Mikhail Bulgakov

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My favorite author! I just read Heart of a Dog in one sitting, for the second time, and I'm constantly amazed at his ability to join together a sort of magic realism with wonderful satire and, quite usually, a bittersweet and extremely moving denouement. The Master and Margarita remains the greatest novel I've ever read, and I doubt anything will top it. Though I still have yet to read The White Guard and Black Snow, both of which sit on my bookshelf.

I would hope that there are others out there who share my feelings!

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:26 (twenty years ago)

I've read everything I could get my hands on.

― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:29 (twenty years ago)

indeed there are! Master and Margarita is probably my favorite book ever. yay to you....! I never read Heart of a dog, but I did read The White Guard. Good, but no M and M

― breezy, Monday, 25 April 2005 21:30 (twenty years ago)

Notes on Cuffs
According to Wikipedia, these are his works:

Notes of a Country Doctor (§©§Ñ§á§Ú§ã§Ü§Ú §ð§ß§à§Ô§à §Ó§â§Ñ§é§Ñ)
Days of the Turbins (§¥§ß§Ú §´§å§â§Ò§Ú§ß§í§ç) (play)
The Cabal of Hypocrites (play)
Pushkin (The Last Days) (play)
Batum (play)
The White Guard (§¢§Ö§Ý§Ñ§ñ §Ô§Ó§Ñ§â§Õ§Ú§ñ)
Life of Monsieur de Moli¨¨re
Fatal Eggs
Heart of a Dog (§³§à§Ò§Ñ§é§î§Ö §ã§Ö§â§Õ§è§Ö)
The Master and Margarita (§®§Ñ§ã§ä§Ö§â §Ú §®§Ñ§â§Ô§Ñ§â§Ú§ä§Ñ)

I haven't read these: The Cabal of Hypocrites, Pushkin (The Last Days), Batum.

― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:32 (twenty years ago)

weird, i just bought a copy of master and margarita the other week. haven't read it yet, i'm sure i'll get back to this thread when i do.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:36 (twenty years ago)

I've been meaning to re-read M&M and I was curious if there is a particularly definitive translation. I have one from the late-'70s, early-'80s I believe.

It's a remarkable novel, I can't recommend it highly enough.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:37 (twenty years ago)

I think Adam nordicskillz likes him!

I do too!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:38 (twenty years ago)

i was about to ask Gear's very question: what is the best translation of this book? I have the Grove edition with the cat on the front (the same one most people have had forever), and still haven't read it; I gather there is a more recent translation out, because I saw it. Is it better? My thought is that if enough people fell in love with the Grove Press translation, there must be something special about it.

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:39 (twenty years ago)

Pretty damn great, what I've read of his.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:40 (twenty years ago)

The version I have is this really nice-looking white paperback with an orange-tinted photograph of a cat at the center. I've seen a more recent one, with a red and black cover, that seems to be considered a very good version of the novel.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:48 (twenty years ago)

one of my friend favourite books too - he did a wonderful architectural project based round the house (flat? it was a long time ago) in the book for his arch postgrad. Ive been meaning to read it all this time.

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:58 (twenty years ago)

for some reason this thread makes me want to conduct an ILX-wide "greatest books" poll. But I know David Sedaris would place 3 or 4 in the top twenty and that would just make me sad.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 25 April 2005 22:00 (twenty years ago)

i'd be sad too.

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 25 April 2005 22:01 (twenty years ago)

(though i still think it's a good idea).

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 25 April 2005 22:02 (twenty years ago)

fuck it, I'll do it. I've got nothing better to do right now.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 25 April 2005 22:02 (twenty years ago)

do you think you would need a noms list? or could you bypass it? seems to me to be the only way it could work.

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 25 April 2005 22:03 (twenty years ago)

Why would you think that ILX people would place Sedaris so high?? I like his stuff, but I doubt he's even in my top thousands!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 25 April 2005 22:11 (twenty years ago)

I think it would be less a matter of him placing high than placing often. I could be wrong!

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 25 April 2005 22:13 (twenty years ago)

it is the internet, internetters like sedaris and amelie, it is true!

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 25 April 2005 22:15 (twenty years ago)

i've only read master & margarita, but i love it very much.

