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Michail Bulgakow

    May 3, 1891 – March 10, 1940

    Mikhail Bulgakov masterfully blended satire, fantasy, and profound social commentary, often exploring the complex relationship between the artist and oppressive power structures. His works, frequently drawing on historical figures, delve into the tensions between creative freedom and authoritarian control. With remarkable agility, Bulgakov navigated diverse genres, from impactful plays to brilliant novels, his style distinguished by sharp wit and a deep understanding of the human condition. His most celebrated novel, a fantastical exploration of the supernatural in modern Moscow, is widely regarded as his masterpiece, though widespread acclaim arrived decades after his passing.

    Michail Bulgakow
    Don Quixote
    The Life of Monsieur de Moliere
    The Heart of a Dog and Other Stories
    Diaries and Selected Letters
    A Young Doctor's Notebook
    The Master and Margarita
    • The Master and Margarita

      • 432 pages
      • 16 hours of reading

      One hot spring, the devil arrives in Moscow, Accompanied by a retinue that includes a beautiful naked witch and an immense talking black cat with a fondness of chess and vodka. The visitors quickly wreak havoc in a city that refuses to believe in either God or Satan. But they also bring peace to two unhappy Muscovites: one is the master, a writer pilloried for daring to write a novel about Christ and Pontius Pilate; the other is Margairta, who loves the Master so deeply that she is willing to go to hell for him. What ensues is a novel of inexhaustible energy, humor, and philisophical depth, a work whose nuances emerge for the first time in Hugh Aplin's English version.

      The Master and Margarita
      4.3
    • Using a sharply realistic and humorous style, Bulgakov reveals his doubts about his own competence and the immense burden of responsibility, as he deals with a superstitious and poorly educated people struggling to enter the modern age. This acclaimed collection represents some of Bulgakov's most personal and insightful observations on youth, isolation and progress.

      A Young Doctor's Notebook
      4.3
    • Diaries and Selected Letters

      • 288 pages
      • 11 hours of reading

      The career of Mikhail Bulgakov, the author of Master and Margarita - now regarded as one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century literature - was characterized by a constant and largely unsuccessful struggle against state censorship. This suppression did not only apply to his art: in 1926 his personal diary was seized by the authorities. From then on he confined his thoughts to letters to his friends and family, as well as to public figures such as Stalin and his fellow Soviet writer Gorky, while also encouraging his wife Yelena to keep a diary, with many entries influenced or even dictated by him. This ample selection from the diaries and letters of the Bulgakovs, mostly translated for the first time into English, provides an insightful glimpse into a fascinating period of Russian history and literature, telling the tragic tale of the fate of an artist under a totalitarian regime.

      Diaries and Selected Letters
      4.2
    • The Heart of a Dog and Other Stories

      • 310 pages
      • 11 hours of reading

      Contains the following stories: - Notes Off the Cuff- Diaboliad- The Fateful Eggs- The Heart of a Dog

      The Heart of a Dog and Other Stories
      4.1
    • The Life of Monsieur de Moliere

      • 200 pages
      • 7 hours of reading

      Charts the life of the French playwright - Moliere - from humble beginnings to later theatrical triumphs and political controversies.

      The Life of Monsieur de Moliere
      4.1
    • Don Quixote

      • 104 pages
      • 4 hours of reading

      Mikhail Bulgakov's adaptation of Cervantes' classic novel offers a theatrical and deeply personal interpretation, showcasing his unique vision. This edition is translated into English for the first time by acclaimed translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, alongside playwright Richard Nelson, who brings his award-winning expertise to the project. The collaboration promises to highlight the richness and complexity of the original work while making it accessible to a new audience.

      Don Quixote
      3.6
    • A Dog´s Heart : An Appalling Story

      • 116 pages
      • 5 hours of reading

      Features a wealthy Moscow surgeon Filip Preobrazhensky who implants the pituitary gland and testicles of a drunken petty criminal into the body of a stray dog. As the dog slowly transforms into a man, and man into a slovenly, lecherous government official, the doctor's life descends into chaos.

      A Dog´s Heart : An Appalling Story
      4.1
    • The White Guard

      • 319 pages
      • 12 hours of reading

      Drawing closely on Bulgakov's personal experiences of the horrors of civil war as a young doctor, "The White Guard" takes place in Kiev, 1918, a time of turmoil and suffocating uncertainty as the Bolsheviks, Socialists and Germans fight for control of the city. It tells the story of the Turbins, a once-wealthy Russian family, as they are forced to come to terms with revolution and a new regime.

      The White Guard
      4.1
    • The heart of a dog

      • 144 pages
      • 6 hours of reading

      WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY ANDREY KURKOV A rich, successful Moscow professor befriends a stray dog and attempts a scientific first by transplanting into it the testicles and pituitary gland of a recently deceased man. A distinctly worryingly human animal is now on the loose, and the professor's hitherto respectable life becomes a nightmare beyond endurance. An absurd and superbly comic story, this classic novel can also be read as a fierce parable of the Russian Revolution.

      The heart of a dog
      4.0
    • "There is absolutely no necessity to learn how to read; meat smells a mile off, anyway. Nevertheless, if you live in Moscow and have a brain in your head, you'll pick up reading willy-nilly, and without attending any courses. Out of the forty thousand or so Moscow dogs, only a total idiot won't know how to read the word 'sausage'." When a stray dog dying on the streets of Moscow is taken in by a wealthy professor, he is subjected to medical experiments in which he receives various transplants of human organs. As he begins to transform into a rowdy, unkempt human by the name of Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov, his actions distress the professor and those surrounding him, although he finds himself accepted into the ranks of the Soviet state. A parodic reworking of the Frankenstein myth and a vicious satire of the Communist revolution and the concept of the New Soviet man, A Dog's Heart was banned by the censors in 1925 and circulated only in samizdat form. Nowadays this hugely entertaining tale has become very popular in Russia, and has inspired many adaptations across the world.

      A Dog's Heart. Hundeherz, englische Ausgabe
      3.9