Do3 15-03-15: Bulgakov

[french frank]

Following the repeat of Collaborators, next week's Do3 is a rerun of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.

When it was last on it encouraged me to read the novel, and I really couldn't get on with it. I'm afraid I gave up on it and I don't think I bothered with the play when it was broadcast. Now I have a slightly clearer idea of what it (or the beginning of it) is about, I might try it again.

[James Wonnacott]

Now there's one I have read and will certainly look forward to.

[french frank]

Now there's one I have read and will certainly look forward to.

I'm trying to remember why I gave up. Is there a sort of 'magic realism' about it?

[french frank]

Yes, that's it. Why don't you consult the internet?

[zola]

I'm trying to remember why I gave up. Is there a sort of 'magic realism' about it?

Only in as much as you might label Gulliver's Travels magic realism. It features Satan as a lead character and he and his familiars have supernatural powers but they are really a device for a critique of 1930s Soviet Union. But I can appreciate that it is a bit of a Marmite work. Supposedly the inspiration for Mick Jagger to write Sympathy for the Devil. A superb theatrical performance at the Barbican of it a couple of years ago by Simon McBurney's company Complicite. A worthy serialisation made for Russian TV in ten hour long episodes that was on Sky Arts and can be seen on You Tube also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t6W9hkXV6g

[James Wonnacott]

All that along with a parallel interwoven story about Pontious Pilate, as I remember

[Tevot]

Only in as much as you might label Gulliver's Travels magic realism. It features Satan as a lead character and he and his familiars have supernatural powers but they are really a device for a critique of 1930s Soviet Union. But I can appreciate that it is a bit of a Marmite work. Supposedly the inspiration for Mick Jagger to write Sympathy for the Devil. A superb theatrical performance at the Barbican of it a couple of years ago by Simon McBurney's company Complicite. A worthy serialisation made for Russian TV in ten hour long episodes that was on Sky Arts and can be seen on You Tube also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t6W9hkXV6g

Wow. Many thanks for the link Zola

[Taliesin]

Sorry this caught my eye as I've just joined the forum. I love The Mater and Margarita - for me one of the great 20th century novels, and the literary counterpart to Shostakovich's works of the 1930s.
In case you might see this post, do have a look at the Russian film - on DVD - of the novel. remarkable!

[french frank]

Sorry this caught my eye as I've just joined the forum. I love The Mater and Margarita - for me one of the great 20th century novels, and the literary counterpart to Shostakovich's works of the 1930s.
In case you might see this post, do have a look at the Russian film - on DVD - of the novel. remarkable!

Hello, Taliesin, and welcome. I have hopes that the drama output is going to kick into life again after a rather barren period. Under new management, things look more hopeful.

(You may like to contribute to the poetry thread too ).