Master and the Margarita Group Read (April)

Some of us would like to have a group read of Master and the Margarita during the month of April. Thought I'd start up the thread early so that everyone will have time to get their book. Everyone is welcome to join.

I am in!!! Now I just have to get the book....

I will be listening to the audiobook- unless I can find my copy somewhere!

I've added this thread to the group wiki.

Oooh, I have this book and I've been meaning to read it for ages!

Add me in too.

Stealing my thunder, The_Hibernator! ;P I think you're right though that waiting till March 15 to post the thread would have been cutting it a bit close. Excited to finally get around to reading this one!

I have the Mirra Ginsburg translation ready to go!

I have a copy of Hugh Aplin's translation ready to go.

Sorry Kristin! Over on her thread, Kim asked how to find the group read, so I made it possible to be found. Figured a little early didn't hurt. 😊

I'm in, too. I'll try to get the audio from the library.

For anyone who wants to try another Bowie 100, I set up a thread with IreadthereforIam for March on Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. It seems we are doing one a month. : )

https://www.librarything.com/topic/219758

Capote's In Cold Blood was February.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/218310

January was As I Lay Dying, but we didn't have a separate thread. Just lots of spoiler alerts on our own threads!!

If I finish War & Peace I'll join in, too. I think my brain would explode reading more than one Russian writer at the same time ......

Count me in.

True story: ever since I was a teen, I thought this book was about a demon cat and a tasty alcoholic beverage - thus Master and the Margarita. But now that I've found my copy, I see that it's about a demon, a cat, and vodka (with someone named Margarita thrown in). Oh well. Sorry about the spelling of the thread name!



Mine is the Mirra Ginsburg translation.

>11 Berly: Kim. Why don't you post that on the group read organizational thread? It has a broader audience than this one: http://www.librarything.com/topic/219483

Oooh, just caught wind of this :) I'll see how I'm placed but I'm in in theory.

>14 The_Hibernator: Done! Thanks. : )

>14 The_Hibernator: That's the cover I have too! I had never heard of the book at all until I took Russian in college.

May I join in (I'm not a 75 Challenge member)? I've been wanting to read this for ages but am a little intimidated by it!

>18 avidmom: Welcome! This is a very laid back group - you don't have to be a member, we'd be happy to have you along.

>19 Crazymamie: Thank you!

You're welcome.

This has been on my list to read for years. I'll try to read it and join in.

Nikki

I will try to read it too

I loved this oddball book, which was recommended to me by our daughter. Looking forward to the discussions.

I think I'm in, too! Should be fun!

Karen O.

I just got the audio from my local library. Will download it on my mp3.

Hello. Can I join in? I'm new and just starting to explore the site, so I'm not a member of any groups/challenges yet. But I've been meaning to read this book forever and have a copy of it on my shelves - lots of friends have recommended it to me!

Everyone can join in. Welcome!

I'm in! I am just finishing up War and Peace. Was going to try and squeeze this in this month. May start it at the end of the month and finish up in April!

Yeah, I may have to start early, too. Especially if I want to read Name of the Rose in May!

An adaptation of The Master and Margarita from BBC Radio 3:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05202tr

Thanks for sharing Amanda. That's really interesting.

I might be participating in a slightly delayed manner: likely reading in May rather than April.

It'll probably take me a while to read the book, anyway.

I finished the first chapter this morning. Love it so far. It'll be slow going for me, I think, since I have a feeling I'll have to turn to the commentary more and more.

I started the listening around Easter. I LOVE it. It's great with the music inbetween. I think it's important to keep the Russian history of that time in your mind. It makes the understanding much easier.

I started today

I'm starting today, too

I hope you all enjoy your reads.

A couple of websites that look helpful:

http://cr.middlebury.edu/public/russian/Bulgakov/public_html/index.html

http://www.masterandmargarita.eu/en/index.html

>40 amanda4242: Amanda, thanks so much for these links. It's perfect, especially the first one.

^Agreed. I particularly liked that first one.

Yes, thanks for the links, Amanda.

I started reading a little early, on Easter weekend, and am at the start of book 2/chapter 19. I really wish I had an annotated translation, but hopefully those sites will give me some context!

