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Tag Archives: Master & Margarita

Reading “Мастер и Маргарита”: Chapter 17 Posted by 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…

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Reading “Мастер и Маргарита”: Chapter 15 Posted by 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…

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Reading “Мастер и Маргарита”: Chapter 14 Posted by 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…

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Reading «Мастер и Маргарита»: Chapter 13 Posted by on Sep 6, 2010

This is mimosa, one of the first flowers that appear at Russian markets in late winter and early spring. There’s much discussion whether the flowers Margarita carried the day she met Master were indeed «мимозы» [mimosa flowers]. After all, Bulgakov never named them, not in Chapter 13 anyway. He only described them as «отвратительные, тревожные…

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Tea-kettles, Dummies and Dumplings Posted by on Aug 13, 2010

«Честно признаться» [to be honest], I don’t have a favorite birthday cake or pie. Instead, I prefer «вареники» [dumplings] to any «выпечка» [baked goods] and not just any dumplings, but only «вишнёвые вареники» [cherry-filled dumplings]! After all, there are so many different fillings for «вареники» – with «творог» [farmer’s cheese], «печёнка» [liver], «капуста» [cabbage], «яблоки»…

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Reading «Мастер и Маргарита»: Chapter 8 Posted by on Jul 26, 2010

«Давайте принесём Булгакова на пляж!» [Let’s bring Bulgakov to the beach!] Russians – like most people that live in geographical regions where the longest season of the year is «зима» [winter] – can’t afford «пренебрегать летом: солнцем и теплом» [impfv. to neglect (also: to scorn; disdain; disregard; ignore) the summer: the sun and the warmth]…

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Reading «Мастер и Маргарита»: Chapter 6 Posted by on Jul 12, 2010

It doesn’t really feel like «лето» [summer] until you’ve spent an entire afternoon doing nothing but the following simultaneously: «лежать в траве» [to lie in the grass], «пить холодное молоко» [to drink cold milk] and «читать Булгакова» [to read Bulgakov]. «Россия» [Russia] is a wonderful country in many, many ways – but during my six…

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