almost exactly like Kafkas doctor story where he leaves the girl to get raped to help some people through a blizzard.
I dont think Bulgakov ever read Kafka but can anyone confirm whether he did or didnt?

I liked it at first, it was funny and weird, but as it went on I started liking it less and less. Not really sure why. I stopped reading it about 4/5 of the way through.

>I really loved his use of devil related lexis

In my English translation I just found this tacky and obtuse. I get the impression that the entire novel is very funny as a Russian, in Russian. Without that context--down partly to my circumstance, and partly to my ignorance--I felt it lacked something; I had been looking forward to reading it a lot, as I have heard many people referring to it as their favourite novel, but it fell somewhat flat.

I think that perhaps I'm not big on irony. I much, much preferred A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

I think I'd like to read it again in the future. But this time after having read Faust and possibly Pushkin.

Bump

I really liked hippie jesus thing.

And every russian girl read it. I don't know why,

best book ever written

What translation did you read? Don't tell me you read P&V's.

Goat cover coming through

its in my top 5 favorite novels. read about bulgakov's life before starting it

A full biography? What did you read?

This is now also a cool m&m cover art thread

Great book, Pontius Pilate is the best fictional book imo.

Why is the cat featured so prominently? It led me to believe he would have a much better role.

I think he's just a cool visual character who is easy to imagine and represent, whereas the other henchmen are less fantastic looking and less visually recognizable.

I had the same experience as you, and kept expecting Behemoth to play a bigger part.

I did. I just picked up a copy for a pound in a charity shop. I'm assuming this is a notoriously bad translation?

Which translation should I read next time?

russian

Thanks. Let's imagine I have neither the time nor the mental fortitude required to learn Russian. Which English translation should I read?

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