Mystical motives in the work of M. A

Illustration: Alexander's Slovik

The work "The Master and Margarita" in the form in which we know it now has changed from its very beginning. Mikhail Bulgakov began work on the novel in 1928. The book was written in several versions. Mysticism was saturated with each of the options.

No. 1. Bulgakov's mysticism

Many people know the fact that the writer was fascinated by the occult sciences. In particular, he was interested in German mysticism of the 19th century. It was during this period that the writer takes on the creation of his famous work.

In the first manuscript there was not even a trace of either our beloved Master or the beautiful Margarita. The Devil himself was at the head of the story, and the work was very reminiscent of Faust, only in a Russian way. Moreover, the description of the main character, that is, the Devil himself, was given 15 handwritten pages. It felt like the author was personally familiar with the character.

What was written on these 15 pages we will no longer know, since the first version of the novel was burned.

In the second version of the novel, which was called "Satan, or the Great Chancellor", the main character is an angel, whom God sent from himself to the sinful earth. In this version, there is already a place for the Master, and the beautiful Margarita, and Woland with his mysterious retinue. But the reader will not see this novel either.

And finally, the work "The Master and Margarita" in the form in which the whole world knows it is only the third option. The writer never finished it.

No. 2. Woland in his diversity

Reading the novel, one can assume that Woland is not at all negative character, although it is the prototype of the Devil himself. He is the patron of creativity and love in the novel. But not everything is so simple.

The writer embodied in his character the Tempter Satan, the Scandinavian Odin, the ancient German god Wotan in one person. Woland combines a many-sided image, which, according to external data, is very similar to the powerful magician Count Cagliostro.

Another interesting point: in Germany, the devil is called nothing more than Faland. Is it true that it is close in sound to Woland?

No. 3. Woland's minions

In the work, Woland appears with his retinue. The most memorable for all readers were such bright characters as Azazello, Koroviev-Fagot and the cat Behemoth.

The image of Azazello was taken by the writer from the Bible, or rather from the Old Testament. That was the name of the angel who created such evil on the planet as weapons and jewelry. Azazello also taught the beautiful half of humanity the art of beautifying the face, which is a lecherous sin according to the Bible. It was Azazello who became the tempter for Margarita. It was he who gave the magic cream and directed her down the dark path.

Woland's favorite jester is Behemoth the cat. The writer introduced the image of this character after reading the story of Anna Desange, the abbess of the Loudun monastery, who lived in the 17th century and was possessed by seven demons. One of them became the prototype of the Behemoth cat character. By the way, the writer also had his own Behemoth in his life. That was the name of the writer's dog.

The only one human image in the retinue given to Koroviev-Fagot. According to assumptions, this character is the prototype of the Aztec god of war, Vitzliputzli.

No. 4. Gorgeous Margarita

The image of Margarita is very reminiscent of Bulgakov's third wife, Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya. The novel also mentions a certain connection between Margarita and the French Queen Margot. If you remember the history, Queen Margo favored writers and poets. And in the novel itself, Margarita's love for the Master is traced.

No. 5. mysterious time

The novel is curious about the fact that there is not a single mention of the time in which the events take place. One gets the feeling that we are flying from one century to another. Also, events move from one city to another - from the mysterious Yershalaim to Moscow.

No. 6. Bulgakov's suicide "list"

The third wife of Mikhail Afanasyevich, Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, left a note in personal diary a few days before the death of the writer. In the lines of that note, it was said that the husband asked for a list, a list of the things that he did. Bulgakov asked for this so that people would know. Elena Sergeevna considered that this was a kind of nonsense of a sick person, and it seemed to her that it was impossible to understand the writer. However, she made a promise to her husband that she would make corrections to the novel and send the book to print.

Shilovskaya notices that her husband listened to her every word, and then uttered a rather meaningful phrase "To know."

