Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Bulgakov Museum Vandalised

A museum dedicated to famous Russian author, Mikhail Bulgakov has been largely destroyed by a religious fantantic, reports the Australian. Alexander Morozov, a bitter critic of Bulgakov's work and a tenant in the same building which houses the museum, locked himself in and began chucking :
... many objects out of the window, including valuable illustrations of Bulgakov's works signed by great Russian artists, not to mention several computers. About half the contents were damaged.
The Russian Orthodox church had denounced Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita as a 'satanic gospel' and it was not published until 26 years after Bulgakov's death in 1940.

But the book is, in fact, a political satire, which comments on communist-era Moscow. According to the Marriam-Webster Encyclopedia the novel was:
... published as Master i Margarita in a censored form in the Soviet Union in 1966-67. The unexpurgated version was published by the Soviets in 1973. It is considered a 20th-century masterpiece. The novel is witty and ribald, and at the same time a penetrating philosophical work that wrestles with profound and eternal problems of good and evil. It juxtaposes two planes of action--one set in Moscow in the 1930s and the other in Jerusalem at the time of Christ. The three central characters of the contemporary plot are the Devil, disguised as one Professor Woland; the "Master," a repressed novelist; and Margarita, who, though married to a bureaucrat, loves the Master. The Master has burned his manuscript and gone willingly into a psychiatric ward when critics attacked his work--a portrayal of the story of Jesus. Margarita sells her soul to the Devil in order to obtain the Master's release from the psychiatric ward. A parallel plot presents the action of the Master's destroyed novel, the condemnation of Yeshua (Jesus) in Jerusalem.
The Australian reports that Morozov had been campaigning for years against the presence of the museum, which looks out to a park where the writer lived and where he placed the action of The Master and Margarita. In 2004 Morozov organised a successful protest by residents against the construction of a monument to the writer.

This is a book I bought to read on Raman's recommendation, especially after enjoying Bulgakov's zany The Heart of a Dog but haven't got round to reading yet. (And Animah is currently reading it, anyway.) But now my interest is piqued ...

14 comments:

Ted Mahsun said...

That reminds me. I have a copy of his Black Snow I've been meaning to read.

Allan Koay 郭少樺 said...

whats a "religious fantantic"?

bibliobibuli said...

good question, visitor. What's your take on it then?

Allan Koay 郭少樺 said...

someone religious who loves to drink Fanta?

Anonymous said...

Sharon: MACTEP N MAP2APNTA- A "Goth Froth" and I Like!

I've read the book both in Russian and English.(Although most of the translations lose thr idiomatic flow due to over/under expression)

Many critics consider it to be one of the greatest Russian novels and "samizdat" of the 20th century.But what's so intriguing about it is that there's an autographical element reflected in the Master's character and I suggest that you "unpique" yourself and immerse in his satirical madness :D

I thought of Bosch and Grunewald when I read it!Quite the literary equivalent, I think.

bibliobibuli said...

animah - please bring it back, anna says i gotta read it!

Anonymous said...

ANNA, you can read it to me in Russian if you want but at least with you I wont be xenophobic ;)

Anonymous said...

ANNA AKHMATOVA, is your name ANNA AHMAD? That must be it.

Anonymous said...

Intellectually Tall:
LOL!! My word...I can safely say that you're NOT that TALL intellectually. ANNA AKHMATOVA was a Russian poet. I just use her name as a pseudonym, a handle for Sharon's blog. Why dont you google her and maybe read some of her poetry and perhaps that would make you *ehemm* TALLER in that department.

Sufian said...

Speaking of Russians (dead, alive or perhaps in the gulag), Sharon have you read any Viktor Pelevin? I have a couple of his books, and everytime i read the blurb at the back i'm all excited (tm), but after two pages it's like zzzzzzzzz.....

bibliobibuli said...

Виктор Олегович Пелевин?

Nyet. And Not yet either.

Anonymous said...

WAPOH; LOL! Thats COOL!how did you do that? I've been struggling with Roman letters as substitute for cyrilic! O7NH XOPOWO!!!!!

bibliobibuli said...

волшебство!

cut and paste

Anonymous said...

привет WAPOH; Indeed!Magic!LOL !

Youre way too cool ma'am !Way too cool!I perpetually salute you with my hand stuck to my forehead with supa-glue!

You're превосходный!
много легендарный!!!