History of the name Master and Margarita. The history of the creation of the novel “The Master and Margarita”

The work of Mikhail Bulgakov to this day attracts the attention of readers, critics, literary scholars, cultural and artistic figures. A lot has been and will be written about the writer’s “last sunset novel.” There are many meanings, meanings, interpretations of this work. The creation of the novel “The Master and Margarita” is shrouded in mysteries and secrets. This article is devoted to revealing the problems of the work and the history of its origin.

How it all began?

Initially, the novel was conceived by the writer as instructive story about a truth that many people neglect. It was started in 1928. The characters' characters were thought through, their personality traits, Problems. Perhaps there is no other work that would cause as much controversy as “The Master and Margarita”. The content of the novel is very fascinating. It is impossible to start reading a book and leave it halfway through!

The work captivates you literally from the first pages. The reader wants to know as much as possible about what will happen next to the characters. Main actors are Woland, Margarita, Master, the cat Behemoth, Koroviev, Azazello. What is noteworthy is that almost every hero created had its own prototypes in real life. So, for example, in the apartment of Mikhail Afanasyevich himself there lived a black cat whose name was Behemoth. The image of Margarita Nikolaevna, without a doubt, was created from the image of the writer’s third wife, Elena Sergeevna.

Burning the manuscript

Having written the first part of the novel, Mikhail Bulgakov leaves work on it for some time, and then consigns what he has written to the fire. It's unclear what the motive was of this action. Perhaps it was difficult for him to cope with the feelings and emotions raging inside, or he was guided at that moment by higher mystical powers. In any case, the creation story itself is unique. "Master and Margarita" - greatest monument Russian literature, which has no analogues in the entire world culture.

The burning of the manuscript is highly symbolic. In the novel itself, the Master also throws written sheets of notebooks into the fireplace, on which the story of Pontius Pilate and Yeshua is imprinted. Why main character commits such an act, it is difficult to explain. But the reader intuitively understands his actions, sympathizes with his troubles and fear of being misunderstood. Perhaps, once upon a time, Mikhail Bulgakov suddenly decided that his book had no future, and therefore it was not worth creating it. Fortunately, the novel still remains one of the most attractive and interesting in the whole world.

Meaning of the name

The most interesting thing, perhaps, is that the title for the work took quite a long time to select. The author considered different variants, but none of them could satisfy his writing taste and fully reflect the essence of the novel. This is the unique feature of the creation story. “The Master and Margarita” is the final version, the result to which Mikhail Afanasyevich comes. What other titles existed before the final choice? Here are some of them: “About the Devil and Christ”, “Engineer with a Hoof”, “Black Magician”, “Great Chancellor”.

The novel “The Master and Margarita” is very multifaceted. The theme of this work touches on issues of creativity and human freedom, love as a huge all-encompassing force, before which even the dark principle retreats. Before the main characters appeared in the novel, the manuscript underwent significant changes several times. Its transformation consisted of the introduction of additional characters, shifting the emphasis from one idea to another. Several “undercurrents” can be traced in the text itself; it is ambiguous and mysterious. Some readers and even specialists in the field of literary criticism noted that several times they tried in vain to determine main meaning works, but became more and more confused with each new reading.

Problems of the novel

"The Master and Margarita" is an ambiguous and exciting work. Each reader, without a doubt, will be able to discern something of his own in it and will come into contact with immeasurable depth and bright originality. The main themes of the novel, which require thoughtful participation, are the themes of freedom and human destiny, creativity as a necessary activity, love as the highest self-sufficient force that can overcome everything in its path.

Freedom is considered by the author as a value for which life can be given. At the same time, independence in itself is worth little; in the writer’s opinion, it must be connected to some kind of highest goal or aspiration, otherwise a person will become selfish. A writer needs freedom, because only by being a free person can he create something new, create. The purpose of the individual is closely connected with freedom, with the ability to remain self-sufficient and purposeful in any circumstances.

Love is viewed in the novel from two sides: the strong attraction between two mature individuals and the feelings of a Christian. In the first case, maintaining love often requires self-sacrifice, the ability to take into account the needs of your beloved. Margarita is not afraid of her own death, she is not afraid of any obstacles if only they help her meet her loved one. In the second case, there is creative love, addressed to the very essence human nature, to all people on the planet. It is this kind of love that Yeshua speaks of and for the sake of it he goes to the crucifixion.

The problems of the novel “The Master and Margarita” are intertwined and form a semantic unity, which forms the basis of the work. The writer identifies issues of existence and the meaning of life that are important for people to pay attention to.

