Woland, a mysterious foreign professor, descends on Moscow with a talking cat, a fanged henchman and a pale assassin, and within days the city's poets, theatre managers and officials are fleeing, vanishing or going mad. A second plot returns two thousand years to Pontius Pilate and the execution of Yeshua, a story written by the Master, a writer committed to a psychiatric clinic. His lover, Margarita, accepts a deal with the devil and presides over a midnight ball for the dead.
Satire, magic and a literary love story sit together comfortably. It reads as both a comic caper and a serious statement about cowardice and creative freedom under Stalin.
Deep, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Literary Connoisseur. Which reader are you?
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