Life Got You Down? Time to Read The Master and Margarita • Hacker News Board

Re: Life Got You Down? Time to Read The Master and Margarita

#11

Post by trhway » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:18 AM UTC

mynegation wrote: post #7

For a context: Russian, read several Bulgakov's works as a teenager, as it was part of a school program. To provide an alternative view: I did not like "Master and Margarita", especially compared to "Heart of the Dog" and what I consider Bulgakov's best novel "The White Guard". Part of this has to do that with the fact that author chose religion and mysticism as literary vehicles and I am not a big fan of either. The…

>teenager ... part of a school program

Sounds like a great way to inoculate the new generation against Bulgakov. Nothing against White Guard, it is just the current pendulum swing and cultivation of kind of nostalgia and tragical romantization of the White movement makes it for relatively safe reading for young/unprepared.

>The novel does a great job showing helplessness of people in front of their old life crumbling down, caught in a whirlwind of turbulent times.

I think it is the opposite. While people can't change their historical context, their ultimate fate is mostly defined by themselves - i see that in the Master and in the Guard.

Re: Life Got You Down? Time to Read The Master and Margarita

#12

Post by murrayb » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:47 AM UTC

Disappointed to find out that there is no Kindle version. I actually find that uncommon lately so it is a surprise when there isn't one.

Re: Life Got You Down? Time to Read The Master and Margarita

#13

Post by madmax108 » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:50 AM UTC

siberianbear wrote: post #5

When I was living in the United States and studying Russian, I started to read some Russian literature. After reading some short stories by Chekhov, I decided to delve into something harder: Dostoevsky. I couldn't understand the first page of Crime and Punishment even with a dictionary. Dostoevsky has a very eloquent way of writing with very long sentences and complicated grammar, but it's very hard for a non-native…

As someone who's struggling to complete "The Master and the Margarita" (I still have about 80 pages to go), I completely agree with this comment. The book is a light read, but the plot is basically gibberish unless you understand the subtext, which the book doesn't really bother to explain in any way. I find myself constantly going to chapter breakdowns online to figure out what a certain chapter even means.

It's disappointing because the book currently has a 4.2+ rating on Goodreads, but if you had to ask me, I'd find it hard to give it anything greater than a 3/5. Literally struggling to get through it, purely as a sunk cost of having read (total - 80) pages of it.

I've read my fair share of old school classic literature and enjoyed a lot of it, but Russian literature (or maybe just Bulgakov) may just not be my cup of tea.

Re: Life Got You Down? Time to Read The Master and Margarita

#14

Post by pvg » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 5:56 AM UTC

siberianbear wrote: post #5

When I was living in the United States and studying Russian, I started to read some Russian literature. After reading some short stories by Chekhov, I decided to delve into something harder: Dostoevsky. I couldn't understand the first page of Crime and Punishment even with a dictionary. Dostoevsky has a very eloquent way of writing with very long sentences and complicated grammar, but it's very hard for a non-native…

I continued to stick with short stories by Chekhov and Gogol after that.

If that's your fallback position on difficulties with Dostoevsky and Bulgakov, you're pretty much killing it at learning Russian. And it's not like those guys are going anywhere either.

Re: Life Got You Down? Time to Read The Master and Margarita

#15

Post by yosefk » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 6:12 AM UTC

js2 wrote: post #9

aleyan wrote: post #6

Life got you down? Take a piece of advice from another of Bulgakov's (author of Master and Margarita) novels and stop reading the news. There is nothing actionable in the news; next to no utility. News is simply a time sink that depress your spirit. So take the good doctor's words from Heart of a Dog: "If you care about your digestion, my advice is [sic] never read soviet newspapers before dinner" and generalize it t…

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/style/the-man-who-knew-to...

What could he learn from the news that would influence his actions or even opinions? If the answer is "nothing", what's the downside for this guy?

Re: Life Got You Down? Time to Read The Master and Margarita

#16

Post by IndrekR » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 6:14 AM UTC

I was not expecting much from the book when I started reading it. Yet it is one of the few I could not put down before it was 9am and I had read it all. The wit and all the layers! A true surprise for me, in a positive way.

Re: Life Got You Down? Time to Read The Master and Margarita

#17

Post by msadowski » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 6:23 AM UTC

Master and Margarita is one of my favorite books. First time I've read it when I was 17 or 18, then around 22 and then around 25. Each time I've read it I took something else from it and was surprised that it's the same book. Probably it has something to do with growing up.

At some point I was really into Russian and Polish fantasy/sci-fi and I especially liked the social aspects of some of the stories.

Re: Life Got You Down? Time to Read The Master and Margarita

#18

Post by madaxe_again » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 6:25 AM UTC

mynegation wrote: post #7

For a context: Russian, read several Bulgakov's works as a teenager, as it was part of a school program. To provide an alternative view: I did not like "Master and Margarita", especially compared to "Heart of the Dog" and what I consider Bulgakov's best novel "The White Guard". Part of this has to do that with the fact that author chose religion and mysticism as literary vehicles and I am not a big fan of either. The…

Likewise loved The White Guard - and unlike a sibling reply I agree with you that it reflects helplessness - I certainly didn’t see any of the protagonists “controlling their destiny” - I saw them being washed up on and dashed against the shores of time like so much flotsam and jetsam, making ultimately meaningless decisions against a backdrop of inevitability.

Another Bulgakov book I loved was “A Country Doctor’s Notebook”, which reflects both the hope and the privations of the early USSR.

Finally, if you like Bulgakov, I really recommend Andrei Kurkov and Victor Pelevin - they explore similar themes in a similar fashion.

Re: Life Got You Down? Time to Read The Master and Margarita

#19

Post by peteretep » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 6:27 AM UTC

murrayb wrote: post #12

Disappointed to find out that there is no Kindle version. I actually find that uncommon lately so it is a surprise when there isn't one.

From a UK account, I find many Kindle versions of it. A specific translation may not have one.

Re: Life Got You Down? Time to Read The Master and Margarita

#20

Post by politelemon » Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 6:28 AM UTC

murrayb wrote: post #12

Disappointed to find out that there is no Kindle version. I actually find that uncommon lately so it is a surprise when there isn't one.

I was able to find multiple Kindle editions on Amazon UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BKA4H6W

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Master-Margarita-Vintage-Classic-Ru...

and Amazon US

https://www.amazon.com/Master-Margarita-Vintage-Classic-Russ...

https://www.amazon.com/Master-Margarita-Mikhail-Bulgakov-ebo...

However I can't tell which is the 'best' version - some classics have appeared on Kindle full of typos or can be translated badly so you have to look for a good one.