Life and work of M.A. Bulgakov is covered with a mystical aura. This is one of the most mysterious writers of Russian literature. Continuing in his work the traditions of Gogol, the author also acquired the mystery inherent in Nikolai Vasilyevich.
Perhaps the whole point is that in his work he was not afraid to use images of evil spirits, and perhaps the reason for such a mystification lies elsewhere. Brief biography Bulgakov will help you understand some incomprehensible and interesting facts from the life of the prose writer, and find out what the cause of death was.
The life and work of Bulgakov: the beginning of the journey
Mikhail Afanasyevich was born in Kyiv, in the family of an associate professor at the Theological Academy. In total, there were seven children in the family where the future great writer Bulgakov was born. My father studied Western religious beliefs and was an expert on this topic. During his childhood, Mikhail Bulgakov received an excellent home education.
His father forced him to learn several languages, including German, Latin, French and English. After graduating from the Kyiv gymnasium, the writer goes to study to Kyiv University, Faculty of Medicine. A year before graduating from university, Bulgakov marries T.A. Lappa.
In 1916, Mikhail Afanasyevich became a doctor and worked in the Smolensk province. It was while working there that he accumulated his impressions to create the book “Notes of a Young Doctor,” which amazes with the sincerity of its depiction of the everyday life of a county doctor.
These were difficult times, then Bulgakov became addicted to morphine, which turned out to be very difficult to wean off. Here his wife helped him a lot, who helped him get rid of his bad habit.
In 1918, Mikhail Afanasyevich opened his own medical practice for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
During the Civil War, Bulgakov, as a person liable for military service, conscripted into the army. In 1919, he and the whites ended up in Vladikavkaz, where he fell ill and published his first works (feuilletons). The writer perceives the Civil War as a terrible and fratricidal act. The attitude towards this event is reflected in many works.
In 1921 the writer moves to permanent residence in Moscow, where Bulgakov lived until his death.
Creativity M.A. Bulgakov
Bulgakov considered one of his main themes to be the presentation of the Russian intelligentsia as the intellectual elite of the state. He imagined himself free to criticize the absurdities and mistakes of Soviet Russia and believed that this was precisely his duty as a satirist. Bulgakov's first works were feuilletons and collection of stories"Notes of a young doctor." Later the stories “Diaboliad” and “Fatal Eggs” appear. In 1925, the writer completed work on the novel “The White Guard,” which became a story about the spiritual path of the intelligentsia in the revolution.
A year later, based on the novel, the play “Days of the Turbins” was created. Later, “Running” and “Zoyka’s Apartment” were published.
Many works were published only once, and some of Bulgakov's plays were completely banned. The prose writer was persecuted by Soviet critics and politicians. A talented screenwriter was forced to work as a simple stage worker.
To remove government disgrace from himself, Bulgakov wrote the play “Batum”. Afterwards, the author recalls working on this play as a kind of “selling the soul.”
From 1928 until his death, the writer created his main work, novel "The Master and Margarita".
Mikhail Afanasyevich is firmly behind the fame of a “bourgeois writer” was established. Soviet critics could not forgive him for his disdainful and sarcastic attitude towards the foundations of the Soviet country. This resulted in real persecution. Bulgakov's plays are not allowed to be published, and many of them do not appear on stage during the author's lifetime.
Strongly negative Bulgakov's work was condemned by Stalin. Many works are labeled “anti-Soviet”. The writer’s attitude towards such persecution found expression in the novel “The Master and Margarita”. When the critic Latunsky smashes the Master's work to smithereens, Margarita, taking the guise of a witch, takes revenge on him.
Important! In his work about the revolution, the writer thoroughly described the house where Bulgakov lived in Kyiv. He made it one of the central scenes of the action. According to the plot, the heroes left a treasure in this house. After the novel was published, there were many who wanted to find the treasure. This led to the destruction of the house where Bulgakov lived. Fortunately, it no longer belonged to his family.
Matters of the heart
In 1925 Bulgakov meets new love, he divorces his wife and proposes to L.E. Belozerskaya. She inspires him to write the following works:
- "Heart of a Dog";
- "Fatal Eggs";
- "Diaboliad"
“Heart of a Dog” provoked a search in the Bulgakovs’ house. The manuscript of the story was taken away, and the writer spent a very long time trying to get it back. As a result, this work was published only half a century later.
