Bulgakov's best works: a list and a brief overview

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, whose best works are presented in this article, occupied a separate position in the literary life of the USSR. Feeling himself the heir to the literary tradition of the 19th century, he was equally alien to the socialist realism implanted by the ideology of communism in the 1930s and the spirit of avant-garde experimentation characteristic of Russian literature of the 1920s. The writer sharply satirically, contrary to the requirements of censorship, depicted a negative attitude towards the construction of a new society and the revolution in the USSR.

Features of the author's worldview

Bulgakov's works reflected the worldview of the intelligentsia, which during the periods of historical breakdowns and the totalitarian regime remained committed to traditional moral and cultural values. This position cost the author a lot: his manuscripts were banned fromprint. A significant part of the legacy of this writer has come down to us only decades after his death.

We offer you the following list of Bulgakov's most famous works:

- novels: "White Guard", "Master and Margarita", "Dead Man's Notes";

- stories: "Deviliad", "Fatal Eggs", "Heart of a Dog";

- play "Ivan Vasilyevich".

The novel "The White Guard" (years of creation - 1922-1924)

The list of "Bulgakov's best works" opens with the "White Guard". In his first novel, Mikhail Afanasyevich describes events related to the end of 1918, that is, to the period of the Civil War. The action of the work takes place in Kyiv, more precisely, in the house where the writer's family lived at that time. Almost all characters have prototypes among friends, relatives and acquaintances of Bulgakov. The manuscripts of this work have not been preserved, but, despite this, fans of the novel, following the fate of the prototypes of the characters, proved the reality and accuracy of the events described by Mikhail Afanasyevich.

The first part of the book "The White Guard" (Mikhail Bulgakov) was published in 1925 in a magazine called "Russia". The entire work was published in France two years later. The opinions of critics were not unanimous - the Soviet side could not accept the glorification of class enemies by the writer, and the emigrant side could not accept loy alty to the authorities.

In 1923, Mikhail Afanasyevich wrote that such a work was being created that "the skyit will become hot … ". "White Guard" (Mikhail Bulgakov) later served as a source for the famous play "Days of the Turbins". There were also a number of screen adaptations.

The Tale of "The Diaboliad" (1923)

We continue to describe the most famous works of Bulgakov. Among them is the story "The Devil". In the story of how the twins ruined the clerk, the writer reveals the eternal theme of the "little man" who fell victim to the bureaucratic machine of the Soviet government, in the imagination of Korotkov, the clerk, associated with diabolical, destructive power. The employee, fired from his job, unable to cope with bureaucratic demons, eventually goes crazy. The work was first published in 1924 in the Nedra almanac.

The story "Fatal Eggs" (year of creation - 1924)

Bulgakov's works include the story "Fatal Eggs". Its events take place in 1928. Vladimir Ipatievich Persikov, a brilliant zoologist, discovers a unique phenomenon: the red part of the light spectrum has a stimulating effect on embryos - they begin to develop much faster and reach sizes much larger than their "originals". There is only one drawback - these individuals are characterized by increased aggressiveness and the ability to reproduce rapidly.

One state farm, headed by a man with the surname Rokk, decides to use Persikov's invention to restore the number of chickens after the passage through Russiachicken sea. He takes the camera-irradiators from the professor, but as a result of a mistake, instead of chicken eggs, he gets crocodiles, snake and ostrich eggs. The reptiles hatched from them are constantly multiplying - they are moving towards Moscow, sweeping away everything in their path.

The plot of this work echoes the "Food of the Gods" - a novel by G. Wells, written by him in 1904. In it, scientists invent a powder that causes substantial growth in plants and animals. As a result of experiments in England, giant wasps and rats appear, and later chickens, various plants, as well as giant people.

Prototypes and film adaptations of the story "Fatal Eggs"

According to the famous philologist B. Sokolov, the prototypes of Persikov can be called Alexander Gurvich, the famous biologist, or Vladimir Lenin.

Sergey Lomkin in 1995 shot a film of the same name based on this work, including such heroes of the work "The Master and Margarita" as Woland (Mikhail Kozakov) and the cat Behemoth (Roman Madyanov). Oleg Yankovsky brilliantly played the role of Professor Persikov.

The story "Heart of a Dog" (1925)

This story was first published in London and Frankfurt in 1968. In the USSR, it was distributed in samizdat, and only in 1987 did the official publication take place.

The work written by Mikhail Bulgakov ("Heart of a Dog") has the following plot. The events take place in 1924. Philip Filippovich Preobrazhensky, an outstanding surgeon,achieves incredible results in the field of rejuvenation and conceives a unique experiment - to perform an operation to transplant the human pituitary gland into a dog. The homeless dog Sharik is used as an experimental animal, and the thief Klim Chugunkin, who died in a fight, becomes an organ donor.