Bulgakov's biographers claim that it was a list of the writer's enemies, both literary and ideological. Nevertheless, Mikhail Afanasyevich passionately desired to publish his novel. It is believed that last phrase in a conversation with his wife meant that readers would receive a certain warning from the writer through his work.

The Master and Margarita is one of the most mystery novels in history, researchers are still struggling with its interpretation. We will give seven keys to this work.

literary hoax

Why famous novel Bulgakov is called The Master and Margarita, and what, in fact, is this book about? It is known that the idea of ​​creation was born by the author after his passion for the mysticism of the 19th century. Legends about the devil, Jewish and Christian demonology, treatises on God - all this is present in the work. The most important sources consulted by the author were Mikhail Orlov's History of Man's Relations with the Devil and Amfiteatrov's book The Devil in Life, Legend and Literature of the Middle Ages. As you know, The Master and Margarita had several editions. They say that the first one, on which the author worked in 1928-1929, had nothing to do with either the Master or Margarita, and was called "The Black Magician", "The Juggler with a Hoof". That is, the central figure and essence of the novel was precisely the Devil - a kind of Russian version of the work "Faust". Bulgakov personally burned the first manuscript after the ban on his play The Cabal of the Holy. The writer informed the government about this: “And personally, with my own hands, I threw a draft of a novel about the devil into the stove!” The second edition was also dedicated to the fallen angel and was called "Satan" or "The Great Chancellor". Margarita and the Master have already appeared here, and Woland has acquired his retinue. But, only the third manuscript received its current name, which, in fact, the author never finished.

Many-sided Woland

The prince of darkness is perhaps the most popular character"Masters and Margaritas". On a superficial reading, the reader gets the impression that Woland is “justice itself”, a judge who fights against human vices and patronizes love and creativity. Someone even thinks that Bulgakov portrayed Stalin in this image! Woland is many-sided and complex, as befits the Tempter. He is regarded as the classic Satan, which is what the author intended in the early versions of the book, as a new Messiah, a rethought Christ, whose coming is described in the novel.
In fact, Woland is not just a devil - he has many prototypes. This is the supreme pagan god- Wotan among the ancient Germans (Odin - among the Scandinavians), the great "magician" and freemason Count Cagliostro, who remembered the events of the thousand-year past, predicted the future, and had a portrait resemblance to Woland. And this is also the “dark horse” Woland from Goethe’s Faust, who is mentioned in the work only once, in an episode that was missed in the Russian translation. By the way, in Germany the devil was called “Faland”. Remember the episode from the novel when the servants can't remember the magician's name: "Maybe Faland?"

Retinue of Satan

Just as a person cannot exist without a shadow, so Woland is not Woland without his retinue. Azazello, Behemoth and Koroviev-Fagot are the tools of the devil's justice, the most bright heroes novel, behind which is by no means an unambiguous past.
Take, for example, Azazello - "the demon of the waterless desert, the killer demon." Bulgakov borrowed this image from the Old Testament books, where this is the name fallen angel who taught people how to make weapons and jewelry. Thanks to him, women have mastered the "lascivious art" of face painting. Therefore, it is Azazello who gives the cream to Margarita, pushes her onto the “dark path”. In the novel it right hand Woland performing "dirty work". He kills Baron Meigel, poisons lovers. Its essence is incorporeal, absolute evil in its purest form.
Koroviev-Fagot - only person in the Woland suite. It is not completely clear who became its prototype, but researchers trace its roots to the Aztec god Vitsliputsli, whose name is mentioned in Berlioz's conversation with Bezdomny. This is the god of war, to whom sacrifices were made, and according to the legends of Dr. Faust, the spirit of hell and the first helper of Satan. His name, carelessly uttered by the chairman of "MASSOLIT", is a signal for the appearance of Woland.
Behemoth is a werecat and Woland's favorite jester, whose image comes from the legends about the demon of gluttony and the mythological beast of the Old Testament. In the study by I. Ya. Porfiriev "Apocryphal tales of the Old Testament persons and events", which was clearly familiar to Bulgakov, it was mentioned sea ​​monster Behemoth, living together with Leviathan in the invisible desert "to the east of the garden where the elect and the righteous lived." The author also drew information about Behemoth from the story of a certain Anna Desange, who lived in the 17th century and was possessed by seven devils, among which Behemoth, a demon from the rank of Thrones, is mentioned. This demon was depicted as a monster with an elephant's head, trunk and fangs. His hands were human, and his huge belly, short tail and thick hind legs- like a hippopotamus, which reminded of his name.

