It's fascinating, I think, that the main female character, the person we are supposed to sympathise with (and do, I think) gets so strongly involved in what is pretty bad stuff at the ball, and yet she comes away with an aura of purity.
It's very clever.
It's very clever.
I was thinking the same thing. An initial hesitance to associating with the Unholy Trinity is quickly dropped, which leads to a Satanic baptism and then the ball. More interesting still is Bulgakov making Woland's counterpart God, rather than Gabriel. I need to read Faust, and a couple of other things, before I reread M&M.
EDIT: Since I still have a minute or two I'd like to add that, while God and Woland seem to have methods which are antagonistic, their purpose is not, or at least not completely.
南無阿弥陀仏!
This message last edited by Vodalus on 23/07/2010 at 02:10:42 AM
The Joint Book Club: Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita
- 15/07/2010 08:36:47 AM
1833 Views
Things you liked
- 15/07/2010 08:37:57 AM
1232 Views
The Passion interludes and Margarita's witchification and night flight.
- 23/07/2010 11:19:59 PM
1433 Views
Things you didn't like
- 15/07/2010 08:38:20 AM
1134 Views
Things that didn't make sense to you
- 15/07/2010 08:38:54 AM
1193 Views
The murder of Judas.
- 23/07/2010 11:13:58 PM
1334 Views
Does it make more sense if Aphranius is seen as...
- 26/07/2010 12:39:46 AM
1109 Views
See, that seemed obvious to me.
- 28/07/2010 02:55:02 AM
1241 Views
Oh, so that was them making up a story to tell anyone else if needed? *NM*
- 28/07/2010 08:29:10 AM
659 Views
The walls have ears. Nobody would know that better than Aphranius and Pilate.
- 31/07/2010 07:32:09 PM
1296 Views
Also, who was Koroviev supposed to be?
- 23/07/2010 11:44:28 PM
1161 Views
Characters (ordinary)
- 15/07/2010 08:39:53 AM
1185 Views
Characters (supernatural)
- 15/07/2010 08:40:36 AM
1135 Views
Behemoth was hilarious. I love the idea of him being a large mischievous cat.
- 23/07/2010 11:22:01 PM
1058 Views
I'm reserving a spot for my comments but not posting them just yet.
- 15/07/2010 03:46:34 PM
1223 Views
I had a very interesting conversation about the novel yesterday.
- 16/07/2010 02:44:53 PM
1325 Views
Re: I had a very interesting conversation about the novel yesterday.
- 21/07/2010 12:22:28 PM
1199 Views
I haven't collected my thoughts on the experience of reading the novel yet, but I wanted to share...
- 16/07/2010 02:50:03 PM
1295 Views
My thoughts
- 20/07/2010 04:50:06 AM
1434 Views
Does this story translate well?
- 20/07/2010 06:27:50 PM
1205 Views
About evil in this book.
- 21/07/2010 07:14:59 PM
1096 Views
There is a Russian author who believes Margarita was Gorky's girlfriend.
- 22/07/2010 03:15:13 AM
1293 Views
More about evil in this book.
- 23/07/2010 02:01:40 AM
1231 Views
Aha. There's the question I was going to ask:
- 31/07/2010 10:32:17 PM
1080 Views
To the devil with this. I don't care if I am showing my ignorance.
- 31/07/2010 10:52:54 PM
1467 Views
Any time you have a dual story, the invitation to draw parallels exists.
- 10/08/2010 05:56:23 PM
1190 Views
For all the expressed interest, this book club discussion is languishing. *NM*
- 21/07/2010 02:07:23 AM
593 Views
An anniversary, a birthday, and a successful job interview do tend to slow me down somewhat
- 21/07/2010 02:08:10 PM
1125 Views
- 21/07/2010 02:08:10 PM
1125 Views
Vacation and all the stuff associated with it. Will try to write something, but it might be a while. *NM*
- 23/07/2010 02:03:57 AM
602 Views
Give me a day or two to catch up on things and finish the book. *NM*
- 24/07/2010 11:14:17 PM
574 Views
Names.
- 21/07/2010 07:16:23 PM
1228 Views
They're not common.
- 22/07/2010 03:08:55 AM
1226 Views
The Damnation of Faust has been steadily moving up on my list of books to read. So many
- 26/07/2010 05:42:41 PM
1186 Views
Why do you think Bulgakov chose to wait so long before introducing us to Margarita?
- 24/07/2010 12:05:59 AM
1083 Views
Have any of you heard of The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia?
- 25/07/2010 09:01:30 PM
1273 Views
Unfortunately do to my eye surgery I could not participate.
- 28/07/2010 12:36:28 AM
1246 Views
I "read" it in audiobook form, in the car and on the move.
- 29/07/2010 02:55:50 PM
1245 Views
I wonder if having the words in front would have helped Ivanovich's dream make (more) sense.
- 29/07/2010 10:37:27 PM
1041 Views
I've finished.
- 28/07/2010 02:39:57 AM
1262 Views
I am about 2/3 of the way through the book and it sounds like my feelings on almost all of it are
- 28/07/2010 05:48:07 AM
1060 Views
Civil Rights? You do realize that Russia never imported slaves, right?
- 28/07/2010 01:52:12 PM
1328 Views
It felt like two different books.One part I felt like I was wading through a meaningless fluff.
- 31/07/2010 10:45:52 PM
1270 Views

*NM*