I wonder how much of M&M's popularity was due to the Rolling Stones song Sympathy For The Devil based on the book written by Jagger alone who also called the book a favorite. The book may have caught a zeitgeist moment in pop culture which was very active in late 60s and 70s.
Absolutely one of the very best 'visitors' you have ever had!! please get out your respective calendars now and set a date and perhaps a book? Wow, I let my entire fresh cup of coffee get cold! Thank you Steve and Thank you Zac !!
Oh how nice. Thanks Zach. I have a copy of M&M is on my end table, in the to read pile, a foot and a half from my elbow. My friend gifted me it a while back and now after Zach’s presentation the read will be even better.(Also there’s a video out there of an interview with Patti Smith where she says The Master and Margarita was a very favorite book of hers. I take that as a worthy recommend ‘cause, well,it’s Patti Smith)
I just read this for the first time - the Penguin Black classic version which is translated by Pevear and Volkhonsky. I wanted to check out other translations because the book didn't wow me quite as much as I expected it to, so I picked up the Ginsburg and the Burgin / O'Connor translations that Zac held up during the convo. I was not aware one was censored. It would be interesting to highlight out the censored portions, but I guess that would involve a full re-read of 2 of them side by side... The Russian language version Zac has is gorgeous.
Thank you both for this. I too love this book. My favorite translation so far is the Mirra Ginsburg (albeit censored text) but I will plan for Burgin/OConnor next.
Nice work, but I think you spent more time talking about various editions and translations, censored or uncensored, than what is really interesting about the book. However, more about Bulgakov's attitude toward censorship later. I had a copy of a hand paperback years ago, and I think I bought it new. Finally, I got around to reading it. I got maybe fifty pages into it and I realised there were a half dozen pages missing. So I stopped reading it and never have gone back. But I have read several works by Bulgakov. I liked his Life of Moliere. It was written in the 20's and didn't shy away from discussing the question of whether Moliere{s wife was also his daughter. He thought she was, if I remember correctly. I also read a couple of his plays including Days of the Turbins and Rita's Apartment. I wanted to read his play Purple Island but I did not until a couple years ago when I came across a French version of it that I translated myself. Purple Island is about a Theatre Director looking for a new play to put on, who settles on a new script that employs some of Jules Verne's characters who wind up on a tropical island where a revolution takes place. This play is written by a writer who styles himself Jules Verne, and he is happy his play is being produced because he's been almost literally been starving. After a tumultuous rehearsal everything is ready to go as soon as the censor arrives to pass it for production. Everybody is aghast when the Censor forbids the play because it is ANTI REVOLUTIONARY ! The Censor is portrayed as a rather kindly old man and not stupid at all. He spots the problem very deftly, and permits a rewrite that solves the problem to the great relief of the cast and author. I thought the play had a lot to say about colonialism and imperialism and a lot of subjects that were bouncing around just as the Pandemic occurred. That said, I'd like to hear more from Zach. In the late 50's and early 60's I used to frequent the Brattle. The store was located near Faneuil Hall. The owner died and his sons took over and the store moved to a location near Filene's on a side street between Park St. and Boylston. After that I lost track of it. Does the same family still own it ?
Bulgakov wroked on different versions of M & M from 1928-1940.the main text completed in 1938 but corrections continued untill months prior to his decease of nephrosclerosis in 1940.His play The Days of the Turbins was a major sensation during his lifetime( a favorite of Stalin's who attended almost every performance and incidentally found him employment later in his career)...his masterpiece HEART OF A DOG was not published untill 1987, 20 years after M&M was published.all publication of his prose ceased in 1927.
Bulgakov is one of Russia's most popular writers...guided tours are conducted of moscow based on his books narrative...the novel is unusual in that it is composed of 2 totally separate unrelated narratives one of which recounts the interview of Jesus with Pilate and subsequent crucifixion ...this narrative is the novel the MASTER is writing in the parallel narrative...a historically accurate detailed gripping summary of the events leading up to and including Christ's death and after
I wonder how much of M&M's popularity was due to the Rolling Stones song Sympathy For The Devil based on the book written by Jagger alone who also called the book a favorite. The book may have caught a zeitgeist moment in pop culture which was very active in late 60s and 70s.
Absolutely one of the very best 'visitors' you have ever had!! please get out your respective calendars now and set a date and perhaps a book? Wow, I let my entire fresh cup of coffee get cold! Thank you Steve and Thank you Zac !!
