Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, whose best works are presented in this article, occupied a separate position in the literary life of the USSR. Feeling himself the heir to the literary tradition of the 19th century, he was equally alien to both socialist realism, inculcated by the ideology of communism in the 1930s, and the spirit of avant-garde experimentation characteristic of Russian literature of the 1920s. The writer sharply satirized, contrary to the requirements of censorship, portrayed a negative attitude towards the construction of a new society and revolution in the USSR.

Peculiarities of the author's worldview

Bulgakov's works reflected the worldview of the intelligentsia, which, during periods of historical disruption and totalitarian regime, remained committed to traditional moral and cultural values. This position cost the author a lot: his manuscripts were banned from publication. A significant part of this writer’s legacy came to us only decades after his death.

We bring to your attention the following list of the most famous works of Bulgakov:

Novels: “The White Guard”, “The Master and Margarita”, “Notes of a Dead Man;

Stories: "Diaboliad", "Fatal Eggs", "Heart of a Dog";

The play "Ivan Vasilyevich".

The novel "The White Guard" (years of creation - 1922-1924)

The list of “Bulgakov’s best works” opens with “The White Guard.” In his first novel, Mikhail Afanasyevich describes events dating back to the end of 1918, that is, to the period of the Civil War. The action of the work takes place in Kyiv, more precisely, in the house where the writer’s family lived at that time. Almost all characters have prototypes among the Bulgakovs' friends, relatives and acquaintances. The manuscripts of this work have not survived, but despite this, fans of the novel, having traced the fate of the prototype heroes, proved the reality and accuracy of the events described by Mikhail Afanasyevich.

The first part of the book "The White Guard" (Mikhail Bulgakov) was published in 1925 in a magazine called "Russia". The entire work was published in France two years later. The opinions of critics were not unanimous - the Soviet side could not accept the writer’s glorification of class enemies, and the emigrant side could not accept loyalty to government officials.

In 1923, Mikhail Afanasyevich wrote that such a work was being created that “the sky will become hot...”. "The White Guard" (Mikhail Bulgakov) later served as a source for the famous play "Days of the Turbins". A number of film adaptations also appeared.

The story "Diaboliad" (1923)

We continue to describe the most famous works of Bulgakov. The story "The Diaboliad" also belongs to them. In the story of how the twins killed a clerk, the writer reveals the eternal theme of the “little man” who became a victim of the bureaucratic machine of the Soviet regime, in the imagination of Korotkov, the clerk, associated with a devilish, destructive force. An employee fired from his job and unable to cope with bureaucratic demons ends up going crazy. The work was first published in 1924 in the almanac "Nedra".

The story "Fatal Eggs" (year of creation - 1924)

Bulgakov's works include the story "Fatal Eggs". Its events take place in 1928. Vladimir Ipatievich Persikov, a brilliant zoologist, discovers a unique phenomenon: the red part of the light spectrum has a stimulating effect on embryos - they begin to develop much faster and reach sizes much larger than their “originals”. There is only one drawback - these individuals are characterized by increased aggressiveness and the ability to reproduce quickly.

One state farm, headed by a man with the surname Rokk, decides to use Persikov’s invention to restore the number of chickens after a chicken pestilence sweeps across Russia. He takes the irradiation chambers from the professor, but as a result of a mistake, instead of chicken eggs, he gets crocodiles, snake and ostrich eggs. The reptiles hatched from them continually multiply - they move towards Moscow, sweeping away everything in their path.

The plot of this work has something in common with “Food of the Gods,” a novel by H. Wells, written by him in 1904. In it, scientists invent a powder that causes significant growth in plants and animals. As a result of experiments in England, rats appear, and later chickens, various plants, as well as giant people.

Prototypes and film adaptations of the story "Fatal Eggs"

According to the famous philologist B. Sokolov, Persikov’s prototypes can be called Alexander Gurvich, the famous biologist, or Vladimir Lenin.

In 1995, Sergei Lomkin made a film of the same name based on this work, including such characters from “The Master and Margarita” as Woland (Mikhail Kozakov) and the cat Behemoth (Roman Madyanov). Oleg Yankovsky brilliantly played the role of Professor Persikov.

The story "Heart of a Dog" (1925)

The work written by Mikhail Bulgakov (“Heart of a Dog”) has the following plot. Events take place in 1924. Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky, an outstanding surgeon, achieves incredible results in the field of rejuvenation and conceives a unique experiment - to perform an operation to transplant a human pituitary gland into a dog. The homeless dog Sharik is used as a test animal, and the thief Klim Chugunkin, who died in a fight, becomes an organ donor.

Sharik's fur gradually begins to fall out, his limbs become elongated, and his human appearance and speech appear. soon, however, you will have to bitterly regret what you did.

During a search in Mikhail Afanasyevich’s apartment in 1926, the manuscripts of “Heart of a Dog” were confiscated and returned to him only after M. Gorky interceded on his behalf.

Prototypes and film adaptations of the work "Heart of a Dog"

Many researchers of Bulgakov’s work are of the opinion that the writer depicted Lenin (Preobrazhensky), Stalin (Sharikov), Zinoviev (assistant Zina) and Trotsky (Bormenthal) in this book. It is also believed that Bulgakov predicted the mass repressions that occurred in the 1930s.

Alberto Lattuada, an Italian director, made a film of the same name based on the book in 1976, in which Max von Sydow plays Professor Preobrazhensky. However, this film adaptation was not particularly popular, unlike the director’s cult film released in 1988.

Novel "The Master and Margarita" (1929-1940)

Farce, satire, mysticism, fantasy, parable, melodrama, myth... Sometimes it seems that the work created by Mikhail Bulgakov, “The Master and Margarita,” combines all these genres.

