<story><title>In the Face of Constant Censorship, Bulgakov Kept Writing</title><url>http://lithub.com/in-the-face-of-constant-censorship-bulgakov-kept-writing/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>acomjean</author><text>I read the The Master and Margarita for a literature class at University.  It was a fascinating but confusing book, but lots of references which made it ideal to get some help by someone who scope and historical context (USSR being at its end when I read it).&lt;p&gt;Of course now with the internet there is help from wikipedia:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Master_and_Margarita&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Master_and_Margarita&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>aleyan</author><text>Readers may find the Master and Margarita website[1] to be very thorough in providing the background information, plot and character summaries, and other supplementary materials. It is the best resource I know on the subject&lt;p&gt;There is also an active Bulgakov facebook page [2] with things like fan art and informations about upcoming adaptations.&lt;p&gt;As a matter of disclosure, I created the facebook page in 2008, but it has been run for many years now by Jan Vanhellemont, the man who is also responsible for [1]. I consider him to be the foremost fan of Master and Margarita on the English language internet.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.masterandmargarita.eu&amp;#x2F;en&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.masterandmargarita.eu&amp;#x2F;en&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;
[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.facebook.com&amp;#x2F;m.a.bulgakov&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.facebook.com&amp;#x2F;m.a.bulgakov&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>In the Face of Constant Censorship, Bulgakov Kept Writing</title><url>http://lithub.com/in-the-face-of-constant-censorship-bulgakov-kept-writing/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>acomjean</author><text>I read the The Master and Margarita for a literature class at University.  It was a fascinating but confusing book, but lots of references which made it ideal to get some help by someone who scope and historical context (USSR being at its end when I read it).&lt;p&gt;Of course now with the internet there is help from wikipedia:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Master_and_Margarita&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;The_Master_and_Margarita&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>abecode</author><text>The Master and Margarita also has a lot of details from biblical history that help making sense of it... I read it when I was taking a class from a Dead Sea Scroll archaeologist about how the bible was written and modern interpretations of it.  So we read some of Gilgamesh, Old Testament, Dead Sea scrolls, Paradise Lost, and The Master and Margarita, among others (here&amp;#x27;s some version of the syllabus: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web-app.usc.edu&amp;#x2F;soc&amp;#x2F;syllabus&amp;#x2F;20111&amp;#x2F;60056.doc&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web-app.usc.edu&amp;#x2F;soc&amp;#x2F;syllabus&amp;#x2F;20111&amp;#x2F;60056.doc&lt;/a&gt;)</text></comment>