The meeting of Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya with Bulgakov became a turning point in the lives of both. She was a rich married lady, her husband was a military leader, and Mikhail Afanasyevich at that time was a poor writer, without a hint of future great fame.
But love struck them both. Elena Sergeevna inspired M. Bulgakov to write the main novel of his life, “The Master and Margarita.”
She herself became Margarita. The writer endowed the heroine of the work the features of his beloved. Elena Sergeevna spent the last years of his life with Mikhail Afanasyevich. And thanks to her, many works that were banned during the writer’s lifetime saw the light of day.
The last novel
Some time before starting work on his final work, Bulgakov read the book “Venediktov, or Memorable Events of My Life”, the plot of this book is a confrontation young man and the devil, gave him the idea of a similar work. The novel “The Master and Margarita,” which Bulgakov was the last to write, appeared a unique result of life and creativity Bulgakov.
The work has an interesting composition. Chapters telling about life in Moscow at the end of the 20s alternate with chapters of the Master’s story about Yeshua. The parts dedicated to Moscow have a sharply satirical orientation. Bulgakov ridicules the Soviet bureaucracy, the Soviet system, critically portrays the writers' organization MASSOLIT, in which almost everyone is busy getting benefits.
The center of attention of the writer and readers is undoubtedly Woland. This is an amazing character who personifies justice and retribution for sins. It is known that in the epigraph to the novel Bulgakov wrote lines from Faust. These words of Mephistopheles are called emphasize duality the devil in the writer's understanding.
Woland is the guarantor of justice, the correct judge of people, the creator of good. The worldview of the author of “The Master and Margarita” is largely anti-Christian, but there is a character in the novel who can resist evil spirits and intuitively turns to Russian saints, this is Ivan Bezdomny (Ponyrev).
Attention! The novel “The Master and Margarita” reflected the searching and contradictory soul of M.A. Bulgakov, he grew up and formed as a person in a seething intelligentsia society during the period of change in the existing foundation in Russia. The age of atheism and mass instability left a deep imprint on all of Bulgakov's creations.
Recent years
Since 1929, Bulgakov's plays were completely banned. In desperation, he turns to Stalin in a written message and asks for permission to travel abroad, or to soften the conditions under which his work was placed.
Stalin met the writer halfway on this issue. And he had the opportunity to work in theaters.
In the second half of the 30s, Bulgakov began to lose his sight, and his kidney disease worsened. He continues to take morphine as a medicine in order to somehow alleviate his suffering.
Hypertensive nephrosclerosis is slowly taking away Mikhail Afanasyevich’s strength. It is known that he inherited this disease from his father, whose death was also caused by this disease. Last time Bulgakov is working on a novel about the Master February 13, almost a month later he will be gone.
Due to the fact that Bulgakov resorted to the theme of evil spirits in his work, there were rumors about him that he had made a deal with the devil himself. The writer was accused of occultism and relationships with evil spirits. Many assumed that this was the cause of death. Another version, which was widely supported by people, was that the writer was an avid morphine addict, and this is what brought him to the grave. In the death of Bulgakov saw something mystical.
The writer's funeral took place at the Novodevichy cemetery. The place where Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov is buried is located not far from the grave of his beloved Gogol. At the insistence of his wife, instead of a monument, a huge marble block was placed on the grave, which once guarded N.V.’s eternal sleep. Gogol.
Museum
The house in which Bulgakov lived for some time while in Moscow is now a museum that bears the name of Mikhail Afanasyevich. It contains various interesting exhibits that belonged to the writer. Sometimes the museum organizes exhibitions, employees tell interesting facts from the life of a genius.
Brief biography of Bulgakov helped us understand the life and work of the prose writer. The novels of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov have been making readers cry and laugh for many years. His work relatively recently became available to the general public. It’s amazing how a person who endured so many trials and persecutions did not agree to make deals with his conscience and managed not to lose his self-esteem. One can only hope that the place where Bulgakov is buried gave him the very peace that he so dreamed of.
Bulgakov's life and work left an indelible mark in the memory of his contemporaries.