Satan, in the form of Woland, reigns throughout our world with goals known only to him, stopping from time to time in different villages and cities. One day, during the spring full moon, he finds himself in Moscow in the 1930s - that time and place where no one believes in either God or Satan, and the existence of Jesus Christ is denied.

All those who come into contact with Woland are subject to deserved punishment for the sins inherent in each of them: drunkenness, bribery, greed, selfishness, lies, indifference, rudeness, etc.

The author of the novel about the Master is in a madhouse, where he was driven by harsh criticism from fellow writers. Margarita, his mistress, dreams only of finding the Master and bringing him back to her. Azazello gives her hope that this dream will come true, but for this the girl must provide one service to Woland.

History of the work

The original edition of the novel contained a detailed description of Woland's appearance, placed on fifteen handwritten pages created by Mikhail Bulgakov. "The Master and Margarita" thus has its own history. At first the Master's name was Astaroth. In the 1930s, in newspapers and Soviet journalism, following Maxim Gorky, the title “master” was established.

According to Elena Sergeevna, the writer’s widow, before his death Bulgakov said the following words about his novel “The Master and Margarita”: “So that they know... So that they know.”

The work was published only after the death of the writer. It first appeared only in 1966, that is, 26 years after the death of its creator, in an abbreviated version, with banknotes. The novel immediately gained popularity among representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia, to the point that it was officially published in 1973. Copies of the work were reprinted by hand and distributed in this way. Elena Sergeevna managed to preserve the manuscript throughout all these years.

Numerous performances based on the work, staged by Valery Belyakovich and Yuri Lyubimov, were very popular; films by Alexander Petrovich and television series by Vladimir Bortko and Yuri Kara were also made.

"Theatrical Novel", or "Notes of a Dead Man" (1936-1937)

Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich wrote works until his death in 1940. The book "Theatrical Novel" remained unfinished. In it, on behalf of Sergei Leontievich Maksudov, a certain writer, it tells about the world of writers and the theater behind the scenes.

On November 26, 1936, work began on the book. Bulgakov indicated two titles on the first page of his manuscript: “Theatrical Novel” and “Notes of a Dead Man.” The latter was emphasized twice by him.

According to most researchers, this novel is the funniest creation of Mikhail Afanasyevich. It was created in one go, without sketches, drafts or corrections. The writer's wife recalled that while she was serving dinner, waiting for her husband to return from the Bolshoi Theater in the evening, he sat down at his desk and wrote a couple of pages of this work, after which, satisfied, rubbing his hands, he came out to her.

The play "Ivan Vasilyevich" (1936)

The most famous creations include not only novels and stories, but also Bulgakov’s plays. One of them, “Ivan Vasilyevich,” is offered to your attention. Its plot is as follows. engineer, makes a time machine in Moscow, in his apartment. When the building manager Bunsha comes to see him, he turns the key and the wall between the apartments disappears. A thief is discovered sitting in the apartment of Shpak, his neighbor. The engineer opens a portal leading to the times of 16th century Moscow. Ivan the Terrible, frightened, rushes into the present, and Miloslavsky and Bunsha find themselves in the past.

This story began in 1933, when Mikhail Afanasyevich agreed to write a “fun play” with a music hall. Initially, the text was called differently, “Bliss,” in which a time machine went into the communist future, and Ivan the Terrible appeared in only one episode.

This creation, like other plays by Bulgakov (the list goes on), was not published during the author’s lifetime and was not staged until 1965. in 1973, based on the work, he made his famous film entitled “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession.”

These are just the main creations that Mikhail Bulgakov created. The works of this writer are not limited to the above. You can continue studying the work of Mikhail Afanasyevich by including some others.

Born into the family of a teacher at the Kyiv Theological Academy, Afanasy Ivanovich Bulgakov, and his wife Varvara Mikhailovna. He was the eldest child in the family and had six more brothers and sisters.

In 1901-1909 he studied at the First Kyiv Gymnasium, after graduating from which he entered the medical faculty of Kyiv University. He studied there for seven years and applied to serve as a doctor in the naval department, but was refused due to health reasons.

In 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, he worked as a doctor in front-line hospitals in Kamenets-Podolsk and Chernivtsi, in the Kiev military hospital. In 1915 he married Tatyana Nikolaevna Lappa. On October 31, 1916, he received a diploma “as a doctor with honors.”

In 1917, he first used morphine to relieve the symptoms of diphtheria vaccination and became addicted to it. In the same year he visited Moscow and in 1918 returned to Kyiv, where he began private practice as a venereologist, having stopped using morphine.

In 1919, during the Civil War, Mikhail Bulgakov was mobilized as a military doctor, first into the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, then into the Red Army, then into the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, then transferred to the Red Cross. At this time he began working as a correspondent. On November 26, 1919, the feuilleton “Future Prospects” was first published in the newspaper “Grozny” with the signature of M.B. He fell ill with typhus in 1920 and remained in Vladikavkaz, without retreating to Georgia with the Volunteer Army.

In 1921, Mikhail Bulgakov moved to Moscow and entered the service of the Glavpolitprosvet under the People's Commissariat for Education, headed by N.K. Krupskaya, wife of V.I. Lenin. In 1921, after the disbandment of the department, he collaborated with the newspapers “Gudok”, “Worker” and the magazines “Red Journal for Everyone”, “Medical Worker”, “Russia” under the pseudonym Mikhail Bull and M.B., wrote and published in 1922 -1923 years “Notes on Cuffs”, participates in the literary circles “Green Lamp”, “Nikitin Subbotniks”.

In 1924 he divorced his wife and in 1925 married Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya. This year, the story “Heart of a Dog”, the plays “Zoyka’s Apartment” and “Days of the Turbins” were written, the satirical stories “Diaboliad”, and the story “Fatal Eggs” were published.

