The Morality of Punishment and Execution in The Master and Margarita

Russian Literature XVIII (198.5) 63-90 North-Holland

THE MORALITY OF PUNISHMENT AND EXECUTIUN IN THE MASTER AND MARGARITA

ERIC

NAIMAN

Since The Muster and Margarita is a novel about the meaning of writing and "the Word", it is not surprising that Bulgakov's own language is itself capable of being interpreted on a multiplicity of levels. As B.M.Gasparov demonstrates in his article "From Observations on the Motifs and Structure of M.A.Bulgakov's Novel, The .Vaster and Margarita" ("1~ nabljudenij nad motivnoj strukturoj romana M.A.Bulgakova Master i Margarita"),' Bulgakov's language spins a web which connects seemingly isolated elements within the text and also establishes relationships between Bulgakov's work and the texts of his predecessors. These interconnections have a dual function. Not only do they add depth and content to the events described in the novel but they reinforce the central parallel between the Master's creation and the book which the modern reader holds in his hands. some of Bulgakov's linguistic As Gasparov observes, connections are obvious and reinforced by several repetitions, while others OKEl3bIBaIOTCR TeM, (He

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the search for these connections may at Admittedly, times seem like mere "word play", a speculative enterprise providing gratification only to the seeker. What is surprising, though, is that connections which initially seem weak or problematic can be shown to contain recapitulations of some of the novel's moral messages. Within the confines of a single word Bulgakov occasionally is able through intratextual and intertextual references to deposit the essence of his moral perspective. In this article I will examine Bulgakov's morality in the context of the motif of kazn' (execution or punishment) which runs throughout the book. The importance of this theme has frequently been noticed by critics but has not been analyzed in detail. V.Laksin, comparing Voland to Goethe's Mephistopheles, argues that a principal difference between the two figures is that "it is as if Voland intentionally narrows his function; he is inclined not so much to seduce as to punish" ("Voland kak by namerenno suBivaet svoju funkciju, on sklonen ne stol'ko soblaznjat', skol'ko nakazyvat'").3 Gasparov writes that Bulgakov's world is one which "[tlo the singing of a deep bass (Mephistopheles's aria) . . . marches to punishment" ("[plod penie tjaZelogo basa (arija Mefistofelja) . . . sestvuet na kazn"').4 Indeed, the motif of kazn' is crucial to the plot and, as shall be seen, appears or at least lurks beneath the surface in the most unexpected places. A.

Decapitation

-

BerZioz

- MASSOLIT.

The first death related in the novel is that of Michail Berlioz, who slips on sunflower oil spilled by Annuska and falls into the path of a tram. The death is foretold by Voland in the first chapter when he tells Berlioz that a female member of the Komsomol the driver of the tram, as it turns out - will cut off Berlioz's head. This is the first direct mention of decapitation in the text. Even before Berlioz's untimely demise, several indirect references to sudden death through decapitation are made. The most obvious occur in Chapter Two when the fate of Iesua is decided. Although Ga-Nocri's violent death will not involve the severing of his head, it seems to Pilate that ronoBa

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The

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and

Margarita

65

[the head of the prisoner vanished [literally: sailed and in its place appeared another. On this bald away], head sat a golden sparsely spiked crown; on the forehead was a round sore which was corroding the skin and smeared with ointment; there was also a sunken, toothless mouth with a freakish pendulous lip.1

himself The second and follows:

is first described third paragraphs

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[More than anything on earth the Procurator hated the and now everything portended a bad smell of rose oil, from sunrise this smell had begun to perseday, since me? cute him...0 Gods, Gods, why are you punishing "Yes, there's no doubt. Once again it's the incurable horrible disease of hemicrania, which causes half my head to hurt. There is no remedy for it, no salvation from it. I will try not to move my head".]

These references presage the decapitations which will eventually occur. Moreover, as early as Chapter One's initial paragraph, Berlioz is portrayed as having a well-shaven face.7 Thus, even in the first sentence in the book which describes a character, reference is made to the interaction between the human face and a blade. The very name Berlioz contains an indirect reference to the death of the character bearing that name. One of Hector Berlioz's works, Symphonie Fantastique, has a movement entitled "March to the Scaffold" ("Marche au supplice") in which the composer's autobiographical protagonist imagines his own death.' While musical themes do pervade the novel, the key to understanding the significance of The Muster and Margarita's first death lies not in the music of Berlioz the composer but in the work of Berlioz the character. The first mention of Michail AleksandroviC Berlioz's name is immediately coupled with the first mention of the organization which he chairs. Bulgakov's second paragraph begins:

66

Eric

Naiman

nepF&i 6bm He KTO EIHOti KaK MHxaHn ~eKCaHgp0BW-I Bepn5io3, npence,qaTenb npasnesxfl 0flHoti ~3 KpynHeGmwx M~CKOB~KHX naTepaTypHbK accoqaaqa5, coKpalqeHn0 HMeHyeMOE~ MACCOJIMT, H penaKTop TOIICTOFO xynomecTseHHoro gyp9 Hana. [The first was none other than Michail AleksandroviE Berlioz, chairman of the board of one of the most prominent of MOSCOW'S literary associations, called MASSOLIT fox short, and the editor of a thick literary journal.]

When the Russian speaking reader first encounters the acronym MASSOLIT, he immediately assumes that it stands for the words Massovaja literatura - Literature of the Masses. Bulgakov, however, never confirms this supposition. The lack of confirmation is interesting in light of the fact that the author tells his reader directly that the other original acronym which appears in the book, Dramlit, represents "Dramaturg i literatar" - Dramaturg and Man of Literature." What accounts for Bulgakov's reticence ? Is it possible that MASSOLIT stands not only for Massovaja literatura but for something else as well? Close analysis of the Russian text reveals that MASSOLIT has a hidden and explosive meaning. Berlioz, we recall, is killed when he slips on spilled sunflower oil. In Russian, "sunflower oil" is "podsolneEnoe maslo" and "spilled", as an adjective, is "razlitoe". MASSOLIT, therefore, may be composed of the words MASlo podS0LneEnoe razLIToe. In this case, Berlioz's death takes on a new meaning. He seems to have been destroyed by his own literary organization. That Berlioz is destroyed by his own organization is entirely just. Despite, or perhaps in light of, Korov'ev/Fagot's assertion that "a whole abyss of talent" ("celaja bezdna talantov") is located in MASSOLIT's headquarters," it is obvious throughout the book that the association is not rich in literary talent. While the members of MASSOLIT may be skilled in obtaining dachas or trips to Yalta, as far as imaginative or courageous, inde endent thinking is concerned, they are a.11 dead souls. 72 In at least three places Bulgakov compares MASSOLIT'S members to the dead. First, their dance, beginning at midnight in the Griboedov House, resembles a frenzied dance of death.13 Second, Bulgakov, when describing MASSOLIT's headquary ters, writes: BCsiKkIB,

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[Each person entering the Griboedov House was first confronted by . . . the individual photographs of members of MASSOLIT which (the photographs) were hanging on the walls of the staircase leading to the second floor.]

