Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita
last week we started the 5 week, 10 part miniseries on Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. The Master and Margarita is one of my (hands down) favorite books of all time. i dare say its a deal breaker. a satire of soviet life, The Master and Margarita features the devil and his retinue, Pontius Pilate, Yeshua Ha-Nozri (Иешуа га-Ноцри, Jesus the Nazarene), and nearly 10-20 other characters all caught up in fantastic and very chaotic adventure. Bulgakov’s portrayal of the Russian literary union, the housing crisis, the collective fear of foreigners, and his fresh portrayal of famous biblical characters is absolutely and hysterically funny. and the best part about this miniseries is that the dialog is word for word taken from the text, and the scenes are so faithful it almost spooky. the characters are brilliant; even in places where we have imagined a different look or attitude, the portrayals are so sincere they win you over nonetheless.
because this series is so faithful to the text, i fear it will be difficult to keep up with if you havent read the book before. a lot of stuff starts happening very quickly. each episode covers about 40 pages, making the reading around 80 pages a week. after much research and discussion ive decided to recommend the Pevear and and Volokhonsky translation from penguin. having read another edition before, and reading this one now, i can honestly say its brilliant, and the notes are often very interesting as well as informative. i know ive said this before, but as someone who worked in the independent book scene for over 5 years, i would like to strongly recommend you pick copies of this book up at Joseph Fox bookstore located on 1724 Sansom Street, Tel: (215) 563-4184. the sell copies of this edition for $12.95. if you would like a used or cheaper copy, i highly recommend Alibris over Amazon.com, they are a coalition of used and new bookstores that directly compete with corporate chains. they have copies of this edition for as low as $4.98. please support our independent bookstores.
if you were unable to make it last week, shoot me an email and ill lend you a copy of the first two episodes, and if you need to miss a day during this series i can provide copies for that as well. Netflix does have this series available, but the wait is very long and unreliable if you want to keep up. as always, food and booze before the show, please come a little early if you can. also, make sure to check the calendar, patrick and i will be away in new orleans on May 6th and no screening will take place that day.
The Master and Margarita
Monday, April 21, 2008
