Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov is a famous Russian writer whose life is shrouded in mysterious mysticism and a halo of secrets. Coming from the family of a Kyiv professor, he was born on May 15, 1891, and received his name in honor of the Archangel Michael, the guardian of the city of Kyiv.
The young man began to write from an early age, although many biographers argue the opposite, calling the starting point 30 years of age. As a brief biography tells, Bulgakov at a young age was very fond of reading, absorbed the information received like a sponge and remembered a lot from what he read. Vera, the elder sister, claimed that Misha wrote his first work, The Adventures of Svetlana, at the age of seven, and at the age of 9 he mastered Notre Dame Cathedral (V. Hugo). In the Alexander Gymnasium (one of the best in Kyiv), Bulgakov fully showed his talents during his studies: he drew caricatures, wrote poetry, played the piano, sang and wrote.
So who is Bulgakov?
Biography (a photo of the writer can be seen below) of Mikhail Afanasyevich further continues with his studies at the medical faculty of Kyiv University. Upon graduation in 1914, Bulgakov worked as a doctor in Saratov, and with the outbreak of the First World War, in front-line hospitals under the supervision of experienced military surgeons. The writer Bulgakov, whose biography is full of wartime impressions and medical practice, wrote a series of stories “Notes of a Young Doctor”, and the fatal incident that brought him together with a boy with diphtheria completely turned the life of a genius.
Saving a child by sucking diphtheria films from his throat through a tube through his mouth, Bulgakov became infected. The injected antidiphtheria serum caused a severe allergic reaction, manifested by intolerable itching and a terrible rash on the body. An injection of morphine helped relieve the pain, and repeated injections made it possible to cope with the allergy, while at the same time causing addiction to the “saving” drug. The resulting drug addiction ruined everything on Bulgakov's life path, ruthlessly taking away spiritual and physical health, rewarding the writer with panic fear and severe depression, bringing him to violent insanity. Wife Tatyana Nikolaevna, trying to save her husband, instead of morphine injected him with distilled water, which caused the latter severe withdrawal symptoms.
Gogol: did he come or not?
It was during this period that Bulgakov had a meeting with Gogol, the first of three. During one of the pain attacks in Bulgakov's rented accommodation, Nikolai Vasilievich appeared, who quickly entered Mikhail Afanasyevich's apartment, looked at him with a crazy look and threatened with his finger. From that day on, there was a truly miraculous salvation from the terrible drug addiction of Bulgakov, who did not understand whether Gogol's arrival was a dream or reality. The writer later told this story in the work "Morphine".
Mikhail Bulgakov, whose biography and work were closely intertwined, was successful in his personal life and was married three times. According to the prophecy of a Kyiv gypsy, which the writer once laughed at, in his life he will get three wives: one from God, the second from people, the third from the devil. After a miraculous recovery, Mikhail Afanasyevich opened a private practice and in the same period began to engage in writing.
Tatyana Lappa traveled with her husband everywhere, helping him in his medical work and in an incredible healing from a fatal addiction to a drug. The First World War and the Civil War shook Bulgakov around the country mercilessly: mobilization by the Petliurists, escape, mobilization by the Denikinists, typhus, cessation of medical activity, poverty, hunger ... And she was always there - faithful Tasya.
Bulgakov: a brief biography and creativity
From 1919 to 1921 the writer lived in Vladikavkaz; it was there that he stopped studying medicine and began to professionally engage in literary activities, working as a journalist in local newspapers. The comedy "Self-Defence" (the production of which was a success) was written there for the theater, as well as the plays "The Clay Grooms" and "The Paris Communards", the latter being recommended by the Glavpolitprosvet for staging in Moscow theaters.
Bulgakov managed to get to Moscow only in 1921. At first, he grabbed any job, trying to feed himself and his wife; He also wrote at night. And he succeeded: Bulgakov began to print! His stories and feuilletons were on many pages of newspapers and magazines. It is with Moscow that the actions of such works as "Heart of a Dog", "Fatal Eggs" are connected.
Creativity of Mikhail Bulgakov
The novel "White Guard" described the tragedy of the civil war that played out in Kyiv - the writer's hometown, and the work shows the tragedy of the people as a whole and in the context of a single Turbin family - people with a high sense of honor and dignity. Bulgakov, whose creative biography is rich in vivid life moments that formed the basis of his works, in the novel The White Guard described the Kyiv home of his youth quite similarly. People who lived there some time later broke all the walls, trying in vain to find the treasure described in the work. Based on the novel "The White Guard", the play "Days of the Turbins" was written, and the play based on it was a huge success with the audience.
Inspired by success, Mikhail immersed himself more and more in a bohemian life, losing his love for a woman who completely dissolved in him. One day he announced to his Tasha that he was leaving. When parting, feeling great guilt, Bulgakov only said: "God will punish me for you ...". This is how the 11 years spent with Bulgakov ended in an everyday way for Tasia.
