As a mysterious gentleman and self-proclaimed magician arrives in Moscow, followed by a most bizarre retinue of servants - which includes a strangely dressed ex-choirmaster, a fanged hitman and a mischievous tomcat with the gift of the gab - the Russian literary world is shaken to its foundations. It soon becomes clear that he is the Devil, and that he has come to wreak havoc among the cultural elite of the disbelieving capital. But the Devil's mission quickly becomes entangled with the fate of the Master - the author of an unpublished historical novel about Pontius Pilate - who has turned his back on real life and his lover Margarita, finding shelter in a lunatic asylum after traumatic publishers' rejections, vilification in the press and political persecution.
Will the Devil manage to enlist the fiery Margarita into his ranks, will she remain faithful to the Master to the very end and come to his rescue? At the same time a satirical romp and a daring analysis of the nature of good and evil, innocence and guilt,
The Master and Margarita is the crowning achievement of one of the greatest Russian writers of the twentieth century.
This new translation by Hugh Aplin is based on the recently restored, unexpurgated edition, which benefits from over three decades of Bulgakov scholarship.
Publication date, July 2008
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'One of the great writers of the twentieth century.'
A.S. Byatt
'A lasting fable about the human need for truth and the mysterious power
of love.'
Elaine Feinstein
'One of the greatest modern Russian novels.'
The Independent
'A gloriously ironic gothic masterpiece.'
Patrick McGrath
'Bulgakov’s
The Master and Margarita is 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
'A wild surrealistic romp… Brilliantly
flamboyant and outrageous.'
Joyce Carol Oates
'What I find most extraordinary about The Master and
Margarita is its scale, its daring, its sheer imaginative reach. Part
satire, part love story, part mystical experience, it refuses to be
pigeonholed. It’s a book that makes other books look safe.'
Rupert Thomson
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The Master and Margarita
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