Saturday 4 May 2013

The Master and Margarita

The devil comes to Moscow wearing a fancy suit.  With his disorderly band of accomplices - including a demonic, gun-totting tomcat - he immediately begins to create havoc.

Disappearances, destruction and death spread through the city like wildfire and Margarita discovers that her lover has vanished in the chaos.  Making a bargain with the devil, she decides to try a little black magic of her own to save the man she loves...

While I wish I could get my old University brain back, I think I mushed that up a few years ago, so this isn't going to be a thoughtful literary review on how Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita is a commentary on Soviet Russia.  

Instead I can tell you that I fell in love the cover of The Master and Margarita at first sight.  I'm not sure if it's the Moscow skyline, the bright blue or the cat mask but I love it, okay?  The story itself, not so much.   Although I found parts of the text engaging, often when events took an absurd turn (the Devil's ball, the séance and Berlioz's meeting with Annushka...to name a few), my mind couldn't help but drift off in other sections that were perhaps too dull in comparison.  I think I would need to re-read The Master and Margarita to fully appreciate Bulgakov's writing, and all of the intricacies laced within the narrative, but I have no intention of doing that at least for another couple of years.

2 comments:

  1. That cat on the cover kind of freaks me out! Lol.

    Dude... Russians have the best names. Mikhail, Annushka... those are so awesome.

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    1. I agree. The best bit about reading Russian literature is saying all the names aloud!

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