Mikhail Bulgakov

by J.A.E. Curtis

Mikhail Bulgakov (1891–1940) has become the most popular Russian writer of the twentieth century, even though his works were banned for decades after his death due to the repressive Soviet censorship of literature. His great novel, The Master and Margarita (published only in 1973), was written in complete secrecy during the 1930s for fear of the writer being arrested and shot. In her revelatory new biography J.A.E. Curtis provides a fresh account of Bulgakov’s idyllic childhood and youth in Kiev, which was swept away in the turmoil of the First World War, the Russian Revolution and Civil War.

Early biographies of Bulgakov were limited in scope by the difficulty of gaining access to archives in the ussr in the 1970s and ’80s. Since that time archives have become more accessible, and Curtis makes use of new
historical documents, tracing Bulgakov’s absolute determination to establish himself as a writer in Bolshevik Moscow, his three marriages and his triumphs as a dramatist in the 1920s. They also reveal how he struggled to defend his art and preserve his integrity in Russia, and the intensely close interest Stalin took in Bulgakov’s work, personally weighing up each time whether his plays should be permitted or banned.

Based upon many years of research, and taking in previously unpublished family papers and Soviet Politburo discussions, this is an absorbing account of the life and work of one of Russia’s most inventive and exuberant novelists and playwrights.

Genres: Biography, History, Russia, Literature, Nonfiction

203 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 3, 2017

Reviews

[Steven R. Kraaijeveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a succinct, measured, and well-researched biography of Mikhail Bulgakov that follows his life and works in chronological order. It includes plenty of pictures, which adds a nice touch. Given that there are still so few biographies of Bulgakov (at least in English), this is probably the one to read—or at least to start with—for the time being, even if the picture that J. A. E. Curtis sketches is incomplete. To be fair, this is inevitable, given that much more than 200 pages are needed to come anywhere close to describing this man's life and the tempestuous times in which he lived. The chapters (preceded and succeeded, respectively, by a prologue and epilogue) are as follows:

1. Medicine and literature, 1891-1921
2. Moscow, 1921-6
3. Four Plays, 1926-9
4. The Years of Catastrophe, 1929-36
5. The Master and Margarita, 1936-40

I like the close attention to his plays, which have generally received less discussion than his novels. The commentary on Bulgakov's relationship with Stalin was also interesting. Hopefully, a proper 600-plus-page biography of M. A. is on the horizon—much more remains to be said.

[Jason Furman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reliable, comprehensive short biography of Mikhail Bulgakov by J.A.E. Curtis who also edited his letters. It is a standard birth-to-death story that also incorporates a little bit of the historical context (but not much), some description/analysis of Bulgakov's major works, and lots of description of his tangles with the authorities as he kept trying, most of the time unsuccessfully, to stage his plays. Curtis also includes some broader reflection on whether Bulgakov was morally compromised to have survived the terror, a question I had never heard posed before (as compared to, say, Dmitri Shostakovich where it is the subject of numerous books).

This is the only complete english-language biography of Bulgakov I am aware of (but let me know if there are others), many more are needed. In addition to a fuller biography with more historical context, Bulgakov could use a biographer like, well, Bulgakov, whose amazing biography of Moliere does a much fuller job of fleshing him out as a person and character in his own right.

[Guy Salvidge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short biography of Bulgakov in the Critical Lives series, by the editor of Manuscripts Don't Burn (a selection of Bulgakov's letters). Personally I'd like to see a longer biography than this, but as a primer for Bulgakov's works and their historical context this reads very well.