Main characters

The image of the Master and Margarita is central to the novel. Each of the characters is interesting in its own way; the main characters cannot leave anyone indifferent. The moment of their first meeting immediately shows that both are extremely unhappy and lonely. Margarita suffered from an unbearable emptiness that she could not fill with anything. And he talks about it married woman, which, it would seem, should be happy with everything. Master, creative person, was not completely satisfied with his life, despite the fact that he was in the process of creating literary work. These facts prove that no one can be absolutely happy without the presence of a loved one in their life.

Margarita makes a deal with the devil in the name of saving the Master. At the ball, she doesn’t show her fatigue to anyone, although she herself can barely hold on and her strength is clearly running out. The image of the Master and Margarita in the work demonstrates that the ability to be close to a loved one determines the subjective feeling of happiness.

Criticism and rejection of society

Special adherents could rewrite the entire work by hand and then zealously kept the forbidden manuscript. There was an opinion among critics that the novel was anti-Soviet. Perhaps the USSR saw in it some kind of threat to the education of the younger generation, so it is not surprising that the novel “The Master and Margarita” was subjected to such great persecution. Reviews of the book created the illusion in society that it was not necessary to read.

Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova

In fact, the fact that the novel survived during the harsh Stalinist times is entirely the merit of the writer’s third wife. She is the one loving woman, managed to protect her husband’s creation from all sorts of attacks and complete destruction. Elena Sergeevna protected the unprinted manuscript, like a baby whose turn had not yet come to be born. Only she owes the novel its release into society, which happened many years after it was written. During the writer’s lifetime, it was not completed, so it was his faithful wife who was responsible for editing and finalizing the almost finished text.

Without a doubt, an attentive reader will see her many-sided image embodied on the pages of the novel. Margarita is endowed with the traits of Elena Sergeevna: passionate, stubborn, bright personality, individuality. Their personal story relationship with Mikhail Afanasyevich is very similar to the acquaintance of the heroes of the work. The novel “The Master and Margarita” became a real hard-won miracle. Reviews about him were very different, but no one remained indifferent.

There is no punishment for love!

To people of high moral principles, the connection between married Margarita and the Master may seem sinful and wrong. However, we see that the main idea of ​​the novel is the statement that true love is freedom. Before this sublime feeling, for which a loving woman sacrificed everything, even Woland, the demonic prince of darkness, retreats, thereby recognizing the triumph true love above oneself.

Instead of a conclusion

The novel has its own unique creation story. "The Master and Margarita" - very difficult work, which has many additional implications. Different researchers in the field of literature interpret the novel in different ways, and this is natural, because everyone has an individual vision of life and their own ideas about how the world works.

Now you know what this work is about, what the history of its creation was. “The Master and Margarita” is one of those novels that are never forgotten!

"Master and Margarita".

"Master and Margarita" - best work Bulgakov. “When he was dying, he spoke,” recalled Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova. “Maybe this is right... WHAT could I write after “The Master”?”

The genre of M. Bulgakov's novel does not fit into the usual schemes. This and everyday novel, and a fantastic story, and a lyrical confession, and a satirical canvas, and a philosophical thing.

The history of the creation of the “sunset novel”. Bulgakov himself attributed the idea of ​​“The Master and Margarita” and the beginning of work on the novel to 1928. Not all materials related to “The Master and Margarita” have reached us: it is known that in 1930 Bulgakov destroyed the first two editions of his work, he wrote about this in his famous “letter to the government.”
All that is known about the first edition is that it was completed in the spring of 1929, consisted of 15 chapters and occupied 160 pages of handwritten text. The author went through several titles for his work: “Woland’s Tour”, “The Black Magician”, “The Engineer’s Hoof”, but did not settle on any one.

In the first editions there is no clear compositional juxtaposition of two novels (ancient and modern), which constitutes characteristic feature final version works. Written by a master ancient novel, actually, no, just “ strange foreigner" says on Patriarch's Ponds Berlioz and Bezrodny (the future Bezdomny) about Yeshua Ha-Nozri, and all the ancient material is presented in one chapter (“The Gospel of Judas”). There are also no future main characters whose names the book itself will be named - the Master and Margarita. For now, this is a novel about the devil, and Bulgakov is completely traditional in his interpretation of the image of Satan: his Woland plays the classic role of a tempter and provocateur of the souls of sinners.

In 1931, the concept of the work changed significantly and deepened - Margarita and her companion appeared, who would later be called the master and occupy central place. But for now this place still belongs to Woland and the novel is called “Consultant with a Hoof.” The writer is working on one of the last chapters (“Woland’s Flight”) and in the upper right corner of the sheet with the outline of this chapter writes: “Help, Lord, finish the novel.”
The first complete edition of the novel began in the fall of 1932; by November 1933, 506 pages of handwritten text had been written, divided into 37 chapters. By the end of 1934, this edition was roughly completed. By this time the word “master” had already been used three times in last chapters in an address to the hero of Woland, Koroviev and Azazello.

