In his analysis of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, Elliot Mason explores the biblical and mythological ancestry of two of the novel’s most under-studied demonic characters: Azazello and Korov′ev-Fagot. Both characters, it is argued, serve important thematic roles within The Master and Margarita, acting as symbols of the oppressed artist, creativity and judgement. Azazello and Korov′ev-Fagot are integral to an eschatological reading of the text, with Korov′ev in particular suggesting new areas of Faustian influence within The Master and Margarita. Azazello’s relevance to the novel is discussed in terms of his relationship with another of Bulgakov’s characters: the demon Abaddon. Through an examination of the biblical, literary and mythological development of the myth of the Azazel-figure throughout history, Mason argues a thematic, and perhaps even more tangible, connection between the two characters. In the context of Bulgakov’s novel, it is argued, Azazello and Abaddon are interrelated, and it is this relationship that sheds new light on the thematic importance of either character to The Master and Margarita. An examination of older, non-canonical biblical texts allows the connection between Azazel and Abaddon to be explored and applied to Bulgakov’s novel. It is argued that Bulgakov himself, upon reading the texts studied, came to many of the same conclusions, and that these conclusions resulted in the connectedness of Azazello and Abaddon within The Master and Margarita. The second chapter of Mason’s study is devoted to tracing the heritage of the character, Kovo′ev-Fagot. A number of references and clues within The Master and Margarita are suggestive of the fact that Bulgakov had a particular literary, mythological or contemporary figure in mind when he created the character. Despite these references, Bulgakovian scholars have so far been unable to identify precisely whom Bulgakov was drawing on as inspiration for Korov′ev. Using the information provided by The Master and Margarita, Mason argues for a reading of Korov′ev-Fagot as the biblical, mythological sea-beast, Leviathan. He further links the character with Mephistopheles, finding a connection between Leviathan and Mephistopheles in a lesser-known version of the Faust legend, which replaces the name of one with the other. An overview of Leviathan’s eschatological and thematic functions, as well as his relationship with Egyptian and Norse chaos serpents, is used in order to provide the demonological background of the figure to a potentially non-specialist audience. The themes explored in this section of the argument are then applied to The Master and Margarita itself, in order to better understand the intended role of Korov′ev-Fagot to Bulgakov’s work. The identification of Korov′ev-Fagot with Leviathan and Mephistopheles, as well as that of Azazello with Abaddon, serves as a foundation of information, compiled in order that future interpretations may hopefully draw from it.

In his analysis of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, Elliot Mason explores the biblical and mythological ancestry of two of the novel’s most under-studied demonic characters: Azazello and Korov′ev-Fagot. Both characters, it is argued, serve important thematic roles within The Master and Margarita, acting as symbols of the oppressed artist, creativity and judgement. Azazello and Korov′ev-Fagot are integral to an eschatological reading of the text, with Korov′ev in particular suggesting new areas of Faustian influence within The Master and Margarita. Azazello’s relevance to the novel is discussed in terms of his relationship with another of Bulgakov’s characters: the demon Abaddon. Through an examination of the biblical, literary and mythological development of the myth of the Azazel-figure throughout history, Mason argues a thematic, and perhaps even more tangible, connection between the two characters. In the context of Bulgakov’s novel, it is argued, Azazello and Abaddon are interrelated, and it is this relationship that sheds new light on the thematic importance of either character to The Master and Margarita. An examination of older, non-canonical biblical texts allows the connection between Azazel and Abaddon to be explored and applied to Bulgakov’s novel. It is argued that Bulgakov himself, upon reading the texts studied, came to many of the same conclusions, and that these conclusions resulted in the connectedness of Azazello and Abaddon within The Master and Margarita. The second chapter of Mason’s study is devoted to tracing the heritage of the character, Kovo′ev-Fagot. A number of references and clues within The Master and Margarita are suggestive of the fact that Bulgakov had a particular literary, mythological or contemporary figure in mind when he created the character. Despite these references, Bulgakovian scholars have so far been unable to identify precisely whom Bulgakov was drawing on as inspiration for Korov′ev. Using the information provided by The Master and Margarita, Mason argues for a reading of Korov′ev-Fagot as the biblical, mythological sea-beast, Leviathan. He further links the character with Mephistopheles, finding a connection between Leviathan and Mephistopheles in a lesser-known version of the Faust legend, which replaces the name of one with the other. An overview of Leviathan’s eschatological and thematic functions, as well as his relationship with Egyptian and Norse chaos serpents, is used in order to provide the demonological background of the figure to a potentially non-specialist audience. The themes explored in this section of the argument are then applied to The Master and Margarita itself, in order to better understand the intended role of Korov′ev-Fagot to Bulgakov’s work. The identification of Korov′ev-Fagot with Leviathan and Mephistopheles, as well as that of Azazello with Abaddon, serves as a foundation of information, compiled in order that future interpretations may hopefully draw from it.

