The master and Margarita

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The Master and Margarita ( Russian Мастер и Маргарита / Master i Margarita ) is the best-known novel by the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov and a classic of 20th century Russian literature .

Bulgakov began writing the novel in 1928 and dictated the last version to his wife Jelena shortly before his death in March 1940. The work, which was shortened by around an eighth by the censorship , appeared in sequels in the literary magazine "Moskwa" from November 1966 , the circulation of 150,000 copies being sold out within a few hours during this time. Many customers read the novel through within a very short time and were able to reproduce it by heart. Group readings were held. The novel was discussed in public. The parts cut out by the censors were copied with the typewriter or by hand and secretly distributed as samizdat . An essential location, the actually existing apartment No. 50 in Sadowaja 302b , in which the author himself lived in a room from 1921 to 1924, has meanwhile become a popular excursion destination for Bulgakov admirers.

content

First edition of "The Master and Margarita" from 1967

The novel depicts life in Moscow at that time in an allegorical and funny, satirical way . Many critics count the novel among the most important Russian stories of the 20th century and consider it one of the best satires of the time, directed against the rigid, arbitrary bureaucracy as well as the surveillance practices and the supply shortages in the dogmatic atheistic Soviet Union .

The second main theme of the novel is related to human values ​​such as good and evil, god and devil, life and death. The focus here is on the redemption of all those involved, whose voluntary tool is the devil. Some chapters contain a historically credible narrative about Pontius Pilate during the last days of Jesus Christ , who is named Yeshua in the narrative by his Hebrew name .

The third main theme emerges from both storylines: No greater sin than cowardice. None of the Moscow participants is really ready to face the higher power - partly the state power, partly that of Satan (in the form of the magician Voland). In view of the consequences, Pontius Pilate also renounces the release of Yeshua.

Another theme of the novel is that of the artist and art.

action

Accompanied by various assistants - the most noticeable is the huge tomcat named Behemoth (Бегемот / Begemoth, Russian also for hippopotamus) - one day during Holy Week the devil appears in Moscow, disguised as the foreigner Voland, “Professor of Black Magic”. He soon brought some confusion into city life; for example during his public appearances as a magician. The action is particularly concentrated on Sadowaja  302b, apartment 50, whose residents and neighbors have been disappearing in a more or less imaginative way for the past two years. Among other things, there is an eerie death and an arrest, while another resident suddenly finds himself in Yalta. The Muscovites, especially the official bodies, try to explain all this and the other confusions that Voland causes, mostly scientifically, with hypnosis, for example, being held responsible for everything.

The first third of the book is already over when the title hero appears for the first time, a former writer of around 38 years who has forgotten his name and calls himself only the "master" after the nickname his former lover gave him. He meets a poet who was introduced at the beginning of the novel, who has also been sent to a madhouse because of the unbelievable experience with Voland. The master tells him his life: as a historian at a Moscow museum and highly educated, two years earlier he accidentally won a hundred thousand rubles and started a new life in a new apartment (which, although only in the basement, still makes the master rave) and started writing a novel about Pontius Pilate . In this new life came a married woman, Margarita, who became his great love. When the novel was finished, there was no publisher willing to print it. Only a long excerpt was published, which immediately provoked violent abuse of the author in the press. The master went mad, was first arrested for possession of illegal literature, and then apparently voluntarily went to a mental hospital. He has not met his lover since then.

Margarita is dissatisfied with her life, although she is well provided for financially by her rich husband. She loves the Master and still longs for him. When her husband is absent, she makes a deal with one of Voland's assistants, because he - that is the secret of the bewitched apartment no. 50 - wants to give a ball there and needs a "prom queen" for it. This role is supposed to be taken over by Margarita, who becomes a witch with a flying ointment . As a thank you for the strenuous task of the prom queen (she has to let the crowd of guests kiss her knee for three hours without a break), the wish is fulfilled to live with the master in his basement apartment again.