In 1926, the play “Days of the Turbins” was staged with great success at the Moscow Art Theater, permitted on the personal orders of I. Stalin, who visited it 14 times. At the theater. E. Vakhtangov premiered the play “Zoyka’s Apartment” with great success, which ran from 1926 to 1929. M. Bulgakov moved to Leningrad, there he met with Anna Akhmatova and Yevgeny Zamyatin and was summoned several times for interrogation by the OGPU about his literary work. The Soviet press intensively criticizes the work of Mikhail Bulgakov - over 10 years, 298 abusive reviews and positive ones appeared.

In 1927, the play “Running” was written.

In 1929, Mikhail Bulgakov met Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, who became his third wife in 1932.

In 1929, the works of M. Bulgakov ceased to be published, the plays were banned from production. Then on March 28, 1930, he wrote a letter to the Soviet government asking either for the right to emigrate or for the opportunity to work at the Moscow Art Theater in Moscow. On April 18, 1930, I. Stalin called Bulgakov and recommended that he apply to the Moscow Art Theater with a request for enrollment.

1930-1936 Mikhail Bulgakov worked at the Moscow Art Theater as an assistant director. The events of those years were described in “Notes of a Dead Man” - “Theatrical Novel”. In 1932, I. Stalin personally allowed the production of “The Days of the Turbins” only at the Moscow Art Theater.

In 1934, Mikhail Bulgakov was admitted to the Soviet Union of Writers and completed the first version of the novel “The Master and Margarita.”

In 1936, Pravda published a devastating article about the “false, reactionary and worthless” play “The Cabal of the Saints,” which had been rehearsed for five years at the Moscow Art Theater. Mikhail Bulgakov went to work at the Bolshoi Theater as a translator and libbretist.

In 1939 he wrote the play “Batum” about I. Stalin. During its production, a telegram arrived about the cancellation of the performance. And a sharp deterioration in Mikhail Bulgakov’s health began. Hypertensive nephrosclerosis was diagnosed, his vision began to deteriorate, and the writer began using morphine again. At this time, he was dictating to his wife the latest versions of the novel “The Master and Margarita.” The wife issues a power of attorney to manage all her husband’s affairs. The novel “The Master and Margarita” was published only in 1966 and brought world fame to the writer.

On March 10, 1940, Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov died, on March 11, the sculptor S.D. Merkulov removed the death mask from his face. M.A. Bulgakov was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery, where, at the request of his wife, a stone from the grave of N.V. was installed on his grave. Gogol, nicknamed "Golgotha".

One can bow one’s head low before the talent of this wonderful Russian and Soviet writer. Almost all of Bulgakov's most famous works have been disassembled into quotes. Mikhail Afanasyevich considered Gogol to be his teacher, he imitated him and also became a mystic. Until now, writers do not have a common opinion on whether Bulgakov was an occultist. But he was a great playwright and theater director, the author of many feuilletons, stories, plays, film scripts, dramatizations and opera librettos. Bulgakov's works were staged in theaters and filmed. When his first dramatic experiments appeared, he wrote to his relative that he was four years late with what he should have started long ago - writing.

Mikhail Bulgakov, whose books are almost always heard, has become a true classic, whom descendants will never forget. He predicted the fate of his works with one brilliant phrase: “Manuscripts don’t burn!”

Biography

Bulgakov was born on May 3, 1891 in Kyiv in the family of professor of the Theological Academy Afanasy Ivanovich Bulgakov and Varvara Mikhailovna, nee Pokrovskaya. The future writer, having graduated from high school, entered the medical institute of his native city, wanting to follow in the footsteps of his famous uncle N. M. Pokrovsky. In 1916, after graduating, he practiced for several months in the front-line zone. Then he worked as a venereologist, and during the civil war he managed to work for both the whites and the reds and survive.

Works of Bulgakov

His rich literary life began after moving to Moscow. There, in well-known publishing houses, he publishes his feuilletons. Then he writes the books “Fatal Eggs” and “Diaboliad” (1925). Behind them he creates the play “Days of the Turbins”. Bulgakov's works provoked sharp criticism from many, but be that as it may, with each masterpiece he wrote, there were more and more admirers. As a writer he enjoyed enormous success. Then, in 1928, he had the idea of ​​writing the novel The Master and Margarita.

In 1939, the writer worked on a play about Stalin, “Batum,” and when it was ready for production and Bulgakov went with his wife and colleagues to Georgia, a telegram soon arrived saying that Stalin considered it inappropriate to stage a play about himself. This greatly undermined the writer’s health, he began to lose his sight, and then doctors diagnosed him with kidney disease. For pain, Bulgakov again began to use morphine, which he had taken back in 1924. At the same time, the writer was dictating the last pages of the “Master and Margarita” manuscript to his wife. A quarter of a century later, traces of the drug were found on the pages.

He died at 48 on March 10, 1940. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow. Mikhail Bulgakov, whose books over time became real bestsellers, if we speak in modern language, and still stir the minds of people who are trying to unravel his codes and messages, was truly great. It is a fact. Bulgakov's works are still relevant, they have not lost their meaning and fascination.

Master

“The Master and Margarita” is a novel that has become a reference book for millions of readers, and not only Bulgakov’s compatriots, but throughout the whole world. Several decades have passed, and the plot still excites minds, attracts with mysticism and riddles that prompt various philosophical and religious thoughts. “The Master and Margarita” is a novel studied in schools, and this is even though not every literature-savvy person can understand the intent of this masterpiece. Bulgakov began writing the novel in the 20s, then with all the amendments to the plot and title, the work was finally formalized in 1937. But in the USSR the complete book was published only in 1973.

Woland

The creation of the novel was influenced by M. A. Bulgakov’s passion for various mystical literature, German mythology of the 19th century, Holy Scripture, Goethe’s Faust, as well as many other demonological works.