Lyubov Belozerskaya, a bright spot against the gray background of everyday Moscow life, became the second wife of the writer. A native Muscovite, she helped her husband in everything: she delivered manuscripts to the editorial offices, helped to overcome provincial shyness, and selected materials for his creations. It was with her help that the plays "The Cabal of the Saints" and "Running" were created.
Difficult period, rejection
In the late 1920s, Bulgakov was attacked by literary critics. His works were evaluated negatively, they were no longer published, the plays were removed from the repertoire. In March 1930, the exhausted and torn Bulgakov, who found himself on the verge of poverty, turned to Stalin with a letter about providing an opportunity to earn money in the theater or leave the USSR. A month later, Stalin personally called the writer, allowing him to work. An assistant director at the Moscow Art Theater, who worked as a translator and wrote a libretto and occasionally played in performances - this is what Bulgakov had to be content with in such a difficult period for himself.
An outlet for him was the opera Faust, to which he often went to the Bolshoi Theater; this sight had a special effect on him, raising his spirits. Another trip to my favorite production ended in a severe depression. This was connected with the play “Batum” written by him, in which the young Stalin was the central figure, and the writer recognized himself in the image of Faust, who had sold his soul to the devil.
Is she Margaret?
Elena Shilovskaya is the third love of the writer. A brief biography (Bulgakov again in a halo of mysticism) tells that one day, in the icy autumn of 1927, the writer was walking through the streets of Moscow, and suddenly a sharp-nosed, short man ran into him, painfully similar to the apartment guest during Bulgakov's passion for morphine. Gogol (and this, apparently, was he) looked into the eyes of Mikhail Afanasyevich and with his eyes pointed to one of the nearby houses. It was there that Elena Sergeevna lived.
At one of the parties where they met, she asked Mikhail to tie a ribbon on her sleeve, and thus "tied" him to her. The wife of General Shilovsky, Elena rushed between the two men for a long time, until her husband nevertheless agreed to a divorce. It was with the advent of Elena Bulgakov that he zealously began to continue writing his famous novel The Master and Margarita, begun in 1929. Elena helped him in everything: she ran the house, printed manuscripts, wrote from dictation, realizing that only future generations would be able to read Bulgakov. Bulgakov created his offspring, a novel about the Master and his secret beloved, about Christ and the devil, in conditions of complete lack of money and hopelessness. Elena fell in love with this creation, recognizing herself in Margarita, realizing that this is the most important book in the writer's life.
The real prototype of the Behemoth cat
By the way, Woland's famous assistant had a real prototype, which was Mikhail Afanasyevich's black dog named Behemoth, very smart for an ordinary animal. There was such a case: during the celebration of the New Year, to the sound of chimes, the dog barked twelve times, although no one taught it this. A brief biography has preserved such an interesting story.
Bulgakov during this period was already stricken with a fatal illness, so he dictated some of the chapters from the novel to his wife Elena. A month before his death, he completed work on his most famous work, which is read by many. It was after the release of this novel that it was said that Bulgakov's abilities were of an otherworldly nature, otherwise how could he describe the devil himself and his retinue so accurately?
The heroes of Bulgakov's works are characterized by a charm that makes one fall in love with oneself and feel the special charm of an undisclosed thought. His brief biography, in which Bulgakov is a key figure, arouses great interest in the personality of the writer. His work is constantly filmed, and literary works are hotly debated. The work "The Master and Margarita" does not leave anyone indifferent, forcing them to treat themselves either badly or well.
1940 - the end of the writer's journey
Nervous exhaustion gave rise to hypertensive nephrosclerosis, which chained Bulgakov to bed. Elena could not pull him out of the clutches of the disease, in March 1940 the writer died, and he predicted his departure long before the illness. In the history of his life, there is such a fact: on the grave of Gogol in the Monastery cemetery there was a stone, nicknamed because of its resemblance to the Jerusalem Mount Golgotha. When Gogol was reburied in another place, a bust was erected on his grave, and his wife subsequently installed a stone on Bulgakov's grave. And here I recall the writer's phrase, which he addressed to Gogol in a dream, when he came to him for the third time: "Teacher, cover me with your overcoat."
Bulgakov's biography, the life and work of the great writer constantly arouse the reader's interest, which only intensifies with time, fueled by a craving for mysticism and the unknown.
For many, Mikhail Bulgakov is the favorite writer. His biography is interpreted by people of various directions in different ways. The reason is the extent to which certain researchers correlate his name with the occult. For those interested in this particular aspect, we can recommend reading the article by Pavel Globa. However, in any case, its presentation should begin from childhood, which we will do.
Writer's parents, brothers and sisters
Mikhail Afanasyevich was born in Kyiv in the family of professor of theology Afanasy Ivanovich, who taught at the theological academy. His mother, Varvara Mikhailovna Pokrovskaya, also taught at the Karachay gymnasium. Both parents were hereditary bell nobles, their grandfathers, priests, served in the Oryol province.
