The Master and Margarita

The Master and Margarita ({{lang-ru|?????? ? ?????????}}) is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov. Many people consider the book as one of the greatest Russian novels of the 20th century - and also the most humorous.

History

Bulgakov started writing his most famous and critically acclaimed novel in 1928.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first version of the novel was destroyed (actually, burned in a stove, according to Bulgakov) in March 1930 when he was notified that his piece Cabal of Sanctimonious Hypocrites (?????? ??????) was banned. The work was restarted in 1931 and the second draft was completed 1936 in the form that has all plot lines of the final version. The third draft was finished in 1937, and Bulgakov continued polishing it with the aid of his wife, but he had to break the work with the fourth version four weeks before his death in 1940. The work was finished by his wife during 1940-1941.

Related Topics:
1936 - 1940

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A censored version (12% of the text removed and still more changed) of the book was first published in Moscow magazine (no. 11, 1966 and no. 1, 1967). Samizdat printed the text of all omitted and changed places with indications of the places of modification. In 1967 the publisher Posev Frankfurt printed a version produced with the aid of these inserts.

Related Topics:
Moscow - 1966 - 1967 - Samizdat - Posev - Frankfurt

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Russia, the first complete version was published by Khudozhestvennaya Literatura publisher in 1973, based on the version of the beginning of 1940 proofread by the publisher. It was the canonical edtion until 1989, when the last version was prepared by literature expert L.Yanovskaya based on all available manuscripts.

Related Topics:
Khudozhestvennaya Literatura - 1973

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~