Modern Classics Master And Margarita - Softcover

Bulgakov, Mikhail

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014118373X ISBN 13: 9780141183732

Publisher: Penguin Classic, 2000

Synopsis

Written during the darkest period of Stalin's repressive reign and a satire of Soviet life, this book combines two parts: one set in contemporary Moscow and the other in ancient Jerusalem, each full of incident, and with historical, imaginary, frightful and wonderful characters.

About this title

About the Author

Mikhail Bulgakov was born in Kiev in May 1891. His sympathetic portrayal of White characters in his stories, in the plays The Days of the Turbins (The White Guard), which enjoyed great success at the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1926, and Flight (1927), and his satirical treatment of the officials of the New Economic Plan, led to growing criticism, which became violent after the play The Purple Island. He also wrote a brilliant biography of his literary hero, Jean-Baptiste Molière, but The Master and Margarita is generally considered his masterpiece. Fame, at home and abroad, was not to come until a quarter of a century after his death at Moscow in 1940.

Review

“My favorite novel—it’s just the greatest explosion of imagination, craziness, satire, humor, and heart.” —Daniel Radcliffe
 
“One of the truly great Russian novels of [the twentieth] century.” —The New York Times Book Review
 
“By turns hilarious, mysterious, contemplative, and poignant . . . A great work.” —Chicago Tribune
 
“A soaring, dazzling novel; an extraordinary fusion of wildly disparate elements. It is a concerto played simultaneously on the organ, the bagpipes, and a pennywhistle, while someone sets off fireworks between the players’ feet.” —The New York Times
 
“Fine, funny, imaginative . . . The Master and Margarita stands squarely in the great Gogolesque tradition of satiric narrative.” —Newsweek
 
“A wild surrealistic romp . . . Brilliantly flamboyant and outrageous.” —Joyce Carol Oates
 
“Beautiful, strange, tender, scarifying, and incandescent . . . One of those novels that, even in translation, make one feel that not one word could have been written differently . . . Margarita has too many achievements to list—for one thing, a plot scudding with action and suspense, not exactly a hallmark of Russian literature. . . . This luminous translation [is] distinguished by not only the stylistic elegance that has become a hallmark of Pevear and Volokhonsky translations but also a supreme ear for the sound and meaning of Soviet life. . . . It’s time for The Master and Margarita to rise to its rightful place in the canon of great world literature. . . . As literature, it will live forever.” —Boris Fishman, from the Foreword

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classic
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 014118373X
• ISBN 13: 9780141183732
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432