Misha himself was the eldest child in the family, he had two brothers: Nikolai, Ivan and four sisters: Vera, Nadezhda, Varvara, Elena.
The future writer was thin, graceful, artistic with expressive blue eyes.
Michael's education and character
Bulgakov was educated in his hometown. His biography contains data on graduating at the age of eighteen from the First Kyiv Gymnasium and at the age of twenty-five from the Medical Faculty of Kyiv University. What influenced the formation of the future writer? The untimely death of a 48-year-old father, the stupid suicide of his best friend Boris Bogdanov because of his love for Vara Bulgakov, Mikhail Afanasyevich's sister - all these circumstances determined Bulgakov's character: suspicious, prone to neurosis.
First wife
At twenty-two, the future writer married his first wife, Tatyana Lappa, a year younger than him. Judging by the memoirs of Tatyana Nikolaevna (she lived until 1982), a film could have been made about this short marriage. The newlyweds managed to spend the money sent by their parents on a veil and a wedding dress before the wedding. For some reason they laughed at the wedding. Of the flowers presented to the newlyweds, most of all were daffodils. The bride was wearing a linen skirt, and her mother, who arrived and was horrified, managed to buy her a blouse for the wedding. Bulgakov's biography by dates, thus, was crowned with the date of the wedding on April 26, 1913. However, the happiness of the lovers was destined to be short-lived: in Europe at that time there was already a smell of war. According to Tatyana's memoirs, Mikhail did not like to save, he was not distinguished by prudence in spending money. For him, for example, it was in the order of things to order a taxi with the last money. Valuables were often pawned in a pawnshop. Although Tatyana's father helped the young couple with money, the funds constantly disappeared.
medical practice
Fate rather cruelly prevented him from becoming a doctor, although Bulgakov possessed both talent and professional instinct. The biography mentions that he had the misfortune to contract dangerous diseases while engaged in professional activities. Mikhail Afanasyevich, wishing to realize himself as a specialist, led an active medical activity. During the year, Dr. Bulgakov received 15,361 patients at an outpatient appointment (forty people a day!). He treated 211 people in the hospital. However, apparently, Fate itself prevented him from being a doctor. In 1917, having become infected with diphtheria, Mikhail Afanasyevich took a serum against it. The result was severe allergies. Her excruciating symptoms he weakened with morphine, but then became addicted to this drug.
Bulgakov's recovery
The healing of Mikhail Bulgakov is due to his admirers Tatyana Lappa, who deliberately limits his dose. When he asked for an injection of a dose of the drug, his loving wife injected him with distilled water. At the same time, she stoically endured her husband's tantrums, although he once threw a burning stove at her and even threatened her with a gun. At the same time, his loving wife was sure that he did not want to shoot, he just felt very bad ...
A brief biography of Bulgakov contains the fact of high love and sacrifice. In 1918, thanks to Tatyana Lappa, he stopped being a morphine addict. From December 1917 to March 1918, Bulgakov lived and practiced in Moscow with his uncle on his mother's side, the successful gynecologist N. M. Pokrovsky (later - the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky from "Heart of a Dog").
Then he returned to Kyiv, where he again began working as a venereologist. The practice was interrupted by the war. He did not return to medical practice again ...
World War I and Civil War
The First World War marked for Bulgakov moving: at first he worked as a doctor near the front line, then he was sent to work in the Smolensk province, and then in Vyazma. During the Civil War from 1919 to 1921 he was twice mobilized as a doctor. First - to the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, then - to the White Guard Armed Forces of the South of Russia. This period of his life later found its literary reflection in the cycle of stories "Notes of a Young Doctor" (1925-1927). One of the stories it contains is called "Morphine".
In 1919, on November 26, for the first time in his life, he published an article in the Grozny newspaper, which, in fact, represented the gloomy forebodings of a White Guard officer. The Red Army at the Yegorlytskaya station in 1921 defeated the advanced forces of the White Guards - the Cossack cavalry ... His comrades go beyond the cordon. However, Mikhail Afanasyevich does not allow to emigrate ... fate: he falls ill with typhus. In Vladikavkaz, Bulgakov is treated for a fatal illness and recovers. His biography captures the reorientation of the goals of life, creativity takes over.
Playwright
Mikhail Afanasyevich, emaciated, in the form of a white officer, but with torn shoulder straps, in the Tersky Narobraz works in the theater section of the sub-department of arts, in the Russian theater. During this period in the life of Bulgakov there is a severe crisis. There is no money at all. She and Tatyana Lappa live by selling the severed parts of a miraculously surviving gold chain. Bulgakov made a difficult decision for himself - never to return to medical practice. With a tormented heart, in 1920 Mikhail Bulgakov wrote the most talented play Days of the Turbins. The biography of the writer testifies to the first repressions against him: in the same 1920, the Bolshevik commission expelled him from work as a "former". Bulgakov is trampled, broken. Then the writer decides to flee the country: first to Turkey, then to France, he moves from Vladikavkaz to Tiflis through Baku. In order to survive, he betrays himself, Pravda, Conscience, and in 1921 writes the conformist play "Sons of the Mullah", which the Bolshevik theaters of Vladikavkaz willingly include in their repertoire. At the end of May 1921, while in Batumi, Mikhail Bulgakov summons his wife. His biography contains information about the most difficult crisis in the writer's life. Fate cruelly takes revenge on him for betraying his conscience and talent (meaning the aforementioned play, for which he received 200,000 rubles in fees (33 pieces of silver). This situation will happen again in his life).
