13. The hero enters

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The title

The Russian title is Явление героя (Yavleniye geroya) which could be translated as The apparition of the hero. The word Явление (Yavleniye) or Apparition is often used in the Bible when Christ shows himself to the people or his disciples.

Clean-shaven...

The Master is introduced as "a clean-shaven, dark-haired man of approximately thirty-eight, with a sharp nose, anxious eyes, and a wisp of hair hanging down on his forehead." Bulgakov himself was 38 years old in 1929. Some readers recognize Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809-1852) in this description. Gogol burned the manuscript of the second part of Dead Souls.

Here we sit

The verb which is used by Bulgakov in the Russian text - Сидим (sidim) - means we sit, but  also we are in prison.

I cannot stand noise, turmoil, force, or other things like that.

The Master's aversion to noise and screaming almost literally repeats the words of Wagner in Faust.

You dislike my poetry?

The Master dislikes Ivan's poetry without ever having read it. Bulgakov is commenting on the low quality and unoriginal nature of accepted and published Soviet poetry. If Ivan is published and famous, it means he can't be good!

Is your poetry good? "Monstrous!"

Bulgakov writes indeed Чудовищны or monstrous. Even Ivan is aware that his officially-approved poems are no good. The English translator Michael Glenny got this a little wrong in 1967. He translated Ivan’s reaction as "stupendous".

Currency in the ventilation, Pushkin, Kurolesov

Bulgakov again introduces a character without letting us know who he is. The explanation will follow in chapter 15. Kurolesov is the actor who recites excerpts of The Covetous Knight of the Russian poet Pushkin in Nikanor Ivanovich’s dream.

The critic Latunsky

The critic Latunsky is probably a hint at one of Bulgakov's indefatigable enemies, Olaf Semenovich Litovsky (1892-1971), the chairman of the Theatrical Repertoire Committee (Glavrepertkom).

Click here to read a comprehensive description of Latunsky

Mstislav Lavrovich

Lavrovich is a parody of Vsevolod Vitalyevich Vishnevsky (1900-1951), a writer and playwright who was an archrival of Bulgakov. He prevented the production of his plays Бег (The Flight) and Мольер ("Molière).

Click here for a comprehensive description of Lavrovich

The opera "Faust"

Bulgakov mentions his favorite opera here, while elsewhere he merely uses the details, or indirect references. But that’s not enough in this situation, because Ivan obviously did not understand the hints which could have make him understand that he met the devil at Patriarchs’ Ponds.

A black cap with the letter “M” embroidered on it in yellow silk

"I see, I see, Ai-yai-yai, what a thing!!", Ivan rasped after the Master’s hint to Faust. The Master shows himself to Ivan both in profile and full face, to prove that he is a master. Besides, Bulgakov himself had such a cap.

I no longer have a name

The Master's name is never revealed in the novel. "I no longer have a name" also means: I lost my identity.

In the movie picture The Master and Margareth (1972) director Aleksandar Petrovic makes, in my humble opinion, an unforgivable mistake by giving a name to the Master. Personally I think you should not do it, but you can get to know it by clicking here.

One day he won a hundred thousand roubles with a state bond

Lotteries were arranged by the Soviet government to fund various activities. One way to do this was by the emission of state bonds. Citizens were "asked" to buy state bonds at work, like the Master did it at the museum. Often there was a lottery connected to it by which some bonds could win an important amount of money. Because there were not many safe places, the Master kept his bond in the basket of dirty laundry.

A room on Myasnitskaya

The Мясницкая улица (Myasnitskaya ulitsa) or in English Butchers’ street, connects Lubyanka square with Turgenevskaya square, close to Chistiye Prudy. Between 1935 and 1990 it was named Kirov street.

Two rooms in the basement of a little house in the garden

During the period of the New Economic Policy (NEP) private persons were allowed to build and possess small houses. In 1927 Bulgakov rented a couple of rooms from such owner - called застройщик (zastrojstsjik) or builder.

Click here for more information on the basement of the Master

A front hall with a sink in it

Some older buildings in Moscow did not have running water yet. The Master is very pleased with his sink - he mentions it "with special pride". The reason for this pride is in the fact that in the communal apartments in that time there were only sinks in the shared rooms of kitchen and bathroom. So, other than most people, the Master could wash himself privately.

In the movie picture [Est] Ouest director Régis Warnier shows the allotment of rooms in a communal apartment.

Click here to watch a fragment of the film [Est] Ouest

The last words of the novel

“…the fifth procurator of Judea, the equestrian Pontius Pilate.”  There is disagreement about the question whether Pilate was the fifth or the sixth procurator of Judea. Bulgakov chose for the fifth, and used exactly the same words to  finish The Master and Margarita.

There was a wonderful restaurant on the Arbat

The wonderful restaurant is presumably the Praga, at Arbat 2, the first building you see when you go to the Arbat from the Arbatskaya metro station. Originally on this site was a restaurant frequented by cabbies and known as Bragahome brew. In 1896 the entire building was won by the merchant Pyotr Semenovich Tararykin on a bet at playing billiards with his left hand. He spared no expense in renovating the restaurant, employing the architect Lev Nikolayevich Kekushev (1862-1916/1919). Moscow's best chefs, Olivier and Testov worked here. After the revolution it became a cheap cafeteria, then in the 30's a special canteen for Stalin's bodyguards. Today it is again an expensive and elegant restaurant with nine palatial dining rooms and separate smaller private rooms.

Repulsive, alarming yellow flowers

While the yellow flowers Margarita is carrying are not identified in Book One of the novel, they would be instantly recognizable to Muscovites of the Soviet period as mimosas, the first flowers to appear in the spring, and which were imported from the South.

It is probably not insignificant that both the mimosas and Margarita are only named in Book Two. Margarita's flowers are a symbol of misery; yellow is the colour of the madhouse - state buildings were painted dark yellow - and "yellow house" means "madhouse". But yellow is also the color of betrayal - one should never give yellow flowers to a lover in Russia.

In his TV-series Mistrz i Malgorzata the Polish director Maciej Wojtyszko clearly shows how the Master dislikes yellow flowers.

Click here to see the meeting of the Master and Margarita

She turned down a lane from Tverskaya

When Bulgakov and Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya met each other for the first time, they left a party on Bolshoi Gnezdnikovsky pereulok (just off Tverskaya!) to stroll around Moscow.

Click here to read more about this place

Tverskaya

Tverskaya ulitsa still is Moscow’s main street. It was later renamed Gorki ulitsa, and then Tverskaya again (it is the road to Tver, later renamed Kalinin, now again Tver').

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