Brief biography of Bulgakov
The story of the life and work of Mikhail Bulgakov
Born into the family of a teacher at the Kyiv Theological Academy, Afanasy Ivanovich Bulgakov, and his wife Varvara Mikhailovna. He was the eldest child in the family and had six more brothers and sisters.
In 1901-1909 he studied at the First Kyiv Gymnasium, after graduating from which he entered the medical faculty of Kyiv University. He studied there for seven years and applied to serve as a doctor in the naval department, but was refused due to health reasons.
In 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, he worked as a doctor in front-line hospitals in Kamenets-Podolsk and Chernivtsi, in the Kiev military hospital. In 1915 he married Tatyana Nikolaevna Lappa. On October 31, 1916, he received a diploma “as a doctor with honors.”
In 1917, he first used morphine to relieve the symptoms of diphtheria vaccination and became addicted to it. In the same year he visited Moscow and in 1918 returned to Kyiv, where he began private practice as a venereologist, having stopped using morphine.
In 1919, during the Civil War, Mikhail Bulgakov was mobilized as a military doctor, first into the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, then into the Red Army, then into the Armed Forces of Southern Russia, then transferred to the Red Cross. At this time he began working as a correspondent. On November 26, 1919, the feuilleton “Future Prospects” was first published in the newspaper “Grozny” with the signature of M.B. He fell ill with typhus in 1920 and remained in Vladikavkaz, without retreating to Georgia with the Volunteer Army.
In 1921, Mikhail Bulgakov moved to Moscow and entered the service of the Glavpolitprosvet under the People's Commissariat for Education, headed by N.K. Krupskaya, wife of V.I. Lenin. In 1921, after the disbandment of the department, he collaborated with the newspapers “Gudok”, “Worker” and the magazines “Red Journal for Everyone”, “Medical Worker”, “Russia” under the pseudonym Mikhail Bull and M.B., wrote and published in 1922 -1923 years “Notes on Cuffs”, participates in the literary circles “Green Lamp”, “Nikitin Subbotniks”.
In 1924 he divorced his wife and in 1925 married Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya. This year, the story “Heart of a Dog”, the plays “Zoyka’s Apartment” and “Days of the Turbins” were written, the satirical stories “Diaboliad”, and the story “Fatal Eggs” were published.
In 1926 with great success The play “Days of the Turbins” was staged at the Moscow Art Theater, permitted on the personal instructions of I. Stalin, who visited it 14 times. At the theater. E. Vakhtangov premiered the play “Zoyka’s Apartment” with great success, which ran from 1926 to 1929. M. Bulgakov moved to Leningrad, there he met with Anna Akhmatova and Yevgeny Zamyatin and was summoned several times for interrogation by the OGPU about his literary work. The Soviet press intensively criticizes the work of Mikhail Bulgakov - over 10 years, 298 abusive reviews and positive ones appeared.
In 1927, the play “Running” was written.
In 1929, Mikhail Bulgakov met Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, who became his third wife in 1932.
In 1929, M. Bulgakov’s works ceased to be published, and his plays were banned from production. Then on March 28, 1930, he wrote a letter to the Soviet government asking either for the right to emigrate or for the opportunity to work at the Moscow Art Theater in Moscow. On April 18, 1930, I. Stalin called Bulgakov and recommended that he apply to the Moscow Art Theater with a request for enrollment.
1930-1936 Mikhail Bulgakov worked at the Moscow Art Theater as an assistant director. The events of those years were described in “Notes of a Dead Man” - “Theatrical Novel”. In 1932, I. Stalin personally allowed the production of “The Days of the Turbins” only at the Moscow Art Theater.
In 1934, Mikhail Bulgakov was admitted to the Soviet Union of Writers and completed the first version of the novel “The Master and Margarita.”
In 1936, Pravda published a devastating article about the “false, reactionary and worthless” play “The Cabal of the Saints,” which had been rehearsed for five years at the Moscow Art Theater. Mikhail Bulgakov went to work at the Bolshoi Theater as a translator and libbretist.