Bulgakovs in Moscow
Spouses still do not emigrate. In August 1921, Tatyana Lappa left alone for Moscow via Odessa and Kyiv.
Soon, following his wife, Mikhail Afanasyevich also returned to Moscow (it was during this period that N. Gumilyov was shot and A. Blok died). Their life in the capital is accompanied by moving, unsettledness ... Bulgakov's biography is not easy. The summary of her subsequent period is the desperate attempts of a talented person to realize himself. Mikhail and Tatyana live in an apartment (in the apartment described in the novel "The Master and Margarita" - house number 10 on Bolshaya Sadovaya St. (Pigit's house), number 302-bis, which was kindly provided to them by brother-in-law philologist Zemsky A.M., who left for Kyiv to his wife). Brawling and drinking proletarians lived in the house. Spouses were uncomfortable in it, hungry, penniless. This is where they broke up...
In 1922, Mikhail Afanasyevich was in for a personal blow - his mother was dying. He feverishly begins to work as a journalist, putting his sarcasm into feuilletons.
literary activity. "Days of the Turbins" - Stalin's favorite play
Lived life experience and thoughts, born of a remarkable intellect, were simply torn to paper. A brief biography of Bulgakov records his work as a feuilletonist in Moscow newspapers ("Worker") and magazines ("Vozrozhdenie", "Russia", "Medical Worker").
Life, war-torn, begins to improve. Since 1923, Bulgakov has been accepted as a member of the Writers' Union.
Bulgakov in 1923 begins to work on the novel The White Guard. He creates his famous works:
- "Diaboliad";
- "Fatal Eggs";
- "Dog's heart".
- "Adam and Eve";
- "Alexander Pushkin";
- "Crimson Island";
- "Run";
- "Bliss";
- "Zoyka's apartment";
- "Ivan Vasilievich"
And in 1925 he marries Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya.
He also made his mark as a playwright. Even then, a paradoxical perception of the work of the classic by the Soviet state was traced. Even Joseph Stalin in relation to him was contradictory and inconsistent. He watched the Moscow Art Theater production of Days of the Turbins 14 times. Then he declared that "Bulgakov is not ours." However, in 1932 he orders it to be returned, and in the only theater of the USSR - in the Moscow Art Theater, noting that after all "the impression of the play on the communists" is positive.
Moreover, Joseph Stalin subsequently, in his historic address on July 3, 1941 to the people, uses the phraseology of the words of Alexei Turbin: “I am addressing you, my friends ...”
In the period from 1923 to 1926, the writer's work flourished. In the autumn of 1924, in the literary circles of Moscow, Bulgakov was considered the current writer No. 1. The biography and work of the writer are inseparably linked. He develops a literary career, which becomes the main business of his life.
Short and fragile second marriage of the writer
The first wife, Tatyana Lappa, recalls that, being married to her, Mikhail Afanasyevich repeated more than once that he should marry three times. He repeated this after the writer Alexei Tolstoy, who considered such a family life the key to the glory of the writer. There is a saying: the first wife is from God, the second is from people, the third is from hell. Was Bulgakov's biography artificially formed according to this far-fetched scenario? Interesting facts and mysteries are not uncommon in it! However, Bulgakov's second wife, Belozerskaya, a secular lady, really married a wealthy, promising writer.
However, the writer lived soul to soul with his new wife for only three years. Until in 1928, the third wife of the writer, Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, “appeared on the horizon”. Bulgakov was still in his second official marriage when this stormy romance began. The writer described his feelings for his third wife with great artistic power in The Master and Margarita. The attachment of Mikhail Afanasyevich to the newfound woman, with whom he felt a spiritual connection, is evidenced by the fact that on 10/03/1932 the registry office annulled his marriage to Belozerskaya, and on 10/04/1932 an alliance was concluded with Shilovskaya. It was the third marriage that became the main thing for the writer in his life.
Bulgakov and Stalin: the lost game of the writer
In 1928, inspired by the acquaintance with "his Margarita" - Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, Mikhail Bulgakov begins to create his novel "The Master and Margarita". A brief biography of the writer, however, testifies to the beginning of a creative crisis. He needs space for creativity, which is not in the USSR. Moreover, there was a ban on the publication and production of Bulgakov. Despite his fame, his plays were not staged in theaters.