Over the next two years, Bulgakov made numerous additions and compositional changes to the manuscript.

Finally, in November 1937, the last complete edition of the work began, which for the first time received its final name: “In the evening, Mikhail Afanasyevich worked on the novel “The Master and Margarita,” E. S. Bulgakova wrote on November 12, 1937 in her diary. This edition takes up six thick notebooks; The text is divided into 30 chapters.

From May 27 to June 24, 1938, O. S. Bokshanskaya, under the dictation of the author, reprinted this edition of “The Master and Margarita” on a typewriter, and during the printing process, Bulgakov made numerous corrections to the text. Further, on September 19, 1938, copyright edits of the typescript began, which did not stop almost until Bulgakov’s death.
February 13, 1940 M.A. Bulgakov last time I was working on a “sunset novel.”

The last thoughts of the dying Bulgakov were turned to this work, which contained all of his creative life: “When at the end of his illness he almost lost his speech, sometimes only the ends or beginnings of words came out,” recalled Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova. – There was a case when I was sitting next to him, as always, on a pillow on the floor, near the head of the bed, he made me understand that he needed something, that he wanted something from me. I offered him medicine, a drink - lemon juice, but I clearly understood that this was not the point. Then I guessed and asked: “Your things?” He nodded in a way that said “yes” and “no.” I said: “The Master and Margarita”? He, terribly delighted, made a sign with his head that “yes, this is it.” And he squeezed out two words; “So that they know, so that they know.”

Introduction

The novel The Master and Margarita is known all over the world. Movies and TV series have been created based on its plot, and many cinemas consider it an honor to stage performances based on this amazing book.
The history of the creation of “The Master and Margarita” by Bulgakov is full of difficulties and experiences. This work is the writer’s crowning glory, his swan song and “sunset” novel, perhaps that’s why Mikhail Bulgakov gave him all the power of his talent, skill and imagination.

The idea of ​​the creation of the work

Now it is no longer known exactly when the idea of ​​the work and its images were born. It is known that the writer was very fond of Goethe’s Faust; in one of the first versions of the novel, he called the master Faust. Perhaps it is a work of genius German poet gave the first sprouts of ideas for no less brilliant novel Bulgakov.

In the history of writing “The Master and Margarita” there are many “blank spots”. There is evidence that brief rough notes were made by Mikhail Bulgakov back in 1928-1929. But in the first novel, all 160 pages of the manuscript were devoted to the story of Christ and the procurator and Woland’s sparkling stay in Moscow with his unusual tours and revelations of the greedy public. There was no place here for the master and Margarita, although it was thanks to them that the novel became so diverse and humane.

Among the options for the title of the work were “The Engineer’s Hoof” and “Woland’s Tour”, “Prince of Darkness” and “Black Magician”, but shortly before his death, in 1937, Bulgakov named his immortal work"Master and Margarita". Editing the written chapters of the novel will last as long as the writer’s heart beats. Then the work will be continued by his wife. During the writer's lifetime, his greatest work will neither be completed nor published.

"Manuscripts don't burn"

The spring of 1930 was a turning point for the writer and his work. In a fit of dissatisfaction with his work and under public pressure, Bulgakov burned the first version of the novel. Later, in a work already written, the desperate master will also burn his manuscript: “I took it out of the desk drawer heavy lists novels and rough notebooks and began to burn them.” The master will be stopped by the arrival of Margarita, and the manuscript of the novel will later be brought back to life by Woland, uttering the phrase that has become an aphorism - “Manuscripts do not burn”!

Two years later, having found the surviving parts, Mikhail Bulgakov will begin to create his novel again. In his letters to a friend, he will write that “he himself does not know why he is doing this.”

In 1940, the writer was severely debilitated by illness. Not having the strength to get up, he dictated amendments to the novel to his wife, who, like Margarita, was completely absorbed in working on last work husband

After the death of the writer, his widow Elena Sergeevna will edit the novel for about two decades and make attempts to publish it. The story of the master and Margarita will become for her the last will of her husband, and the meaning of her life.

The fate of the novel

Having invested a lot of effort into editing the novel, Elena Sergeevna could not find a place for it in publishing houses. She was refused, sent to other offices and to higher authorities, “for fear of making a decision about printing alone.”