In 1939 he wrote the play “Batum” about I. Stalin. During its production, a telegram arrived about the cancellation of the performance. And a sharp deterioration in Mikhail Bulgakov’s health began. Hypertensive nephrosclerosis was diagnosed, his vision began to deteriorate, and the writer began using morphine again. At this time, he was dictating to his wife the latest versions of the novel “The Master and Margarita.” The wife issues a power of attorney to manage all her husband’s affairs. The novel “The Master and Margarita” was published only in 1966 and brought world fame to the writer.
On March 10, 1940, Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov died, on March 11, the sculptor S.D. Merkulov removed from his face death mask. M.A. Bulgakov was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery, where, at the request of his wife, a stone from the grave of N.V. was installed on his grave. Gogol, nicknamed "Golgotha".
Mikhail Bulgakov is a Russian writer, playwright, director and actor. His works have become classics of Russian literature.
The novel “The Master and Margarita” brought him worldwide fame, which was repeatedly filmed in many countries.
When Bulgakov was at the peak of his popularity, the Soviet government banned the staging of his plays in theaters, as well as the publication of his works.
Brief biography of Bulgakov
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov was born on May 3, 1891 in. Besides him, there were six more children in the Bulgakov family: 2 boys and 4 girls.
His father, Afanasy Ivanovich, was a professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy.
Mother, Varvara Mikhailovna, worked for some time as a teacher in a girls’ gymnasium.
Childhood and youth
When children began to be born one after another in the Bulgakov family, the mother had to leave her job and start raising them.
Since Mikhail was the oldest child, he often had to babysit his brothers and sisters. This undoubtedly affected the formation of the personality of the future writer.
Education
When Bulgakov turned 18, he graduated from the First Kyiv Gymnasium. Next educational institution in his biography there was Kyiv University, where he studied at the Faculty of Medicine.
He wanted to become a doctor largely because this profession paid well.
By the way, in Russian literature before Bulgakov there was an example of an outstanding writer who, being a doctor by training, spent his whole life happily practicing medicine: this is.
Bulgakov in his youth After receiving his diploma, Bulgakov applied to do military service in the navy as a doctor.
However, he failed to pass the medical examination. As a result, he asked to be sent to the Red Cross to work in a hospital.
At the height of the First World War (1914-1918), he treated soldiers near the front line.
A couple of years later he returned to Kyiv, where he began working as a venereologist.
It is interesting that during this period of his biography he began to use morphine, which helped him get rid of the pain caused by taking the anti-diphtheria drug.
As a result, throughout the rest of his life, Bulgakov will be painfully dependent on this drug.
Creative activity
In the early 20s, Mikhail Afanasyevich came to. There he begins to write various feuilletons, and soon takes up plays.
Later, he became a theater director at the Moscow Art Theater and the Central Theater of Working Youth.
Bulgakov's first work was the poem “The Adventures of Chichikov,” which he wrote at the age of 31. Then several more stories came from his pen.
After this, he wrote the fantastic story “Fatal Eggs,” which was positively received by critics and aroused great interest among readers.
Heart of a Dog
In 1925, Bulgakov published the book “Heart of a Dog,” which masterfully intertwines the ideas of the “Russian Revolution” and the “awakening” of the social consciousness of the proletariat.
According to literary scholars, Bulgakov's story is a political satire, where each character is a prototype of one or another political figure.
The Master and Margarita
Having gained recognition and popularity in society, Bulgakov began writing the main novel in his biography, “The Master and Margarita.”
He wrote it for 12 years, until his death. An interesting fact is that the book was published only in the 60s, and even then not in full.
It was published in its final form in 1990, a year before.
It is worth noting that many of Bulgakov’s works were published only after his death, since censorship did not allow them to pass.
The persecution of Bulgakov
By 1930, the writer began to be increasingly harassed by Soviet officials.
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Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, famous prose writer, playwright, was born in Kyiv on May 3, 1891. His parents were intelligent and educated people. Mother served as a teacher at the Karachay gymnasium; father, who graduated from the Kyiv Theological Academy, taught at the Novocherkassk Theological School, at the Kyiv Theological Academy, at the Institute of Noble Maidens, and at the end of 1893 received the position of Kyiv regional censor, whose duties included censorship of literature on foreign languages. In addition to Mikhail, the family had five children.