Iosif Vissarionovich, an excellent psychologist, knew very well the weaknesses of the personality of this most talented author: suspiciousness, a tendency to depression. He played with the writer like a cat plays with a mouse, having an undeniable dossier against him. On 05/07/1926, the only search of the entire time was carried out at the Bulgakovs' apartment. The personal diaries of Mikhail Afanasyevich, the seditious story "Heart of a Dog" fell into Stalin's hands. In the game of Stalin against the writer, such a trump card was obtained, which fatally led to the catastrophe of the writer Bulgakov. Here is the answer to the question: "Is Bulgakov an interesting biography?" Not at all. Until the age of thirty, his adult life was filled with suffering from poverty and disorder, then six years of a more or less measured, prosperous life really followed, but it was followed by a violent break in Bulgakov's personality, illness and death.
Refusal to leave the USSR. Leader's fatal call
In July 1929, the writer addressed a letter to Joseph Stalin, asking him to leave the USSR, and on March 28, 1930, he addressed the Soviet government with the same request. Permission was not given.
Bulgakov suffered, he understood that his grown talent was being ruined. Contemporaries remembered the phrase he dropped after another failed permission to leave: “I was blinded!”
However, that was not yet the final blow. And he was expected ... Stalin's call on April 18, 1930 changed everything. At that moment, Mikhail Bulgakov and his third wife Elena Sergeevna, laughing, were driving to Batum (where Bulgakov was going to write a play about Stalin's young years). At the Serpukhov station, a woman who got into their car announced: “A telegram to the accountant!”
The writer, uttering an involuntary exclamation, turned pale, and then corrected her: "Not to the accountant, but to Bulgakov." He expected ... Stalin scheduled a telephone conversation for the same date - 04/18/1930.
Mayakovsky was buried the day before. It is obvious that the leader's call could equally be called a kind of prevention (he respected Bulgakov, but still gently pressed), and cunning: in a confidential conversation, draw an unfavorable promise from the interlocutor.
In it, Bulgakov voluntarily refused to go abroad, which he could not forgive himself until the end of his life. It was his tragic loss.
The most complicated knot of relationships connects Stalin and Bulgakov. We can say that the seminarian Dzhugashvili outplayed and broke both the will and the life of the great writer.
The last years of creativity
In the future, the author concentrated all his talent, all his skill on the novel The Master and Margarita, which he wrote on the table, without any hope of publication.
The play “Batum” created about Stalin was rejected by the secretariat of Joseph Vissarionovich, pointing out the methodological error of the writer - the transformation of the leader into a romantic hero.
In fact, Joseph Vissarionovich was jealous, so to speak, of the writer for his own charisma. Since then, Bulgakov was allowed to work only as a theater director.
By the way, Mikhail Afanasyevich is considered one of the best directors in the history of Russian theater directed by Gogol and Saltykov-Shchedrin (his favorite classics).
Everything that he wrote - behind the scenes and prejudicedly, was "impassable". Stalin consistently destroyed him as a writer.
Bulgakov still wrote, he responded to the blow, as a real classic could do ... A novel about Pontius Pilate. About the all-powerful autocrat who is secretly afraid.
Moreover, the first version of this novel was burned by the author. It was called differently - "Devil's Hoof". In Moscow, after writing it, there were rumors that Bulgakov wrote about Stalin (Iosif Vissarionovich was born with two fused toes. People call this the hoof of Satan). Panicked, the author burned the first version of the novel. Hence, subsequently, the phrase “Manuscripts do not burn!” Was born.
Instead of a conclusion
In 1939, the final version of The Master and Margarita was written and read to friends. To be published for the first time in an abridged version of this book was judged only after 33 years ... The terminally ill Bulgakov, suffering from kidney failure, did not have long to live ...
In the autumn of 1939, his eyesight deteriorated critically: he was practically blind. On March 10, 1940, the writer died. Mikhail Bulgakov was buried on March 12, 1940 at the Novodevichy cemetery.
The full biography of Bulgakov is still the subject of controversy. The reason is that the Soviet, emasculated version of it, presents the reader with an embellished picture of the author's loyalty to Soviet power. Therefore, being interested in the life of a writer, one should critically analyze several sources.
Born in the family of a teacher of 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 submitted a report to serve as a doctor in the maritime department, but was refused for health reasons.
In 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, he worked as a doctor in front-line hospitals in Kamenetz-Podolsk and Chernivtsi, in the Kiev military hospital. In 1915 he married Tatyana Nikolaevna Lappa. On October 31, 1916 he received a diploma "in the degree of 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 the private practice of 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 the South of Russia, then transferred to the Red Cross. At this time, he began to work as a correspondent. On November 26, 1919, the feuilleton "Future Prospects" was first published in the Grozny newspaper signed by M.B. He fell ill with typhus in 1920 and remained in Vladikavkaz without retreating to Georgia along 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 as a secretary, led by N.K. Krupskaya, wife of V.I. Lenin. In 1921, after the department was disbanded, he collaborated with the newspapers Gudok, Rabochiy and the magazines Red Journal for Everyone, Medical Worker, Rossiya under the pseudonym Mikhail Bull and M.B., writes and publishes in 1922-1923 years of "Notes on the Cuffs", participates in the literary circles "Green Lamp", "Nikitinsky Subbotniks".