Black Queen Margot

Margarita is often considered a model of femininity, a kind of Pushkin's "Tatyana of the 20th century." But the prototype of "Queen Margo" was clearly not a modest girl from the Russian hinterland. In addition to the obvious resemblance of the heroine to last wife writer, the novel emphasizes Margarita's connection with two French queens. The first is the same “Queen Margot”, the wife of Henry IV, whose wedding turned into a bloody Bartholomew night. This event is mentioned on the way to the Great Satan's Ball. The fat man, who recognized Margarita, calls her "bright Queen Margot" and mutters "some nonsense about the bloody wedding of his friend in Paris, Gessar." Gessar - Parisian publisher of the correspondence of Marguerite Valois, whom Bulgakov made a participant Bartholomew night. Another queen is also seen in the image of the heroine - Marguerite of Navarre, who was one of the first French women writers, the author of the famous "Heptameron". Both ladies patronized writers and poets, Bulgakovskaya Margarita loves his brilliant writer- Masters.

Moscow - Yershalaim

One of the most interesting riddles"Masters and Margaritas" is the time when events take place. There is no absolute date in the novel from which to count. The action belongs to holy week from the first to the seventh of May 1929. This dating draws a parallel with the world of the Pilate chapters, which took place in Yershalaim on the year 29 or 30 during the week that later became Passion. “Over Moscow in 1929 and Yershalaim on the 29th there is the same apocalyptic weather, the same darkness is approaching the city of sin with a thunderous wall, the same moon of the Easter full moon floods the lanes of the Old Testament Yershalaim and the New Testament Moscow.” In the first part of the novel, both of these stories develop in parallel, in the second, more and more intertwined, in the end they merge together, gaining integrity and moving from our world to the other world.

Influence of Gustav Meyrink

Of great importance to Bulgakov were the ideas of Gustav Meyrink, whose works appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. In the novel by the Austrian expressionist "Golem" main character master Anastasius Pernat in the final reunites with his beloved Miriam "at the wall of the last lantern", on the border of the real and otherworldly worlds. The connection with the "Master and Margarita" is obvious. Let's remember famous aphorism Bulgakov's novel: "Manuscripts do not burn." Most likely, it goes back to The White Dominican, where it says: "Yes, of course, the truth does not burn and cannot be trampled on." It also tells about the inscription above the altar, because of which the icon falls. Mother of God. As well as the burned manuscript of the master, reviving Woland from non-existence, which restores true story Yeshua, the inscription symbolizes the connection of truth not only with God, but also with the devil.
In "The Master and Margarita", as in "The White Dominican" by Meyrink, the main thing for the heroes is not the goal, but the process of the path itself - development. Only here the meaning of this path is different for writers. Gustav, like his heroes, was looking for him in creative beginning, Bulgakov sought to achieve some "esoteric" absolute, the essence of the universe.

last manuscript

The last edition of the novel, which subsequently reached the reader, was started in 1937. The author continued to work with her until his death. Why couldn't he finish a book he'd been writing for a dozen years? Did he think that he was not sufficiently knowledgeable in the subject he took on, and his understanding of Jewish demonology and early Christian texts was amateurish? Be that as it may, the novel practically “sucked out” the life of the author. The last correction, which he made on February 13, 1940, was Margarita's phrase: “So this, then, is the writers following the coffin?” He died a month later. Last words Bulgakov, addressed to the novel were: "To know, to know ...".

