Tag Archives: Master and Margarita
Sympathy for the Devil (or: A Look at Bulgakov’s Word Choices) Posted by Rob on Apr 9, 2013
During the recent Easter season, I found myself dipping into certain chapters from Bulgakov’s «Мастер и Маргарита» — after all, the master’s novel-within-a-novel retelling of key events from Страсти Христовы (“The Passion”) is quite central to the story . And, in fact, Bulgakov’s masterpiece was originally conceived as a short sketch in which the Devil…
Reading “Мастер и Маргарита”: Chapter 19 Posted by yelena on Nov 25, 2010
For those of the blog readers who’ve taken up our challenge to read «Мастер и Маргарита» [Master and Margarita] «по-русски» [in Russian], congratulations! We are now officially done with «часть первая» [part one] of the novel and are moving on into a very exciting «часть вторая» [part two]. It is only here, in Chapter 19…
Reading “Мастер и Маргарита”: Chapter 18 Posted by yelena on Nov 15, 2010
How much do I love bookstores? So much that I am ready to fly to Moscow for just one day to browse through books at “Библио-Глобус” (one of the largest bookstores in Moscow). While I’m saving up for the transatlantic flight, I shop online and, when possible, on Brighton Beach (Brooklyn, NY). That’s where I…
Reading “Мастер и Маргарита”: Chapter 17 Posted by yelena on Nov 5, 2010
Did you enjoy reading Chapter 17 of Bulgakov’s “Master and Margarita”? «Лично» [personally], I love all of it, from the sniffing dog «Тузбубен» whose «кличка» [name] literally means Ace of Diamonds to the empty suit, «ведущий дела» [conducting business] to the hapless and unwilling «хор» [choir]. But what I love even more is the…
Reading “Мастер и Маргарита”: Chapter 16 Posted by yelena on Oct 25, 2010
Through the first 15 chapters of Master and Margarita I hoped that it’d be Josefina’s turn once we get to «Казнь» [Execution]. But now that she’s «отошла от дел» [withdraw from business], it falls to me to write about Chapter 16 of the Bulgakov’s novel… Personally, I find it hard to write about the chapters…
Reading “Мастер и Маргарита”: Chapter 15 Posted by yelena on Oct 1, 2010
Remember Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoi (literal translation of his last name is “Shoeless”) who briefly appears in Chapter 9? In the beginning of that chapter he strikes a not-very-clear-cut deal with «коварный» [treacherous] Koroviev and at the end is led away by two nameless, but sinister «товарищи» [comrades]. And that was, seemingly, the end of…
Reading “Мастер и Маргарита”: Chapter 14 Posted by yelena on Sep 17, 2010
It looks like we haven’t talked about Master and Margarita for a while. «Приступим к четырнадцатой главе» [Let’s get to Chapter 14] . It is intense and sinister, don’t you think? Yet there are also quite a few «юмористические моменты» [comical episodes] that can make even the most serious reader smile. Here also we encounter…