The parenthetical clarification that it is the photonot the members of MASSOLIT, which axe hanging graphs, on the walls serves, of course, only to put the latter image into the reader's mind. Finally, at Berlioz's the members in attendance are twice described funexal, as having "rasterjannye lica".15 "Rasterjannye lica" may be translated as "perplexed" or "dismayed" "faces", but literally "rasterjannye" also means "lost" and, in fact, the root of this word is the verb "terjat"', which means "to lose". The first time in the scene that the faces are mentioned, they are depicted as "strangely dismayed [or lost]" ("stranno rasterjannye").16 This, then, is more than a chance description, because the head of Berlioz$s corpse actually has been strangely lost. MASSOLIT's members have lost their heads because Berlioz has been decapitated for a second time. By describing Berlioz's former colleagues and subordinates as having "rasterjannye lica", Bulgakov unites the living and the dead. Although Berlioz may have been a bit more literate than his followers, they all figuratively lack and do not use their heads. The death of Berlioz may have an even deeper, more significant meaning. In Chapter Five, Bulgakov writes that it is unimportant who owned the Griboedov House in the past. What is important, he says, is that the house is now owned by MASSOLIT, "at whose head stood the unfortunate Michail Aleksandroviz Berlioz until his appearance at the Patriarch Ponds" ("~0 glave kotorogo stojal neszastnyj Michail AleksandroviE FFrlioz do svoego pojavlenija na Patriarsich prudach"). If Berlioz stood at MASSOLIT's "head", then the death of caused by spilled sunflower oil, can be seen Berlioz, as a sort of self-decapitation. MASSOLIT beheads its head. MASSOLIT's self-destruction is a wonderful illustration of what Gasparov identifies as one of the major moral motifs in Bulgakov's work: ...

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responsibility and guilt of the personality [ . . . the scholar) who makes a compromise with society, (artist, away from the problem of moral with power, who walks artificially isolating himself from problems choice, that intrude from without so as to receive the possibility to work, to realize his own creative potential (and achieve immortality) - in other words, likeFaust,

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In order to succeed in his chosen profession, the writer must detach himself from morality and serve or at least pander to the tastes of the state. The alternatives do not provide hope. A writer who ignores governmental policy will not succeed; T9writer who lays his pen aside ceases to be a writer. Even if, as Gasparov contends, compromise enables atalented writer to achieve immortality, it entails the death of the writer's moral self. The writer must kill part of his being, i.e., destroy his moral components, if he wishes to reap the rewards of success. The compromises which a writer must make in the Soviet reality depicted by Bulgakov are revealed by the Master's futile attempts to publish his novel. He is attacked by various critics in the literary establishment. At first, he is perplexed by the harsh official reaction. Ultimately, the false friend and stool pigeon Aloizij Mogaryc helps the Master understand the reason for his failure. OH 3~0 TaH.

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[He explained to me completely, and I guessed that he why my novel could not be published. was not mistaken, He said straight out: chapter number so-and-so just will not pass...]

unusually terminated by an ellipThe final sentence, sis, is extremely important, The gist of what Mogaryc appears to be saying is that if the Master really wanted to publish his novel, he should have excised or altered certain chapters. In Russian, .the word "glava", the one utilized here by Bulgakov, may mean "chapter", but it may also mean "head". Berlioz stood "v glave",

The

Master

und

Margarita

69

"at the head of" MASSOLIT. Bulgakov is telling his reader that if the Master were to succeed, he would have, like MASSOLIT, to destroy a part of himself. We have come full circle. The death of Berlioz is not simply a death, it is the ultimate literary selfexecution, a metaphor for the murderous compromises which a Soviet author must make. Bulgakov, as Gasparov notes,'l felt the pain of these compromises acutely, even going so far as to write in a letter to Stalin: "I want to tell you, Iosif Vissarionovi?, that my dream as a writer consists of being summoned personally to you" ("cho& skazat' Vam, Iosif Vissarionovi?, Eta pisatel'skoe moe meztanie zakljuzaetsja v tom, Etoby byt' vyzvannym liEno k Vam")." Gasparov, however, while connecting Bulgakov's plight to the Master's, overlooks the link between the real author and MASSOLIT's editor. Bulgakov, like Berlioz, lived on Moscow's Sadovaja Street in an apartment number fifty.23 It is no accident that Berlioz's first name, Michail, is the same as Bulgakov's, nor that their patronymics (A1eksandrovi.E and Afanas'eviz) begin with the same letter, nor that their initials (MAB) are exactly the same.24 It is also no coincidence that Kiev, the city in which Bulgakov was born and raised, is mentioned in connection with Berlioz's relatives.25 The question "0 Gods, Gods, why are you punishing me?" ("0 bogi, bogi, za zto vy nakazyvaete menja?"), quoted above and strangely detached from Pilate's own quotation-mark encircled words, is not the Procurator's but Bulgakov's and is answered throughout the text. We can understand why the author at one point considered entitling his work (A) Fantastic Novei! (FantastiZeskij ~oman).26 The Master and Margarita is Bulgakov's own Symphonie Fantastique; like the composer Berlioz's poet/hero, the writer envisions his own self-inflicted death. In his lifetime, Bulgakov had more than his share of spilled sunflower oil... B. Rosskazni. When she learns that the Master has burnt all the copies of his novel, Margarita cries "I will heal you, heal you . . . You will restore it" ("Je tebja vyle?u, vyand attempts to save what 1eEu . . . Ty vosstavis' ego")27 she can from the embers of the fire. The Master tells Ivan that she Co6npaTb

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70

Eric

Naiman

[began to collect and. smooth out scorched sheets of paper. It was some chapter from the middle of the novel, I don't remember which.] it is on the basis of this partially burned Clearly, central chapter that Margarita hopes the Master will be able to "restore" his novel. In Chapter Nineteen, we see Margarita reading a partially burned page which, we later learn, is from the third chapter of the Master's book. Only four chapters of the Master's work are shown to the reader, so this chapter truly is central. However, if we think in terms of Bulgakov's novel, the initial draft of which actually was burned by the author, we see that this chapter is number twenty-five.2g The Master and Margarita has thirty-two chapters and an epilogue.30 What chapter is at its center? Chapter Sixteen of T'he Master and Margarita is entitled "Kazn"' and relates the story of the execution of Ga-Nocri. The thematic centrality of this chapter is obvious and needs no exposition. What is fascinating, though, is how the execution in the sixteenth chapter is mirrored in the other central chapter number seventeen - which is entitled "An Anxious Day" ("Bespokojnyj den"'). Chapter Seventeen tells the story of the difficulties which the Variety's bookkeeper, Vasilij StepanoviE LastoEkin, encounters as he tries to rid himself of the money collected by the ticket booth for Voland's performance. Lastockin carries the sum to various offices, seeing the results of Korov'ev's and Begemot's work along the way, and is ultimately arrested when the roubles in his possession mysteriously change into a rainbow of various foreign currencies. On the surface, the story of Lastockin's misfortune is just one of many strange tales which are narrated in the book. Hidden within the account of Lastockin's troubles, however, are several references to the theme of execution which have profound repercussions. The first set of references to execution revolves, not surprisingly, around images of decapitation. Although no one is actually killed in Chapter Seventeen, Bulgakov at least three times uses various forms of the word "golova" (head) to suggest execution.31 Lastockin is the highest ranking figure left in the Variety because "the entire head of the administration [Lichodeev, Varenucha, Rimskij] had disappeared" ("propala vsja golovka administracii").32 When the Friday evening performance is cancelled, the line of prospective ticket holders is described as follows:

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cavalry which had cut a path for the noon headed for the city's Hebron Gate at a trot. A path had already been cleared for it. Infantrymen of the Cappadocian cohort pressed a throng of people, mules and camels to the side, and the division, trotting and raising a white pillar of dust to the sky, headed out to the crossroads which joined the southern road leading to Vifleem and the north-western one going to Jaffa. The division took the north-western road. The members of the same cohort were scattered along the edge of the road and in good time drove to the sides all the caravans which were hurrying to the holiday in Ershalaim. Throngs of pilgrims stood behind the members of the cohort, having left their temporary striped tents which had been pitched directly on the grass. When it had gone about a kilometer, thedivision passed the second cohort of the Lightning Legion and was the first group to come, having covered yet another kilometer, to the base of the Bald Mountain.] Procurator

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In both cases the armed force of the state is divided between two groups: one on foot, the other on horseback. In both paragraphs the state brings collections of people into order, and in both cases the distance of one kilometer is mentioned. The parallel between the description of the Variety and IeSua's execution established by these two paragraphs is reinforced by the information, provided earlier, in Chapter Twelve, that the theatre, when filled to capacity, holds twenty five hundred people,37 approximately the same number that watch the start of the execution.38 Furthermore, in Chapter Sixteen the regiments of Roman soldiers are portrayed surrounding the place of execution in "tiers" ('jarusy") ,3g just like in a theatre. The theatrical parallel aside, the treatment provided for the unwilling singers in Chapter Seventeen

The

Master

and

Margarita

73

is strikingly similar to the steps used to put a (permanent) end to the suffering of the three dying prisoners. Before Iesua, Dismas and Gestas are killed, they are each given a drink from a sponge. The verb "poit"' (to give to drink) is used.40 After drinking, each prisoner is pierced with a lance. In Chapter Seventeen the doctor gives valerian to the chorus and the verb The chorus is taken to "poit ' " is used once again.4' Professor Stravinskij's clinic in three trucks,42 a number which further links the singers to the executed men. We assume that the chorus, like all the others who have been sent to Stravinskij, will be treated with injections, i.e., their symptoms will be terminated by their being pierced by a sharp instrument. In Chapter Twenty-Seven, we learn that our suspicions on this score were correct.43 Finally, the singers are taken to Stravinskij because they are assumed to be mentally unbalanced; Gestas, we recall, went mad at the stake and began to sing. The figure of Lastockin himself serves to establish a connection between the two central chapters. He is described as being "modest and quiet" ("skromnyj i tichij"),44 "thorough and dependable" ("akkuratnyj i ispolnitel'nyj")45 and "conscientious" ("dobrosovestnyj'").46 He is, in short, a sympathetic character, yet he is punished all the same. Lastockin's arrest is the only instance of the antics of Voland's band resulting in the punishment of an entirely harmless character.47The bookkeeper's unfortunate fate thus parallels that of Ga-Nocri, who is entirely undeserving of chastisement. A further tie between the figures of Iesua and the bookkeeper is established by Lastockin's name. "Lastockin" is derived from the word "lastoEka", meaning "swallow". In the Renaissance, the image of the swallow served as a symbol of the Incarnation, i.e. the mortalof Christ.48 In The Master and Margarita a swallow ity, appears only once, in the scene where Pilate decides the fate of Ga-Nocri. The bird flies away in the instant before Pilate learns that Iesua has predicted the eventual downfall of the Emperor. It is this news that makes the cowardly Procurator back down from his decision not to condemn the prisoner to death.4g Another parallel between the two chapters is established by the similarity between the words "kazn'" and "kazennyj" (fiscal, Exchequer's), the adjective derived from "kazna" (public treasury). The central theme of Chapter Sixteen is the kazn' resulting in the death of Iesua; that of Chapter Seventeen is LastoEkin's attempt to rid himself of the "fiscal money" ("kazennych deneg") which eventually causes his downfall.50 The use of this

74

Eric

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word pair to paint an unflattering picture of present day events has a famous precedent - in his poem "Earth) PuSkin explicitly played ly Power" ("Mirskaja vlast"' on the words' sounds and meanings: Ho y ~O,~HOXKIIRTenepb KpecTa qecTHor.0, KaK M61

6yflTO

3p&iM pJ?Kbe

B K qeMy, kim

y

KpbLJIbIJa

CKaxcHTe

pacnxmue

M Bbl

IlpaBMTeJlR

- nOCTaBJIeH0 13 KHBepe ABa MHe, -

6oHTeCR

rca3ennaz

BOPOB

FPaACKOrO,

Ha MeCTO XCeH CBRTblX I'p03HbIX 9aCOBbIX. XpaHMTeJlbHaR CTpaHta?

-

noKnaxa, HjIM

Mbmrefi?

e........................................

OnacaeTecb, gTO6 sepHb He ocKop6EIJIa Toro, Bbs 7ca37tb Becb peg aRaMoB McKynkiaa, M, YT06 He nOTeCHEITb rynsIx)uHX rocnog, nyCKaTb He BeJleHO CIOaa npOCTOEi HapOR? 51 (emphasis hb

[But now As if at We see -

at the base of the saintly cross, the steps of the city's liege, positioned in the holy women's place

added)

-

With rifles and shakos two sentries stern. To what end - tell me - serves this protective guard? Is the crucifiaion - Exchequer's property, And are you afraid of thieves or mice? . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . Or do you fear, lest the mob insult The One, whose eX&?UtiOn atoned for Adam's whole race, And, so as not to crowd the strolling lords, Has it been ordered not to admit ordinary folk?] with the same ellipsis, are the only These lines, verses presented in poetic form by Bulgakov in his play about PuSkin, The Last Days (PosZednie dni), which in which he worked on he wrote during the long p eriod between.the The Master and Margarita. ' The parallel two chapters and the reference to Puskin's poem are reinforced, as we have already observed, by the pairing of descriptions in which the common people are prevented by the state from approaching too closely (or at all) the site of an unusual and potentially threatening event. If the parallels discussed above seem intricate, they pale beside the extraordinary set of associations established by just one of Chapter Seventeen's words. The second paragraph in the chapter ends with the following sentence: CKpOMHbIfi

H TUXti

BacnnM

CTeIIaHOBPis

TOJIbKO

MOpI-aJI

ma-

The

3arm, TeJIbHO

cnyuIafi He

npMHWMaTb Tenepb

Master

and

poccKa3m

060

3HaJI,

9~0

HWHO

6bUIo

oKa3ancsi

eMy

Margarita

Bcex

75

3mx

yygecax,

npeanpamTb,

VTO-TO,

cTapmm

H

BO

a MMeHnO

Bcefi

H

Memy eMy,

KoManae

pem-

TeM TaK

BapbeTe.

npefiKBK

OH

53

[Modest and quiet Vasilij Stepanoviz just blinked his eyes as he listened to the wild stories about all these miracles [that had occurred the night before] and did not quite know what to do, but nevertheless it was necessary for someone to do something, and that someone was him, since he was now the top figure in the Variety's hierarchy.]