One publishing house answered her with the laconic phrase “Not the time.” Indeed, the novel was very progressive for its prim and too traditional time.
Only almost three decades after Bulgakov’s death, the novel would be accepted for publication and published by the Moscow magazine. This will happen in 1967-1968, but the version will be edited and greatly shortened. Many of Woland’s monologues, as well as the description of the devil’s ball and Margarita, will be cut out.

First original version The novel will be published by the Posev publishing house without censorship restrictions. This will happen in 1969 in Germany, and Soviet Union learns about the fate of the master and Margarita in 1973, thanks to permission from the authorities to publish previously prohibited works.

"The Master and Margarita" today

The history of the creation of the novel “The Master and Margarita” is interesting, as is the novel itself. Despite persecution by the authorities, disappointment and illness of the writer, the novel was published and read. This work is now included in the lists school programs, is studied by literary schools. There really is a special, subtle subtext hidden in it. Here irony and satire are intertwined with tragedy, biblical stories with everyday details, eternal suffering with the same eternal, immortal love. The novel is not unambiguous, which is reinforced by its special “Stories within History” structure: the events take place both in the ancient biblical ancestor of Jerusalem and in modern Moscow. One thing remains unchanged, the spiritual values ​​glorified by the author: love and mercy, the arch of the spirit and forgiveness. And as long as they live in people, the novel will live, and with it the memory of genius writer.

Work test

The work of Mikhail Bulgakov to this day attracts the attention of readers, critics, literary scholars, cultural and artistic figures. A lot has been and will be written about the writer’s “last sunset novel.” There are many meanings, meanings, and interpretations of this work. The creation of the novel “The Master and Margarita” is shrouded in mysteries and secrets. This article is devoted to revealing the problems of the work and the history of its origin.

How it all began?

Initially, the novel was conceived by the writer as an instructive story about a truth that many people neglect. It was started in 1928. The characters' characters, their individual traits, and problems were thought through. Perhaps there is no other work that would cause as much controversy as “The Master and Margarita”. The content of the novel is very fascinating. It is impossible to start reading a book and leave it halfway through!

The work captivates you literally from the first pages. The reader wants to know as much as possible about what will happen next to the characters. The main characters are Woland, Margarita, the Master, the cat Behemoth, Koroviev, Azazello. What is noteworthy is that almost every hero created had its own prototypes in real life. So, for example, in the apartment of Mikhail Afanasyevich himself there lived a black cat whose name was Behemoth. The image of Margarita Nikolaevna, without a doubt, was created from the image of the writer’s third wife, Elena Sergeevna.

Burning the manuscript

Having written the first part of the novel, Mikhail Bulgakov leaves work on it for some time, and then consigns what he has written to the fire. It is unclear what motivated this action. Perhaps it was difficult for him to cope with the feelings and emotions raging inside, or he was guided at that moment by higher mystical forces. In any case, the creation story itself is unique. “The Master and Margarita” is the greatest monument of Russian literature, which has no analogues in the entire world culture.

The burning of the manuscript is highly symbolic. In the novel itself, the Master also throws written sheets of notebooks into the fireplace, on which the story of Pontius Pilate and Yeshua is imprinted. Why the main character commits such an act is difficult to explain. But the reader intuitively understands his actions, sympathizes with his troubles and fear of being misunderstood. Perhaps, once upon a time, Mikhail Bulgakov suddenly decided that his book had no future, and therefore it was not worth creating it. Fortunately, the novel still remains one of the most attractive and interesting in the whole world.

Meaning of the name

The most interesting thing, perhaps, is that the title for the work took quite a long time to select. The author considered different options, but none of them could satisfy his writing taste and fully reflect the essence of the novel. This is the unique feature of the creation story. “The Master and Margarita” is the final version, the result to which Mikhail Afanasyevich comes. What other titles existed before the final choice? Here are some of them: “About the Devil and Christ”, “Engineer with a Hoof”, “Black Magician”, “Great Chancellor”.

The novel “The Master and Margarita” is very multifaceted. The theme of this work touches on issues of creativity and human freedom, love as a huge all-encompassing force, before which even the dark principle retreats. Before the main characters appeared in the novel, the manuscript underwent significant changes several times. Its transformation consisted of the introduction of additional characters, shifting the emphasis from one idea to another. Several “undercurrents” can be traced in the text itself; it is ambiguous and mysterious. Some readers and even specialists in the field of literary criticism noted that they tried in vain several times to determine the main meaning of the work, but became more and more confused with each new reading.

Problems of the novel

"The Master and Margarita" is an ambiguous and exciting work. Each reader, without a doubt, will be able to discern something of his own in it and will come into contact with immeasurable depth and bright originality. The main themes of the novel, which require thoughtful participation, are the themes of freedom and human destiny, creativity as a necessary activity, love as the highest self-sufficient force that can overcome everything in its path.

