The Master and Margarita

In an interview on Azerbaijan

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. This is my favourite book!

Then you know that Bulgakov is a genius. Bulgakov is the genius of the 20th century. The Master and Margarita is the most mystical and mysterious way of describing the primitive and base sort of simplification of society under the Soviets. Literature and art and society lost its centre because it all became politicised, and the way Bulgakov describes that ugliness is incredible, and hilarious. It is about two characters: the Master is a writer who is writing his piece but never succeeds in getting it published and I think he represents the real artists of the period, and even maybe of all time. Margarita is a symbol of hope and of love, cherishing him and trying to give life to his work. She is a confused but strong character, with more spirit and quality than the Soviet woman should probably have; she is a woman in search for pure love, who finds it in the Master. The book is also about the connection between religion and the regime. Satan, a foreign journalist, comes to Moscow and is symbolic of the Soviets’ fear of the west. He goes around meeting people and his view on the whole Soviet society at that time makes him a rather attractive character. You also see the story of Christ from Satan’s point of view, which is amazing. We know the story of Jesus, but here we see the story from a different perspective, not so much from a Christian perspective. We also see the human story inside Yeshua – his meeting with Pontius Pilate. I think the Jesus story, which seems to run so naturally along with the Moscow story, is Bulgakov bringing lost spirituality back into the Soviet regime, providing the missing ingredient in the lives of the Soviet readers in a human way.