The use in this sentence of the word "rosskazni" ("wild stories") is extraordinary. The word contains two complex and important references: one primarily intertexthe other almost totally intratextual. tual, One of the sources to which Bulgakov referred and from which he copied items of interest while working on The Master and Margarita was Dal' 's EzpZanatory Dictionary of the Living Russian Language (ToZko~yj S~Ovar' z'ivogo russkogo jazyka) .54 "Rosskazni" is defined by Dal' as "chatter, buffoonery, amusing stories" ("boltovnja, balagurstvo, potesnye rasskazy")." His dictionary's example of the word's usage is startling in light of the plot of The Master and Margarita. BnameH aocrcasqax

[Blessed

. ..Ko~y uepeoliyaz

is

wild stories, notes. I

UapeBHbI, LWIIOT

rosskazni,

3a

.56

38

(emphasis

he . . . into whose for incredible

paCTO6aphI,

B

added)

coffers tales,

princesses, for send ten rouble

In the context of Chapter Seventeen, there is clearly a hidden intratextual reference which is established by the intertextual reference to this quotation. When LastoEkin hears "wild stories" ("rosskazni") about the previous night, he is learning of the "ten roubte notes" ("Eervoncy") sent by Voland to the audience. The intertextual repercussions, however, are far more serious. The usage example in Dal I's book is from DerHavin's "A Murza's Vision" ("Videnie Murzy"). The full quotation is as follows: &ESeH

II

KaKOri

6bI

ki3 B KaK

TOT,

TepeMOB

KOMy

6bwIo

HEI

CBOAX

Cpe6pO-pO30BbIX

6~~7-0

yKpaAKOti

LJapeBHbI OpabI ZHTaPHbIX CBeTJIHq,

113

OT

y.nyco~ IlpH,lJBOpHblX

AamHbIX, JIIIIJ,

Eric

76

3a

pOCCKa.SHPi,

3a

BNpLIEI

3a HJIb

Picno~Tmma ti

B

Naiman

3a

paCTabapb1, =ZTo-HW6yAb,

apanie

&(OCKaHqaX

,qapbI qepBOHqb1

IlIJIlOT

.57

[And blessed is he into whose coffers princesses, whatever their horde, from their amber tower chambers and silver-rose rooms, with courtly smiles send secretly, as if from far-off nomad camps, expensive gifts and ten rouble notes in exchange for wild stories, incredible tales, doggerel or anything at all.]

this is a subtle dig at BulgaTaken at face value, usually talentless writers transkov's "colleagues", fixed by the lure of money whom the author mocks unsubtly throughout the book. In the context of "A Murza's Vision", though, "rosskazni" has an even more The message of the poem subtle, all-embracing meaning. is that poets should not concern themselves with flattery and earthly comfort but with the more enduring concerns of divine or spiritual existence. ~OSSIlcI

He

Ho

BbmHMB

CeCi

gap

EI K

noyYemm

&IT, i‘f

60r0B

AoJIxeH TJIeHHOti

CyMaC6pOgCTB0,

60ro~,

gap

mm MX 06paqea,

IIOXBaJIe

Ii

Torna

qecTH

nyTeii He

K

JIIeCTM

JImnefi.58

[When poetry is not madness, but the highest gift of gods, then this gift should be used only for the sake of honor and the study of godly ways, not for flattery and. the perishable praise of man.]

Precisely this point is made throughout The Master and Margarita, where greed for material possessions - including apartments - destroys many a writer and even Ivan Bezdomnyj (literally, Ivan Homeless) does not escape unscathed. Indeed, Bezdomnyj is the very model of DerHavin's flatterer/"poet"; he does not write about divine or spiritual glory. On the contrary, he paints Christ "with very black co1ors"5g and his actions, including his frantic Odyssey through the alleys of the Arbat, become those of a person whose life is devoted not to art but to "'madness" ("sumasbrodstvo", literally, wandering from mind).

The

Master

and

Margarita

77

like the Master and Bulgak::, Although Derzavin, was unable to live by the dictates of his ideal, Murza's Vision" is his attempt to warn artists to the temptations of superficial pleasure. OCTaBb

HeKTapoM

OnacHy

rIaury,

[Abandon

the

filled

is

He who chooses

with

poison

truth YTO

R

CepAIJa

He

AeHbI-H

CKPblT

dangerous

hidden

Pi3

rIWCJla He

61

there

there.]

flattery, MOei-

II

R&l,. cup

nectar;

over

YTO

3a

HanosIHeHHy r&&e

"A avoid

who

says:

JIbCTeL&OB; TOBapOB npop;aro.62

[That I am not a flatterer, That the wares of my heart For money I shall not sell.1

will be made immortal by the power of the divine.63 This is the salvation of Bulgakov's Master. While he ceases to strive for his beliefs and convictions and so fails to "earn light",64 by devoting himself to inspiration, by refusing to be bought, he earns eternal For his homeless life he is rewarded with an refuge. "eternal home" ("vehyj dom") .65 In addition to the references already discussed, "rosskazni" may have a far more sinister and significant meaning. The word is derived from the root "skaz" (meaning "to tell" or "to say"), but it may be divided, like an acronym, into "ross" (the root of the word for "Russia“) and "kazni" ("executions" or "punishments"). Seen this way, Satan's performance, to which the word explicitly refers, serves as a punishment of the Russian nation for its avarice and lack of moral virtue. Voland sits in judgment over the Russian people, who have changed greatly, at least externally, since his last visit.66 He executes one of them - Bengal'skij but then, because he has more power than Pilate and because the Russian people are not so bad (they merely "remind one of their predecessors" ("napominajut pre?nich"),67 the Devil undoes most of his work. The head of Bengal'skij is restored. All the same, punishment does occur, and it recurs in a theatrical context in the dream of Nikanor IvanoviE Bosoj, although in both cases it is less painful and more embarrassing than that inflicted on IeSua. This interpretation of the use of the word "ros-

78

Eric

Nuiman

skazni" is derived from more than the thin air on which many of Bulgakov's characters float. The word appears only once in the entire book., in a central chapter located immediately after and paralleling the one entitled "Kazn"'. As we have seen, images of execution and punishment abound throughout Chapter Seventeen and the of Berlioz, rest of the text. Some, such as the death are obvious, but others are concealed. A list of this latter category would include the many occasions when characters are described in positions resemblinq crucifixion and apparently off-hand statements such as "Nikanor IvanoviE was pale as a ghost" ("Na Nikanore Ivanovice lica ne bylo", literally, "there was no face on Nikanor Ivanovic").6e Once we view execution in this broader light, the word "rosskazni" comes to stand as a symbol for the entire work. The Master and Margarita is indeed a collection of "wild stories", but it is also a tale of how the Russian people are punished for their sins. Like "MASSOLIT" and "Berlioz", "rosskazni" is a word which operates on many levels. It plays a simple role in the sentence in which it is placed, serves as a biting literary reference, and captures in itself two essential messages, two deeper, moral meanings of the book. Perhaps it is significant that "rosskazni" is used with reference to the bookkeeper. As Bulgakov reminds us throughout his novel, the one who writes or keeps the book determines history. Actions are recorded and altered through the occasionally black magic of language. Although Lastockin as a person is innocent, it is through bookkeepers that the truth is distorted, turned by censorship into "rosskazni" that, unlike Buldo not reflect the truth.69 Moregakov's wild stories, as Varenucha's experience should remind us, liars over, are to be punished or even executed. "Rosskazni" thus functions on a third, even higher level. Through linguistic trickery, Bulgakov reveals the potentialtreachery of words. C. l'he Duality Becomes His

of Punishment Own Victim.