At the instruction of Jesus, Voland and his assistants finally let the master and Margarita die; they “deserve a rest”.

A second act, which later turns out to be the master's novel, is dedicated to a few days in the life of the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, who is responsible for the condemnation of Jesus of Nazareth , here called Yeshua han-Nasri . Although the plot roughly follows the biblical accounts, it is stripped of all supernatural occurrences, and the numerous following that the biblical Jesus has is missing here. Yeshua is portrayed to a far greater extent than in the Gospels as a pacifist and philanthropic person to the point of self-denial. Pilate is sick and dissatisfied and would like to take poison; the only creature he loves is his dog. Yeshua first gives him some consolation, and Pilate plays with the idea of ​​pardoning the doomed; however, when he hears of Yeshua's thoughts on the state, he has to confirm the death sentence, which only worsens his spiritual condition. A tragicomic figure in this part of the novel is Yeshua's disciple Levi Matthäus , who misunderstands the words of Yeshua and writes them down just as wrongly; In fact, the resurrection of Jesus is a deliberate forgery that he wrote.

This storyline is woven into the main plot in three sections - as the reader learns, the content of the Yeshua chapters is identical to the master's novel. Part of this plot appears for the first time when Voland tries to convince a persistent atheist of the existence of Jesus and tells him a first piece of this story.

At the end of the book, both storylines converge: Voland and his assistants lead the master and Margarita after their death on Easter vigil to their romantically depicted "eternal house" through the wilderness and pass Jerusalem . Not far from the city sits the depressed Pilate, whom the master, on a hint from Voland (and thus on instruction from Jesus, who has read the master's novel), causes to go to heaven with the news that Yeshua is waiting for him . For the first time the figure of Yeshua is given a metaphysical meaning comparable to that of the Christian; Pilate is now also redeemed.

characters

Main storyline

  • Voland, the devil himself
  • the master, author of a novel about Pontius Pilate
  • Margarita Nikolaevna: married mistress of the master, was chosen to be queen at the spring ball

Voland's assistants:

  • Korowjew, also bassoon: Voland's assistant; once allegedly former cantor, then interpreter for the “professor”; actually "knight"; typical are the cracked pince-nez and the checked trousers.
  • Behemoth : Part hangover, part hangover person; actually court jester Volands; Friend of Koroviev, with whom he played all sorts of tricks on the Moscow population towards the end of the book.
  • Asasello : Voland's third assistant, actually death demon; typical are a tusk sticking out of his mouth and the red hair.
  • Gella: Witch and servant of Voland, vampire
  • Abaddon , the angel of death

Other important minor characters:

  • Ivan Nikolajewitsch Ponyrew, pseudonym “Besdomny” (means “homeless”): Bad poet, later professor of history and philosophy; After meeting Voland, he is admitted to a psychiatric clinic and gets to know the master there.
  • Mikhail Alexandrowitsch Berlioz: Chairman of the Moscow Literary Association (MASSOLIT). The book begins with his and Besdomny's encounter with Voland at the Moscow Patriarch's Ponds and his subsequent death, prophesied by Voland.
  • Stepan "Stjopa" Bogdanowitsch Lichodejew: director of the variety theater in which Voland appears and resident in Sadowaja 302b; is conjured away to Yalta by Voland, who moves into his apartment. 'Lichodejew' means something like 'evildoer'.
  • Grigori Danilowitsch Rimski: Finance Director of the Variety Theater; flees to Leningrad.
  • Ivan Savelyevich Warenucha: Variety theater administrator; is made a vampire by Gella and later triggers Rimski's escape.
  • Dr. Stravinsky: chief physician of psychiatry.
  • Nikanor Ivanovich Bossoi: Chairman of the House Committee of Sadowaja 302b, receives foreign currency from Korowjew so that he can live undisturbed at No. 50, but is betrayed by him and arrested because of the foreign exchange; he then goes to psychiatry.
  • George Bengalski: emcee; His head is cut off during the theater performance by Behemoth and then put back on; as a result he too was sent to psychiatry.
  • Latunski: Critic hated by Margarita and the master, whose apartment Margarita destroyed after her transformation into a witch.