Bulgakov graduated from the First Alexander Gymnasium, distinguished high level education, and in 1909 he entered the medical faculty of Kyiv University. In 1914 the First World War broke out world war. After graduating from university, in 1916, Bulgakov worked in a field hospital: first in Kamenets-Podolsky, then in Cherepovtsy. In September 1916, Bulgakov was recalled from the front and sent to head the zemstvo Nikolskaya rural hospital in the Smolensk province, and in 1917 he was transferred to Vyazma. This period of the writer’s life was reflected in “Notes of a Young Doctor” (1926). Main character In this work - an honest worker, a talented doctor - often saves patients in seemingly hopeless situations, acutely feels the plight of poorly educated peasants from deep Smolensk villages and realizes his powerlessness to change anything for the better.
February Revolution disrupted my normal life. Bulgakov expressed his opinion about her in the essay “Kyiv-City” (1923). The aspiring writer noted that with the revolution “history suddenly and menacingly came.” After the October Revolution, he was released from military service and returned to Kyiv, which was soon occupied by German troops. Here Bulgakov plunged into the whirlpool of the Civil War. He was a good doctor, and both warring sides needed his services. In any situation, the young doctor remained faithful to humanistic ideals, and indignation gradually grew in his soul against the cruelty of the Petliurites and the Whites, later reflected in the novel “The White Guard”, in the stories “The Raid” and “On the Night of the 3rd”, in the plays “Days of the Turbins” and “Running”. Honestly fulfilling his medical duty, Bulgakov became an unwitting witness to brutal crimes in Vladikavkaz at the end of 1919. Not wanting to take part in the war any further, at the beginning of 1920 he left the ranks of Denikin’s army. Mikhail Afanasyevich decided to leave medicine forever and began writing articles for local newspapers. In the fall of 1919, Bulgakov finished his first story. In the winter of 1919-1920, he wrote several stories and feuilletons. In one of them, known as “Tribute of Admiration,” the author talks about street clashes in Kyiv during the revolution and civil war.
Shortly before the Whites retreated from Vladikavkaz, Bulgakov fell ill with relapsing fever. He recovered in the spring of 1920, when the city had already been occupied by Red Army units. From that time on, Bulgakov began to collaborate in the arts department of the Revolutionary Committee, writing plays for Ossetian and Ingush theater troupes, reflecting the author’s views on the revolution. The plays of this period of the writer’s work were one-day propaganda pieces and were created mainly in order to survive in difficult conditions. The writer’s Vladikavkaz impressions were reflected in the story “Notes on Cuffs.”
In Tiflis, and later in Batumi, Bulgakov had the opportunity to emigrate. But he understood that in a difficult moment for the country, the place of a writer is next to the people. In 1921, Bulgakov moved to Moscow. Since the spring of 1922, his articles regularly appeared on the pages of Moscow newspapers and magazines. His satirical pamphlets and essays reflected the main signs of the post-revolutionary period. The main objects of the writer’s satire were the nouveau riche NEPmen - “the scum of NEP” (the short stories “Trillione?” and “The Cup of Life”), as well as representatives of the population whose low cultural level the writer observed: inhabitants of Moscow communal apartments, market women, bureaucratic employees and others . But Bulgakov also notices signs of new times. So, in one of his essays, a schoolboy boy (a symbol of new trends) appears walking down the street with a brand new backpack.
In 1924, Bulgakov’s story “Fatal Eggs” was published, the action of which the author moved to an imaginary future - to 1928, when the results of the NEP became obvious, in particular a sharp rise in the standard of living of the people. Professor Persikov made a truly great discovery that could bring enormous benefits to humanity. But, falling into the hands of semi-literate, self-confident people, that new bureaucracy that flourished magnificently during the era of war communism and strengthened its position during the NEP years, it turns into a tragedy. Almost all the heroes of Bulgakov's stories of the 20s suffer failures. In his works, the author sought to convey to the reader the idea that society is not ready to accept new principles of relationships based on respect for hard work, culture and knowledge.