Mysteries of "The Master and Margarita"

But his colleague Yuri Kara, who previously filmed a film version of Bulgakov's novel, claims just the opposite. Yes, and the very fact of not appearing in a wide box office of his film, except as a manifestation of demonic forces, perhaps, cannot be called. Many actors and directors of this novel on theater stage claim that during rehearsals or already playing in a play, strange things sometimes happened to them - they forgot the text, got injured, lost the objects they needed in a particular mise-en-scene, and some even ended up in a hospital bed with a serious illness.

Such mystical things happen not only when trying to film or stage Bulgakov's novel, but also when creating illustrations for it. This is the story told by the famous Donetsk painter and graphic artist, folk artist Ukraine Vladimir Shendel.

I first read the novel "The Master and Margarita" in 1971, while still a student at the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I. Repin. I was given two Moskva magazines with a novel printed in them for just one night. Bulgakov's work shook my imagination. It was not terrible, most likely, a youthful interest in everything forbidden and unusual appeared.

The Polish film "Master and Margarita" hurt me to the core. Its creators distorted everything - the era, types, atmosphere, even the idea. And then I was born, at first glance, a crazy idea: to show myself and other people, as I see this work and its characters.
He began to collect material around 1975: he visited museums, libraries, studied Moscow in the 20-30s - costumes, life, transport, architecture, biography and work of Bulgakov. He specially came to Moscow to see with his own eyes those places where the events of the novel unfolded. I used to go around in circles all day, but I could not find Right place: as if someone did not allow me to see him. Only on the third visit did my feet lead me to the house where the apartment where the Master lived was located.

Also on a whim, I found the Patriarch's Ponds. I circled for a long time, when suddenly I found myself on the shore of a well-groomed pond, where there was a monument to the fabulist I. Krylov. I asked a woman walking with a child where the Patriarchs were. “So this is what they are,” I heard in response. I had no idea that the Patriarch's Ponds are actually one pond. I looked at the surface of the water, and I immediately imagined a buffet, a tram line, the terrible death of Berlioz. I tried to live the life of each character in the novel. I went all the way of Ivan Bezdomny's pursuit of the trinity, was inside the Griboyedov house, found the square where Massolit was located. I visited the grave of Mikhail Afanasyevich on Novodevichy cemetery. The same story happened there: I easily found the grave, as if I knew in advance where to go.

"The Master and Margarita" re-read ten times, and each time discovered something new, previously unnoticed. There was a feeling that the author of the novel was invisibly helping me. In my home library, books began to appear of their own accord that had something to do with the writer, but the point was that I did not buy them. When acquaintances gave me books, they were exactly those books in which new sides of the heroes of the novel "The Master and Margarita" were opened, its author and that era.

I am an artist, and for the accuracy of recreating the image of a character, its description is very important. But when I read the book, I didn't always find it. However, the most interesting thing is that the description of the characters, which I could not find today, suddenly appeared on the page tomorrow, and the very next day, in an absolutely incomprehensible way for me, disappeared again.

Only in 1995 did I start making illustrations for Bulgakov's novel. Suddenly - and this has remained a mystery to me to this day - five etching boards disappeared. They were not finished - I applied the drawing, etched with nitric acid and left in the workshop. When he decided to continue working, they were nowhere to be found. I had to start all over again.

When half done graphic works, the right hand began to hurt. Every day the pain became stronger and stronger: in order to hold the needle and pen, one had to make incredible efforts. A psychic friend I met by chance on the street, after listening to what I was doing, said: "You don't understand what you've got yourself into. Quit it before it's too late, otherwise your hand will be completely taken away." I had to suspend work, but I was used to bringing everything to the end, so when after some time I felt better, I decided: come what may. Probably, otherworldly forces appreciated my determination and perseverance and allowed me to successfully complete the work.

Completed illustrations did not bring home: he was afraid to call trouble. One etching from "Master and Margarita" I presented to my friend, who was engaged in the study of Bulgakov's work. Once this work, hanging on her wall, fell with a crash. The bad sign was justified: soon this woman was diagnosed with cancer, and she died.

