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From Publishers Weekly:

This uncensored translation of Bulgakov's posthumously published masterpiece of black magic and black humor restores its sliest digs and sharpest jabs at Stalin's regime, which suppressed it. Writing in a punning, soaring prose thick with contemporary historical references and political irony, Bulgakov (1891-1940) did not make things easy for future translators. The story itself is demanding: the arrival of the Devil and his entourage in Stalin's Moscow frames a Faustian tale of a suppressed writer (the Master) and his devoted lover (his Margarita), set against a realistic narrative?the Master's rejected manuscript?of Pontius Pilate's police state in Jerusalem. An immediate contemporary classic when it was first serialized in Moscow in censored form in 1967-68, the novel suffered in its previous English translations, which were either incomplete or stylistically loose. This new translation, with its accuracy and depth, finally does justice to the politically and verbally outrageous qualities of the original. Careful footnotes explain and contextualize Bulgakov's dense allusions to, and in-jokes about, life under Stalin.

Yes, I will join.

Yes, already reading, totally brilliant, highly recommended. Many have called this the greatest novel of the twentieth century.

The translator of the edition I am reading explains in his introduction that Bulgakov would have been immediately murdered by Stalin if he had tried to publish this book when he wrote it in the 1930s. As we consider growing intolerance and polarisation today, The Master and Margarita provides wry insight into a time when such political conflict was even more intense.

I just got a copy. Looking forward to the discussion

I'm sure this is available for free online too.

I'm too late for this one but if discussing the Russian writer's work was a success, can we do Solzhenitsyn some day? He's my favorite dissenter.

You may still find this discussion worth joining. I am going through one chapter at a time, and will keep going for another few months.

I just joined the site, but I'm going to start reading adn see if I can catch up. This looks like an interesting read, from an interesting author, and at a pivotal time in Russian/Soviet history. If I make it, great, if not, I'll jump on the next train to literary-ville.

Also, thanks Robert for your post on picking that collection of his work. You actually really whetted my appetite to read this with the information you posted about the author!

capricorn152244 wrote:I just joined the site, but I'm going to start reading adn see if I can catch up. This looks like an interesting read, from an interesting author, and at a pivotal time in Russian/Soviet history. If I make it, great, if not, I'll jump on the next train to literary-ville.

Also, thanks Robert for your post on picking that collection of his work. You actually really whetted my appetite to read this with the information you posted about the author!

Hi Capricorn, welcome to Booktalk. Harry and I have been soldiering on with chapter by chapter discussion on this utterly superb Russian novel, with its wry satirical insights into life under Stalin, and would warmly welcome a wider range of views in response.

I just hit half way in my comments, reaching the end of Part One, and will soon start on Part Two. The Master and Margarita is riveting and electric and pivotal, so you should have no problem in catching up.

I'll start this book next week. I'll never catch up with the discussion, but I'll follow the comments chapter by chapter. I found a good pdf here:

google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&am ... K0uxBDfAu4

Click that and you'll have to choose to open the pdf or save it to your hard drive. I saved it so that I can open it when needed. I like this version because it's footnoted. I'll need those notes to help familiarize me with the period and place.