In the plays “Days of the Turbins” and “Running” (1925-1928), the writer showed that all the authorities that succeed each other in Civil War, are hostile to the intelligentsia. The heroes of the plays are typical representatives of the “new intelligentsia”, who at first were wary of the revolution or fought against it. Bulgakov also considered himself to be a new layer and wrote about this with humor in the feuilleton “Capital in a Notebook”: “After the revolution, a new, iron intelligentsia was born. She can load furniture, chop wood, and do x-rays. I believe she will not disappear! He will survive!
The writer reacted sensitively to all changes in society, was deeply affected by injustice, doubted the conditionality of the measures taken, but did not cease to believe in man. Together with the author, his heroes doubted and worried, which was unfavorably received by critics. In 1929, attacks on the writer intensified. All of his plays - "Days of the Turbins", the pamphlet play "Crimson Island" and the domestic comedy "Zoyka's Apartment" - were removed from the stage. Once in difficult situation, Bulgakov decided to write a letter to the government, in which he asked permission to travel abroad. Soon the writer had a conversation with Stalin, the result of which was the appointment of Bulgakov as assistant director of the Moscow Art Theater. Productions of Bulgakov’s plays reappeared on theater stages, and after some time a dramatization of “ Dead souls».
However, after 1927, not a single line of the writer appeared in the domestic press (with the exception of the translation of “The Miser” by Moliere in 1938, and “The Seventh Dream” from the play “Running” in 1932); he was one of the banned authors. But, despite this, Bulgakov did not allow the thought of leaving his homeland. Thoughts about emigration did not enter his mind even during the difficult period of 1929-1930. In one of his letters, Mikhail Afanasyevich admitted: “...I am impossible on any other land except my own - the USSR, because I drew from it for 11 years.”
In 1933, Bulgakov attempted to publish his novel “The Life of Monsieur de Moliere” in the ZhZL series, but another failure awaited him. After this, until his death, Bulgakov did not try to publish his works. He devoted himself to working on the novel “The Master and Margarita,” which was one of the greatest achievements of Russian and world prose of the 20th century. It took twelve years of the writer’s life to work on this novel. The idea of the work arose in the late 1920s as an attempt to artistically and philosophically comprehend the new realities of socialist reality. The early versions of the novel seemed to the author not successful enough; for several years he returned to his characters again and again, inventing new scenes and conflicts. The novel achieved plot completion only in 1932.
Showing the doom of the white movement, the pattern of the transition of the intelligentsia to the side of the Soviet regime (the plays “Days of the Turbins” and “Running”, the novel “The White Guard”), the danger threatening society if a morally and culturally backward person acquires the right to impose his will on others (the story " Heart of a Dog"), Bulgakov made a discovery that became part of the system of Russian national values.
He, as a successor to the best traditions of Russian and world literature, was characterized by pain for people. The writer accepted only that literature that reflected the suffering of real heroes. The ideological core of literature for Bulgakov was humanism. And the true humanism of the works of a true master is dear and close to the reader at all times.
The writer lived his last years with a feeling of ruined creative destiny. And although he continued to work actively, his works did not reach readers. This finally broke Bulgakov and led to an exacerbation of the disease and imminent death. He died on March 10, 1940 in Moscow and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
A concise description of Bulgakov’s life can briefly explain the phenomenon of a brilliant writer who went through all life’s difficulties and trials, while remaining a true humanist. Mikhail Afanasyevich is the author of more than 170 works, including novels, plays, feuilletons, essays, short stories, novellas, and theatrical performances. Dry facts from his life can be found in Wikipedia, textbooks, the writer’s biography is well studied, but only in his work is life realism, decorated with satire and humor, revealed.
To understand what kind of person Mikhail Bulgakov is, you need to understand his origins. The future writer was born on May 15, 1891 in Kyiv in the family of Afanasy Ivanovich and Varvara Mikhailovna Bulgakov - a teacher at the Theological Academy, a state councilor and the daughter of an archpriest. A large family, where in addition to Mikhail six more children were growing up, there was enough money for a comfortable existence.
The children were raised by Varvara Mikhailovna, a sophisticated intellectual who instilled in the children a love of art, music, and reading. Even the untimely death of the father of the family did not prevent the future author from graduating from the First Alexander Gymnasium - the cradle of the Kyiv intelligentsia.