Pilate act

  • Pontius Pilatus : historical figure and figure also occurring in the biblical Passion stories; Main character of the Pilate act, on the basis of which guiltyness a need for redemption is discussed.
  • Yeshua : With Bulgakov a simple person with great knowledge and love of human nature and healing powers. For him, all people, including his tormentors, are good people.
  • Levi Matthew: First the tax collector, then the all-misunderstanding disciple of Yeschua who notes his words (allusion to the biblical disciple Matthew and the gospel ascribed to him).
  • Judas from Kirjath : pretty boy who is murdered by the Roman secret service due to his involvement in the Yeshua trial - this figure in particular deviates significantly from the biblical model of committing suicide.
  • Afranius: Chief of the secret service, confidante Pilate, who knows a lot about what is going on in the city. But he himself orchestrated his success in uncovering a planned murder plot against Judas and even the actual murder.
  • Caiaphas : the high priest.

Apart from the head of the secret service, the main characters in Pilate's plot show parallels to characters from the biblical traditions. In some, sometimes essential, points, however, Bulgakov's description differs from the biblical stories. At Bulgakov, for example, Yeshua is not laid in a rock grave, but rather buried in a deep pit together with the other two executed people. There is no resurrection. And Judas does not hang himself, but is stabbed to death in the covert commission of Pilate.

Note that parts of the Pilate story are connected to the main story at the end. Pilate, Levi Matthew and (indirectly) Jeschua also appear in the main plot.

Remarks

The novel was written between 1928 and Bulgakov's death (1940) and can be regarded as the author's most important work. It contains disparate forms of literature: fiction and elements from legends alternate with the realistic portrayal of historical and contemporary circumstances, satire appears as well as wit without ulterior motives (think of the pranks of Behemoth), and make up an essential part of the novel (alongside the eternal love of the main characters) the religiosity and philosophy of Bulgakov.

Forgiveness, redemption and eternal rest play a central role in Bulgakov's philosophy, as illustrated by the end of the novel. The devil is not an equal counterpart to God, but rather serves to give the world more plasticity with shadows. In addition, as cruelly as he murders two people during the plot, he is only a willing instrument of redemption. Just as Levi Matthew often misunderstands the teachings of his idol Yeshua, so too in this context: When he passed on Yeshua's commission to Voland towards the end of the play, he showed nothing but hatred.

The subject of the artist and art is also raised in the novel - similar to the processing of the Faust material in Thomas Mann's novel Doctor Faustus a few years later . The main hero of the novel, "the master", embodies a real artist whose "manuscripts do not burn" . The author also pays great attention to human love, which can overcome everything, even death.

To understand the satirical part of this work, a brief excursus into the Soviet Union of the 1930s is helpful. The Soviet Union had developed into a total surveillance state under Stalin . Their downright irrational and at the same time incredibly consistent bureaucracy froze the country into a gigantic grotesque . You have to know that the population, and possibly Bulgakov as well, did not consider Stalin to be responsible for the situation in the country, but these very bureaucrats, and it was thought that if Stalin found out about their activities, he would put an end to the grievances immediately. In addition, as a veteran of the Russian civil war on the “white” side , Bulgakov was probably no friend of the Soviet Union.

Reference to Goethe's Faust

Bulgakov already refers to Goethe's Faust in the motto . It is said:

“Well, who are you? - A part of that force that always wants evil and always creates good. "

This refers to Voland, and Mephistopheles gives himself this name in the Walpurgis night scene:

“Mephistopheles: What! already carried away there? I'll have to have house rights. Space! Coming Junker Voland. Space! sweet mob, place! "

Analogously, the master is a reference to Faust and the Margarita an embodiment of Gretchen , whose name is a pet form of Margarethe. The plot of the novel takes up Goethe's work in various ways and parodies it or uses it as a parody, for example the master's pact with Satan can be read as a Faustian pact or the rescue of the master and the margarita as a reference to the end of Faust I. Numerous references can also be made on a symbolic level. B. the poodle motif several times (Volands walking stick, chain margaritas, motif on pillow). The ball is a variation on the Walpurgis Night theme .