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Thesis advisor: John Houchin / The objective of this project was to attempt not only to adapt the novel "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov to the stage, but rather to translate it in both time and place to the stage. It has been more than 60 years since the novel was written, and as such the concerns of the characters have changed both in time and locale. Not only are their objectives adjusted, but the novel is ultimately that: a novel. Being a theatrical adaptation, the play must acknowledge its own existence as such and take issue with its form as much as "The Master and Margarita" does its own. The play is, ultimately, a failed one in my opinion. The greatest downfall thereof being the fact that theatre, drama, is centered around a single thing: conflict. The devil can be in conflict with no one but the divine, and as such any time he is on stage there is simply something missing. The failure is, to a certain extent, befitting of the piece for what it takes to heart as its issues. Enjoy. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Theater.

Mikhail Bulgakov’s satirical novel The Master and Margarita offers a humorous and caustic depiction of 1930s Moscow. Woven around the premise of a visit by the devil to the fervently atheistic Soviet Union, it is directed against the repressive bureaucratic social order of the time. In chapter 12 of the book, the devil appears onstage at the Variety Theater and turns Moscow on its head. By appealing to their greed and desire for status, he turns the spectators into the spectacle. A close reading of the text confirms that the Theater is much more than a fictional setting for the chapter. Instead, it serves as a backdrop for a disturbing portrait of human frailty, a scathing criticism of Soviet bureaucracy and hypocrisy, and unmistakable references to real-life Moscow institutions and to the author’s personal experiences during the tumultuous 1930s. / text

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Sowohl in der Musikgeschichte als auch in Bulgakovs Roman treten Strawinsky und Berlioz fiir immer Seite an Seite auf.

Nesta dissertação me proponho a analisar o romance O Mestre e Margarida (1940) de M. Bulgákov a partir das noções de humano, fantasia e realidade. Para isso, inicio por uma análise do primeiro capítulo do romance de Bulgákov em aproximação com o romance realista socialista, buscando elementos com que Bulgákov se contrapõe ao realismo socialista. Sugiro, aqui, que esses elementos teriam ligação com questões éticas e de modos de representação do real, de tal modo que essas questões residem no cerne temático e formal do romance. Em seguida, me proponho a analisar o entremeio entre o primeiro capítulo de O Mestre e Margarida, que se passa em Moscou, e o segundo capítulo, o romance dentro do romance, a história de Pôncios Pilatos e Jeshua escrita pelo personagem Mestre. Nesse momento, estou preocupado em discutir três temas principais: a. a função do fáustico no romance, bem como outras questões a ele associadas, como o problema do valor em Goethe, Binswanger, Nietzsche e Heidegger leitor de Nietzsche; b. o modo como um romance está dentro do outro, uma vez que, entre outras coisas, o modo como se dá a passagem entre um e outro é variado e instaura uma questão sobre a qual não poucos críticos se debruçaram; e c. a singularidade do procedimento paródico presente no romance, a qual me leva a enveredar por um estudo da sátira menipeia de Bakhtin, em consonância com alguns pontos de seus textos iniciais, preocupados, por exemplo, com o problema da responsabilidade. Por fim, passo a uma análise do segundo capítulo de O Mestre e Margarida, o assim chamado romance dentro do romance, que narra à sua maneira a interação entre Jeshua e Pôncios Pilatos. Aqui, aproximo dessa narrativa algumas questões relacionadas ao nietzschianismo russo e a Nietzsche, tendo em vista hipóteses trabalhadas nos momentos anteriores deste estudo. Nesse percurso, as desenvolvo e aprofundo, principalmente a respeito de assuntos como a recepção de aspectos da filosofia alemã no contexto russo-soviético e o lugar complexo de O Mestre e Margarida no modernismo. / In this dissertation I propose an analysis of M. Bulgakovs novel The Master and Margarita (1940), considering the notions of human, fantasy and reality. For this purpose, I begin by an analysis of the first chapter of Bulgakovs novel, approaching it to socialist realist novel, aiming to find elements in which Bulgakov counteracts socialist realism. I suggest these elements have to do with ethical matters and with issues about how to represent the real, in a way that these matters and issues rest on the novels thematic and formal heart. Afterwards, I propose to analyse the intermedium (entremeio) between The Master and Margaritas first chapter, which takes place in Moscow, and the second chapter, which is the novel inside the novel, the story of Pontius Pilate and Yeshua written by the Master, the character. At this point, I am concerned with three main themes: a. the function of the faustic in the novel and related matters, like the value issue in Goethe, Binswanger, Nietzsche and Heidegger as Nietzsches reader; b. the way in which a novel is inside the other, since the link between one and another varies, posing an issue handled by several critics; and c. the singularity of the parodic procedure found in the novel, which leads me to embark on a study of Bakhtins menippean satire in consonance with some points of his first texts that are concerned, for example, with the issue of the answerability. Finally, I analyse the The Master and Margaritas second chapter, the so called novel inside the novel, which tells in its own ways the interaction between Yeshua and Pilate. I articulate it here with some issues connected with the Russian Nietzscheanism and with Nietzsche himself considering assumptions that Ive worked previously. In this route, I advance assumptions about issues like the reception of aspects of German philosophy in Russian-soviet background and The Master and Margaritas intricate place inside modernism.

