'Мастер и Маргарита' - полифоничный роман Михаила Афанасьевича Булгакова, русский писатель и драматург (1891—1940), называемый иногда фантастическим.

" ... И плавится лед в вазочке, и глядят от соседнего стола чьи-то налитые кровью глаза, и страшно, страшно ... О боги! Яду мне, яду! ..."

" ... And the ice is melting in the bowl, and at the next table you see someone's bloodshot, bovine eyes, and you're afraid, afraid . . . Oh, gods, my gods, poison, bring me poison! ..."

Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov's complex satirical and phantasmagorical short stories, novels and dramas are psychological exposés, dealing with the correlation of humanity and power in the (former) Soviet societal reality. A prime example is Bulgakov's faustian novel, 'The Master and Margarita', my favourite work in Russian literature.

Its 32 chapters read almost like individual short stories in and of themselves. No other writer has ever camouflaged acerbic political satire in such a luxurious cloak of fantasy. Three dense layers of narrative are masterfully interwoven so that you literally get 'three plots for the price of one'.

I count this book as one of the greatest and most relevant novels of the 20th century.

Having read different translations (my Russian is not as good as would allow me to read the original text), I prefer and recommend the one by Diana Burgin & Katherine Tiernan O'Connor which provides interpretive footnotes.

Ana Elsner

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