I believe that there is a powerful energy around this work, and it reacts differently to those who try to dig deeper. The fate of The Master and Margarita is dramatic, mysterious, and to this day is not fully known. Bulgakov began work on the novel in 1929, and made the last correction to the text four weeks before his death, in 1940. The novel remained unfinished.

A curious incident occurred on May 15, the birthday of Mikhail Bulgakov. By this date, the employees of the Donetsk House of Cultural Workers asked me to create a portrait of the writer. When I worked on it, there was a constant feeling of his presence in the studio. And when the portrait was exhibited, everyone was amazed at the piercing gaze that Bulgakov looked at from the canvas of those present.

But the matter did not end there. Visitors to the exhibition brought a huge number of flowers, which were then placed around the hall by employees of the House of Cultural Workers. A bouquet was placed near the portrait of Mikhail Afanasyevich Red roses By the way, these were his favorite flowers. In the morning, we were surprised to find that it was near this portrait that the flowers withered, while all the other bouquets remained fresh and fragrant. They even called flower shop with claims, but they assured that absolutely all the flowers were fresh.

Why are the actors last moment refused to shoot, and 13 deaths after the premiere.

The director of "Legends No. 17" and "Crew" Nikolai Lebedev will make a film based on the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov. The work has been filmed and staged in the theater more than once, but every time some kind of devilry happens on the set. And all the incidents with the actors who starred in the film are attributed to the action of the "demonic romance."

"Nothing Works"

In 2005, the series "The Master and Margarita" directed by Vladimir Bortko was released. He himself said more than once that there is nothing mystical in the novel. But soon I remembered one story.

A few years ago, when I was preparing for filming, on Patriarch's Ponds a strange thing happened to me. A man passing by suddenly turned to me: "Anyway, you won't succeed!" - and went further, - the director said in his interviews.

Bortko considers this a pure coincidence. In addition, he did not listen to the pessimistic "forecast".

Woland in the series Bortko was given to play Oleg Basilashvili. Later, the audience will say hundreds of times that this is how they imagined the devil. For the actor himself, this role turned out, as the TV program writes, with a loss of voice.

Basilashvili was uttering Woland's monologue, when he suddenly began to wheeze. In a few moments, he completely lost his voice. Doctors said that he had a hemorrhage in the right vocal cord.

The day before, the actor rehearsed, there were no problems with the ligaments. Doctors prescribed him complete rest, injections and complete silence for a while.

Berlioz and the operation

Alexander Adabashyan, who played Mikhail Berlioz, ended up in the hospital shortly after filming with a heart attack. However, the actor himself did not connect his participation in the series, health problems and mysticism.

Adabashyan joked more than once in an interview how members of the film crew used the "devilish train" of the work. For example, they said that the evil spirits themselves made them drink too much on the day before shooting.

Koroviev and Azazello

Alexander Filippenko played in two adaptations of The Master and Margarita at once - with Vladimir Bortko and Yuri Kara. At Kara, he played Koroviev.

Many years have passed since then. The actor walked with friends along the Patriarchal, showed them the scene of the "Master and Margarita". Filippenko himself says that at that moment he met with Bortko.

You have already played Koroviev. Azazello will you play for me? Bortko asked. The actor agreed, considering this a sign of fate.

Canceled at the last moment

Woland in the series was supposed to be Oleg Yankovsky. However, at the last moment, he refused to shoot, saying that he did not consider this role strong. And then he admitted that, in his opinion, the devil, like God, cannot be played.

Alexander Kalyagin turned down the role of Berlioz, Vladimir Mashkov never became a Master. Alexander Pankratov-Cherny turned down the role of Varenukha. But Bortko decided not to part with the actor, offering him the option with Stepan Likhodeev as a replacement. On that they agreed.