or

HOW the

Hangman

The first appearance of the word "executioner" ("palac") in The Master and Margarita occurs in the second chapter when Iegua says to Pilate: "And now I am involuntarily acting as your executioner, that's what distresses me" ("I sejcas ja nevol'no javljajus' tvoim palaEom, Et0 menja ogor'Zaet").70 Iesua's choice of words is at the very least ironic, since it is Pilate who is about to impose the death sentence on him. There is

The

Master

and

Margarita

79

more than irony at work here, however; Ga-Nocri's statement fits a pattern that runs through the book. When we are first introduced to Michail Berlioz, in the novel's initial paragraph, we are told that "a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses of preternatural size was sitting on his well-shaven face" ("na choroso vybritom lice ego pomescalis' sverch"estestvennych razmerov oEki v eernoj rogovoj oprave").71 Berlioz, of course, will be the novel's first victim, but three of the adjectives used in this description of his face identify him with the figure whom Bezdomnyj and Soviet investigators believe responsible for his death. "Black" is the devil's color, "horns" are one of the Prince of Darkness's common attributes, and the word "sverch'lestestvennyj", which can mean "supernatural" as well as "preternatural", would seem to apply better to Berlioz's adversary than to the editor himself. Nevertheless, the words are used to describe Berlioz, and they thus serve to blur the distinction between the apparent executioner and the apparent victim. This blurring is aided by a further link between Michail Aleksandroviz and Voland; Berlioz is astonished to hear the mysterious foreigner repeating the speech that he, Berlioz, had delivered to Bezdomnyj just a short time before. Berlioz is linked to one other executing figure Pontius Pilate. Both Pilate and Berlioz suffer, albeit to different degrees, from the effects of oil. Moreover, one of Pilate's first questions to Iesua, "DO you have any relatives?" ("Rodnye est'?")72 is echoed in a slightly different form by Berlioz's query to Voland, "Did you come alone or with our spouse?" ("Vy 7Y The pair odni priechali ili s suprugoj?"). of questions sets up a double merger of executioners and victims because Ga-Nocri's response to Pilate, 'Not a one. I am alone in the world" ("Net nikogo. Ja odin v mire")f44 is nearly identical to Voland's 'Alone, alone, I am always alone" ("Odin, Odin, ja vsegda Odin") ." Iegua, moreover, tells Pilate that he is a traveller without a permanent place of residence, and Voland, a visiting foreigner, answers Berlioz's question "Where are you staying?" ("Vy gde ostanovilis'?") with the words "I? Nowhere" ("Ja? Nigde").76 Ga-Nocri is further linked to Voland, as are most of the latter's victims, in that both are suspected by their interlocutors of being mad. Bengal'skij, the master of ceremonies at the Variety, is the second figure whose decapitation is recorded in the text. His name suggests a species of tiger and, significantly, he is killed when Begemot, a large cat, springs on him "like a panther" ("kak pantera").

80

Eric

Naiman

Elsewhere Begemot describes how he once killed and ate a tiger when he was starving in the desert." These are not the only times that Be.gemot shares an attribute with his victims. Soon after Sokov's head has been scratched by the demon, the manager of the buffet is described as placing money on a table "as if with a cat's paw" ("kak budto kosaz'ej lapkoj")." In a sense, Iuda is Iesua's executioner, for it is Iuda who betrays Ga-Nocri to the latter's enemies. In death, though, Iuda and Ga-Nocri merge as Iuda assumes in the Master's book attributes of the biblical Christ. Although in the Bible Judas commits suicide, here Iuda's death is orchestrated by Pilate, who is also responsible for Ga-Nocri's fate. When Iuda falls, he is described as having outstretched arms," i.e., his position is that of a man who has been crucified. Later, reference is made to his eventual resurrection. When Pilate asks Afranius, "So, he will not rise?" ("Tak, Eta on, konecno, ne vstanet?"), the assassin replies: "No, Procurator, he will rise . ..when the horn of the Messiah who is awaited here will sound above him. But earlier, he will not rise" ("Net prokurator, on vstanet . . . kogda truba Messii, kotorogo zdes' oHidajut, prozvuEit nad nim. No ranee on ne vstanet").'l Afranius is vouching for Iuda's death, but his words, taken at face value, hint at a future resurrection. Gasparov, in his article, notes the several similarities between the deaths of Baron Majgel' and Iuda and claims that when the Baron's blood turns into wine we are witnessing the transformation, as in the Eucharist, of the blood of Iuda.82 If this is so, three of the most important elements in the story of Christ and the ritual connected to it are transposed in The Master and Margarita into the tale of the man who helps send the figure most resembling Christ to his death. These examples of the merging of executioners and their victims must be regarded as complementary to what has been said of the significance of "MASSOLIT" and "rosskazni". Through the acronym MASSOLIT, the unfortunate Berlioz is united with the thing that kills him. Moreover, if Bulgakov's novel is a wild story of how the Russian nation is punished for its sins, the Russian people's participation in their own destruction should not be overlooked. With the exception of Baron Majgel' (who has a foreign name), none of the unfortunate figures in the book are chastised by the devil's work alone. Arrests are made by the secret police, Berlioz is decapitated by a tram driven by a member of the Communist Youth League (Komsomol), and the Variety's audience calls for the removal of the master's of cere-

T'he Master

and Margarita

81

monies head. Perhaps most importantly, Bulgakov tells his reader that strange things occurred in apartment number fifty before Voland's arrival.83 In the Moscow of the twenties and thirties, people frequently disappeared without the help of Satan. As noted in the previous section, punishment is almost always deserved; "rosskazni" is a word that the victims in Bulgakov's world bring upon themselves. What does the identification of executioners with their victims mean? In part it serves as an example of what Gasparov sees as the novel's refusal to endorse absolutes. Taking his cue from the epigraph. "So who, then, are you? I am part of that force that eternally wants evil and eternally accomplishes good" ("Tak kto - Ja - East' toj sily, Eta vecno cho?et 22 ty, nakonec? zla i vecno soversaet blago"), Gasparov writes: "Good and evil, the grandiose and the insignificant, the high and the low, pathos and humor are all inseparable from one another" ("Dobro i 210, grandioznoe i nictoznoe, vysokoe i nizkoe, pafos i nasmeska okazyvajutsja neotdelimy drug ot druga"). There are, however, two further points of significance to Bulgakov's merger of executioner and victim. The first is tied to the themes of "MASSOLIT" and "rosskazni". The identification of executioner with victim mirrors what has been said here about the dilemma of the successful Soviet writer: in doing that which is necessary for the advancement of his career, the Soviet artist becomes his own hangman and, consequently, his own victim. This self-defeating undertaking involves the stripping of merit from one's work. The highest duty of the recognized writer is the flattering of the State, and this entails the writing of what Derzavin would term "rosskazni". In writing their worthless rosskazni, however, some of which attempt to punish unsuccessful artists who do not flatter, MASSOLIT's members become the target of Bulgakov's wild stories - rosskazni that are only superficially unreal, rosskazni that punish with a respect for the truth. The general theme of the blurring of the executioner's and the victim's roles, which occurs almost entirely within a supposedly artistic (theatrical, literary) environment, thus serves as a backdrop for the enacting of a specific drama: the tragic fate of the Soviet artist driven by the desire to succeed. The second function of the merger of executioner and victim becomes clear only in the final chapters of the book. By refusing to present his reader with unflawed characters - no one in the Moscow chapters "earns light" - Bulgakov refutes Iegua's contention