In 1924 he divorced his wife and in 1925 married Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya. This year, the story “The Heart of a Dog”, the plays “Zoyka’s Apartment” and “Days of the Turbins” were written, the satirical stories “The Diaboliad”, the story “Fatal Eggs” were published.
In 1926, the play "Days of the Turbins" was staged with great success at the Moscow Art Theater, allowed on the personal instructions of I. Stalin, who visited it 14 times. In the theater. E. Vakhtangov with great success the premiere of the play "Zoyka's Apartment", which ran from 1926 to 1929, took place. M. Bulgakov moved to Leningrad, where he met with Anna Akhmatova and Yevgeny Zamyatin and was summoned several times for interrogation to the OGPU about his literary work. The Soviet press intensively scolds the work of Mikhail Bulgakov - for 10 years there have been 298 abusive reviews and positive ones.
In 1927, the play "Running" was written.
In 1929, Mikhail Bulgakov met Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, who became his third wife in 1932.
In 1929, the works of M. Bulgakov ceased to be published, the plays were forbidden to be staged. Then, on March 28, 1930, he wrote a letter to the Soviet government with a request either to give the right to emigrate, or to provide 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 in Moscow as an assistant director. The events of those years were described in the "Notes of a Dead Man" - "Theatrical Novel". In 1932, I. Stalin personally allowed the production of "Days of the Turbins" only in the Moscow Art Theater.
In 1934, Mikhail Bulgakov was admitted to the Soviet Union of Writers and completed the first version of The Master and Margarita.
In 1936, Pravda published a devastating article about the "false, reactionary and useless" play "The Cabal of the Hypocrites", 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 the health of Mikhail Bulgakov began. Hypertensive nephrosclerosis was diagnosed, vision began to fall, and the writer began to use morphine again. At this time, he dictated to his wife the latest versions of the novel The Master and Margarita. The wife draws up a power of attorney to manage all the affairs of her husband. 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 the death mask from his face. M.A. Bulgakov was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery, where, at the request of his wife, a stone from the grave of N.V. Gogol, nicknamed "Golgotha".
Life and work of M.A. Bulgakov are covered with a mystical halo. 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 hoax lies elsewhere. short biography Bulgakov will help to understand some incomprehensible and interesting facts from the life of a prose writer, to find out what was the cause of death.
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Bulgakov's life and work: the beginning of the journey
Mikhail Afanasyevich was born in Kyiv, in the family of an associate professor of the Theological Academy. In total, the family where the future great writer Bulgakov was born had seven children. My father studied Western religious beliefs and was an expert on the subject. In childhood, Mikhail Bulgakov received an excellent home education.
His father forced him to learn several languages, among which were 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 graduation, Bulgakov marries T.A. Lapp.
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 the 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 get rid of. Here he was greatly helped by his wife, who helped to get rid of a bad habit.
In 1918, Mikhail Afanasyevich opened his own medical practice for the treatment of venereal diseases.
During the Civil War, Bulgakov, as a conscript, are drafted into the army. In 1919, together with the whites, he ended up in Vladikavkaz, where he fell ill and published his first works (feuilletons). The civil war is perceived by the writer as a terrible and fratricidal action. The attitude to 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 representation of the Russian intelligentsia as the intellectual elite of the state. He imagined himself free in criticizing 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 a collection of short 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", "Zoyka's apartment" are published.
Many of Bulgakov's works were published only once, and some of Bulgakov's plays were banned altogether. The prose writer was persecuted by Soviet critics and politicians. A talented screenwriter was forced to work as a simple worker on the stage.
To remove himself from government disgrace, Bulgakov wrote the play "Batum". After the author recalls the work on this play, as a kind of "sale of the soul."
From 1928 until his death, the writer creates his main work, The Master and Margarita novel.
Behind Mikhail Afanasyevich firmly the glory of the "bourgeois writer" was entrenched. Soviet critics could not forgive him for his dismissive and sarcastic attitude towards the foundations of the country of the Soviets. It turned into real bullying. Bulgakov's plays are not allowed to be published, and many of them do not appear on the stage during the author's lifetime.
Sharply negative Bulgakov's work was condemned by Stalin. Many works receive the stigma of "anti-Soviet". The attitude of the writer to such persecution found its expression in the novel The Master and Margarita. When the critic Latunsky smashes the Master's work to smithereens, Margarita, disguised as 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 in the treasure in this house. After the publication of the novel, there were many who wanted to find treasures. This led to the fact that the house where Bulgakov lived was destroyed. Luckily, it no longer belonged to his family.
Affairs of the Heart
In 1925 Bulgakov meets a new love, he divorces his wife and proposes to L.E. Belozerskaya. She inspires him to write the following works:
- "Dog's heart";
- "Fatal Eggs";
- "Diaboliad".
