In this timeless allegorical work, Bulgakov presents a striking portrait of Stalin's tyranny.In Moscow, the devil makes a special presentation with other demons, including a naked girl and a gigantic black cat. When he departs, the asylums are crowded and the law enforcement is in disorder. The only people who can fend off the devil's assault are the Master, a man committed to the truth, and Margarita, the woman he loves.On three summer evenings in 1971, I first read Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita on the balcony of the Hotel Metropole in Saigon. The aromas of cordite, motorbike exhaust, decaying fish, and wood-burning stoves filled the humid air, and the horizon flashed ambiguously, perhaps from heat lightning or possibly from explosives. As was my habit, I would venture out into the city's sweltering back alleys later each night, where nobody ever seemed to sleep, and huddle in doorways with the locals to listen to tales of their cultures, ancestors, and current lives. Bulgakov helped me understand something in those tales that I had not previously understood.
advertisement