/lit/ - Literature

Just started this and it might already be the best book I've ever read

No Margaritas so far, a lot less devil and a lot more poet than expected. I'm still in it but the early death set up expectations for the following chapters that so far have not been lived up to.

lots of pages...worth the read?

>>6949190
I like this, more subdued version.

>>6859520
this. it's fantastic so far.

>>6419028

>>6417940

>>6383467
Read this book if you want an interesting view on Pilate.

I do mean this one, it's the best translation.

So Bulgakov dies and his wife ties things up in a less than satisfying ending. Fair enough, can't beat death. But what I don't get, was why The Master's novel was one in the same with Woland's story/the flashbacks of Jesus and Pontius. This was threaded through the whole story, and cannot be dismissed to Bulgakov's untimely death or his wife or editor or whatever. I am wondering what this was supposed to mean.

If the story Woland tells is true, it kind of destroys the character of The Master for being a portrayal of "the artist" because he was writing what actually happened and if so probably through divine intervention of some sort.

The other option I see, is Woland treating The Master's novel as fact and using the contents of his novel in discussion with the MASSOLIT chuckleheads, but that seems kind of weird to me, for the devil to use some dude's fictional novel in a debate about Jesus.

Also Pontius is at the end in purgatory, so I'm inclined to think the story was both true and Master's novel, which confuses me.

Why might it be so in the context of the story, and why might Bulgakov have done this from a creative perspective?