The Master and Margarita Lecture: 'Manuscripts Don't Burn' (Chapters XXIV-XXXII)

'This hero had gone into the abyss, gone irrevocably, the son of the astrologer-king, forgiven on the eve of Sunday, the cruel fifth procurator of Judea, the equestrian Pontius Pilate.'

Today our journey through Mikhail Bulgakov's great novel comes to a powerful close. But the wisdom at the heart of The Master and Margarita will remain with us forever. 

In our discussion, we are meditating upon the relationship between good and evil, resurrection, enduring truths, metafictionality, the connection between story and storyteller, heroism, love, faustian bargains, how manuscripts don't burn, and so much more.

Timestamps:

0:00 ‘manuscripts don’t burn…’

2:00 Bulgakov’s deal with the devil

3:00 how we keep the truth alive

5:00 interdependence of good & evil

7:00 there’s no light without darkness

8:00 resonance of the Faustian legend

9:00 Carl Jung on God’s answer to Job

11:00 Woland & Yeshua’s relationship

13:00 Margarita’s Faustian Bargain

15:00 putting a price on one’s knee

17:00 Master and Margarita reunited

19:00 hallucination, dreams & beliefs

20:00 the master’s manuscript survives

22:00 ‘no papers, no person…’

24:00 returning to the story of Pilate

26:00 sublimity arises from juxtaposition

28:00 how the storyteller is the story

30:00 appreciating painful symbolism

32:00 Pilate tortured by a sense of guilt

34:00 ‘cowardice is the worst vice’

36:00 the decision to have Judas killed

38:00 Judas murdered at Gethsemane

40:00 Jesus and the agony in the Garden

41:00 Pontius Pilate dreams of Yeshua

43:00 ‘now we shall always be together’

45:00 Matthew Levi speaks with Pilate

47:00 ‘the poems I used to write were bad’

49:00 bringing hell’s flames to Moscow

51:00 absurdity, nonsense & wisdom

53:00 ‘Dostoyevsky is immortal!’

55:00 how great artists live forever

57:00 setting fire to the writer’s house

58:00 why the truth needs lies to survive

1:00:00 what would good be without evil?

1:01:00 all vanishes as a great storm breaks

1:02:00 Bulgakov’s allusion to Pushkin

1:04:00 ‘it’s time, my friend, it’s time’

1:05:00 two lovers are together in death

1:07:00 what is life & what is death?

1:09:00 ‘burn, burn, former life…’

1:10:00 the master’s spirit visits Ivan

1:12:00 the rainbow after the storm

1:13:00 how the novels draws to its end

1:15:00 who is the true hero of the story?

1:16:00 how the master sets Pilate free

1:17:00 how great art can change the world

1:19:00 ‘someone was setting the master free’

1:21:00 appreciating the last line & epilogue

1:25:00 your thoughts on Bulgakov’s novel

1:33:00 congratulations on reading this work

Our Next Masterpiece:

Congratulations on reading Mikhail Bulgakov's masterpiece with so much love. Thank you so much for making this such an incredible experience. We will be preparing for our next Big Read this weekend coming with our introductory 'how to read' for Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. So now would be a great time to secure your copy ready for our next adventure through great literature.

Questions to Consider:

1) What did you make of ending of The Master and Margarita?

2) What will you remember most from your journey through the novel?

3) What area connected with Bulgakov are you now most keen to explore?

4) How would you persuade another to read The Master and Margarita? And what advice would you give to facilitate a meaningful reading experience?

And please do share with us your impressions and favourite passages from the end of The Master and Margarita

Congratulations on reading The Master and Margarita, everybody!