Reading Rambo

I...okay. All right. So. This book.



Master and Margarita...is...a book that is loved by very many people. About the Soviet Union, and Satan coming to Moscow. And some people seem to really really love the cat demon, because he's featured on every damn version of the cover.

I feel like, much like how some people only can capture a displeasing soapy taste when they try cilantro, some people are made for Russian literature and others are not. I am inclined to think I am in the latter category, if only because while one can go on about context needed, etc, I still find Restoration comedies enjoyable/sometimes horrifying, and I'm sure I miss out on at least 50% of their references.


Not that I enjoyed none of this book! Satan's Grand Ball was v. interesting. Mainly because it had historical figures in it. I liked Natasha muchly. But I thought the cat was annoying as shit, the Pilate chapters were insanely boring, and the Master kinda sucked. ALSO THERE WAS RACISM. Which, y'know…

So...Margarita attended Satan's Grand Ball. And everything was rull weird.


Like a fairytale, it was all a big test and Margarita was suddenly in an insane situation and just had to do as she was told, if she did it, she'd be rewarded. This is legit what happens in every fairytale with a test. The people who don't do what the magical sprite or whatever wants them to do get punished, and the lazy youngest brother who just goes with it gets to marry the princess. With Margarita here being the lazy youngest brother. Only she doesn't get to marry the awesome Natasha who just wants to be a feminist witch.


All the creepy dead people at the ball seem to be actual murderers and criminals from history. There're some good annotations here, and apparently this book is covered in freemason symbolism and we've missed it this whole time and OH WELL I'm just glad we're getting through it. 

Then there were some more Jesus chapters, and aight.



p.s. nsfw, but I love this Nata…

As we plough through the overcast but fallishly festive month of October, we continue this weird, weird book.

This week, more people went to jail, more people were slapped around by Satan and his minions, and there was a weird Harry Potter-feel to some of it. Also the housing crisis continues to be made fun of, which makes me think I need to read about it. As a modern lady living in Chicago, my mentality is kind of "well......but there're lots of apartments here." Was it just a bunch of people moving to Moscow and they have no apartments to house them, or was it a specifically Soviet thing? If it's the bunch of people moving to Moscow thing, then that makes more sense for Berlioz's uncle being told to go back to Kiev.

Meanwhile, Margarita's doing this:



Satan and his pals are being suuuper nice to Margarita. Maybe because she doesn't give a fuck about anything except finding the Master. And also she's really good at sucking up to people. And by the end …

What happened in Master and Margarita this week? A bunch of people got disappeared by the devil (Secret Police), Apollonian and Dionysian values got compared (apparently), and there was more Jesus stuff.

AND THE MASTER SHOWED UP. Finally. Did anyone else almost immediately google to see if you could buy his hat? Because I did and I cannot find it, which seems RIDICULOUS. Anyway, I assume the woman he was obsessed with and whose flowers he hated is Margarita, and also that the Master is essentially Bulgakov (further research has supported this), which means our two main players have finally shown up. Does it feel a bit like a chess game where all the pieces are being strategically placed around? Yes? No? Maybe?

Anyway, I found this (again, from Middlebury's fine site), which I liked very much. It's addressing the chaos at the theatre in chapter 12 (bolding my own):

Apollonian vs. Dionysian: The philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche is very difficult to understand, but it appears to be…

Wow, I sure did not have any idea what this book was about. Mostly because I 100% thought it was about a ship's cat. If someone had told me it "concerns a visit by the devil to the fervently atheistic Soviet Union" I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE PICKED IT UP SOONER.

Is a cat involved? Yes. But a shifty cat.



The book begins with a poet and his editor, because #Russia. They're in a park. This park:




How much does Russia love this book? A SHIT TON is the answer. They still love Patriarch's Ponds, (or, if you're talking to your brother-in-law and forgot the name, Patriarchy Park) pretty much solely because of this book (although that's according to masterandmargarita.eu, so take it with a grain of salt) AND they have put up this amazing sign that is now 90% of the reason I want to go to Russia:


On June 20, 2012, the connectedness of the Patriarch's Ponds with The Master and Margarita was again illustrated when a unique road sign turned out to be placed there overnight.…