♫ Listen in German

 Master and Margarita

This is a fascinating book. I had the German audio book version. Most I liked that the narrative is accompanied by Russian music, each of which is suitable for the content. Furthermore I liked that repeatedly actor told the played as a dialogue. All this made the story so vivid.

It seems to me important that you keep the Russian history of this period in the head. So one understands better why Bulgakov wrote the story so which was indeed a part of his own life. The story involves three completely different parts, but they are always linked.

One part is the story of the last days of Jesus, his conviction and above all the thinking and actions of Pontius Pilate. This story is told that it is the Bible text very close, yet the content and the deepening of the story is based on speculation, as the trial and the feelings of the protagonists could have been. If one keeps in mind, which was banned by the Russian Revolution, the Orthodox Church, its teaching and practice, makes this part of Bulgakov's narrative sense. There were still many Russians who secretly practicing their faith and could not come to terms with the ban.

Another part concerns the writers guild. On the one hand they want to write down the events of the day and publish other hand they can and may their thoughts reveal only secretly. This is illustrated in the story so that they were put in a psychiatric hospital, to say out of sight out of mind. Bulgakov could not publish his story. He is in this story the master, who does not care that his manuscript burns, since he had written it in his mind. Since this story was under censorship it was not published until long after his death in a literary magazine in different parts. The copies were sold out and the readers knew the lyrics by heart.

The third part relates to the spying. One could also make a comparison with Goethe's Faust here by the soul to the devil sold to benefit only a little and realizes too late that oneself therefore fell into corruption. Voland embodied in this story the devil. As a magician and a charlatan, he deceives the people and reveals who has hidden possessions from the public. Spying has long been the most normal thing in the Soviet bloc. No one was sure who was one of the spies. This made the cohabitation not easy and led to denunciations, arrests, detention camp to unexplained disappearance.
At this time, it was normal that people kept their possession confidential. It was hidden and especially not disclosed to the authorities. This is nowadays worldwide no different, but this is probably once written in another book.

In summary, I recommend this great book highly. For me it is one of a must-read.

Nice review of The Master and Margarita, Barbara! I don't think I'll get to it this month, but hopefully I'll do so in May or June.

The first chapter brought to mind the Stone's song "Sympathy for the Devil" .... and for good reason. Apparently, Mick Jagger wrote the song after reading TM&M. http://www.masterandmargarita.eu/en/05media/stones.html

I'm about halfway through Hugh Aplin's translation and I'm finding it slower going than the Burgin and O'Connor translation I read last year. I'm guessing that Alpin's translation is closer to the original, but sometimes it's kind of...inelegant. I'm enjoying the surreal humor and picking up on things that I didn't notice on my first read, like the frequent casual references to the devil the characters make.

>47 amanda4242: I have the same with my Dutch translation... inelegant might be the word.

It took a long time to get into the story, mainly trouble with the long Russian names.
Yesterday I finished book 1.

>48 FAMeulstee: I started writing them down the names in the front of my book!

>46 avidmom: no way! That is cool :)
I love me a literate musician.....

Finished the book today, it kept being a struggle for me and I am glad it is over.
I understand the hidden meanings & all Barbara (Ameise1) wrote in her review, but I did not like the book at all.

2 1/2 stars

I finished the book on Friday (appropriately, Friday the 13th! HA!). I liked it. But I don't think I ever quite got everything (maybe 1/2 to 3/4?) Bulgakov was trying to say through his story. It was certainly an entertaining and fascinating read.

I'm about two thirds of the way through. I thought I (roughly) understand what was going on, and then Margarita's section started, and... what? There's a hopefully helpful analysis in the back of my copy, so maybe all will become clear.

I am ready for Chapter 26 - The Burial. SO less than 100 pages to go - hoping to finish it up today. My copy is the new Penguin Deluxe Classics edition, so there is a Forward and and and Introduction in the front, but I skipped over those because they are always full of spoilers. I'll go back and read them when I am done to see if they add any insight.

I liked Book One better than I am liking Book Two, so I am interested to see where he will take if from here.