Mikhail Bulgakov · 1967 · Magical realism · Satire · Faustian fable
The Master and Margarita
The devil comes to Moscow, a novelist burns his book, and a woman flies to get it back.
16 guided chapters · ~15 hours of reading
What it’s really about
On its surface, The Master and Margarita is three books braided together: a satire in which Satan and his retinue visit Stalin's Moscow and expose its greed and cowardice; a love story between a broken writer and the woman who refuses to give him up; and a grave, luminous retelling of the trial and execution of Yeshua Ha-Nozri as seen by Pontius Pilate. Underneath, it is about what survives: manuscripts, love, guilt, and the possibility of mercy in a world built to exclude it. It is also one of the funniest serious novels ever written.
- Cowardice and courage
- Art and censorship
- Good, evil, and mercy
- Love that refuses to yield
- Satire of Soviet life
From the Foreword
Before page one, a short orientation: the world, the writer, and how to read this particular book. Cross the threshold when you are ready.
- The world you're entering
- The author's moment
- Themes to carry
- How to read this one
Who it’s for
For readers who love Kafka and Gogol, anyone drawn to magical realism with teeth, fans of Faust in any of its forms, and readers who want a novel that is at once a comedy, a romance, and a meditation on conscience. If you like your satire with a talking cat and your theology with a migraine, this one is for you.