Bulgakov: Life and work

by Ellendea Proffer

Ellendea Proffer is a well-known Bulgakov expert, translator and publisher. She is known for Mikhail Life & Work (1984); translations of Bulgakov's plays and prose; numerous articles and introductions, most prominently the Notes and Afterword to the Burgin-O'Connor translation of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.

Genres: Biography

670 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1984

About the author

Ellendea Proffer Teasley (born 1944) is an American author, publisher, and translator of Russian literature into English.

She received her Ph.d from Indiana University, taught at Wayne State University and University of Michigan, Dearborn. She is a well-known Bulgakov expert, translator and publisher. She is known for Mikhail Bulgakov: Life & Work (1984); translations of Bulgakov's plays and prose; numerous articles and introductions, most prominently the Notes and Afterword to the Burgin-O'Connor translation of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.

She married Carl R. Proffer (1938–1984), and co-founded Ardis Publishers in 1971, a specializing in Russian literature, both in English and Russian. As a publisher, she was responsible for the collected works of Bulgakov in Russian, which then triggered a Soviet edition. Proffer Teasley edited a series of well-received photo-biographies, including those devoted to Nabokov, Tsvetaeva and Bulgakov.

Ellendea Proffer was on the first judges' panel for the Booker Russian Novel Prize, and in 1989 received a Macarthur Fellowship for her work with Ardis.

Carl Proffer's papers and the Ardis archives are held at University of Michigan. Ellendea Proffer Teasley donated a collection of manuscripts, typescripts, correspondences, books, photographs, and proofs, to the University of Michigan's Library.

In 2015, she published her memoir Brodsky Among Us with one of Russia's leading publishing houses, Corpus.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Michael Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Though he came from a family of scholars, Bulgakov himself never became a professional scholar. He did poorly in school. He was restless and bored, and was much too imaginative. The scholarly interest would come out in Bulgakov much later, in his manner of researching various eras for his plays and novels......But he was literary from the beginning. He wrote his first story, "The Adventures of Svetlyak," at the age of seven."

Trained in medicine, Bulgakov would switch to journalism and literature at age 30.

This book is out of print and I have not seen it listed in any bibliography for "additional reading" on Bulgakov. I used it largely for factual reference.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A serious, deep, inspirational investigation into Bulgakov's life - made even more amazing by the fact that the author very likely does not have Russian background. I was impressed by the variety of sources Proffer had used. How lucky for us that the book was written in the 80s when Bulgakov's wives and some acquaintances from his circle were still alive. Even more astounding is the fact that the author understood the realities of Soviet life in the 20s and 30s, "the spirit of time", all the things that have been left unsaid.

"He lived a normal Soviet writer's life, which meant that Akhmatova came to ask advice how to get her son and husband out of jail, Mandelstam's wife came to ask for money to help her doomed husband, and Bulgakov's close friend the playwright Erdman was exiled and lucky to be alive. Through it all Bulgakov worked, but although he could close the door of his study, he could not, and did not, close his mind to what was going on around him. Precisely what an accomplishment it was to write in this environment is something non-Russians will have trouble understanding. And that he wrote prose made it even more difficult, since doing it well requires a kind of stamina and concentration over a long period which plays and poetry do not. ... Those who compromised completely often did so out of desire to belong; Bulgakov also wished to belong, but compromised very little.... It takes a very unusual personality to function during the times of catastrophe... A writer is a person who writes what he wants to write - and if he doesn't, he is not a writer."

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough, well-written study of the life and work of one of Russia's most important writers of the 20th century.