about to start this. anything specific i should read or know

Read Faust first.

>>8588994

"They take too long getting to the fucking point." - Sgt Gerry Boyle


Read Bulgakovs country doctors notebook after. It's beautiful especially Morphine.

>>8588994
Be aware of the historical / political state AKA gleam Wiki

>>8588994
Not having a cursory knowledge of the new testament and the Khrushchev thaw would probably make reading it tough.

I sometimes wonder at these threads, whether they are made by people whop slept through secondary and university education.

>>8589297
>Khrushchev thaw
It was written before the thaw ...

>>8589024
this. just realize mm is based on an opera and not Goethe's. also read the gospel according to matthew

>>8589303
I didnt know that, the urban setting in the book doesnt seem very Stalinist, and they were throwing dissidents in mental asylums which became the goto after '52

>>8589312
this is a 30s text iirc

Written between 1928 and 1940, but unpublished in book form until 1967, set firmly in 1930s Moscow (aside from the Pilate chapters). The amazingly dense classical symbolism in the Pilate chapters is worth many rereads.

>>8589306
the opera is based on goethe's faust

>>8589297

>hurr durr you guys must have slept through seconday education
>cannot accurately place the period of the novel he's "read" nor the politics he claims a potential reader should have "cursory" knowledge of

i hope you are embarrassed

>>8588994
Fantastic book. If your copy has good footnotes, you are probably fine without doing any background reading. Granted, it's still a good idea to read the texts mentioned ITT.