The book was listed in Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century. Also, when asked by Tyler Cowen, "What's your favorite novel?" the technologist Peter Thiel answered, "If you want something a little more intellectual, it's probably the Bulgakov novel The Master and Margarita where the devil shows up in Stalinist Russia, and succeeds, and gives everybody what they want, and everything goes haywire. It's hard, because no one believes he's real."[39]
"Manuscripts don't burn"
A memorable and much-quoted line in The Master and Margarita is "manuscripts don't burn" (рукописи не горят). The Master is a writer who is plagued both by his own mental problems and the harsh political criticism faced by most Soviet writers in 1930s Moscow in the Stalinist Soviet Union. He burns his treasured manuscript in an effort to cleanse his mind from the troubles the work has brought him. When they finally meet, Woland asks to see the Master's novel; the Master apologizes for not being able to do so, as he had burnt it. Woland replies, "You can't have done. Manuscripts don't burn." There is a deeply autobiographical element reflected in this passage. Bulgakov burned an early copy of The Master and Margarita for much the same reasons as he expresses in the novel. Also this may refer to Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus where the hero, deviating from previous tales of 'The Devil's Pact', is unable to burn his books or repent to a merciful God.
Bulgakov museums in Moscow
In Moscow, two museums honor the memory of Mikhail Bulgakov and The Master and Margarita. Both are located in Bulgakov's former apartment building on Bolshaya Sadovaya Street, No. 10. Since the late 1980s and the fall of the Soviet Union, the building has become a gathering spot for Bulgakov fans, as well as Moscow-based Satanist groups. Over the years they have filled the walls with graffiti. The best drawings were usually kept as the walls were repainted, so that several layers of different colored paints could be seen around them. In 2003, all of the numerous paintings, quips, and drawings were completely whitewashed.[40]
The two museums are rivals: the official Museum M.A. Bulgakov, although established second, identifies as "the first and only Memorial Museum of Mikhail Bulgakov in Moscow".[41]
- Bulgakov House
The Bulgakov House (Музей – театр "Булгаковский Дом") is situated on the ground floor of the building. This museum was established as a private initiative on 15 May 2004. It contains personal belongings, photos, and several exhibitions related to Bulgakov's life and his different works. Various poetic and literary events are often held. The museum organises tours of Bulgakov's Moscow, some of which have re-enactors playing characters of The Master and Margarita. The Bulgakov House also operates the Theatre M.A. Bulgakov and the Café 302-bis.
- Museum M.A. Bulgakov
In apartment number 50 on the fourth floor is the Museum M.A. Bulgakov (Музей М А. Булгаков). This facility is a government initiative, founded on 26 March 2007. It contains personal belongings, photos, and several exhibitions related to Bulgakov's life and his different works. Various poetic and literary events are often held here.
Allusions and references
Various authors and musicians have credited The Master and Margarita as inspiration for certain works.
- Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones was inspired by the novel in writing the song "Sympathy for the Devil".[42] Will Self's foreword to the Vintage edition of the Michael Glenny translation of the novel suggests the same, and Jagger's then girlfriend Marianne Faithfull confirmed it in an interview with Sylvie Simmons from the magazine Mojo in 2005.[43] Jagger says so himself in the Stones documentary Crossfire Hurricane.
- SORAYA released a song called 'the master and margarita' co-written with Adrian Grenier. The song was inspired by the novel, SORAYA's favourite book, but imagined the story taking place in contemporary Austin Texas. It was distributed by Empire.
- The grunge band Pearl Jam were influenced by the novel's confrontation between Jesus and Pontius Pilate in their song, "Pilate", on their 1998 album Yield.[44][45]
- The Canadian band The Tea Party has a song named "The Master and Margarita".[46]
- Surrealist artist H. R. Giger named a 1976 painting after the novel. The band Danzig featured this painting on the cover of their 1992 album Danzig III: How the Gods Kill.[47]
- The title song on Patti Smith's album Banga refers to Pontius Pilate and his dog Banga as portrayed in The Master and Margarita.[48]
- Master Margherita - musical band from Switzerland.
- Several songs written by the Chicago punk band The Lawrence Arms, for example "Chapter 13: The Hero Appears" from the 2003 album The Greatest Story Ever Told.
- Russian writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky were heavily influenced by this novel when writing several of their books. Аmong them are such works as Snail on the Slope, Limping Fate, Overburdened with Evil and others.[49]
- The Master and Margarita is cited as inspiration for Devil on the Cross, a Gikuyu language novel written by Kenyan novelist and Nobel Prize nominee Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.[50][51][52] Thiong'o wrote the original manuscript as a political prisoner between 1977 and 1978 in Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, where he was detained for a year without trial due to staging his play Ngaahika Ndeenda, a work criticizing corruption and hypocrisy amongst the new political elite of Kenya.[50][52][53] One of the clear parallels that emerge in Devil on the Cross is a celebration known as the "Devil's Feast," remindful of "Satan's Great Ball" in Bulgakov's Master and Margarita.[54][55] The Devil's Feast in Thiong'o's novel is a festival organized by the devil and neocolonialist powers celebrating seven of the most wicked and corrupt amongst the Kenyan bourgeoisie and awarding them with powerful positions.[55][56][57]