German editions

The novel became famous through the translation by Thomas Reschke .

  • The master and Margarita. Publishing house culture and progress, Berlin 1968.
  • The master and Margarita. dtv, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-472-82010-1 .
  • The master and Margarita. With illustrations by Hans Fronius . Volk u. Welt, Berlin 1982. ISBN 3-353-00269-3 .
  • The master and Margarita. With an afterword by Ralf Schröder . Aufbauverlag, Berlin / Weimar 1983. From the Pocket Library series of world literature.
  • The master and Margarita. book club 65, Berlin 1985.
  • The master and Margarita. Volk u. Welt, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-353-00942-6 .
  • The master and Margarita. Luchterhand Collection, Munich 2005, ISBN 978-3-630-62093-0 .
  • The master and Margarita. Ed. Spiegel, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 3-87763-029-4 .

In addition to the translation by Reschke, there are now other translations into German:

Parts of various older drafts of the novel, which Bulgakov later destroyed, survived as copies in the archives of the secret service. Under the title The Black Magician , several related chapters of these older versions of the novel were published as Volume 4 of Bulgakov's Collected Works, translated into German by Renate and Thomas Reschke from the Volk und Welt publishing house.

Film adaptations

  • The novel was u. a. Filmed in 1972 under the direction of Aleksandar Petrovics with Ugo Tognazzi as master , Mimsy Farmer as Margarita and Alain Cuny as Voland .
  • Andrzej Wajda's film Pilatus and Others (1972) is based on the second part of the book.
  • The novel was made into a film in 1994 under the direction of Juri Kara .
  • In 2005, the book was filmed for Russian television on original locations and in St. Petersburg as a ten-part television series directed by Vladimir Bortko . The series comes very close to the novel in words and pictures.

Audio book / radio play

Adaptations

  • The composer York Höller processed the book into an opera of the same name in two acts, which premiered in Paris in 1989.
  • Rainer Kunad's opera was released in Karlsruhe in 1986 and was soon re-enacted by Teatr Wielki in Warsaw under the musical direction of Robert Satanowski ; this production ran several times in the cultural programs of German-language public television.
  • In the Hamburg Kampnagelfabrik the novel 1989 by PANTHEATER in the editing and directed by Michael Leye first performed in West Germany as a play. Before that, there had been a stage version in 1987 at the Volksbühne in East Berlin, directed by Siegfried Höchst .
  • At the end of 2002, the novel was performed as a play at the Volksbühne in Berlin , directed by Frank Castorf . Production was on the schedule until 2008.
  • The play in the version by Niklaus Helbling and Sebastian Huber and directed by Niklaus Helbling was premiered on May 12, 2006 at the Wiener Burgtheater in the Spielstätte im Kasino . This version can currently be seen in the Akademietheater. (As of June 2007)
  • In the 2007/2008 season, a stage version, directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, premiered at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus .
  • On February 11, 2012, a stage version by Felicitas Zürcher , directed by Wolfgang Engel, premiered at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden .
  • Vitali Rutschinski (d. 1998) wrote Teufel's works. A novel about Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" , a satire on secret services, the state and the seduction of people, German 2002.
  • The numerous works that were directly or indirectly inspired by Bulgakov's novel include: a. also the song Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones .

Web links

Commons : The Master and Margarita  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita . Munich 2008, p. 406
  2. ↑ Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita . Munich 2008, p. 394
  3. ↑ Compare the evidence in the catalog of the German National Library
  4. ↑ A theater review on Deutschlandradio can be found here: [1]
  5. ↑ A theater review from nachtkritik.de can be found here: [2]