The Master and Margarita

The famous writer in irritation remarked: “Now that the youth reads only one book ...” He had in mind the "master and Margarita" - and, in general, not without some reason. Since the first publication (1966-1967), to this day, the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov has invariably heads Russian ratings of reader popularity. The story of how Satan and his retinue at the Easter week visited the prewar Moscow, associated with a description of the events of two thousand years ago in the biblical Yershalaim, became for several generations of young people and the textbook of Soviet history, and the Gospel of Bulgakov. At the same time, for many readers, the image of the master merged with a portrait of Mikhail Afanasevich himself, who in 1930, “personally, with his own hands, threw a draft of the novel about the devil into the stove.” Soon it turned out that the manuscripts were not burning, and the prophecy of Woland ("Your romance would bring you any more surprises") came true.

The accompanying article by Marietta Chudakova

Marietta Omarovna Chudakova - Russian literary critic, historian, doctor of philological sciences, critic, writer, public figure. Since 1985 - professor of the Literary Institute, teaches Russian literature in many foreign universities. Chairman of the Bulgakovsky Fund. The author of more than 200 scientific papers, the most famous of which are the "Biography of Mikhail Bulgakov" and "Mastery of Yuri Olesha". The author of popular books for children "Yegor" (about Yegor Gaidar) and the "affairs and horrors of Zhenya Osinkina"