13 deaths in five years

Someone calls it a terrible coincidence, someone mysticism, but the fact remains: in the year of the premiere and five years after the release of the first series, 13 actors who participated in the filming died on the screens.

Actor Alexander Chaban died at the age of 47. His body was found on October 2, 2005 in his apartment. He played an investigator looking for Woland.

Almost a year later, in September 2006, Pavel Komarov, who played the thief who stole the clothes of the bathing poet Ivan Bezdomny, died on the pier. He was not even 40 years old.

Stanislav Landgraf (critic Latunsky), Kirill Lavrov (Pontius Pilate), Evgeny Merkuriev (accountant), Alexander Abdulov (Koroviev), Andrey Tolubeev (voiced Aloisy Mogarych), Yuri Oskin (porter Nikolai), Galina Barkova (fruit seller), Vladislav Galkin (Ivan Bezdomny), Valentina Egorenkova (a nurse in a madhouse), Stanislav Sokolov (Secretary of Pontius Pilate), Mikhail Surov (extras). 13 people.

With the death of each actor, rumors about the curse of the Master and Margarita were circulated again and again in the press.

burst pipe

Yury Kara's film "The Master and Margarita" has been waiting in the wings for 14 years. It was filmed back in 1994, and presented only in 2008 at the film festival of the CIS and Baltic countries "New Cinema. XXI Century". It only ended up at the box office in 2011.

Although at press conferences the actors shouted out loud that there was no mysticism, members of the film crew still remembered some episodes.

So, Yuri Kara said that the devilry began literally from the filming of the first scene in the Hermitage Garden in Moscow.

They started shooting the picture in the Hermitage Garden from the stage in the variety show, all TV channels gave reports about it. Suddenly, Levitin (director of the Hermitage Theater Mikhail Levitin) came to the site and asked to stop filming, - RIA Novosti quoted Kara as saying.

Later it turned out that in the place where the footage was stored, a hot heating pipe had burst. When Levitin was informed about this, he did not believe at first. And as soon as he put down the phone, the pipe burst in his office.

Even the priest was called to the site, who sprinkled the camera with holy water and film crew.

Operators refused to shoot

In total, during the work on Kara's picture, six operators changed: they either left or simply disappeared. So, when they were filming ancient Judea in the Crimea, it suddenly snowed, which had not happened in October for a long time. In addition, the operator did not come to the shooting for unknown reasons. And the film itself, as it turned out, was forgotten in Moscow.

When Kara went to the capital for film and cameraman, opposite Bulgakov's house, already in Moscow, his new "Volga" broke down. Note that after some time a man named Koroviev crashed into his car.

The film was eventually shot by Evgeny Grebnev. He died shortly after filming: at 35, the day before his birthday.

Actors Bronislav Brondukov and Spartak Mishulin (Varenukha and Archibald Archibaldovich), Viktor Pavlov (Behemoth) and Mikhail Ulyanov (Pontius Pilate) and composer Alfred Schnittke also did not live to see the premiere.

Israel and "filmmakers-terrorists"

A forgotten film, an accident, some damn thing… the crew decided to move the filming to Israel. Yuri Kara was sure that nothing would happen on the Promised Land.

The film crew wanted to reflect a line from the book "The Darkness That Came With mediterranean sea, covered the city hated by the procurator. "For this, darkness itself was necessary.

By that time computer graphics there was not, and not a cloud in the sky - what darkness is there. A pyrotechnician agreed to "make" it, but, as the media wrote, for $ 200 thousand. They found the money, organized the darkness, but then ...

15 Israeli combat helicopters descended from the sky. From there, special forces with machine guns jumped out and attacked the film crew. They thought we were Arab terrorists. Our producers were shocked because everyone was warned about filming. While we figured it out, the cloud left, ”the director later said.

Woland Viktor Avilov and clinical death

The famous actor Viktor Avilov, whom many viewers remember from the roles of the Count of Monte Cristo in The Prisoner of If Castle and Mordaunt in The Musketeers 20 Years Later, also played Woland. But in the theatre.