Eric

82

Naiman

It is not that all men are good. are no evil people in the world" and svete") , a5 for Baron Majgel' or nothing to recommend themselves. endorses the words, not of IeSua, says to Matvej: He 6yReuIb Resrano 6bI

TbI

Ho

X09emb

npovb CJla~aTbCR

6blBaMT Tbl

RepeBbs FOJIbIM

IIOAyMaTb

eCJIH

6bI

ecm OT

JIH Bee

go6p

3eMnliI,

nOJIy=laIoTCR

IUnarM.

TaK

~06~0,

BbIrnxAeJra

TeHIl

He

mi TBOe

Ha,q

He

6bI

ObORpaTb

OT

BOnpOCOM:

c

Hee H

BeCb xmoe

CBeTOM?

Tbl

3Jla,

McYe3mi

JlIOae%.

AepeBbeB

M Bee

VITO

Cy~eCTBOBaJIO

IlpeAMeTOB

TeHPi

even true that "there ("zlych ljudej net na Latunskij have little Bulgakov's story but of Voland, who

Tern? BOT

I? OT 3eMHOk 543-3a

rsIyn.

IUap, TBoeB

Begb

TeHb

H(HBbIX

661 I? KaK

OT

MOefi

CyIIJeCTB. CHeCR

&aHTa3m

C

Hel-0 na-

86

[Won't you be so kind as to ponder over this question: What would your- good do if there were no evil, and how would the earth look if all shade vanished? For shadows are cast by objects and people. There is the shadow of my sword. But there are also shadows cast by trees and living beings. Isn't it that you want to strip the whole globe, taking from it all trees and living beings because of your fantasy of delighting in just bare light? You're stupid.]

Voland's sword has earlier in this scene been described as acting as a sundial, and the message is clear. Evil, like death, is as inherent a part of human existence as is time. Efforts to dispose of it are doomed to failure unless they entail the total destruction of man. IS this, as Matvej asserts, just sophistry? Is it a defense, a justification of sorts for those who, like Bulgakov, Berlioz and the Master, have failed to attain light? Such an interpretation would be unfair. Bulgakov is brutally self-critical, even going so far as to stage his own "self-execution" in the novel's third chapter. The Master and Margarita is more than an author's justification for his own moral failings. It is an author's confession, the artistic expiation of his sins against his own art.'? Moreover, it is a confession with profound repercussions. To understand fully the consequences of Bulgakov's insistence on punishment's duality, we must see that there are, in effect, two sorts of self-destructive acts in The Master and Margarita. The first is the cowardly betrayal by the artist of his own morality and talent, whether by pandering to the state or falling silent through fear. The second is the destruction of that self which is the creation of cupidity and/or cow-

The

Master

and Margarita

83

ardice. By suffering, sacrifice and atonement, by expressing his horror at what has occurred, by facing and skillfully reflecting the truth, the author can recoup what he has lost and erase the effects of his initial self-destruction. As Bulgakov's most obvious source proclaims: "By gaining his life a man will lose it; by losing his life for my sake, he will gain it"." That Bulgakov views the artist's role as the exposi' tion of the self-destructive process through which morality falls prey to cowardice can be seen by examining A Theatrica Wove2 (TeatraZ'nyj another of his works. "The Notes of a Dead Man" ("Zapiski reman) , subtitled pokojnika"), is the story of Maksudov, an author who in many respects resembles Bulgakov." At the outset of the book, which was written during a period when Bulgakov had temporarily set aside The Master and Margarita, Maksudov writes a novel but is told by "comrades" that it will never be allowed in print. "You had better understand" ("Pojmi ty"), they say, "that the artistic merit of your novel is not so great as to warrant gQing ("E-to ne tak veliki US for its sake up onto Golgotha" chudo5estvennye dostoinstva tvoego romana, Etoby iz-za nego tebe idti na Golgofu")." In a state of depreshe decides to commit suicide. He is ready to sion, shoot himself when he hears the opera "Faust" coming from a record player in the apartment below. Holding the gun to his temple, he decides to pull the trigger upon the "entrance" ("vychod") of Mephistopheles. Just as the demon's bass comes through the floor, however, the door opens and "in brief, there stood before me ('koroCe govorja, peredo mnoju stojal Mephistopheles" Mefistofel"').gl It is not actually the devil, but Rudol'fi, an editor intent upon publishing Maksudov's work. In this manner does Maksudov's literary career, so explicitly equated with suicide, begin. Maksudov turns his novel into a play - Black Snow and is offered a production by the Independent Theatre. At first, all goes well, but then one of the theatre's two directors, Ivan Vasil'evic, demands that the play be changed. In particular, Ivan Vasil'eviE is upset by the scene in which Bachtin, Ilaksudov's hero, shoots himself on stage. "This is in vain" ("St0 naprasno"), he exclaims, "to what end? This has tobe crossed out,let's not waste a second. For pity's sake! Why should he shoot?" ("ZaEem Oto? gto nado vycerknut', ne medlja ni sekundy. Pomilujte! ZaCem 5e streljat'?").'* Ivan Vasil'evic argues that Bachtin should stab himself in the wings and that the suicide should not be shown. Maksudov responds: "But he has to commit suicide" ("No on dol?en koncit' samoubi jstvom").g3 Ivan Vasil'evic is firm: 'you take

Erie

84

Nuiman

this scene out, it's superfluous" ('Ivy Stu scenu vyEerknite, ona liSnjaja").g4 For artists like Ivan Vasil'evi?, whose paranoia is just another side of the lack of courage that many of The Master and Margarita's characters display, the scene truly is superfluous, for the mutilation by an author of his own work is the same as suicide. If the artist does not wish to resist this self-destructive process, artistic depiction of self-destruction is unnecessary. Maksudov, however, is determined to retain the scene. He writes: HBaH ~3

BaCPiJIbeBWl nbecbl

r&e R

cBe7xma 3HEIJI,

A

BaTb. 9TO

B

Cqezy,

nyHa,

rge

rge m-panw

6bLnO

CylQeCTBOBaTb,

. ..z

CTapaJlCR

MCTHHa

YTO~~I

ycnbmam, Ha

MHe

XOTeSlOCb,

cHery xoTen.

KaK

noR rITO6bl 95

Torna

Ha

UTO

HyXHO

cTpam0 nyao12 yBkiJJeJlH

CTpeMWlCR

3acTpenmcs

ek

HeES

He

Pi HaCTOklrBO

caMym

SI BM,qeJl,

Korga rIer0

ylIOpH0

Ty

nbeca

nepecTaHeT

UT0

BblCTpeJl,

rapMomma CHer.