In 1909, Bulgakov entered the Faculty of Medicine at Kyiv University. In the works “Fatal Eggs,” the author’s sympathy for professors Persikov and Filipp Filippovich can be traced for a reason, since Bulgakov was a doctor by profession.
Years of wars and revolutions
According to information about Bulgakov from Wikipedia, in 1913 his personal life improved. The future author married Tatyana Nikolaevna Lappa, the daughter of a leading nobleman.
The newlyweds settled in a rented apartment on Andreevsky Spusk and loved to attend theater plays, premieres, and music concerts. Several times the young man went to Chaliapin’s concerts. An interesting fact in Bulgakov’s work was that the features of Chaliapin’s Mephistopheles were reflected in Woland, the hero of the writer’s last novel.
In 1914, after the outbreak of the First World War, Mikhail went to the front to serve as what he was by training - a doctor. The future author served in the field hospital until the fall of 1916.
Returning from the front, Bulgakov went to the Smolensk province to take the post of head of a rural hospital in Nikolino, Sychevsky district. A year later, the doctor was sent to serve as the head of the infectious diseases and venereology department of a hospital in the city of Vyazma.
According to documents from the archives of the zemstvo government, the young man showed himself to be a good doctor, as evidenced by the facts:
- in the admission log, the total number of patients was 15 thousand;
- all surgical operations performed by Bulgakov were successful.
Bulgakov's life and work were influenced by the February Revolution. The writer described this event verbatim like this: “Suddenly, history began menacingly.” After the events of the October Revolution, the doctor was released from military service and was able to return to Kyiv, where he was overwhelmed by the wave of civil war. The authorities were constantly changing, and each one needed the services of a good doctor. So Mikhail Afanasyevich served in the following armies:
- Hetman Skoropadsky;
- Leader of the nationalist movement Petliura;
- In the Red Army;
- In Denikin's troops.
The events experienced from Bulgakov’s biography were briefly reflected in “The White Guard”, in the stories “Raid” and “On the Night of the 3rd”, in “Days of the Turbins”, in “Run”. To understand the historical situation of those times, it is worth reading these works.
White Guard
Creation
Wikipedia claims that at the end of 1919 or at the beginning of 1920, Bulgakov’s life changed dramatically: he left the ranks of Denikin’s army. The good doctor changed his medical activity, who Bulgakov was in his main profession and education, and began to collaborate as an author in local newspapers. The writer’s first works were included in the collection “Tribute of Admiration” and were published in the spring of 1920 in local newspapers in the North Caucasus.
Interesting! The writer’s sister recalled that Mikhail Bulgakov began writing in his first year at the university - the story was called “The Fiery Serpent.” This work is about a man with alcoholism.
Staying in the Caucasus, authorbegan to defend the latterherlegacyeclassics, entering into controversy withfiguresculturethose times. As a result, he was expelled from the arts department in the fall of 1920. Bulgakov was left without work and without a livelihood. In the spring of 1921, the aspiring writer’s life changed thanks to the successful dramatization of the play “Sons of the Mullah.” The young man had the opportunity to move to Tiflis and then to Batumi.
Moving to Moscow
In the fall of 1921, Bulgakov decided to move to Moscow. Mikhail Afanasyevich worked as secretary of the literary department of the Glavkomitprosvet for two months, then was left without work. Attempts at cooperation in private newspapers were unsuccessful.
The time of unemployment ended in the spring of 1922 - the author began to regularly publish on the pages of Moscow newspapers and magazines.