On tour in 1995, less than an hour before the start of The Master and Margarita, the actor experienced clinical death: Avilov's heart stopped twice. However, after that, he began to recover, and it seemed that his health was returning to normal.

But in the early 2000s, he began to suffer from an ulcer and back pain again. Returning from a tour in Israel in June 2004, he decided to be examined. Doctors said that he had an inoperable tumor. Over and over again, foreign doctors refused to treat. last hope he was given in Novosibirsk. The actor lived for another two months, after which he died in Akademgorodok at the age of 51.

Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita" is still entangled in mysticism and riddles.

Typewriter reprinting of The Master and Margarita ended in last days June 1938 Sister Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova Olga Bokshanskaya printed last page: 327 sheets, 22 chapters.

However, work on the novel continued until Bulgakov's death on March 10, 1940 - he corrected, revised, reworked the text and dictated the corrections to his wife. He took her word that the novel would be published, knowing full well that at that time "publishing it was, of course, hopeless." And yet, knowing as a professional doctor that his disease - hypertensive nephrosclerosis - is fatal (in the 48th year, his father died of the same disease), he made a will in advance.

"To know..."

“The most vile disease is the kidneys,” said Bulgakov. But, dying, suffering terribly from pain, blind and sometimes even ceasing to recognize loved ones, he continued to work almost daily on the already printed novel, which had tormented him for ten years. “I am buried under this novel,” he admitted. But then: “What could I write after the “Master”?” And on the very eve of his death, he repeated everything, dreaming that the novel would see the light of day: “To know ... To know ...”

And readers know. And quite soon - in the late 60s of the XX century. The novel appeared in the Moscow magazine. But in what edition? Indeed, in fact, the novel remained unfinished, completely and finally “not approved” by the author himself. In 1973, the novel was already published as a book, but the text was different from the magazine. The novel had at least two versions of the text and title.

In 1921, the artist Natalya Ushakova presented Bulgakov with Alexander Chayanov's book, which she designed, "Venediktov, or Memorable Events of My Life." The surname of the protagonist is Bulgakov! The plot - stay in Moscow Satan. Bulgakov falls into submission to him, fighting for the soul of his beloved woman. In the end, the lovers are united. Familiar, isn't it?

Recall that back in 1925 he wrote The Diaboliad. The date of the beginning of work on the Master, signed by Bulgakov himself, is known - 1928. But in 1930, the writer, in his words, “personally threw a draft of a novel about the devil into the stove with his own hands.” 15 chapters. Like Bulgakov's favorite Gogol - the second volume of Dead Souls. As subsequently did with the manuscript and his hero, Master. Although in that first edition there was neither the Master, nor Margarita, nor a love story. There was only Woland, however, with the Soviet people name and patronymic - Veliar Velyarovich. Annushka was called Pelageushka. Styopa Likhodeev was sent not to Yalta, but to Vladikavkaz and was called Garasey Pedulaev, Azazello - Fyello, Ivan Bezdomny was either Antosha, or Ponyrev, or Bezrodny. Berlioz could become Tchaikovsky, and his name was Vladimir Mironovich. Entertainer Georges Bengalsky was Peter Alekseevich with the "divine" surname Blagovest. And now - about the divine.

In the materials for the novel (then it was called either "Consultant with a Hoof", or "Engineer's Hoof") there were two central figures and two chapters - "On God" and "On the Devil". In those years, the "devilish" was equated with all kinds of "foreignness", so Woland became not quite a Russian Pupkin, but Woland.

When Mikhail Afanasyevich returned to work on the destroyed novel, without drafts, he firmly said: "I remember everything." The novel did not let him go until he left: "It's like the devil has bewitched me."

Unemployed, homeless and penniless

In those years, Bulgakov was hounded, boorishly scolded by criticism, he was not published, his plays were not staged, they were removed from the repertoire. He was unemployed, without an apartment, penniless: “I am in distress”, “sheaths on my nerves are completely frayed”, “all my literary works perished, as well as the intentions. On one of the pages of the "novel about the devil" his line appears: "Help, Lord, finish the novel."

