Mikhail Bulgakov

Mikhail Bulgakov (1891–1940) was a Russian novelist and playwright whose satire joined the grotesque, fantasy and the pressures of Soviet life. The Master and Margarita interweaves literary Moscow, a demonic visitation, a love story and the trial of Pontius Pilate without settling into a single register. Heart of a Dog compresses his social criticism into a scientific experiment that exposes ambition, class performance and the fantasy of remaking human nature. A Country Doctor’s Notebook draws on medical experience to show an inexperienced physician confronting fear, isolation and responsibility, while The White Guard follows a family through the disruptions of civil war. Bulgakov’s comedy can turn abruptly toward danger, and his fantastic scenes remain anchored in institutions, rooms and professional rivalries. Heart of a Dog is the sharper short introduction; The Master and Margarita reveals the full scale of his narrative design.