Many are impressed by one of the main characters of the novel - Woland. To not particularly thoughtful and trusting readers, this Prince of Darkness may seem like an ardent fighter for justice and goodness, opposing the vices of people. There are also opinions that Bulgakov portrayed Stalin in this image. But Woland is not so easy to understand, this is a very multifaceted and difficult character, this is the image that defines the real Tempter. This is the real prototype of the Antichrist, whom people should perceive as the new Messiah.

Tale

“Fatal Eggs” is another fantastic story by Bulgakov, published in 1925. He moves his heroes to 1928. The main character - a brilliant inventor, professor of zoology Persikov, one day makes a unique discovery - he discovers a certain phenomenal stimulant, a red ray of life, which, acting on living embryos (embryos), makes them develop faster and they become larger than their usual counterparts. They are also aggressive and reproduce incredibly quickly.

Well, further in the work “Fatal Eggs” everything develops exactly as in Bismarck’s words that the revolution is prepared by geniuses, carried out by romantic fanatics, but the fruits are enjoyed by scoundrels. And so it happened: Persikov became the genius who created the revolutionary idea in biology, Ivanov became the fanatic who brought the professor’s ideas to life by building cameras. And the rogue is Rokk, who appeared from nowhere and just as suddenly disappeared.

According to philologists, the prototype of Persikov could be the Russian biologist A. G. Gurvich, who discovered mitogenetic radiation, and, in fact, the leader of the proletariat V. I. Lenin.

Play

“Days of the Turbins” is a play by Bulgakov, created by him in 1925 (at the Moscow Art Theater they wanted to stage a play based on his novel “The White Guard”). The plot was based on the writer's memoirs during the civil war about the fall of the regime of Ukrainian hetman Pavel Skoropadsky, then about Petliura's rise to power and his expulsion from the city by Bolshevik revolutionaries. Against the backdrop of constant struggle and change of power, the family tragedy of the Turbin couple appears in parallel, in which the foundations of the old world are broken. Bulgakov then lived in Kyiv (1918-1919). A year later the play was staged, then it was repeatedly edited and the name was changed.

“Days of the Turbins” is a play that today’s critics consider the pinnacle of the writer’s theatrical success. However, at the very beginning, her stage fate was difficult and unpredictable. The play was a huge success, but received devastating critical reviews. In 1929, it was removed from the repertoire; Bulgakov began to be accused of philistinism and propaganda of the white movement. But on the instructions of Stalin, who loved this play, the performance was restored. For the writer, who did odd jobs, the production at the Moscow Art Theater was practically the only source of income.

About myself and the bureaucracy

“Notes on Cuffs” is a story that is somewhat autobiographical. Bulgakov wrote it between 1922 and 1923. It was not published during his lifetime; today part of the text is lost. The main motive of the work “Notes on Cuffs” was the writer’s problematic relationship with the authorities. He described in great detail his life in the Caucasus, the debate about A.S. Pushkin, the first months in Moscow and the desire to emigrate. Bulgakov really intended to flee abroad in 1921, but he did not have the money to pay the captain of the shipping machine going to Constantinople.

“Diaboliada” is a story that was created in 1925. Bulgakov called himself a mystic, but, despite the declared mysticism, the content of this work consisted of pictures of ordinary everyday life, where, following Gogol, he showed the unreasonableness and illogicality of social existence. It is from this foundation that Bulgakov’s satire consists.

“Diaboliada” is a story in which the plot takes place in a mystical whirlwind of bureaucratic whirlwind with the rustling of papers on tables and in endless bustle. The main character - the little official Korotkov - is chasing along long corridors and floors after a certain mythical manager, Long John, who either appears, then disappears, or even splits into two. In this relentless pursuit, Korotkov loses both himself and his name. And then he turns into a pitiful and defenseless little man. As a result, Korotkov, in order to escape from this enchanted cycle, has only one thing left to do - throw himself from the roof of a skyscraper.

Moliere

"The Life of Monsieur de Molière" is a novelized biography, which, like many other works, was not published during the author's lifetime. Only in 1962 did the Young Guard publishing house publish it in the ZhZL book series. In 1932, Bulgakov entered into an agreement with a magazine and newspaper publishing house and wrote about Moliere for the ZhZL series. A year later he finished the work and passed it. Editor A. N. Tikhonov wrote a review in which he recognized Bulgakov’s talent, but in general the review was negative. Mainly he did not like the non-Marxist position and the fact that the story has a narrator (“a cheeky young man”). Bulgakov was offered to remake the novel in the classical spirit of historical storytelling, but the writer categorically refused. Gorky also read the manuscript and also spoke negatively about it. Bulgakov wanted to meet with him several times, but all attempts remained unsuccessful. For obvious reasons, the Soviet leadership often did not like Bulgakov's works.

The illusion of freedom

In his book, Bulgakov raises a very important topic for him using the example of Moliere: power and art, how free an artist can be. When Moliere's patience ran out, he exclaimed that he hated royal tyranny. In the same way, Bulgakov hated Stalin's tyranny. And in order to somehow persuade himself, he writes that, it turns out, evil lies not in the supreme power, but in those around the leader, in officials and newspaper Pharisees. In the 30s, there really was a large part of the intelligentsia who believed in Stalin’s innocence and innocence, so Bulgakov fed himself with similar illusions. Mikhail Afanasyevich tried to understand one of the characteristics of the artist - fatal loneliness among people.

Satire on power

Bulgakov’s story “The Heart of a Dog” became another of Bulgakov’s masterpieces, which he wrote in 1925. The most common political interpretation boils down to the idea of ​​the “Russian revolution” and the “awakening” of the social consciousness of the proletariat. One of the main characters is Sharikov, who received a large number of rights and freedoms. And then he quickly reveals selfish interests, he betrays and destroys both those who are like him and those who endowed him with all these rights. The end of this work shows that the fate of Sharikov’s creators is predetermined. In his story, Bulgakov seems to predict the massive Stalinist repressions of the 1930s.

