1 Julia Franck Professor Lejla Marijam English 110 9 May 2021 It is the 1930s Soviet Union, living in a tumultuous historical period with no way out of the regime that has taken over the country. Art and literature are under watch, consistently scrutinized by the government, and many artists disappear if they do not align with the beliefs of Stalin. Except for one novel, whose hidden agenda throughout the book Master and Margarita comes out through the lens of social realism. Social realism, or the aim of artists to draw attention to real socio-political issues, is prevalent through his book. Bulgakov writes his book through the eyes of someone discouraged by his government. In Master and the Margarita, Bulgakov uses social realism to present the issues of the Soviet Union, in how it is failing its citizens, censoring the truth, and setting harsh social expectations for their people. In the Era of Stalin, literature was increasingly censored and scrutinized by the government. Starting in 1934, the only “acceptable form of writing” was Socialist Realism (Britannica). Socialist realism was a type of Russian writing that romanticized the idea of the working man overcoming his struggles for the good of society. It idealized the social standards that Stalin expected for his people and what he allowed to have written in that era. Many authors gave into the ideas of Socialist Realism, if just to be able to live as some authors were sent to the gulag, or disappeared entirely. Mikail Bulgakov was a writer in early century Soviet Russia, whose earlier works were already remarked to be “too controversial and provocative” (Howard) for Stalin’s censorship. Yet Stalin enjoyed some of Bulgakov’s work, and the two formed an odd 2 symbiotic relationship with each other throughout their lives. Bulgakov tried to leave the USSR often but was denied and wasn’t allowed to write many of his works in fear of his home being searched. Bulgakov never got to see his book Master and the Margarita published despite his work on it for years. His wife had it published 30 years after he died in 1940. There are many important themes to Master and the Margarita, which reflect the time frame of Bulgakov’s life. The theme of courage within a person is reflected in the novel with many characters, notably Margarita. This can be seen with the push for courage within the working people through Stalin. To be courageous and work for their country to help the betterment of life, many Russian authors wrote about their literature (Morson). Other themes, such as the authenticity of art, reflect the strictness of what authors and artists could express within their literature, like the Massolits, who are portrayed as “entirely inauthentic” (Howard), through how Bulgakov sees what the government is doing to him and other authors. The themes solidify how Bulgakov feels about the world around him, yet he understands that little he can do to change it now. But what he could do when his books and plays are eventually published. Censorship is a crucial topic, especially within the realm of Master and the Margarita. Many of Bulgakov’s works were never published because his ideas would go against Stalin’s censorship. This had a heavy influence on Master and the Margarita, noting how it wasn’t even published until 1967 and in Paris, France. The novel had multiple sections cut out of it and was so censored that it was “hardly recognizable” (Kudelina). In the Soviet Union, censorship was incredibly heavy and forced upon by the government. The Massolit in the novel can be seen as Bulgakov’s reaction to censorship. He portrays them in favor of the government and produces “works that seem like literature but is in fact no more than propaganda” (Howard). This reflects Bulgakov’s fight against censorship and how he thought about other authors who gave in to the 3 government with their books. Not writing for themselves at all, but instead pushing the unrealistic expectations of Socialist Realism. Social Realism was not a type of writing allowed in Soviet Russia during the Stalin age, as it was Socialist Realism that took over. Bulgakov fought that idea of Socialist Realism, which was meant to be a form of propaganda, and used social realism to expose the inner workings and failings of the government he was living under. The isolation of the Soviet Union, the fear and wariness of foreigners, and the underground corruption that festers within Moscow are aspects of Bulgakov pulling real things in his country and using them to push his story along (Howard). There was a dissent from the usual ideas that Socialist Realism pushed for the citizens of the USSR to believe. Bulgakov connected with so many citizens after his book was eventually published because of the social realism he wrote with. His book breathed life into the worries and fears of the people he was born among. This is what differentiates Bulgakov’s social realism from the socialist realism that the Stalin government pushed so hard for. The unrealistic standards that he fought against while still exposing his country’s horrific failures is what Bulgakov did best within his work. Bulgakov was an anti-communist; there is no doubt about that. As he has stated before “I am a conservative…'to the core'“(Bulgakov). He never hid his political ideas about the Soviet Union or the communist party within his novels, citing the many failures they had to the people. