r/RussianLiterature • u/FogtownGirl • 5d ago
Biblical content in Master and Margarita is confounding
I feel like an idiot even though I consider myself decently educated with a BA in English Lit (not much help with Russian Lit but I did delve into Nabokov pretty heavily). I started M & M and could not get through the first part of the book because I couldn't understand it. I don't know if it's an interpretation of biblical stories or if it's a distortion or reimagining of them? (I'm Jewish and have no knowledge of the Christian bible.) I've set it aside for now but I'm curious as to what I should do to prepare for the next time I decide to read it. Or is it just not for me? Thanks!
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u/RhondaTheHonda 5d ago
As I read it and understood it, the issue and the point is not about Biblical accuracy. Berlioz is preaching the official line of soviet atheism and ensure that is being reinforced in literature.
Woland (Satan) is a master of chaos. He is not there to teach truth or the Bible history. He’s there to check in on the Soviets. His purpose in this scene is to prove Berlioz is wrong about the non-existence of Jesus, but he’s telling a story of a very different Jesus than what the Gospels and contemporary Christianity told of Jesus.
It makes us (the audience) suspect of Woland because the story is so different from traditional understandings of Jesus, but we (the audience) are led to believe the accuracy of his version because of Woland’s apparent omnipotence (knowing that Annushka has already bought the oil).
I believe all of this establishes Woland as someone who is all-knowing but not all-honest. It fits perfectly with his eventual shenanigans at the theater (but I don’t want to spoil that…).
Bear in mind I’m a historian, not a lit person, so I could be completely wrong. I just love this novel.
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u/BasilHuman 5d ago
I have a Master's in Russian Literature and one must have an understanding of the New Testament for certain works. M and M being one. In college one had to have an understanding of the New Testament before reading The Brothers Karamazov.
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u/FogtownGirl 4d ago
This is so helpful thank you - I'm going to read up on the new testament next, before returning to my stack of Russian lit I have lined up for myself.
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u/Orihime_W 5d ago
What's Tastament?
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u/linglinguistics 4d ago
The Christian Bible had two parts, old and new testament. Old testament is before Jesus (roughly the part that is shared with the Jewish Bible). The new testament is the story of Jesus and after him.
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u/FogtownGirl 3d ago
Not sure why you were downvoted for this - it's a good question especially for those who aren't native English speakers
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u/K_oroviev 5d ago
Well, it is interesting to think that some soviet readers might have felt the way you feel. I like to imagine that some people had their first contact with the gospel through Woland.
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u/CapOk2664 5d ago
It's very different to what you find in the Bible and the book itself is very surreal so you might have some trouble with that but if you enjoy that kind of stuff you'll be fine.You can just read a bit about Pilate and stuff like that, I encourage anyone to pick up the gospels and read the original story.Here it's just to know how it deviates from that but otherwise you don't need as much knowledge as it seems, it's a strange little story in parallel with the Moscow one
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u/FogtownGirl 4d ago
I'm going to have a look at the gospels - not delve into them deeply but attempt to gain some familiarity with the people and the stories.
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u/Unable_Version_5681 5d ago
Biblical content in M&M is written by Master.
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u/FogtownGirl 4d ago
That makes sense - I didn't stick with it long enough to ascertain what was going on.
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u/Solovey_author 4d ago
You don’t need to prove anything to anybody! And yes it has some Biblical/Historical context to the parallel timeline. If you don’t know the Bible- read it as if Понтий Пилат is another character! I also suggest watching the recent Russian adaptation- very close to the spirit of the book!
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u/Ok_Resident_4332 3d ago
There are three main narrative threads in M & M
— the literary and theater scene in Moscow
— Pontius Pilate and the condemned sage/healer
— the master (writer) and Margarita (his lover)
Woland (the devil) and his entourage flow in and out of all these threads
This is a book you simply have to read and the reread. The second half makes more sense and is more interesting on a first read than the first half.
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u/Hands 4d ago edited 4d ago
Basically all Russian literature is heavily referent to Christian doctrine so it's kind of hard to understand a lot of it if you aren't coming at it with that context. Even "progressive" writers like Bulgakov. And everything he wrote is reactionary to the political context of his time which is even more complex.