"Heart of a Dog" provoked a search in the Bulgakovs' house. The manuscript of the story was taken away, the writer sought its return for a very long time. As a result, this work was published only half a century later.
The meeting of Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya with Bulgakov was 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 high-profile 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 Marguerite. The writer endowed the heroine of the work traits of his beloved. Elena Sergeyevna spent the last years of his life with Mikhail Afanasyevich. And thanks to her, many works that were banned during the life of the writer saw the light.
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 - the confrontation between a young man and the devil, prompted him to think about such a work. The novel The Master and Margarita, which Bulgakov was the last to write, was a kind of result of life and work Bulgakov.
The piece has an interesting composition. The chapters that tell about life in Moscow in the late 1920s alternate with the chapters of the Master's story about Yeshua. The parts devoted to Moscow are sharply satirical. Bulgakov ridicules the Soviet bureaucracy, the Soviet system, critically portrays the writers' organization MASSOLIT, in which almost everyone is engaged in obtaining benefits.
Woland is undoubtedly in the center of attention of the writer and readers. This is an amazing character who personifies justice and retribution for sins. It is known that Bulgakov wrote lines from Faust in the epigraph to the novel. These words of Mephistopheles are called emphasize duality the devil in the mind of the writer.
Woland is the guarantor of justice, the right 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 foundations in Russia. The age of atheism and mass instability left a deep imprint on all Bulgakov's works.
Last 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 in which his work was placed.
Stalin went to meet the writer in this matter. And he had the opportunity to work in theaters.
In the second half of the 1930s, Bulgakov began to lose his sight, and his kidney disease worsened. He continues to take morphine as a medicine to somehow alleviate his suffering.
Hypertensive nephrosclerosis is slowly taking away strength from Mikhail Afanasyevich. It is known that this disease was inherited from his father, whose cause of death was also this disease. The last time Bulgakov works on a novel about the Master February 13, after almost a month it will not be.
Due to the fact that in his work Bulgakov resorted to the theme of evil spirits, there were rumors about him that he made a deal with the devil himself. The writer was accused of occultism and dealing with evil spirits. Many assumed that this was the cause of death. Another version, which was massively supported by people, was that the writer was an avid morphine addict, and that was what brought him to the grave. In Bulgakov's death saw something mystical.
The funeral of the writer was held at the Novodevichy cemetery. The place where Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov is buried is located not far from the grave of Gogol, whom he loved so much. At the insistence of his wife, instead of a monument, a huge marble block was placed on the grave, which once guarded the eternal sleep of N.V. 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 exhibitions are organized in the museum, 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 now. His work has recently become available to the general public. It is amazing how a person who has endured so many trials and persecutions did not agree to make deals with his conscience and managed not to lose his self-esteem. It remains to be hoped 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 on the memory of his contemporaries.
Brief biography of Bulgakov
The history of the life and work of Mikhail Bulgakov
In August 1919, after the capture of Kyiv by General Denikin, Mikhail Bulgakov was mobilized as a military doctor in the White Army and sent to the North Caucasus. Here appeared his first publication - a newspaper article called "Future Prospects".
Soon he parted with the profession of a doctor and devoted himself entirely to literary work. In 1919-1921, while working in the Vladikavkaz subdepartment of arts, Bulgakov composed five plays, three of which were staged at the local theater. Their texts have not been preserved, with the exception of one - "Sons of the Mullah".
In 1921 he moved to Moscow. He served as secretary of the Main Political and Educational Committee under the People's Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR.
In 1921-1926, Bulgakov collaborated with the Moscow editorial office of the Berlin newspaper Nakanune, publishing essays about the life of Moscow in it, with the newspapers Gudok and Rabochiy, the magazines Medical Worker, Rossiya and Vozrozhdenie.
In the literary supplement to the newspaper Nakanune, Notes on the Cuffs (1922-1923), as well as the writer's stories Chichikov's Adventures, The Red Crown, and The Cup of Life (all from 1922) were published. In 1925-1927, the magazines "Medical Worker" and "Red Panorama" published stories from the cycle "Notes of a Young Doctor".
The general theme of Bulgakov's works is due to the author's attitude to the Soviet regime - the writer did not consider himself an enemy of it, but he assessed reality very critically, believing that his satirical denunciations benefited the country and people. Early examples include the stories "The Diaboliad. The Tale of How the Twins Killed the Clerk" (1924) and "Fatal Eggs" (1925), combined in the collection "The Diaboliad" (1925). The story "Heart of a Dog" written in 1925, which was in "samizdat" for more than 60 years, is distinguished by great skill and a sharper social orientation.
The boundary separating the early Bulgakov from the mature one was the novel The White Guard (1925). Bulgakov's departure from the emphatically negative portrayal of the White Guard environment brought accusations against the writer of trying to justify the White movement.