Nesta dissertação me proponho a analisar o romance O Mestre e Margarida (1940) de M. Bulgákov a partir das noções de humano, fantasia e realidade. Para isso, inicio por uma análise do primeiro capítulo do romance de Bulgákov em aproximação com o romance realista socialista, buscando elementos com que Bulgákov se contrapõe ao realismo socialista. Sugiro, aqui, que esses elementos teriam ligação com questões éticas e de modos de representação do real, de tal modo que essas questões residem no cerne temático e formal do romance. Em seguida, me proponho a analisar o entremeio entre o primeiro capítulo de O Mestre e Margarida, que se passa em Moscou, e o segundo capítulo, o romance dentro do romance, a história de Pôncios Pilatos e Jeshua escrita pelo personagem Mestre. Nesse momento, estou preocupado em discutir três temas principais: a. a função do fáustico no romance, bem como outras questões a ele associadas, como o problema do valor em Goethe, Binswanger, Nietzsche e Heidegger leitor de Nietzsche; b. o modo como um romance está dentro do outro, uma vez que, entre outras coisas, o modo como se dá a passagem entre um e outro é variado e instaura uma questão sobre a qual não poucos críticos se debruçaram; e c. a singularidade do procedimento paródico presente no romance, a qual me leva a enveredar por um estudo da sátira menipeia de Bakhtin, em consonância com alguns pontos de seus textos iniciais, preocupados, por exemplo, com o problema da responsabilidade. Por fim, passo a uma análise do segundo capítulo de O Mestre e Margarida, o assim chamado romance dentro do romance, que narra à sua maneira a interação entre Jeshua e Pôncios Pilatos. Aqui, aproximo dessa narrativa algumas questões relacionadas ao nietzschianismo russo e a Nietzsche, tendo em vista hipóteses trabalhadas nos momentos anteriores deste estudo. Nesse percurso, as desenvolvo e aprofundo, principalmente a respeito de assuntos como a recepção de aspectos da filosofia alemã no contexto russo-soviético e o lugar complexo de O Mestre e Margarida no modernismo. / In this dissertation I propose an analysis of M. Bulgakovs novel The Master and Margarita (1940), considering the notions of human, fantasy and reality. For this purpose, I begin by an analysis of the first chapter of Bulgakovs novel, approaching it to socialist realist novel, aiming to find elements in which Bulgakov counteracts socialist realism. I suggest these elements have to do with ethical matters and with issues about how to represent the real, in a way that these matters and issues rest on the novels thematic and formal heart. Afterwards, I propose to analyse the intermedium (entremeio) between The Master and Margaritas first chapter, which takes place in Moscow, and the second chapter, which is the novel inside the novel, the story of Pontius Pilate and Yeshua written by the Master, the character. At this point, I am concerned with three main themes: a. the function of the faustic in the novel and related matters, like the value issue in Goethe, Binswanger, Nietzsche and Heidegger as Nietzsches reader; b. the way in which a novel is inside the other, since the link between one and another varies, posing an issue handled by several critics; and c. the singularity of the parodic procedure found in the novel, which leads me to embark on a study of Bakhtins menippean satire in consonance with some points of his first texts that are concerned, for example, with the issue of the answerability. Finally, I analyse the The Master and Margaritas second chapter, the so called novel inside the novel, which tells in its own ways the interaction between Yeshua and Pilate. I articulate it here with some issues connected with the Russian Nietzscheanism and with Nietzsche himself considering assumptions that Ive worked previously. In this route, I advance assumptions about issues like the reception of aspects of German philosophy in Russian-soviet background and The Master and Margaritas intricate place inside modernism.