Many literary scholars consider Bulgakov’s story “The Heart of a Dog” to be a political satire on the government of that time. And here are their main roles: Sharikov-Chugunkin is none other than Stalin himself (as evidenced by the “iron surname”), Preobrazhensky is Lenin (the one who transformed the country), Doctor Bormental (who is constantly in conflict with Sharikov) is Trotsky ( Bronstein), Shvonder - Kamenev, Zina - Zinoviev, Daria - Dzerzhinsky, etc.

Pamphlet

At a meeting of writers in Gazetny Lane, where the manuscript was read, an OGPU agent was present, who noted that such things read in a brilliant metropolitan literary circle could be much more dangerous than speeches by 101st grade writers at meetings of the All-Russian Union of Poets.

Bulgakov hoped to the last that the work would be published in the almanac "Nedra", but it was not even allowed into Glavlit for reading, but the manuscript was somehow handed over to L. Kamenev, who noted that this work should under no circumstances be published, since it is a poignant pamphlet on modern times. Then in 1926 there was a search of Bulgakov, the manuscripts of the book and the diary were confiscated, they were returned to the author only three years after the petition of Maxim Gorky.

For many, Mikhail Bulgakov is their favorite writer. His biography is interpreted differently by people of different directions. The reason is how certain researchers relate his name to the occult. For those interested in this particular aspect, we can recommend reading the article by Pavel Globa. However, in any case, its presentation should begin from childhood, which is what we will do.

The writer's parents, brothers and sisters

Mikhail Afanasyevich was born in Kiev in the family of a theology professor Afanasy Ivanovich, who taught at the Theological Academy. His mother, Varvara Mikhailovna Pokrovskaya, also taught at the Karachay gymnasium. Both parents were hereditary bell nobles; their priest grandfathers served in the Oryol province.

Misha himself was the eldest child in the family; he had two brothers: Nikolai, Ivan and four sisters: Vera, Nadezhda, Varvara, Elena.

The future writer was thin, graceful, artistic with expressive blue eyes.

Education and character of Mikhail

Bulgakov received his education in his hometown. His biography contains information about graduating from the First Kyiv Gymnasium at the age of eighteen and from the medical faculty of Kyiv University at the age of twenty-five. What influenced the formation of the future writer? The untimely death of his 48-year-old father, the stupid suicide of his best comrade Boris Bogdanov because of love for Varya Bulgakova, the sister of Mikhail Afanasyevich - all these circumstances determined the character of Bulgakov: suspicious, prone to neuroses.

First wife

At twenty-two, the future writer married his first wife, Tatyana Lappa, a year younger than him. Judging by the memoirs of Tatyana Nikolaevna (she lived until 1982), a film could be made about this short marriage. The newlyweds managed to spend the money sent by their parents on a veil and wedding dress before the wedding. For some reason they laughed at the wedding. Of the flowers given to the newlyweds, the majority were daffodils. The bride was wearing a linen skirt, and her mother, who arrived and was horrified, managed to buy her a blouse for the wedding. Bulgakov's biography by date, thus, culminated in the wedding date of April 26, 1913. However, the happiness of the lovers was destined to be short-lived: in Europe at that time there was already a smell of war. According to Tatyana’s recollections, Mikhail did not like to save money, he was not distinguished by prudence in spending money. For him, for example, it was in the order of things to order a taxi with his last money. Valuable items were often pawned in pawn shops. Although Tatiana’s father helped the young couple with money, the funds constantly disappeared.

Medical practice

Fate rather cruelly prevented him from becoming a doctor, even though Bulgakov had talent and professional flair. The biography mentions that he had the misfortune of contracting dangerous diseases while engaging in professional activities. Mikhail Afanasyevich, wanting to realize himself as a specialist, was active as a doctor. Over the course of a year, Dr. Bulgakov saw 15,361 patients at outpatient appointments (forty people a day!). 211 people were treated in his hospital. However, as you can see, Fate itself prevented him from becoming a doctor. In 1917, having become infected with diphtheria, Mikhail Afanasyevich took a serum against it. The result was a severe allergy. He relieved her painful symptoms with morphine, but then became addicted to this drug.

Bulgakov's recovery

His admirers owe the healing of Mikhail Bulgakov to Tatyana Lappa, who deliberately limited his dose. When he asked for an injection of a dose of the drug, his loving wife injected him with distilled water. At the same time, she stoically endured her husband’s hysterics, although he once threw a burning Primus stove at her and even threatened her with a pistol. At the same time, his loving wife was sure that he did not want to shoot, he just felt very bad...

Bulgakov's short biography contains the fact of high love and sacrifice. In 1918, it was thanks to Tatyana Lappa that he stopped being a morphine addict. From December 1917 to March 1918, Bulgakov lived and practiced in Moscow with his uncle on his mother’s side, the successful gynecologist N. M. Pokrovsky (later the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky from “The Heart of a Dog”).

Then he returned to Kyiv, where he again began working as a venereologist. The practice was interrupted by the war. He never returned to medical practice...

World War I and Civil War

The First World War marked moves for Bulgakov: at first he worked as a doctor near the front line, then he was sent to work in the Smolensk province, and then to Vyazma. During the Civil War from 1919 to 1921, he was mobilized twice as a doctor. First - to the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, then - to the White Guard Armed Forces of the South of Russia. This period of his life later found its literary reflection in the cycle of stories “Notes of a Young Doctor” (1925-1927). One of the stories it contains is called "Morphine".