Sharik's hair gradually begins to fall out, limbs stretch, a human appearance and speech appear. Professor Preobrazhensky, however, will soon have to bitterly regret what he did.

During a search in the apartment of Mikhail Afanasyevich in 1926, the manuscripts of the "Heart of a Dog" were seized and returned to him only after M. Gorky petitioned for him.

Prototypes and film adaptations of "Heart of a Dog"

Many researchers of Bulgakov's work adhere to the point of view that the writer depicted in this book Lenin (Preobrazhensky), Stalin (Sharikov), Zinoviev (Zin's assistant) and Trotsky (Bormental). It is also believed that Bulgakov predicted the mass repressions that took place in the 1930s.

Alberto Lattuada, an Italian director, made a film of the same name based on the book in 1976, in which Max von Sydow plays Professor Preobrazhensky. However, this film adaptation did not have much popularity, unlike the cult film directed by Vladimir Bortko, released in 1988.

The novel "The Master and Margarita" (1929-1940)

Farce, satire, mysticism, fantasy, parable, melodrama, myth… Sometimes it seems that the work that he createdMikhail Bulgakov, "The Master and Margarita", combines all these genres.

Satan in the form of Woland reigns over our world with only known goals to him, stopping from time to time in different villages and cities. One day, during the spring full moon, he finds himself in Moscow in the 1930s - that time and place where no one believes in either God or Satan, the existence of Jesus Christ is denied.

All those who come into contact with Woland are prosecuted by well-deserved punishments for their inherent sins: drunkenness, bribery, greed, selfishness, lies, indifference, rudeness, etc.

The master who created the novel about Pontius Pilate is in a lunatic asylum, where he was driven by harsh criticism from fellow writers. Margarita, his mistress, only dreams of finding the Master and bringing him back to her. Azazello gives her hope that this dream will come true, but for this the girl must render one favor to Woland.

History of the work

The original version of the novel contained a detailed description of Woland's appearance, placed on fifteen handwritten pages created by Mikhail Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita thus has its own history. At first the Master's name was Astaroth. In the 1930s, in newspapers and Soviet journalism, after Maxim Gorky, the title "master" was fixed.

According to Elena Sergeevna, the writer's widow, Bulgakov before his death said the following words about his novel "The Master and Margarita": "Toknow… To know".

The work was published only after the death of the writer. For the first time it was born only in 1966, that is, 26 years after the death of its creator, in an abridged version, with banknotes. The novel immediately gained popularity among representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia, to the point that in 1973 an official publication took place. Copies of the work were reprinted by hand and thus distributed. Elena Sergeevna managed to keep the manuscript during all these years.

Numerous performances based on the work staged by Valery Belyakovich and Yuri Lyubimov were very popular, films by Alexander Petrovich and Andrzej Wajda and television series by Vladimir Bortko and Yuri Kara were also made.

"Theatrical novel", or "Dead Man's Notes" (1936-1937)

Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich wrote works until his death in 1940. The book "Theatrical Romance" remained unfinished. In it, on behalf of Sergei Leontievich Maksudov, a certain writer, it tells about the writer's world and the theatrical backstage.

November 26, 1936, work began on the book. Bulgakov on the first page of his manuscript indicated two titles: "Theatrical novel" and "Notes of the deceased". The latter was underlined twice by him.

According to most researchers, this novel is the funniest creation of Mikhail Afanasyevich. It was created in one breath, without sketches, drafts andfixes. The writer's wife recalled that while she was setting dinner, waiting for her husband to return from the Bolshoi Theater in the evening, he sat down at his desk and wrote a couple of pages of this work, after which, satisfied, rubbing his hands, he went out to her.

The play "Ivan Vasilyevich" (1936)

The most famous creations include not only novels and short stories, but also Bulgakov's plays. One of them, "Ivan Vasilyevich", is brought to your attention. The plot is the following. Nikolai Timofeev, an engineer, makes a time machine in Moscow, in his apartment. When the house manager Bunsha comes to him, he turns the key, and the wall between the apartments disappears. The thief Georges Miloslavsky is found sitting in the apartment of Shpak, his neighbor. An engineer opens a portal leading to the time of Moscow in the 16th century. Ivan the Terrible, frightened, rushes into the present, while Miloslavsky and Bunsha fall into the past.

This story began in 1933, when Mikhail Afanasyevich agreed to write a "fun play" with a music hall. Initially, the text was called differently, "Bliss", in it a time machine left for the communist future, and Ivan the Terrible appeared in only one episode.

This creation, like Bulgakov's other plays (the list can be continued), was not published during the author's lifetime and was not staged until 1965. Leonid Gaidai in 1973, based on the work, shot his famous film called "Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession".

These are just the main creations that Mikhail Bulgakov created. The works of this writer are not exhausted by the above. You can continue studying the work of Mikhail Afanasyevich by including some others.