Great discussion! Love both of your backgrounds combined on screen!!
Oh how excellent! Thank you!
Thanks Zac and Steve...great discussion!
Fantastic video! I loved this discussion of my favorite Russian book!! Thank you!
Oh how nice. Thanks Zach. I have a copy of M&M is on my end table, in the to read pile, a foot and a half from my elbow. My friend gifted me it a while back and now after Zach’s presentation the read will be even better.(Also there’s a video out there of an interview with Patti Smith where she says The Master and Margarita was a very favorite book of hers. I take that as a worthy recommend ‘cause, well,it’s Patti Smith)
It's a horrible novel with no story, no protagonist, with a few pretty sentence. This single most overrated piece of literature discussed today.
Great! Now do the same thing with Zac about Grossman, even if that's not his favorite. 😂
Great discussion!! I love this book
great chat, thanks zach and steve.
I just read this for the first time - the Penguin Black classic version which is translated by Pevear and Volkhonsky. I wanted to check out other translations because the book didn't wow me quite as much as I expected it to, so I picked up the Ginsburg and the Burgin / O'Connor translations that Zac held up during the convo. I was not aware one was censored. It would be interesting to highlight out the censored portions, but I guess that would involve a full re-read of 2 of them side by side... The Russian language version Zac has is gorgeous.
Thank you both for this. I too love this book. My favorite translation so far is the Mirra Ginsburg (albeit censored text) but I will plan for Burgin/OConnor next.
Nice to see Zac again!
I started The Master and Margarita today....my May of the Moderns gesture
I have the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation.
is the 50th annniv. edition uncensored?
Nice work, but I think you spent more time talking about various editions and translations, censored or uncensored, than what is really interesting about the book. However, more about Bulgakov's attitude toward censorship later. I had a copy of a hand paperback years ago, and I think I bought it new. Finally, I got around to reading it. I got maybe fifty pages into it and I realised there were a half dozen pages missing. So I stopped reading it and never have gone back. But I have read several works by Bulgakov. I liked his Life of Moliere. It was written in the 20's and didn't shy away from discussing the question of whether Moliere{s wife was also his daughter. He thought she was, if I remember correctly. I also read a couple of his plays including Days of the Turbins and Rita's Apartment.
I wanted to read his play Purple Island but I did not until a couple years ago when I came across a French version of it that I translated myself. Purple Island is about a Theatre Director looking for a new play to put on, who settles on a new script that employs some of Jules Verne's characters who wind up on a tropical island where a revolution takes place. This play is written by a writer who styles himself Jules Verne, and he is happy his play is being produced because he's been almost literally been starving. After a tumultuous rehearsal everything is ready to go as soon as the censor arrives to pass it for production. Everybody is aghast when the Censor forbids the play because it is ANTI REVOLUTIONARY ! The Censor is portrayed as a rather kindly old man and not stupid at all. He spots the problem very deftly, and permits a rewrite that solves the problem to the great relief of the cast and author. I thought the play had a lot to say about colonialism and imperialism and a lot of subjects that were bouncing around just as the Pandemic occurred.
That said, I'd like to hear more from Zach. In the late 50's and early 60's I used to frequent the Brattle. The store was located near Faneuil Hall. The owner died and his sons took over and the store moved to a location near Filene's on a side street between Park St. and Boylston. After that I lost track of it. Does the same family still own it ?
4:34 according to my book Bulgakov died in 1940 not 1941.
Bulgakov wroked on different versions of M & M from 1928-1940.the main text completed in 1938 but corrections continued untill months prior to his decease of nephrosclerosis in 1940.His play The Days of the Turbins was a major sensation during his lifetime( a favorite of Stalin's who attended almost every performance and incidentally found him employment later in his career)...his masterpiece HEART OF A DOG was not published untill 1987, 20 years after M&M was published.all publication of his prose ceased in 1927.
Bulgakov is one of Russia's most popular writers...guided tours are conducted of moscow based on his books narrative...the novel is unusual in that it is composed of 2 totally separate unrelated narratives one of which recounts the interview of Jesus with Pilate and subsequent crucifixion ...this narrative is the novel the MASTER is writing in the parallel narrative...a historically accurate detailed gripping summary of the events leading up to and including Christ's death and after
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
A Dog's Heart is his masterpiece
see Antonina W Bouis 2011 trans and lively brilliant intro...
Best translation by far is Burgin and O' Connor
FInally! I requested Bulgakov months ago!