And then ... Mikhail Afanasyevich himself in in a certain sense surrenders to the mercy of the devil in human form - writes a desperate letter to Stalin (“Never ask for anything, especially from those who are stronger than you”, “The main thing is not to lose dignity” - are these not his words?). And also - to Molotov with a request for an apartment. And then by own initiative and with zeal writes for the Moscow Art Theater a play praising the young Stalin - "Batum". The theater is delighted. Bulgakov allowed a creative business trip "to the places of military glory" of the Leader. But they are returned from the train by a government telegram: the Leader did not like the play. Bulgakov's illness soon manifested itself and famous photo in black glasses: he was threatened with blindness, he was afraid to walk alone around the city, he was treated with hypnosis.

The man-devil, Stalin did not destroy Bulgakov, but he did not accept his sacrifice - the soul "mortgaged" either.

And the mysticism around the novel in the cinema swirls to this day! It can be seen that it is no coincidence that Lyubov Evgenievna Bulgakova-Belozerskaya recalled: “That’s what M.A. never felt attracted to, it’s cinema.” It is no coincidence that "messir", Woland, could not stand electricity.

Kara was lost, Kovalchuk was bitten

The first in 1971 "swung" on mystical work Bulgakov Andrzej Wajda, releasing the film "Pilate and Others". In 1972, the Italian-Yugoslav film "The Master and Margarita" directed by Alexander Petrovich was shot. In 1988, Maczek Wojtyszko created a television series. Our directors still couldn’t get close to the “Master”. By 1991, Elem Klimov (co-authored with German Klimov) wrote the most original script based on the novel, looking for money for the project. Newspapers have already written about future picture.
Director Vladimir Naumov also wanted to film the novel. But, as Naumov recalls, providence intervened.

Naumov was familiar with the widow of the writer Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova since the time of work on "Running". She worked on the set as a literary consultant. When Klimov took up the novel, Elena Sergeevna was no longer alive. But ... One night, a bell rang in Naumov's apartment. The director went to the door and looked through the peephole. “I look: Elena Sergeevna in a fur coat.” The director opened the door, invited the guest to come in. She only said: “I'll be here for a minute - Mikhail Afanasyevich is waiting downstairs. I wanted to inform you, Volodya, that there will be no film. Naumov did not understand whether it was a dream or reality. And the picture of Klimov was never filmed.

Most of the mysteries are connected with the 1994 film by Yuri Kara. About 15 million dollars were spent on the project. But it never reached the screens. The director himself recalled that during the filming there were so many obstacles, as if the novel resisted with all its might. “We made expensive scenery of ancient Jerusalem in early autumn in Sudak,” Kara recalled. - But as soon as we were going to start filming, it snowed. Filming had to be canceled and sets had to be redone." When the film was nevertheless shot, the director and producer had a conflict that ended litigation. Then the film with the film disappeared, and the person who was given it for safekeeping suddenly died.
Vladimir Bortko, starting work on a multi-part television film based on Bulgakov's novel, film set banned all talk of mysticism. Although he admitted that he once met a strange gentleman at the Patriarchs, who casually threw out: “You won’t succeed.”

Apparently, Oleg Yankovsky also decided so, who at first thought and thought ... and then nevertheless refused the role of Woland: "I believe that the Lord God and the devil cannot be played."
Dmitry Nagiev, who got the role of Judas, before each take made sign of the cross. “I take this very seriously,” Nagiyev said. “For me, it’s all very sincere.”

Anna Kovalchuk (Margarita) also tried not to think about mysticism: “I thought that I was an actress, and everything else was fiction. But sometimes nature gets in the way. We filmed the coven scene at night, on the street. I am completely naked. And just at that time there were the most mosquitoes. I've been bitten all over!"