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union rose to power in 1922, after the Bolshevik revolution between 1917-1921 (Conquest). Their ideals of communism and how people would change the way they behaved when the government applied it. Bulgakov disagreed with that ideal heavily, as he believed humans would stay the same no matter what situations they found themselves in, as seen with his characters in the novel. Many push the line of what the communist party 4 believed in, especially when it came to human nature and the belief that people will change on a whim for the greater good of their society. Imbued within the Soviet Union was the belief of good and evil and the strict line between them. In Bulgakov’s book, he pushes the idea that good and evil can only exist within each other. Constantly ever-changing each other and what it means to be “good” or “evil.” Margarita is a perfect example of Bulgakov’s ideas in his books. Margarita is a good character, the heroine of the novel, and does what she needs to do to be with the one she truly loves. But her deed to getting there can be seen as evil or immoral, especially to the Soviet Union. She turns into a witch and destroys a critic of the Masters, whom she loves dearly. She then helps the Devil d is “the hostess at Satan’s ball” (Howard). Many people can see these actions as devious and evil, a woman using the devil to get her way. But in reality, Margarita is a hardworking and determined woman to help her Master. This toes the line of what good and evil mean in the world, as Margarita helps a known “evil” to do something good for herself and someone else. She pushes herself through these actions, never looking back or regretting becoming a witch, as Margarita keeps her head high up throughout the book. Religion in the Soviet Union was a messy topic, as the government itself was known to be atheist and encouraged that type of thinking. To depict the figures of Jesus (or also known as Yeshua) and Satan in a novel was not unheard of, but it wasn’t something the Soviet Union was keen on letting out into the public. Bulgakov’s impressions of Yeshua and Satan are more than just religious figures in a book; they represent his ideas about humanity and how humans are drawn to act. Both Satan and Yeshua act human; they draw the other characters to act messy as well. Margarita, for instance, is drawn to Satan to help the person she loves. She is married yet gives up her life to help Satan, who is evil, to get what she wants. Pontius Pilate, a procurator of 5 Judea, is drawn to Yeshua. His position forces him to see Yeshua’s execution, showing cowardice in the face to stop it. Yet to get back at what he did, he murders Judea, who tricked Yeshua and got him arrested. Both of these characters end up being drawn to two different forces of good and evil and show that humans will do messy things to get what they want. Socialist Realism creates a character in Russian literature, the allusive “strong soviet man.” stereotype, who is a hard-working man on a “quest for consciousness”(Belyk). This hero partakes in a collective society and is what the Soviet Union desires for every citizen to become. Bulgakov’s Master is the complete opposite of this soviet stereotype. Unlike the Soviet strong man who has a desire to be integrated into society and do what is best, Master has no interest in the betterment of the collective society and “does not appear to have a goal towards which he is progressing”(Belyk). Master is almost what we would call a “passive, broken victim”(Belyk), unlike what the Soviet Union wanted their men to be. Bulgakov plays off this stereotype and completely breaks it. He shows a man in reflection to how he would truly be in the Soviet Union. Master is a nameless man, who is saved by a woman who loves him, and writes books for what he believes in. This is a complete binary opposite to what Stalin saw literature men to be seen as. There are many aspects to Master and Margarita, which is why it is such an intriguing book. In Bulgakov’s life, he could never see his book come to fruition and become the classic it has now. Through his novel, Bulgakov uses social realism to expose the terrible government that reigned over his home country. He showed the people how they failed and how ridiculous the ideas and standards of the Soviet Union were. Bulgakov created a masterpiece of social commentary that will forever hold against time through his characters and story. 6 Bibliography Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Socialist Realism". Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Dec. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/art/Socialist-Realism. Accessed 11 May 2021. Conquest, Robert , McCauley, Martin , Pipes, Richard E. and Dewdney, John C.. "Soviet Union". Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Nov. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/place/Soviet-Union. Accessed 11 May 2021. Belyk, K. (n.d.). The master and MARGARITA: DECONSTRUCTING social realism. Retrieved May 12, 2021, from http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/projects/brightonline/issue-number-three/the-master-and-margarita-dec onstructing-social-realism Howard, James. "The Master and Margarita Characters: Pontius Pilate." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 11 Jan 2019. Web. 11 May 2021. Howard, James. "The Master and Margarita Characters: Margarita." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 11 Jan 2019. Web. 11 May 2021. Howard, James. "The Master and Margarita." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 11 Jan 2019. Web. 11 May 2021. Kudelina, A. (2007). The Master & Margarita and Freedom of Censorship. 1-26. Retrieved May 11, 2021, from https://www.masterandmargarita.eu/estore/pdf/emen028_kudelina.pdf M. A. Bulgakov, Diary, 30 September 1923 in Curtis, Manuscripts Don't Burn, 52 7 Morson, Gary Saul. "Russian literature". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 May. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/art/Russian-literature. Accessed 11 May 2021.