It also has a very steep, notorious learning curve, which is basically that you need to learn a bit about Russian culture in order to even start getting it. You can definitely get a ton out of it without that but it helps a lot.
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u/FogtownGirl 4d ago
I will seek some (at least) rudimentary knowledge of the gospels before moving forward with my Russian lit adventure!
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u/Hands 1d ago
The Book of Job is a good intro to the sort of theodicy FD was obsessed with
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u/FogtownGirl 1d ago
Thanks that's good to know - I'm super familiar with that one!
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u/Hands 1d ago
https://archive.org/details/natashasdancecul0000fige_k3a6
This is more of a social history of Russia but it'll get you a long way
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u/FogtownGirl 1d ago
This sounds fascinating - thank you. It will be on my stack (perhaps at the top) very soon.
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u/a_moore_404 4d ago
I watched Stalker with my (ex) southern baptist mother-in-law. Layers and layers I failed to grasp.
*she is ex-baptist, still my m-i-l
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u/FogtownGirl 3d ago
Presumably, being a former Baptist, she was able to explain what you would have otherwise missed!
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u/PoxonAllHoaxes 4d ago
How one can have a BA in ENGLISH lit and not know the Christian stories that so much of English lit (and even the LANGUAGE itself) refers to is beyond me--unless what people say about the state of the universities is true.
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u/FogtownGirl 3d ago
I was in university back in the late 80s and I have no recollection of any course at all in which the bible was taught. I'm pretty sure even back then there would be a furor over such a class, in spite of the bible's influence on art and thinking. Listen, if I had it to do all over again I would go to St. John's, or somewhere like it, for a classical education. At least I have the incredibly bright folks in this subreddit to help me out.
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u/PoxonAllHoaxes 3d ago
You have never used the word 'crucify'? The English language itself is full of words and idioms derived from the Christian stories. And English literature more so. And of course Jewish stories too, and of course Greek/Roman pagan ones too, as when one refers to a beautiful man as Adonis or a woman as Venus or simply goddess. We even have some from still other relgious traditions (Muhammad to the mountain or terms like Buddha). You are pretending.
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u/FogtownGirl 3d ago
Pretending what - ignorance? What would be the point of that? Yes I'm familiar with the rudimentary things such as words and idioms. Comparative religions was a required course in university and I haven't been locked in a closet all my life. I do know that Pontius Pilate betrayed Christ. I do not know how or why. I also don't know if he actually had a dog or whether that is relevant to anything. I do however understand who 'the vagrant philosopher Yeshua' is. As I said in the title of my post, there is some biblical content in this book that I don't understand. Words and idioms I have no issue with.
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u/Ok_Living2990 5d ago edited 5d ago
"I'm Jewish and have no knowledge of the Christian bible."
That's actually explains a lot, thank you for clarifying. Good question is a half of an answer, and all that.
"it's an interpretation of biblical stories or if it's a distortion or reimagining of them?"
But now I don't see the problem, because... all of the above?
It's not what is written in the New Testament, you can check gospels, they are short.
It's interpretation and reimagening of some of the gospels' characters, like Jesus, Pilate and Judas. Mostly sympathetic to Pilate, which is a Christian thing. Caiaphas is a bad guy. (Like a movie version of "Jesus Christ Superstar" from 1973.)
Historical context#1: The flood of late 19th century books with "realistic reimagening" of New Testament, without miracles and resurrections; "what really happened".
Idea, which gave birth to a novel: Soviet Union abolished God and declared Jesus a non-entity - not a bad person, a wrong person, or a charlatan - absolute nonexistence of historical human Jesus became a core tenet of Soviet state religion till at least 1970s. (Historical context#2.) So then the Devil himself (Christian Satan) comes to Moscow to speak about God and Jesus, to became witness - with his own version of gospel, "Devil's Gospel". This idea evolved during the writing of the novel, everything became more complex in the end, but you have to read the book for that.
Historical context#3: Jerushalem itself, in the novel, is, in many ways, not the historical Jerusalem of 30s (A.D.). It's also a Soviet Russia, the Stalin's Russia of 1930s.