,

TeM

Mexqy cyuecTBo-

UOTOMy

pacnsIblsaeTcfl sepHbti

..,

A

rapMomme.

CllaCTH Noel

H3fHaTb

EaxTm

FI 3HaJI, R XOTeJl,

Ha

KposaBoe ~OsIbUle

MOCTY, ~RTHO. II

HH-

[Ivan Vasil'evi: was stubbornly and insistently trying to excise from the play that very scene in which Bachtin . . . shot himself, in which the moon shined and the accordion played. But I knew, I saw, that then the play would cease to exist. And it had to exist, because I knew there was truth in it . . . I was trying to save the shot; I wanted people to hear how terrifyingly the accordion sang on the bridge while the bloody stain spread on the moonlit snow. I wanted people to see the black snow. That's all I wanted.]

Bulgakov never finished A Theatrical Novel, so we do not know the outcome of Maksudov's battle with Ivan Vasil'eviE, other than that Maksudov eventually kills himself. The fate of Black Snow, however, is relatively unimportant; what is crucial is A T'heatrical Novel's commentary on the significance of the theme of suicide and its depiction by the author. In Tlze Master and Margarita, to an even greater extent than in A T'heatrical Novel, Bulgakov deals with the moral consequences of self-destruction in society. There is no bridge and no accordion, but there is Berlioz, there are rosskazni and there are interrelationships aplenty between victims and executioners. In The Master and Margarita, Bulgakov displays the true tragedy of the Soviet author, and so manages to save - and broadcast - the shot.g6

The

Master

and

85

Margarita

Bulgakov's

victory over cowardice in The Master and underscores one of his principal themes: the potential in man for good. By showing us through his characters and through himself the difficulties of living with courage, Bulgakov makes us appreciate that Courage may be rare and difficult, virtue even more. but it is not impossible, Even those who have lived without courage may atone for their sins, and where courage is lacking, mercy and pity may loosen the hold of evil, cowardice and greed on the human soul. After two thousand years of purgatory, the Procurator is released to join Ga-Nocri in the gentle path of the moon rather than in darkness or the harsh rays of the sun. He has been given light and the former executioner's triumph glimmers in his final conversation with his former victim: Margarita

Eom,

60ru...

Ho

me,

TbI

KaKaSl

llOUlJlaff

noxanyBcTa,

Ka3Hb!

cram,

. . .

segb

ee He 6bmo! MOJI~MTe6z, CK~XM, . . . He Hy KoHeWio, He 6bmO... 3~0 Te6e noMepelqxInocb. M

TM

MOXelUb

nOKJlECTbCR

B

6bmo?

3TOM?

KmxHyCb! Bonblue

me

HImel-

He

HyXWO!"

[Gods, gods... What an awful execution! But, please, tell me... After all, there wasn't an execution! I beg you, tell me, there wasn't one, was there? of course there wasn't. It just seemed to you that there was. And can you swear to that? I swear! I don't need anything more!]

The theme of execution Pilate marches forward... to the sky.

and

punishment not to the

is overcome scaffold but

New

York

and in-

Eric

86

Naiman

NOTES nad motivnoj strukturoj 1. Boris M.Gasparov, “Iz nabljudenij romana M.A.Bulgakova, Master i Margarita", Slavica Hierosolymitana Vol.111 (1978), 198-251. 2. Ibid., 201. "Roman M.Bulgakova Master i Margarita", 3. V.LakBin, No.6 (1968), 293. 233. See also M.O.Eudakova, 4. Gasparov, op.cit.,

Bulgakova. Zapiski

otdela

(1968),

mir

"Archiv M.A. tvorPeskoj biografii pisa'celja", sukopisej, vyp.37 (Moskva 1976), 25-151, and "ZavegEanie Mastera", Voprosy literatury No.6

Materialy

I.Vinogradov,

Novyj

dlja

43-75.

to the texts of The Master and Margarita and A Theatrical Novel are to the versions published in M.Bulgakov, Romany (Leningrad 1978). This citation is to page 445. 6. Ibid. 435-6. 7. Ibid. 423. Fantastic Symphony (New 8. Edward T.Cone, ed., Hector Berlioz: 5.

Citations

York 1971), 24-5. 9. Bulgakov, op.cit. 10. 11.

Ibid. Ibid.

423.

652. 768.

12. For a discussion of the influence of Gogol' on Bulgakov, see Gasparov, op.cit. 247-51. 13. Describing the scene at the Griboedov House during the dance, Bulgakov writes: "In a word, hell" ("Slovom, ad"), op.cit. 477. 14. 15. 16. 17.

Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.

471. 638 and 639. 638. 471. 18. Gasparov, op.cit. 245.

19. In his famous letter to Stalin, Bulgakov wrote: "There is no such thing as a writer who has fallen silent. If he has fallen silent, it means that he was not a real writer. And if a real writer has fallen silent, he will perish" ("Net takogo pisatelja, zto-by on zamolEa1. Esli zamolral, znazit by1 ne nastojaSEij. A esli nastoja2Ei.j zamolzal - pogibnet", L.Milne, Novyj z'urnal No.111 (1973), ed., "K biografii M.A.Bulgakova", 155.

20. 21. 22. 23.

Bulgakov, op.cit. 561. Gasparov, op.&t. 246. Milne, op.cit. 157. L.E.Belozerskaja-Bulgakova, "Pis'mo vredakciju iurnala Teatr", Ellendea Proffer, ed., Neizdannyj Bulgakov (Ann Arbor 1977),

24.

The motif of Bulgakov's (the artist's) self-destruction extends beyond the character of Berlioz (see Section c.). of the three characters besides Berlioz who are killed in the Moscow chapters of the book, all bear Bulgakov's initials.

22.

The

25.

26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

31.

32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38.

Master

and

Margarita

87

The names of both the Master and Margarita begin with "M", and Baron Majgel' bears the author's first and last initials. Moreover, "Majgel"' is an obvious variant of Michail. gori Bengal'skij, who is decapitated but whose head is restored, shares both an initial and a profession with Bulgakov; Bulgakov worked as a master of ceremonies in Moscow in 1922. Another biographical link is that Bulgakov was the secretary and guiding force behind LITO, a literary department of the National Commissariat (Ministry) of Enlightenment. See Ellendea Proffer, "Predislovie", in M.A.Bulgakov, Sobranie sozinenij (Ann Arbor 1982), 26-7. The creation of characters who share their names and biographies with the author would not be unique to The Master and Margarita. In "To a Secret Friend" ("Tajnomu drugu") , there is an autobiographical hero named Michail. The hero of the short story "On the Eve of the Third" ("V noE' na 3-e Eislo") is named Michail Bakalejnikov and is, like Bulgakov, a doctor with a brother named Nikolaj (Kolja). Bakalejnikov's wife has the same name as Bulgakov's sister, Varvara Afanas'evna. The narrator of the story "The Red Crown" ("Krasnaja korona") also has a brother named Kolja. As Mrs. Proffer observes, it would be interesting to analyze hidden symbols in The Master and Margarita in light of Bulgakov's earlier work. Eudokova, op.cit. 64 and 106. Bulgakov, op.cit. 564. Ibid. Ibid., compare 635 and 714. It is possible that the number of chapters has a hidden significance. Gasparov notes the prevalence in the novel of the 205-6. If one counts the numbers 2 and 3, 23 and 32: op.cit. epilogue, there are 33 subdivisions, the center of which is Chapter Seventeen. As at least one article has noted, thirtythree is a significant figure in this context because it represents Christ's age at the time of his death: Bruce A.Beatie and Phyllis W.Powell, "Story and Symbol: Notes Toward a Structural Analysis of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita", RUSsian Literature Triquarterly No.15 (1978), 223. The many repetitions of various forms of the word "head" ("golava") in The Mastes and Margarita have been noted by Beatie and Powell, op.cit. 228-236. Bulgakov, op.cit. 603. Ibid. Ibid. 611. Ibid. 600. Ibid. 588. Ibid. 541. Interestingly, the number is not mentioned until just after Bengal'skij is decapitated. Ibid. 589. The number first mentioned is "around two thousand" ("okolo dvuch tysjaz"), to which are added "curious pilgrims" ("ljubopytnye bogomol'cy").

