The Damnation of Faust has been steadily moving up on my list of books to read. So many
Tashmere Send a noteboard - 26/07/2010 05:42:41 PM
of the classics make reference to it.
Did he have a problem with Rimsky-Korsokov? Why would he use that name for someone that he hated?
*Edit* Please don't answer that. The first line of chapter XVI just gave me the clue I needed. I think I get it.
Berlioz is an homage to Hector Berlioz, who wrote The Damnation of Faust. Ringing any bells?
Also, understand that Bulgakov was writing for and working at the Moscow Artistic Academic Theatre (MXAT in Russian) and had to deal with Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. By the 1930s they hated each other and as soon as one of them warmed up to Bulgakov, the other decided to hate him. Nemirovich-Danchenko was usually out of the country (in India even, at one point) and so it was difficult for Bulgakov at the theatre. Many of the Variete personages are based on people he knew. He hated both Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko as egotistical, self-absorbed people absorbed with their own celebrity.
Rimsky is, I believe, Nemirovich-Danchenko. The rest should be clear after that.
Also, understand that Bulgakov was writing for and working at the Moscow Artistic Academic Theatre (MXAT in Russian) and had to deal with Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. By the 1930s they hated each other and as soon as one of them warmed up to Bulgakov, the other decided to hate him. Nemirovich-Danchenko was usually out of the country (in India even, at one point) and so it was difficult for Bulgakov at the theatre. Many of the Variete personages are based on people he knew. He hated both Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko as egotistical, self-absorbed people absorbed with their own celebrity.
Rimsky is, I believe, Nemirovich-Danchenko. The rest should be clear after that.
Did he have a problem with Rimsky-Korsokov? Why would he use that name for someone that he hated?
*Edit* Please don't answer that. The first line of chapter XVI just gave me the clue I needed. I think I get it.
This message last edited by Tashmere on 26/07/2010 at 06:14:04 PM
The Joint Book Club: Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita
- 15/07/2010 08:36:47 AM
1746 Views
Things you liked
- 15/07/2010 08:37:57 AM
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The Passion interludes and Margarita's witchification and night flight.
- 23/07/2010 11:19:59 PM
1349 Views
Things you didn't like
- 15/07/2010 08:38:20 AM
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Things that didn't make sense to you
- 15/07/2010 08:38:54 AM
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The murder of Judas.
- 23/07/2010 11:13:58 PM
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Does it make more sense if Aphranius is seen as...
- 26/07/2010 12:39:46 AM
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See, that seemed obvious to me.
- 28/07/2010 02:55:02 AM
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Oh, so that was them making up a story to tell anyone else if needed? *NM*
- 28/07/2010 08:29:10 AM
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The walls have ears. Nobody would know that better than Aphranius and Pilate.
- 31/07/2010 07:32:09 PM
1183 Views
Also, who was Koroviev supposed to be?
- 23/07/2010 11:44:28 PM
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Characters (ordinary)
- 15/07/2010 08:39:53 AM
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Characters (supernatural)
- 15/07/2010 08:40:36 AM
1066 Views
Behemoth was hilarious. I love the idea of him being a large mischievous cat.
- 23/07/2010 11:22:01 PM
971 Views
I'm reserving a spot for my comments but not posting them just yet.
- 15/07/2010 03:46:34 PM
1139 Views
I had a very interesting conversation about the novel yesterday.
- 16/07/2010 02:44:53 PM
1227 Views
Re: I had a very interesting conversation about the novel yesterday.
- 21/07/2010 12:22:28 PM
1099 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
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My thoughts
- 20/07/2010 04:50:06 AM
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Does this story translate well?
- 20/07/2010 06:27:50 PM
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About evil in this book.
- 21/07/2010 07:14:59 PM
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There is a Russian author who believes Margarita was Gorky's girlfriend.
- 22/07/2010 03:15:13 AM
1204 Views
Aha. There's the question I was going to ask:
- 31/07/2010 10:32:17 PM
1007 Views
To the devil with this. I don't care if I am showing my ignorance.
- 31/07/2010 10:52:54 PM
1368 Views
Any time you have a dual story, the invitation to draw parallels exists.
- 10/08/2010 05:56:23 PM
1122 Views
For all the expressed interest, this book club discussion is languishing. *NM*
- 21/07/2010 02:07:23 AM
552 Views
An anniversary, a birthday, and a successful job interview do tend to slow me down somewhat
- 21/07/2010 02:08:10 PM
1054 Views
- 21/07/2010 02:08:10 PM
1054 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
565 Views
Give me a day or two to catch up on things and finish the book. *NM*
- 24/07/2010 11:14:17 PM
538 Views
Names.
- 21/07/2010 07:16:23 PM
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They're not common.
- 22/07/2010 03:08:55 AM
1150 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
1103 Views
Why do you think Bulgakov chose to wait so long before introducing us to Margarita?
- 24/07/2010 12:05:59 AM
1011 Views
Have any of you heard of The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia?
- 25/07/2010 09:01:30 PM
1183 Views
Unfortunately do to my eye surgery I could not participate.
- 28/07/2010 12:36:28 AM
1172 Views
I "read" it in audiobook form, in the car and on the move.
- 29/07/2010 02:55:50 PM
1175 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
964 Views
I've finished.
- 28/07/2010 02:39:57 AM
1167 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
983 Views
Civil Rights? You do realize that Russia never imported slaves, right?
- 28/07/2010 01:52:12 PM
1248 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
1145 Views

*NM*