In 1919, on November 26, for the first time in his life, he published an article in the Grozny newspaper, which, in fact, presented the gloomy forebodings of a White Guard officer. The Red Army at Yegorlytskaya station in 1921 defeated the advanced forces of the White Guards - the Cossack cavalry... His comrades are riding beyond the cordon. However, fate prevents Mikhail Afanasyevich from emigrating: he falls ill with typhus. In Vladikavkaz, Bulgakov is being treated for a fatal illness and is recovering. His biography records the reorientation of life goals, creativity takes over.

Playwright

Mikhail Afanasyevich, emaciated, in the uniform of a white officer, but with torn shoulder straps, in Tersky Narobraz works in the theater section of the arts department, in the Russian theater. During this period, a severe crisis occurred in Bulgakov’s life. There is no money at all. She and Tatyana Lappa live by selling the severed parts of a miraculously surviving gold chain. Bulgakov made a difficult decision for himself - never to return to medical practice. With a tormented heart, in 1920 Mikhail Bulgakov wrote the most talented play “Days of the Turbins”. The writer’s biography testifies to the first repressions against him: in the same 1920, the Bolshevik commission expelled him from work as a “former”. Bulgakov is trampled, broken. Then the writer decides to flee the country: first to Turkey, then to France, he moves from Vladikavkaz to Tiflis via Baku. In order to survive, he betrays himself, Truth, and Conscience and in 1921 writes the conformist play “Sons of the Mullah,” which the Bolshevik theaters of Vladikavkaz willingly include in their repertoire. At the end of May 1921, while in Batumi, Mikhail Bulgakov summoned his wife. His biography contains information about the gravest crisis in the writer’s life. Fate cruelly takes revenge on him for betraying his conscience and talent (meaning the above-mentioned play, for which he received a fee of 200,000 rubles (33 pieces of silver). This situation will repeat again in his life).

Bulgakovs in Moscow

The spouses still do not emigrate. In August 1921, Tatyana Lappa left alone for Moscow through Odessa and Kyiv.

Soon, following his wife, Mikhail Afanasyevich also returned to Moscow (it was during this period that N. Gumilyov was shot and A. Blok died). Their life in the capital is accompanied by moving, instability... Bulgakov’s biography is not easy. A brief summary of her subsequent period is the desperate attempts of a talented person to realize himself. Mikhail and Tatyana live in the apartment (described in the novel “The Master and Margarita” - house number 10 on Bolshaya Sadovaya Street (Pigit’s house), number 302 bis, which was kindly provided to them by their brother-in-law, philologist A.M. Zemsky, who left for Kyiv to his wife). The house was inhabited by rowdy and drinking proletarians. The couple felt uncomfortable, hungry, and penniless. This is where their breakup occurred...

In 1922, Mikhail Afanasyevich suffered a personal blow - his mother died. He feverishly begins to work as a journalist, putting his sarcasm into feuilletons.

Literary activity. “Days of the Turbins” - Stalin’s favorite play

Lived life experience and thoughts, born of a remarkable intellect, were simply torn onto paper. A short biography of Bulgakov records his work as a feuilletonist in Moscow newspapers ("Worker") and magazines ("Renaissance", "Russia", "Medical Worker").

Life, distorted by the war, begins to improve. Since 1923, Bulgakov was accepted as a member of the Writers' Union.

In 1923, Bulgakov began working on the novel The White Guard. He creates his famous works:

• "Diaboliad";
• "Fatal Eggs";
• "Dog's heart".

• "Adam and Eve";
• "Alexander Pushkin";
• "Crimson Island";
• "Run";
• "Bliss";
• “Zoyka’s apartment”;
• "Ivan Vasilievich."

And in 1925 he married Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya.

He also became successful as a playwright. Even then, the Soviet state’s paradoxical perception of the classic’s work was evident. Even Joseph Stalin was contradictory and inconsistent in relation to him. He watched the Moscow Art Theater production "Days of the Turbins" 14 times. Then he declared that “Bulgakov is not ours.” However, in 1932, he ordered its return, and in the only theater in the USSR - the Moscow Art Theater, noting that after all, “the impression of the play on the communists” was positive.

Moreover, Joseph Stalin subsequently, in his historical address to the people on July 3, 1941, uses the phraseology of Alexei Turbin’s words: “I am addressing you, my friends...”

In the period from 1923 to 1926, the writer’s creativity flourished. In the fall of 1924, in literary circles in Moscow, Bulgakov was considered the No. 1 active writer. The biography and work of the writer are inseparably linked. He develops a literary career, which becomes the main work of his life.

The writer's short and fragile second marriage

The first wife, Tatyana Lappa, recalls that, while married to her, Mikhail Afanasyevich repeated more than once that he should marry three times. He repeated this after the writer Alexei Tolstoy, who considered such family life to be the key to the writer’s fame. There is a saying: the first wife is from God, the second is from people, the third is from the devil. Was Bulgakov’s biography artificially formed according to this far-fetched scenario? Interesting facts and mysteries are not uncommon in it! However, Bulgakov’s second wife, Belozerskaya, a socialite, actually married a wealthy, promising writer.

However, the writer lived in perfect harmony with his new wife for only three years. Until in 1928, the writer’s third wife, Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, “appeared on the horizon.” Bulgakov was still in his second official marriage when this whirlwind romance began. The writer described his feelings for his third wife with great artistic force in The Master and Margarita. Mikhail Afanasyevich’s affection for the new woman with whom he felt a spiritual connection is evidenced by the fact that on 10/03/1932 the registry office dissolved his marriage with Belozerskaya, and on 10/04/1932 an alliance was concluded with Shilovskaya. It was the third marriage that became the main thing in his life for the writer.

Bulgakov and Stalin: the writer’s lost game

In 1928, inspired by his acquaintance with “his Margarita” - Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, Mikhail Bulgakov began creating his novel “The Master and Margarita”. A short biography of the writer, however, testifies to the onset of a creative crisis. He needs space for creativity, which does not exist in the USSR. Moreover, there was a ban on the publication and production of Bulgakov. Despite his fame, his plays were not staged in theaters.