Chronological table of Bulgakov's works:
| 1918-1919 | rough drafts of the stories “Notes of a Young Doctor” |
| 1919-1920 | several stories and feuilletons “Tribute of Admiration” |
| 1921 | play "Sons of Mullah" |
| 1922-1924 | "The Adventures of Chichikov", "The White Guard" |
| 1923 | the story “Diaboliad”, the stories “Notes on Cuffs” |
| 1924 | stories “Fatal Eggs”, “Crimson Island” |
| 1925-1928 | plays “Days of the Turbins”, “Zoyka’s Apartment”, novel “Heart of a Dog” |
| 1926-1928 | play "Running" |
| 1927 | story "Crimson Island" |
| 1928-1929 | plays “Grand Chancellor Prince of Darkness” (draft version of “The Master and Margarita”), “Cabal of the Saint”, novel “Engineer’s Hoof”, story “To a Secret Friend” |
| 1931 | play "Adam and Eve" |
| 1932 | play "Crazy Jourdain" |
| 1933 | novel "The Life of Monsieur de Molière" |
| 1934 | play "Bliss (Engineer Rhine's Dream)" |
| 1935 | play "The Last Days (Pushkin)" |
| 1936-1937 | libretto of the operas “Theatrical Novel or Notes of a Dead Man”, “Ivan Vasilyevich”, “Minin and Pozharsky”, “Black Sea” |
| 1937-1938 | libretto of the opera "Rachel" |
| 1939 | play "Batum", libretto of the opera "Don Quixote" |
| 1929-1940 | novel "The Master and Margarita" |
The crowning achievement of Mikhail Afanasyevich’s work is the brilliant novel “The Master and Margarita.” Written over the course of 10 years, it is a must read, because it contains all the life experience of the writer and conveys his vision of the meaning of life.
Useful video: documentary film A Romance with a Secret
Years of criticism and persecution
Nsince 1914 authorlived through difficult years of life,
seen a lot of wars,
injustice,
cruelty,
but always remained a supporter of universal human values, he tried to convey them to people in his work.
In the 20s, Bulgakov's position was condemned. The works of Mikhail Afanasyevich were prohibited, were not published and were not staged on the theater stage.
In 1929, the attacks of critics reached their climax. The plays “Days of the Turbins”, “Crimson Island” and the comedy “Zoyka’s Apartment” were withdrawn from the dramatization. The Main Repertoire Committee banned the new play “Molière” in the spring of 1930. Then Mikhail Bulgakov briefly wrote a letter to the government asking him to travel abroad due to the impossibility of existing in his homeland. Soon Stalin called him. So the writer, a doctor by training, was appointed assistant director at the Moscow Art Theater.
In 1932, showings of “Days of the Turbins” were resumed, and the play “Dead Souls” based on Gogol was staged. In 1936, the author moved from the Art Theater to the Bolshoi Theater to the position of librettist.
In 1924 there were changes in personal life Bulgakov - he divorced Tatyana Nikolaevna Lappa and married Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya. And in 1932, he divorced his second wife and entered into a third marriage with Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, who took her husband’s surname. It was her image that became the prototype of Margarita from the novel. Shilovskaya saved the author from loneliness in the last years of his life, and after his death she achieved the publication of the writer’s main works.
Bulgakov made his last attempt to publish his work in 1933 (the play “The Life of Monsieur de Molière”) and failed. Until his death on March 10, 1940, the master was no longer published. Before his death, Bulgakov went blind; doctors diagnosed a hereditary kidney disease, from which Mikhail Afanasyevich’s father died. The final version of the novel “The Master and Margarita” was completed by Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova under the dictation of a writer who had not even seen a draft of his work.
The autobiography is collected in several of his works “To a Secret Friend”, “Notes on Cuffs”, “Notes of a Young Doctor”, in “Molière”, in “The White Guard”. These creations help to look into inner world writer, to see through his eyes the historical situation of that time.
To better understand who Mikhail Afanasyevich is, you should know that having a reputation as a semi-disgraced writer, he wrote to Stalin, asking not for himself, but for others. Thus, he asked for the son and husband of Anna Akhmatova for those arrested, and for his exiled friend Nikolai Erdman.
Interesting! After meeting Elena Sergeevna in 1929, the author dedicated the unfinished story “To a Secret Friend” to her. The work describes Bulgakov’s years of life in Moscow and work on the novel “The White Guard.” A kind of autobiography for a loved one with whom it was impossible to connect at that time.
Useful video: 10 Facts Mikhail Bulgakov
Conclusion
Who was Bulgakov? A writer who rooted for a person, be it an extraordinary Master or an unremarkable clerk. Mikhail Afanasyevich did not perceive literature with abstract pain and suffering, unrealistic heroes passing by the truth of life. Mysticism in works for Bulgakov - literary device, highlighting reality in a satirical light, showing the negative features of modern life. With his creativity, he showed genuine humanism, which is close to us today.
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