1. “Reflection” by Simeon as part of the manuscript “The Sublime Cunning of Bertold”, 1747. A certain person’s reflection on his state was expressed. In the name of Simeon, she exists in simplicity and is almost a fool from many. In the alphabet, in rhymes, published by ourselves, in grief

“Manuscripts don’t burn...” Who said this famous phrase that has become a catchphrase? Every person familiar with the cult novel by Mikhail Bulgakov knows that this is nothing more than a replica of one of the characters. But it is no coincidence that the book “The Master and Margarita” has been studied by critics and literary scholars for more than half a century. It contains hints of the past, symbols of the present and predictions of the future.

Manuscripts don't burn?

Who said that fire can't destroy paper? The veracity of this phrase could perhaps only be confirmed by a literary character, a representative other world. History knows many cases when writers and poets burned their creations. Some of them remained a mystery to posterity. The second volume of Nikolai Gogol's poem, full version“The Russian Trianon” by Anna Akhmatova, Pasternak’s novel “Three Names” - all these are works that have not reached the modern reader.

Symbolism of the phrase

And yet the manuscripts do not burn. Whoever said that flame does not destroy the work of a true artist was hinting at the machinations of envious people, mediocre criticism and the authoritarianism of power. Because it is they who become the enemies of the truthful author.

This has always been the case. Books that did not correspond to the imposed ideology were banned, confiscated, and burned. In a word, they did everything to ensure that they did not fall into the hands of the reader. But there were works that no forces could destroy. These include those that contain wisdom and truth that is relevant at all times. That is, books that are interesting to posterity. Immortal books.

Romance of the Devil

Bulgakov's book has millions of fans. But even today it is subject to harsh criticism. Satan is portrayed as too charming and just a hero in the novel “The Master and Margarita.” There is an opinion that a true Christian believer should not read Bulgakov’s work. The unconventional image of Satan can have an impact on fragile minds Negative influence. Perhaps the whole point is that there is always something supernatural in talent. That’s why he scares ordinary people.

Enemies of the Master

“Manuscripts don’t burn...” Who said this phrase and what role does it play in the plot of the novel? As you know, Bulgakov’s work is autobiographical. He, like his hero, became a victim of attacks from members of the Union of Writers. The aggressive criticism of Latunsky and Lavrovich was fatal for the Master. The impossibility of publishing a novel about the devil became obvious to Bulgakov after his wife took several chapters to the editor. The manuscripts were cruelly rejected. The author, like his hero, experienced the nervous exhaustion that comes after a long journey that leads to nowhere.

Harsh criticism and reluctance to publish the novel, artistic value which cannot go unnoticed by a professional editor, were based on envy and fear of losing one’s place in the sun. And also on many human vices, stronger than only otherworldly forces.

All-powerful protector

Being on the verge of despair, the author of the novel about Pilate did not make an agreement with Satan, like Goethe’s hero. The woman he loved did it for him. And then Woland said: “Manuscripts don’t burn.” Bulgakov did not have such a powerful defender. And like his hero, he burned the unfinished novel. But the book survived. After for long years work on restoring the text, improvements, and with the deep conviction that the novel would be read only many years after his death, Bulgakov completed his work. And therefore, there is truth in the words “manuscripts do not burn.”

Who said: “The meaning of life is in life itself”? This phrase belongs to an ancient sage. But it only applies to ordinary people. Those who are obsessed with the desire to tell the truth, and also have the ability to clothe it in art form, do not know how to enjoy the simple joys of life. This was Bulgakov and many other authors before him. However, the strength of the novel “The Master and Margarita” lies not only in the abundance of symbols pointing to the past. There are amazingly many prophecies in this book.

In Russian and foreign literature and after Bulgakov, authors were born who were unfamiliar with the phrase “manuscripts don’t burn.” Who said it, whose words it was, they all the more did not know. But they would probably appreciate the truth of wisdom that Bulgakov’s character expounded.

A book about life and fate

The novel, which was declared anti-Soviet, was written by writer Vasily Grossman for almost ten years. It was published thirty years later. The work “Life and Fate” is worth remembering when answering questions related to deciphering the phrase of Bulgakov’s character “manuscripts don’t burn.” Who said? Whose words are these? And can they be taken literally?

These words belong to the hero of the novel “The Master and Margarita”. Woland's phrase should not be taken literally. The author put all his hopes and hopes into it that his brainchild will one day reach his descendants. Grossman may have experienced similar feelings. Soviet writer dedicated the book “Life and Fate” to his mother, relatives, friends and, most importantly, to the millions of victims of Hitler’s and Stalin’s aggression.