― Maria (Maria), Monday, 25 April 2005 22:38 (twenty years ago)

The Burgin and O'Connor translation is excellent and certainly the most modern. Glenny's is good but he pieced it together from an incomplete version and missed some of the references. Most of the names and acronyms are rather clever jokes which escape the reader without a glossary, and this edition has a decent and concise one.
Hmm, that was uncontroversial.

― snotty moore, Monday, 25 April 2005 23:52 (twenty years ago)

the b & o is the one i read. my copy is unfortunately at the bottom of teh baltic sea right now though.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 25 April 2005 23:55 (twenty years ago)

"Have just been run over by streetcar at Patriarch's Ponds funeral Friday three afternoon come Berlioz."

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:00 (twenty years ago)

one of my goals in life is to read bulgakov in russian. i have to wonder if it would be more fun, with puns and stuff. i'll get back on that in ten years or so.

― Maria (Maria), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 01:21 (twenty years ago)

Of all the translations of The Master & Margarita I've looked at, the Donna Burgin / Katherine O'Connor one is my favorite. Its the only one I've looked at that retains any of the humor, and it is a *very* funny book. Also has good footnotes for those like me that know nothing of early 20th c. Moscow like me.

The Fatal Eggs has a pretty okay English translation out, if you like Bulgakov but you want more sci-fi (not unlike Jonathan Lethem's early stuff?)

― BCC, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 01:36 (twenty years ago)

He's definitely one of my favorite authors. I got into him through Heart of a Dog, and then I read the White Guard and Black Snow. I actually just finally read Master and Margarita that other day! What a completely perfect blend of absurdity, paranoia, and social commentary. There's something really transcendent about the way I feel when i've finished a book of his that only a couple other authors can do to me.
I'm pretty sure Day of the Turbins is just a Stalinist-censored version of the White Guard. Apparently Stalin really liked the censored play and that's the only reason Bulgakov didn't get offed like so many of his talented, dangerous peers.

― Fetchboy (Felcher), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 02:07 (twenty years ago)

Master and the margarita is one of my all time favourite reads. A stunning book. I went to Bulgakov's flat in moscow (same address as the flat in the book), with Ambrose and the stairway is grafittied with scenes and characters from the book in the most fantastic way. Afterwards we had beer at the patriach's pond. I think this is the only time I have done a 'literary pilgrimage'.

Viktor Pelevin's The clay machine gun is the nearest modern equivalent and also a great book.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 04:07 (twenty years ago)

agreed in both points ed. i think i'll read the rest of the bulgakov stuff that i havent so far, starting...tomorrow

― charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 06:39 (twenty years ago)

New Pelevin has been out in russia for quite a while but is not due to be published in translation till early next year. I should learn Russian.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 07:23 (twenty years ago)

all i've read on pelevin is Omon Ra and A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia. any recommendations on what I should hit up next?

― Fetchboy (Felcher), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 13:56 (twenty years ago)

clay machine gun

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 13:59 (twenty years ago)

I'm pretty sure Day of the Turbins is just a Stalinist-censored version of the White Guard. Apparently Stalin really liked the censored play and that's the only reason Bulgakov didn't get offed like so many of his talented, dangerous peers.

The Days of the Turbins was comissioned by the Moscow Art Theater the same year that The White Guard came out. Here are some photos of the sets: http://max.mmlc.northwestern.edu/~mdenner/drama/plays/turbins/1turbins.html

It was not initially censored (unlike almost every play he subsequently wrote) but it was well liked by Stalin. From 1927 on he was heavily criticised by the Bolsheviks. In 1930, he wrote his famous letter to Stalin who got him work at the Theater of the Working Youth and the MAT as an assistant director. Also famously, he didn't get along well with Stanislavsky.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

I just checked out The Master & Margarita! This will be my second attempt to read it, the first time I was reading it on the commute and while very funny, not a good crosstown bus book, too many details to absorb.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

Anyone here from Russia or know any Russians? The reason I'm askin gis that the only one I've talked to about Pelevin quickly got on his back feet and exclaimed that Pelevin was a "pathetic bore that only self-important gothy teenagers take seriously" or something to that effect, and I'm wondering that's the common view over there.
To be honest I rather quickly lost interest in "Generation P", but have been meaning to give him another shot somewhere down the road.

