Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov was a Russian writer and medical doctor known for
big screen adaptations of his books, such as
Die Flucht (1971) and
Master i Margarita (2006).
He was the first of six children in the
family of a theology professor. His family belonged to the intellectual
elite of Kyiv. Bulgakov with his brothers took part in the
demonstration commemorating the death of
Lev Tolstoy. Bulgakov graduated with honors
from the Medical School of Kyiv University in 1915. He married his
classmate Tatiana Lippa, who became his assistant at surgeries and in
his Doctor's office. He practiced medicine, specializing in venereal
and other infectious diseases from 1915 to 1919.
Bulgakov wrote about his experiences as a doctor in his early works
"Notes of a Young Doctor." In 1917-1919, he suffered from an infection
that caused him an unbearable painful itch requiring him to take
morphine; which he became addicted to, but he managed to overcome the
dependency and quit. He joined the anti-communist White Army in the
Russian Civil War. After the Civil War, he tried to emigrate from
Russia, to reunite with his brother in Paris. But he became trapped in
Soviet Russia. Several times he was almost killed by opposing forces on
both sides of the Russian Civil War, but soldiers needed doctors, so
Bulgakov was left alive. He provided medical help to the Chehchens,
Caucasians, Cossacs, Russians, the Whites, the Reds... Bulgakov was the
Doctor to all the sick people.
In 1921, Bulgakov moved to Moscow. There he became a writer and made
friends with Valentin Kataev,
Yuriy Olesha,
Ilya Ilf,
Yevgeni Petrov, and
Konstantin Paustovsky. Later, he
met Mikhail Zoshchenko,
Anna Akhmatova,
Viktor Ardov,
Sergey Mikhalkov, and
Korney Ivanovich Chukovskiy. Bulgakov's plays at
the Moscow Art Theatre were directed by
Konstantin Stanislavski and
Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko.
"Days of the Turbins," about the demise of the White Army, was
performed more than 200 times at the Moscow Art Theatre, and also at
other Soviet theatres until it was banned.
The play was later restored to the repertoire and at least fifteen
performances of this play were attended by
Joseph Stalin. Stalin liked the play and
later, in his official speeches, he used some of the well-written lines
that were spoken from the stage by the Bulgakov's characters. In 1941,
after the Nazi invasion in Russia during the Second World War,
Joseph Stalin started his first radio
address to the people of the Soviet Union with Bulgakov's words from
the play, "Brothers and Sisters..."
Bulgakov's political independence was expressed in his article on the
death of the first Soviet dictator
Vladimir Lenin, "He killed a river of people..."
wrote Bulgakov in 1924.
Bugakov's own way of life and his witty criticism of the ugly realities
of life in the Soviet Union caused him much trouble. In 1925 he
released 'Heart of a Dog', a bitter satire about the loss of civilized
values in Russia under the Soviet system. Soon after, Bulgakov was
interrogated by the Soviet secret service, OGPU. After interrogations,
his personal diary and several unfinished works were confiscated by the
secret service.
His plays were banned in all theaters, which terminated his income.
Being financially broke, he wrote to his brother in Paris about his
terrible life and poverty in Moscow. Bulgakov distanced himself from
the Proletariat Writer's Union because he refused to write about the
peasants and proletariat. He made adaptation of the "Dead Souls" by
Nikolay Gogol for the stage; it became a
success but was abruptly banned.
He took a risk and wrote a letter to
Joseph Stalin with an ultimatum: "Let me
out of the Soviet Union, or restore my work at the theaters." On the
18th of April of 1930, Bulgakov received a telephone call from
Joseph Stalin. The dictator told the
writer to fill an employment application at the Moscow Art Theater.
Gradually, Bulgakov's plays were back in the repertoire of the Moscow
Art Theatre. But most other theatres were in fear and did not stage any
of the Bulgakov's plays for many years.
Joseph Stalin, who was increasingly
paranoid, ordered massive extermination of intellectuals during the
repressions known as the "Great Terror" (aka.. Great Purge). Many of
Bulgakov's friends and colleagues, like
Vladimir Mayakovsky, Osip
Mandelstam, Vsevolod Meyerhold,
Anna Akhmatova,
Mikhail Zoshchenko and many others were
censored, banned, prosecuted, exiled, imprisoned, executed, found dead,
or just disappeared without a trace.
At that time Bulgakov started his masterpiece - "Master and Margarita."
It was slowly evolving from the series of chapters, initially titled
"The Black Magician" in 1929. That was changed to "The Prince of
Darkness" in 1930. Then it was changed again to "The Great Chancellor"
in 1934. Finally, the novel was titled as "Master and Margarita" in
1934 and was rewritten and updated constantly until the writer's death
in 1940.
While writing the novel, Bulgakov met Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, who
became his wife. She was, in part, the model for Margarita in the
novel. Secret service agents were spying on Bulgakov and learned about
his new novel. Bulgakov was interrogated again and was ordered to
destroy the manuscript under the threat from the government agents. He
had to be very cautious. Bulgakov split the manuscript in two parts and
destroyed one half in a fire.
Soon, he restored the missing part from memory and continued writing
the novel. He was writing the novel in secrecy, hiding its manuscript
for many years until his death in 1940. The main character in the
novel, Voland, alludes to Stalin, or Beria, or any dictator who plays a
semi-god. Voland was modeled after Satan in "Faust" by
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The novel
has many parallels with the Bible and the "Divine Comedy" by
Dante Alighieri. The characters and
events in "Master and Margarita" are alluding to Bulgakov's experiences
in Moscow under the dictatorship of
Joseph Stalin.
Five days before his death, Bulgakov accepted an unusual promise from
his loving wife. She swore to live a humble life and wait as long as it
would take for Bulgakov's masterpiece to be published. The original
manuscript of "The Master and Margarita" was preserved by Bulgakov's
wife, Elena Sergeevna, until its first publication in 1966. It is a
Menippean satire, a cross-genre comedy, drama, and fantasy, regarded by
many as the best of the 20th century Russian novels.
Mikhail Bulgakov died of a kidney failure, on March 10, 1940, in
Moscow. He was laid to rest in the Novodevichy Monastery Cemetery, next
to other Russian cultural luminaries.
