Great Russian Book

Lately, I have been reading a lot of books. One book that I have enjoyed is The Master and Margarita (Мастер и Магарита). It was written by Mikhail Bulgalkov between the years of 1929-1940. It was finished by his wife after his death in 1940. I initally read half of it in Russian and am now reading it in English.

The premise of the book is hilarious. Basically, the book takes place in Moscow, Russia during the 1930's. At this time most Russians claim to be atheists. One day, a famous editor and a poet meet in a park in Moscow. The editor had tasked the poet to write something proving the Jesus Christ never existed. The editor wasn't pleased with what the poet wrote and tried to show the poet exactly what he wanted. During this conversation, a "man" appears and approaches the two. He is very pleased to find out that they don't believe in God and Satan. Then he disagrees with them about the existence of Christ. This man tells the editor and the poet a story about Christ's trial in front of Pontius Pilate. It is a very strange version, very different from the Bible story. After the story, this "man" then makes a couple of predictions about the two men, which come true through out the book. This man actually turns out to be the Devil and he runs out of control in atheist Moscow. The book contains a very sophisticated satire about how the Devil enjoys atheism.

The book was banned until a censored version was published in 1966. In 1967, an underground network of self-publishers published the censored parts of the book. Finally, in 1973, the entire book was published based on the final fourth edition. And in 1989, the book was published using all available manuscripts (the first edition was burned by Bugalkov in 1930).

For a more in depth look at the book go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_and_Margarita.