Joseph Vissarionovich, an excellent psychologist, knew very well the weak sides of the personality of this talented author: suspiciousness, a tendency to depression. He played with the writer like a cat plays with a mouse, having an indisputable dossier against him. On 05/07/1926, the only search of all time was carried out at the Bulgakovs’ apartment. The personal diaries of Mikhail Afanasyevich and the seditious story “The Heart of a Dog” fell into Stalin’s hands. In Stalin's game against the writer, a trump card was obtained that fatally led to the disaster of the writer Bulgakov. Here is the answer to the question: “Is Bulgakov’s biography interesting?” Not at all. Until the age of thirty, his adult life was filled with suffering from poverty and instability; then, indeed, six years of more or less measured prosperous life followed, but this was followed by a violent break in Bulgakov’s personality, illness and death.

Refusal to leave the USSR. The leader's fatal call

In July 1929, the writer addressed a Letter to Joseph Stalin, asking to leave the USSR, and on March 28, 1930, he addressed the Soviet government with the same request. Permission was not given.

Bulgakov suffered, he understood that his grown talent was being ruined. Contemporaries remembered the phrase he uttered after yet another failure to receive permission to leave: “I was blinded!”

However, this was not the final blow. And he was expected... Everything changed with Stalin’s call on April 18, 1930. At that moment, Mikhail Bulgakov and his third wife, Elena Sergeevna, were laughing as they drove to Batum (where Bulgakov was going to write a play about Stalin’s young years). At the Serpukhov station, a woman who entered their carriage announced: “Telegram for the accountant!”

The writer, uttering an involuntary exclamation, turned pale, and then corrected her: “Not to the accountant, but to Bulgakov.” He expected... Stalin scheduled a telephone conversation for the same date - 04/18/1930.

The day before, Mayakovsky was buried. Obviously, the leader’s call could equally be called a kind of prevention (he respected Bulgakov, but still put gentle pressure) and a trick: in a confidential conversation, extract an unfavorable promise from the interlocutor.

In it, Bulgakov voluntarily refused to go abroad, which he could not forgive himself for the rest of his life. This was his tragic loss.

A very complex knot of relationships connects Stalin and Bulgakov. We can say that seminarian Dzhdugashvili outplayed and broke both the will and life of the great writer.

Last years of creativity

Subsequently, the author concentrated all his talent, all his skill on the novel “The Master and Margarita,” which he wrote for the table, without any hope of publication.

The play “Batum” created about Stalin was rejected by the secretariat of Joseph Vissarionovich, pointing out the methodological error of the writer - the transformation of the leader into a romantic hero.

In fact, Joseph Vissarionovich was jealous, so to speak, of the writer of his own charisma. From then on, Bulgakov was allowed to work only as a theater director.

By the way, Mikhail Afanasyevich is considered one of the best directors in the history of Russian theater, Gogol and Saltykov-Shchedrin (his favorite classics).

Everything he wrote, unspoken and biased, was “impossible.” Stalin consistently destroyed him as a writer.

Bulgakov nevertheless wrote, he responded to the blow, as a real classic could do... A novel about Pontius Pilate. About an all-powerful autocrat who is secretly afraid.

Moreover, the first version of this novel was burned by the author. It was called differently - “Devil's Hoof”. In Moscow, after writing it, there were rumors that Bulgakov wrote about Stalin (Iosif Vissarionovich was born with two fused toes. People call this the hoof of Satan). Panicking, the author burned the first version of the novel. This is where the phrase “Manuscripts don’t burn!” was subsequently born.

Instead of a conclusion

In 1939, the final version of The Master and Margarita was written and read to friends. This book was destined to be published for the first time in an abridged version only after 33 years... The terminally ill Bulgakov, suffering from kidney failure, did not have long to live...

In the fall of 1939, his vision deteriorated critically: he was practically blind. On March 10, 1940, the writer passed away. Mikhail Bulgakov was buried on March 12, 1940 at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Bulgakov's full biography is still a subject of debate. The reason is that the Soviet, emasculated version presents the reader with an embellished picture of the author’s loyalty to the Soviet regime. Therefore, if you are interested in the life of a writer, you should critically analyze several sources.

"Evening" invites you to remember the most famous works of the master of literature of the 20th century.

"The White Guard" (novel, 1922-1924)

In his first novel, Bulgakov describes the events of the Civil War at the end of 1918. The action of the book takes place in Kyiv, in particular, in the house in which the writer’s family lived at that time. Almost all characters have prototypes - relatives, friends and acquaintances of the Bulgakovs. Despite the fact that the manuscripts of the novel have not survived, fans of the novel have traced the fate of many prototype characters and proved the almost documentary accuracy and reality of the events described by the author.

Part of the book was first published in the magazine "Russia" in 1925. The entire novel was published two years later in France. The opinions of critics were divided - the Soviet side criticized the writer’s glorification of class enemies, the emigrant side criticized loyalty to the authorities.

In 1923 Bulgakov wrote: “I dare to assure you, this will be a novel that will make the sky feel hot...”. The book served as the source for the play "Days of the Turbins" and several film adaptations.

“Diaboliada” (story, 1923)

In the “story of how the twins killed the clerk,” Bulgakov reveals the problem of the “little man” who became a victim of the Soviet bureaucratic machine, which in the imagination of the clerk Korotkov is associated with devilish power. Unable to cope with the demons of bureaucracy, a fired employee goes crazy. The story was first published in the almanac “Nedra” in 1924.

