Diaries and Selected Letters
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
Diaries and Selected Letters
By (Author) Mikhail Bulgakov
Translated by Roger Cockrell
Alma Books Ltd
Alma Classics
1st January 2017
20th October 2016
United Kingdom
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Autobiography: writers
Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers
Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000
891.7342
Physical Properties
Paperback
288
Width 128mm, Height 198mm
273g
Description
The career of Mikhail Bulgakov, the author of Master and Margarita now regarded as one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century literature was characterized by a constant and largely unsuccessful struggle against state censorship. This suppression did not only apply to his art: in 1926 his personal diary was seized by the authorities. From then on he confined his thoughts to letters to his friends and family, as well as to public figures such as Stalin and his fellow Soviet writer Gorky, while also encouraging his wife Yelena to keep a diary, with many entries influenced or even dictated by him. This ample selection from the diaries and letters of the Bulgakovs, mostly translated for the first time into English, provides an insightful glimpse into a fascinating period of Russian history and literature, telling the tragic tale of the fate of an artist under a totalitarian regime.
Reviews
The diaries and selected letters are an important insight into this funny, accomplished, always humane writer * Philip Hensher, The Telegraph *
Intriguing letters and diary entries that fill out our picture of the man He remains one of the most original and witty writers in a great age of literature. Roger Cockrell's book helps us to know him better * Elaine Feinstein, The Times *
Bulgakov was not merely a brilliant observer of what was going on around him, but had an uncanny ability to pick out the particular manifestations of folly and discord which would set the tone of the era to follow. * The Guardian *
Author Bio
Born in Kiev in 1891 to Russian parents, Mikhail Bulgakov trained as a doctor and volunteered for the Red Cross on the outbreak of the First World War. He later enlisted as a doctor for the anti-Bolshevik White Army, before eventually giving up medicine to concentrate on literature. The Master and Margarita is his most famous work, and has been hailed as one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.