About what is worse than fire

Grossman never burned the manuscript. It was seized by KGB officers. He never dreamed of publishing it. One of the prominent figures, a contemporary of the writer, argued that this could happen no earlier than in two hundred years. This man had not read Bulgakov’s novel, but he seemed to know Woland’s prophetic phrase “manuscripts don’t burn.”

Who said “The Master and Margarita” is a novel about Soviet society in the thirties? Bulgakov's work is a book about human vices, which were, are and will be at all times. They have no nationality or state affiliation. And they are capable of ruining a person’s destiny. But they cannot destroy a true work of art.

Burning manuscripts is not uncommon for a writer. Solzhenitsyn used to burn every chapter of his novel “In the First Circle.” But before that, he memorized what he wrote. Akhmatova, fearing search or arrest, regularly destroyed her unfinished works. Pasternak sent an entire novel to the oven, which was subsequently never restored.

All these authors burned their creations primarily to save their lives. Famous phrase Wolanda from the novel “The Master and Margarita” could serve as a slogan for masters artistic word. It would give strength to a writer who, even being in exile and risking his life, is not able to give up literary creativity.

Details

The darkness that came from the sea covered the city. Vladivostok disappeared, as if it did not exist in the world. Only the lights of taxis, trembling and mystical, are carried away into the distance along the central street of the city. And along with them, strange images appear before me, as if they had stepped out of the pages of the book that I hold in my hands. Here is a shaved, dark-haired, with sharp nose, with anxious eyes and a tuft of hair hanging over his forehead, a man of about thirty-eight. He is dressed in hospital clothes: shoes on bare feet, a brown robe thrown over his shoulders, and a beret on his head with the letter “M” embroidered on it - master. Behind him is his eternal companion. She carries yellow flowers, and I am struck not so much by her beauty as by her extraordinary, unprecedented loneliness. Her name is Margarita. Suddenly, a gust of cool summer wind opens the slightly closed window, cools my hot head, and it seems that the visions have disappeared. But no, here's an even scarier group. In front is a man of about forty, carrying under his arm a cane with a black knob in the shape of a poodle's head. If you look closely, you will notice that his left eye, green, is completely insane, and his right eye is empty, black and dead. A huge black cat appears, swearing and making noise, holding in his hand a fork on which he has just pricked a mushroom, and a long “checkered” cat with a pince-nez on his nose. broken glass. A red-haired, small, but terribly broad-shouldered monster with a fang, disfiguring its already strange face, jumps out. The last one to rush in is a naked red-haired girl, bringing with her the dampness and smell of the cellar. Here is Woland with his retinue. Suddenly the window slams, and all the creatures that filled the room disappear as instantly as they appeared. Their silhouettes dissolve in the darkness, and a moon road, along which two people walk and talk. In a white cloak with a bloody lining, the fifth procurator of Judea, the horseman Pontius Pilate, walks with a “shuffling cavalry gait”. Next to him is a young man in a torn tunic and with a disfigured face - the condemned Ga-Nozri. Those walking are talking about something passionately, arguing, wanting to agree on something. And so they leave, and I am left alone with a book whose title is “The Master and Margarita.”

Why is the novel named this way? Let's try to trace the semantic thread by turning to the history of the creation of this work, which is covered in even greater darkness than the book itself.

In 1928-1929, during one of the most difficult periods of his life, Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov almost simultaneously began creating three works: a novel about the devil. A play called “The Cabal of the Holy One” and a comedy that will soon be destroyed along with the novel that had begun. Yes, at the beginning of 1920 the author will burn the first edition of his work.

Only two notebooks of drafts and sketches have survived individual chapters. However, such an outcome could have been expected. A novel about the devil, like a novel about God, could lead the author to the most tragic consequences. But, despite everything, he continues to write his book. In the margins of his manuscripts, variant titles appeared one after another: “Tour…”, “Son…”, “Consultant’s Hoof”, “Engineer’s Hoof”, “He Appeared” and others. The most common one was “Black Magician”.

In 1930-31, the writer tried to resume work on the novel, but severe physical and mental fatigue prevented him. Bulgakov defines the cause of his illness as follows: “Many years of persecution, and then silence.” In the fall of 1932, the author again returned to his plan, and now finally. New characters are introduced into the novel: first Margarita, then the master. The appearance in the novel of the image of Margarita, and with it the theme of the great and eternal love, researchers associate Bulgakov’s work with the arrival of Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya into his life. Love for her dictated to the author best pages novel - pages of love. Yes, with the birth of the image of Margarita the main driving force the novel becomes love.