Later, on the basis of the novel and in collaboration with the Moscow Art Theater, Bulgakov wrote the play Days of the Turbins (1926). The famous Moscow Art Theater production of this play (the premiere took place on October 5, 1926) brought Bulgakov wide fame. "Days of the Turbins" enjoyed unprecedented success with the audience, but not with the critics, who launched a devastating campaign against the "apologetic" performance in relation to the white movement and against the "anti-Soviet" minded author of the play.
In the same period, Bulgakov's play "Zoyka's Apartment" (1926), which was banned after the 200th performance, was staged at Yevgeny Vakhtangov's Studio Theatre. The play "Running" (1928) was banned after the first rehearsals at the Moscow Art Theater.
The play "Crimson Island" (1927), staged at the Moscow Chamber Theater, was banned after the 50th performance.
At the beginning of 1930, his play The Cabal of the Saints (1929) was banned and did not reach rehearsals in the theater.
Bulgakov's plays were removed from the theater repertoire, his works were not published. In this situation, the writer was forced to turn to the highest authorities and wrote a "Letter to the Government", asking either to provide him with a job and, consequently, a livelihood, or to let him go abroad. The letter was followed by a telephone call from Joseph Stalin to Bulgakov (April 18, 1930). Soon Bulgakov got a job as a director of the Moscow Art Theater and thus solved the problem of physical survival. In March 1931, he was accepted into the cast of the Moscow Art Theater.
While working at the Moscow Art Theater, he wrote a staging of "Dead Souls" by Nikolai Gogol.
In February 1932, the "Days of the Turbins" at the Moscow Art Theater were resumed.
In the 1930s, one of the main topics in Bulgakov's work was the theme of the relationship between the artist and the authorities, which he realized on the material of different historical eras: the play Molière, the biographical story The Life of Monsieur de Molière, the play The Last Days, the novel The Master and Margarita".
In 1936, due to disagreements with the management during the rehearsal of Moliere, Bulgakov was forced to break with the Moscow Art Theater and go to work at the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR as a librettist.
In recent years, Bulgakov continued to work actively, creating the libretto of the operas The Black Sea (1937, composer Sergei Pototsky), Minin and Pozharsky (1937, composer Boris Asafiev), Friendship (1937-1938, composer Vasily Solovyov-Sedoy; remained unfinished), "Rachel" (1939, composer Isaak Dunayevsky), etc.
An attempt to renew cooperation with the Moscow Art Theater by staging the play "Batum" about the young Stalin (1939), created with the active interest of the theater for the 60th anniversary of the leader, ended in failure. The play was banned from being staged and was interpreted by the political leaders as the writer's desire to improve relations with the authorities.
In 1929-1940, Bulgakov's multifaceted philosophical-fiction novel "The Master and Margarita" was created - Bulgakov's last work.
Doctors discovered the writer had hypertensive nephrosclerosis, an incurable kidney disease. he was seriously ill, almost blind, and his wife made changes to the manuscript from dictation. February 13, 1940 was the last day of work on the novel.
Mikhail Bulgakov died in Moscow. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
During his lifetime, his plays "Adam and Eve", "Bliss", "Ivan Vasilyevich" did not see the light, the last of them was filmed by director Leonid Gaidai in the comedy "Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession" (1973). Also, after the death of the writer, the "Theatrical Novel" was published, which was based on "Notes of the Dead".
The philosophical-fiction novel "The Master and Margarita" before publication was known only to a narrow circle of people close to the author, the uncopied manuscript was miraculously preserved. The novel was first published in abbreviated form in 1966 in the Moscow magazine. The full text in Bulgakov's last edition was published in Russian in 1989.
The novel became one of the artistic achievements of Russian and world literature of the 20th century and one of the most popular and read books in the writer's homeland, it was repeatedly filmed and staged on the theater stage.
In the 1980s, Bulgakov became one of the most published authors in the USSR. His works were included in the Collected Works in five volumes (1989-1990).
On March 26, 2007 in Moscow, in an apartment on Bolshaya Sadovaya Street, building 10, where the writer lived in 1921-1924, the government of the capital established the first M.A. Museum in Russia. Bulgakov.
Mikhail Bulgakov was married three times. The writer married his first wife Tatyana Lappa (1892-1982) in 1913. In 1925, he officially married Lyubov Belozerskaya (1895-1987), who had previously been married to journalist Ilya Vasilevsky. In 1932, the writer married Elena Shilovskaya (née Nuremberg, after Neelov's first husband), the wife of Lieutenant General Yevgeny Shilovsky, whom he met in 1929. From September 1, 1933, Elena Bulgakova (1893-1970) kept a diary, which became one of the important sources for Mikhail Bulgakov's biography. She kept an extensive archive of the writer, which she transferred to the State Library of the USSR named after V.I. Lenin (now the Russian State Library), as well as the Institute of Russian Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Pushkin House). Bulgakova managed to achieve the publication of Theatrical Novel and The Master and Margarita, the reprinting of The White Guard in full, and the publication of most of the plays.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