88

39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47.

48. 49.

50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60.

61. 62. 63 64. 65. 66. 67.

Eric

Naiman

Bulgakov, op.cit. 589. Ibid. 598. Ibid. 609. Ibid. 610. Ibid. 751. Ibid. 600. Ibid. 603. Ibid. 607. The reader's agreement with this statement will depend on his LastoEkin is not harmless if passivity is moral standards. considered an injurious vice and a sign of co-option. George Ferguson, Signs and Symbols in Christian Art (Oxford 19791, 25. Bulgakov, op.cit. 445-9. While Chapter Seventeen mirrors Chapter Sixteen's description of Ga-Nocri's fate, the story of Ga-Nocri and the legend of Christ are reflected throughout the novel. To cite one example, relevant in light of the previous discussion of MASSOLIT, in Matthew 26 a woman pours oil over Christ's head two days before the crucifixion in order to prepare him for buxial. Berlioz dies after slipping on oil spilled by a woman on a Wednesday night, two days before the not-so-good Friday of Voland's ball and Lastozkin's arrest. These parallels reveal a pattern of a meaningful but apparently trivialized retelling of the Christ legend in the Moscow chapters. See, generally, Gasparov, op.cit. Exactly this process occurs musically in Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, where the "Reveries" and "Ball" of parts one and two degenerate into the brilliant witches' sabbath of part five. Ibid. 611. M.Bulgakov, Poslednie dni (Letchworth, Herts. 1970), 46. Ibid. Bulgakov, op.cit. 600. Tolkovyj slovar' V.I.Dal', z"ivogo russkoqo jazyka (Moskva 1866), t-IV, 49. Ibid. Ibid. G.R.Der?avin, Stichotvorenija (Leningrad 1981), 40-l. Ibid. 42. Bulgakov, op.cit. 425. Deriavin flattered Catherine the Great in several poems, in"'A Murza's Vision", cluding through the image of the goddess "Felica" . "A Murza's Vision" serves both as a defense from and an attack on the poet's critics. Deriavin, op.&t. 42. Ibid. 43. Ibid. 44. Bulgakov, op.cit. 776. Ibid. 799. Ibid. 537. Ibid. 541.

The

68. 69.

70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 7%. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87.

88. 89.

90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96.

Master

and

Margarita

89

Bulgakov, op.cit. 518. Ibid. See Section C. One might distinguish between "real" rosskazni and those told by Bulgakov, which are not doggerel at all. Ibid. 441. Ibid. 423. Ibid. 438. Ibid. 460. Ibid. 438. Ibid. 460. Ibid. Ibid. 541. Ibid. 693. Ibid. 629. Ibid. 773. Ibid. 741. Gasparov, op.cit. 236-7. Bulgakov, op.&t. 490-3. Gasparov, op.cit. 199. Bulgakov, op.cit. 444. Ibid. 776. In this context, it is interesting to note the colloquial meaning of the reflexive verb "kaznit'sja": "to torment oneself (with remorse)", Marcus Wheeler, The Oxford RussianEnglish Dictionary (Oxford 1972), 268. Matthew 10:29. See Eudakova, op.cit. 2% (Bulgakov and Maksudov even have the same handwriting defects), 56-7, 85. Among the many similarities between the author and his hero is their common association with nautical journals - Bulgakov with On the Watch (Na vachte) and Maksudov with Steamship Bulletin (Vestnik parochodstva) . Bulgakov, op.cit. 281. Ibid. 285. Ibid. 363. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. 411-2. The tragedy of the Soviet author is also depicted, albeit in a more satiric and allegorical fashion,.in Bulgakov's novella "The Fateful Eggs" ("Rokovye jajca"). Although the central figure of the story, Professor Persikov, is a scientist, his disastrous creation should be viewed as literary. It isrepeatedly called "the red ray" ("krasnyj luE"), a name which fits into the motif of newspapers whose humorous names include the word "red": "Krasnyj ogonek", "Krasnyj iurnal", "Krasnyj peret", "Krasnyj proiektor, "Krasnaja veEernjaja Moskva". (M.A. Bulgakov, Sobranie sozinenij [Ann Arbor 19831, t.I11:55. All subsequent citations are to this edition). The ray is further linked to the process of writing by its "bulb" or "globe"

Erie

90

("Bar")

Naiman

, an image which later reappears in the offices of Iz(103). (Cf. "Heartofa Dog" ["SobaE'e serdce"], written several months later, where the dog garik is transformed into Poligraf Poligrafovir zarikov). Additionally, the ray is portrayed as resembling a "camera" ("fotografiEeskij apparat") (82) and part of it is called a "chamber" ("kamera") (53,82); these two descriptions recall the cameras used by newspapermen to photograph Persikov (60,61). Moreover, when asked if he has created the "ray of life" ("1~5 Zizni"), Persikov becomes animated ("oiivilsja"), saying "Pardon me! The what of life?! It's al.1 the invention of journalists!" ("Pomilujte, kakoj takoj iizni?! Eta vydumki gazetrikov!" (65). Not surprisingly, the ray's devilish aspects are reflected in Persikov's comments on journalism ("devilry" ["EertovBEina"]) and on journalists ("They axe some kind of devils, not people" ["Eta kakie-to Eerti, a ne ljudi"])(58,64). Finally, Persikov secures the mirrors necessary for the construction of a larger version of the ray through the Commissariat of Enlightenment (Komissaria'c prosveBeenija) (53). Earlier in the story, when discussing the demise of Persikov's toads during the Civil War, Bulgakov has written: "For some reason he held the then existing People's Commissariat of Enlightenment entirely responsible for the deaths" ("V smertjach on celikom poremuto obvinjal togdagnego narkoma prosvegzenija") (44). This sentence assumes ominous proportions in retrospect, after Persikov's ray has wrought its murderous havoc. Like the work of many of Bulgakov's journalist colleagues and critics, Persikov's red ray is a lethal form of prosvegEenie, a literal misuse of enlightenment. The cowardly, retiring Persikov, washing his hands like Pilate (81) and crucified like Christ (114) is Berlioz's precursor as well as the Master's. 97. Bulgakov 1978 (og.cit.), 811. vestija