Freedom is considered by the author as a value for which life can be given. At the same time, independence in itself is worth little; according to the writer, it must be connected to some higher goal or aspiration, otherwise a person will become selfish. A writer needs freedom, because only by being a free person can he create something new, create. The purpose of the individual is closely connected with freedom, with the ability to remain self-sufficient and purposeful in any circumstances.

Love is viewed in the novel from two sides: the strong attraction between two mature individuals and the feelings of a Christian. In the first case, maintaining love often requires self-sacrifice, the ability to take into account the needs of your beloved. Margarita is not afraid of her own death, she is not afraid of any obstacles if only they help her meet her loved one. In the second case, there is creative love, addressed to the very essence of human nature, to all people on the planet. It is this kind of love that Yeshua speaks of and for the sake of it he goes to the crucifixion.

The problems of the novel “The Master and Margarita” are intertwined and form a semantic unity, which forms the basis of the work. The writer identifies issues of existence and the meaning of life that are important for people to pay attention to.

Main characters

The image of the Master and Margarita is central to the novel. Each of the characters is interesting in its own way; the main characters cannot leave anyone indifferent. The moment of their first meeting immediately shows that both are extremely unhappy and lonely. Margarita suffered from an unbearable emptiness that she could not fill with anything. And this is said by a married woman, who, it would seem, should be happy with everything. The master, a creative person, was not completely satisfied with his life, despite the fact that he was in the process of creating a literary work. These facts prove that no one can be absolutely happy without the presence of a loved one in their life.

Margarita makes a deal with the devil in the name of saving the Master. At the ball, she doesn’t show her fatigue to anyone, although she herself can barely hold on and her strength is clearly running out. The image of the Master and Margarita in the work demonstrates that the ability to be close to a loved one determines the subjective feeling of happiness.

Criticism and rejection of society

Special adherents could rewrite the entire work by hand and then zealously kept the forbidden manuscript. There was an opinion among critics that the novel was anti-Soviet. Perhaps the USSR saw in it some kind of threat to the education of the younger generation, so it is not surprising that the novel “The Master and Margarita” was subjected to such great persecution. Reviews of the book created the illusion in society that it was not necessary to read.

Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova

In fact, the fact that the novel survived during the harsh Stalinist times is entirely the merit of the writer’s third wife. It was she, a loving woman, who managed to protect her husband’s creation from all sorts of attacks and complete destruction. Elena Sergeevna protected the unprinted manuscript, like a baby whose turn had not yet come to be born. Only she owes the novel its release into society, which happened many years after it was written. During the writer’s lifetime, it was not completed, so it was his faithful wife who was responsible for editing and finalizing the almost finished text.

Without a doubt, an attentive reader will see her many-sided image embodied on the pages of the novel. Margarita is endowed with the traits of Elena Sergeevna: passionate, stubborn, bright personality, individuality. Their personal history of relationship with Mikhail Afanasyevich is very similar to the acquaintance of the heroes of the work. The novel “The Master and Margarita” became a real hard-won miracle. Reviews about him were very different, but no one remained indifferent.

There is no punishment for love!

To people of high moral principles, the connection between married Margarita and the Master may seem sinful and wrong. However, we see that the main idea of ​​the novel is the statement that true love is freedom. Before this sublime feeling, for which a loving woman sacrificed everything, even Woland, the demonic prince of darkness, retreats, thereby recognizing the triumph of true love over himself.

Instead of a conclusion

The novel has its own unique creation story. “The Master and Margarita” is a very complex work, which has many additional subtexts. Different researchers in the field of literature interpret the novel in different ways, and this is natural, because everyone has an individual vision of life and their own ideas about how the world works.

Now you know what this work is about, what the history of its creation was. “The Master and Margarita” is one of those novels that are never forgotten!

Start

Two years would pass before Bulgakov returned to the work. The writer will be able to find several burnt pages and again try to recreate all the fragments of the novel from memory. It's a shame, it was not destined to wait for publication. The illness weakened my strength and left me bedridden. My wife made amendments under dictation. For Elena Sergeevna, working on a novel became the meaning of life. It was last will Bulgakov, and in memory of him she will try to publish the novel for another two decades.

After Bulgakov's death

The next one will be the Posev publishing house. “The Master and Margarita” will be published in their original form, without editorial notes. This will happen not in the Soviet Union, in Germany. Four years later, the novel will reach our reader. This will happen in 1973, when the taboo on prohibited works will be completely lifted.

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