Surely we associate the image main character romance with E.S. Shilovskaya, but the name of Margarita gives us a sign about unbreakable connection with Goethe's Faust. The fate of Bulgakov's heroine is not at all similar to the fate of Goethe's Margarita. Death brings her not eternal oblivion, but peace, as a reward for all her suffering. The close associative connection between Bulgakov’s work and the tragedy “Faust” runs through the entire novel. The image of Goethe's Gretchen haunted Bulgakov, and the author introduces a character - Frida, in whom the fate of the heroine of "Faust" is clearly visible. Even the name is chosen in such a way that it reflects the Goethean motif. After all, Frida means “free.”

But let's return to the heroine of our novel. Bulgakovskaya Margarita fell in love with the master at first sight, without any help from the devil, and was ready to do anything to always be with her master. She even gives her soul to Woland (which Goethe’s Faust did) in order to return her loved one.

However, not only Goethe’s tragedy served as a source of inspiration for Bulgakov; perhaps the entire history of literature, life itself entered the book, dictating to the author images, scenes, names... Yes, Bulgakov attaches special importance to names.

But let’s turn to the master who remained “nameless”. Undoubtedly, this image is based on the image of Doctor Faustus - the eternal seeker of truth. But this is only a reflection, an unsteady shadow of the hero. In the fate of the master it is clearly visible life path Bulgakov himself, and not just him, but many writers, poets, artists, scientists who dared to show freedom of thought in an era of no freedom.

The autobiographical details embedded in the storyline of the novel once again make the reader see the close connection between the author and his hero. The fate of the novel created by the master is, to some extent, the fate of Mikhail’s book

Bulgakov, who saw his creative duty in restoring man’s faith in high ideals, in goodness and justice, to call him to a tireless search for truth. The novel about the all-conquering power of love and creativity still made its way to the reader, as if confirming Bulgakov’s innermost thought: “Manuscripts don’t burn.” Hunted by the pack literary critics in his earthly life, the master finds forgiveness and shelter in Eternity.

But why did Bulgakov change the draft names? After all, the main hero, it would seem, who drives the entire novel is Woland, the devil. It was with him light hand Margarita becomes a witch, the master breaks out of the hospital, and together they find eternal peace. And it is Woland and his retinue who are “terrorizing” the Muscovites. Yes, and the fate of Yeshua can be traced under the influence of the Lord of Darkness. Woland is the cause of all troubles and their consequences. His image combines philosophical and realistic principles, mystical and comic roles. One of his countless names could easily become the title of a novel.

We should not forget about another storyline, diametrically opposite to Woland’s. This is the topic bible chapters- theme of Pontius Pilate and Yeshua Ha-Nozri. This is not even one of the plot lines, it is a novel within a novel. And not so much because the master wrote a novel about the fifth procurator of Judea, but more because the breadth and individuality of this narrative are amazing. Imitation biblical story, the execution of Jesus Christ (here Yeshua Ha-Nozri), although it occupies four chapters out of thirty-two, is of great importance.

The storylines of the two novels end by intersecting at one spatio-temporal point - in Eternity, where the master and his hero Pontius Pilate meet and find forgiveness and shelter. Collisions, situations and characters from biblical chapters contribute to the completion of the plot and help reveal philosophical meaning novel. But all these storylines fade into the background, yielding to the onslaught carried out under the influence of the most powerful force - the power of love. Just as Elena Shilovskaya supported life in Bulgakov, so Margarita became the end in itself of the master’s existence. Only thanks strong love, one master finished a novel “about God”, and another - “about the devil”. And only this almighty force made it possible for the master to receive well-deserved recognition and peace in Eternity. What other name than “The Master and Margarita” could a loving author choose for his masterpiece!

Bulgakov, who began every day of work on the novel with the incantation: “Finish before you die,” nevertheless achieved his goal largely thanks to his wife, assistant, and muse. This was all reflected, as if in a mirror, in his grandiose work. Bulgakov’s “sunset” novel reflected both the tribulations of writing and the author’s difficult dying thoughts.

“Manuscripts don’t burn” - the writer passed away with this belief in the imperishable power of art. These words served him as a spell against the destructive effects of time. Amazingly, the spell worked. Almost a quarter of a century later, the novel was published and, in the words of V. Lakshin, “among other, more relevant recent books on the topic, it turned out to be a vital, unfading work...”

Today we can say with confidence that time has no power over the novel!