Err, so Bulgakov then, I really enjoyed reading "Master and Margarita" a couple of years ago, I don't know how good the Norwegian translation might actually be, but it had me laughing out loud and getting all starry-eyed throughout, so 'twas good enough for me. I undoubtedly missed out on a lot though, so I'm looking forward to returning to it in the near future. Few books have given me so many memories of its world, so I can definitely understand why so many are enamoured with it now.
"The fateful eggs" I frankly can't recall at ALL anymore, for whatever reason, while "Heart of a dog" was an excellent little bit of darkness.

Anyways, "Master and Margarita" enthusiasts may want to check out this webpage for maps, analysis and all sorts of funbunnery. I think I'll spend some time on it once I get around to rereading the book, to get more of an understanding - particularly of the religious facets.

― Øystein (Øystein), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 14:35 (twenty years ago)

Who says true love doesn't exist? Cut out his lying tongue!

Who says true love doesn't exist? Cut out the vile liar's tongue!

That is a paraphrased translation difference what I remember. I think it's like Ticket To Ride. I heard the Carpenters' version first, so when I heard The Beatles' I didn't think it was as good. You come across a different translation, it jars. But that doesn't mean one or the other is definitive.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 15:21 (twenty years ago)

Has anyone read the Pevear translation of Master and Margarita?

I only had time to compare the first pages (vs. Burgin/O'Connor), but the Pevear seemed a little more florid and stylish. I wasn't sure that would be a good thing (or true to Bulgakov's original), so I went with ILE's favored translation.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Thursday, 5 May 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

I finished The Master And Margarita a couple of weeks ago - fantastic. Also, the funeral telegram is one of the funniest lines I have ever read.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 15 November 2006 17:19 (nineteen years ago)

i was assigned 'heart of a dog' for a soviet history course, which gave it some wonderful context.

― derrick (derrick), Thursday, 16 November 2006 09:39 (nineteen years ago)

the master and margarita is one of my favourite books veer.

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 16 November 2006 09:43 (nineteen years ago)

ever

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 16 November 2006 09:43 (nineteen years ago)

ah this reminds me: need to read more... serious books. :-( i keep reading popcorn.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Thursday, 16 November 2006 09:49 (nineteen years ago)

bulgakov is far from serious!

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 16 November 2006 09:52 (nineteen years ago)

i know! i mean, devil wears prada is hardly *Literature*, right? :-)

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Thursday, 16 November 2006 10:00 (nineteen years ago)

I saw Patriarch's Ponds! Not terribly impressive, and no streetcar nowadays, but here it is:

http://photos-170.ak.facebook.com/ip006/v36/148/47/3900255/n3900255_30313170_7927.jpg

― Maria (Maria), Thursday, 16 November 2006 15:25 (nineteen years ago)

read m&m years ago and loved - i will try more!

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 16 November 2006 15:28 (nineteen years ago)

That looks lovely Maria.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 16 November 2006 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

I'm doing an essay on Master and Margarita this weekend. Good way to sap all the enjoyment

― stet (stet), Thursday, 16 November 2006 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

The Lex has heard of Bulgakov but has not heard Talking Heads = yay!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 November 2006 15:33 (nineteen years ago)

what is your essay on?

― Maria (Maria), Thursday, 16 November 2006 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

Russian TV actually made a serial of the Master and Margarita last year. And it's pretty good, though in Russian, obviously. Details here

― scotstvo (scotstvo), Thursday, 16 November 2006 16:04 (nineteen years ago)

I was actually just talking about the Master and Margarita film adaptations the other day, and how it might be fun to watch it in Russian, although my understanding of the language is non-existent. Apparently, there's a 61 minute Yugoslavian version that has been dubbed into Russian from 1972. That's probably the one I could handle.

― molly d (mollyd), Thursday, 16 November 2006 16:55 (nineteen years ago)

Oh I will email this to my Russian (and Israeli AND Belgian AND Jewish) friend. :-D She can go on and on about Russian Literature. :-)

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Thursday, 16 November 2006 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

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