“Fatal Eggs” (story, 1924)

1928 The brilliant zoologist Vladimir Ipatievich Persikov discovers the amazing phenomenon of the stimulating effect of light from the red part of the spectrum on embryos - organisms begin to develop much faster and reach larger sizes than the “originals”. There is only one drawback - such individuals are distinguished by aggressiveness and the ability to reproduce rapidly.

After a chicken pestilence spreads across the country, one state farm, led by a man named Rokk, decides to use Persikov’s discovery to restore the chicken population. Rokk takes the irradiation chambers from the professor, however, as a result of a mistake, instead of chicken eggs, he gets crocodiles, ostrich and snake eggs. The hatched reptiles continually multiply - sweeping away everything in their path, they move towards Moscow.

The plot of the book echoes the novel written in 1904 H.G. Wells"Food of the Gods", in which scientists invent a powder that causes significant growth in animals and plants. Experiments lead to the appearance in England of giant rats and wasps attacking people, later they are joined by giant plants, chickens and giant people.

According to philologist Boris Sokolov, the prototypes of Professor Persikov could be the famous biologist Alexander Gurvich and the leader of the world proletariat Vladimir Lenin.

In 1995, director Sergei Lomkin made a film of the same name based on the story, in which he used characters from the novel "Master and Margarita"- the cat Behemoth (Roman Madyanov) and Woland himself (Mikhail Kozakov). Performed the role of Professor Persikov brilliantly Oleg Yankovsky.

“Heart of a Dog” (story, 1925)

1924 The outstanding surgeon Philip Filippovich Preobrazhensky achieves fantastic results in the field of practical rejuvenation and conceives an unprecedented experiment - an operation to transplant a human pituitary gland into a dog. The professor uses the stray dog ​​Sharik as a test animal, and the thief Klim Chugunkin, who died in a fight, becomes the organ donor.

Gradually, Sharik's limbs stretch out, his hair falls out, speech and a human appearance appear. Soon Professor Preobrazhensky will have to bitterly regret what he did.

Many Bulgakov scholars are of the opinion that the writer depicted Stalin (Sharikov), Lenin (Preobrazhensky), Trotsky (Bormenthal) and Zinoviev (assistant Zina) in the book. In addition, it is believed that in this story Bulgakov predicted the mass repressions of the 1930s.

In 1926, during a search in Bulgakov’s apartment, manuscripts "Heart of a Dog" were confiscated and returned to the author only after the petition of Maxim Gorky.

In 1976, Italian director Alberto Lattuada made a film of the same name with Max von Sydow in the role of Professor Preobrazhensky, but it was not particularly popular. A completely different fate awaited.

"The Master and Margarita" (novel, 1929-1940)

Satire, farce, fantasy, mysticism, melodrama, parable, myth... sometimes it seems that this book combines all possible and impossible genres.

Satan, introducing himself as Woland, wanders around the world with goals known only to him, from time to time stopping in different cities and villages. During the spring full moon, his journey takes him to Moscow in the 1930s - a place and time where no one believes in Satan or God, denying the existence of Jesus Christ in history.

Everyone who comes into contact with Woland is punished for their inherent sins: bribery, drunkenness, selfishness, greed, indifference, lies, rudeness, etc.

The master who wrote a novel about Pontius Pilate is in a madhouse, where harsh criticism from his literary contemporaries brought him. His mistress Margarita dreams of only one thing - to find the Master and bring him back. Azazello gives hope for the fulfillment of this dream, but to make it come true, Margarita must provide Woland with one service.

The first edition of the novel contained a detailed description of the characteristics of the “stranger” (Woland), 15 handwritten pages long. In early editions of the novel, the character's name was Astaroth. In the 1930s, the title of “master” in Soviet journalism and newspapers was firmly assigned to Maxim Gorky.

According to the writer’s widow, Elena Sergeevna, Bulgakov’s last words about the novel “The Master and Margarita” before his death were: “So that they know... So that they know.”

The Master and Margarita was not published during the author's lifetime. It was first published only in 1966, 26 years after Bulgakov’s death, with banknotes, in an abbreviated magazine version. The novel gained noticeable popularity among the Soviet intelligentsia and, until its official publication (in 1973), was distributed in hand-typed copies. Elena Sergeevna managed to preserve the manuscript of the novel during all these years.

Performances based on the novel, staged by Valery Belyakovich, were extremely popular; films by Andrzej Wajda and Alexander Petrovich and television series by Yuri Kara and were also made.

“Theatrical novel” (“Notes of a Dead Man”) (1936-1937)

An unfinished novel, written on behalf of a certain writer Sergei Leontyevich Maksudov, talks about the theater behind the scenes and the world of writers.

Work on the book began on November 26, 1936. On the first page of the manuscript, Bulgakov indicated two titles: “Notes of a Dead Man” and “Theatrical Novel”, and the first was underlined twice by the author.

Most researchers consider the novel to be Bulgakov's funniest work. It was created with extraordinary ease: in one go, without drafts, outlines or any corrections. Elena Sergeevna recalled that while she was serving dinner upon Mikhail Afanasyevich’s return from the Bolshoi Theater in the evening, he sat down at his desk and wrote several pages, after which he came out to her unusually pleased, rubbing his hands with pleasure.

“Ivan Vasilyevich” (play, 1936)

Engineer Nikolai Timofeev makes a time machine in an apartment in Moscow. When the house manager Bunsha comes to see him, the engineer turns the key in the machine, and the wall between the apartments disappears, revealing the thief Georges Miloslavsky sitting in the apartment of Shpak's neighbor. Timofeev opens a portal to the times of Moscow in the 16th century. Frightened, Ivan the Terrible rushes into the present, and Bunsha and Miloslavsky find themselves in the past.

This story began in 1933, when Bulgakov agreed with the music hall to write a “fun play.” Her first text was called “Bliss” - in it the time machine went into the communist future, and Ivan the Terrible appeared only in an episode.