Randomly picked this up at a bookstore and so far I'm pretty

>>9695267
He is, just for a different era.

>>9695267
Are you reading the Michael Glenny version? I am going to read Master and Margarita in a few months, and I'm dissapointed that I got the Glenny version, because people on the internet say that it's crap. :(

I found that it was a lot of fun, but it didn't really try to say all that much outside of the Pontius Pilate bits.

The Divil wreaking havoc in Moscow bits were amusing but they didn't seem to have much depth outside of greedy people getting their commupence

>>9695310
I read the Glenny version and greatly enjoyed it.

>>9695317
It's a satire on Soviert society. How the revolution removed the bourgeoisie, but a new bourgeoisie rose up to replace it. It's really a miracle Stalin let him publish it.

It's worth brushing up on your Soviet history before reading it.

>>9695342

He didn't, it wasn't published until the 1960s

>>9695347
Oh yeah. Wonder what I was thinking of.

>>9695267
Because it's pretty much his only work good enough to be well-known amongst other countries, a reason why Bulgakov isn't as famous; if he'd written a lot of works on that level or more, he'd definitely be more highly known and praised. Because there are a lot of great authors who, for whatever reason, aren't exactly super-mainstream and somehow didn't make it

Also, he kind of is a pretty well-known and highly-ranked author among literate people, just not as highly praised as Tolst and Dost. M&M frequently gets onto lists of best books of the 20th century. Not only that, people in Russia supposedly read his other works more and praise him more

Finally, >>9695317 is right, even though it's a great book it's not epoch-shattering

>>9695342
Tell me what I should know before reading it. "Soviet history" in itself is kind of vague.

>>9695365

He probably means the ultimate failure of the revolution in creating an equal society. Also le silly inefficient absurd bureaucracy that's a bit of a meme at this point.

Not much of a deep understanding of history required.

>>9695267
I really wanted to like this. Certain parts with Behemoth and Woland were fantastic, but the parts with Pilate felt...lacking? Maybe I should re-read it again, but just didn't do it for me.


Though Heart of a Dog is fantastic

>>9695391

Strangely I felt exactly the opposite. The Pilate parts were my favourite, rare as they were.

>>9695267
>Why is Bulgakov not ranked among the greats of Russian Literature like Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky?

But he is, he is just less known because he was born three or four generations later than them, but I always hear him cited as one of the greatest Russian novelist of XX century. Also The Master and Margarita being his sole famous work doesn't help.

Everything I wrote has been already said in the thread, but I wrote it half an hour ago and then forgot to post lol

>>9695267
I really loved the White Guard, really dreamlike and Gogol-esque.

>>9695267
Lermontov and Bulgakov are the actual GOAT Russian authors, anyone who isn't a turbo-pleb already knows this.

Dostoevsky is good of course, no one is denying that. Tolstoy is overrated to hell and back.

>>9695267
Bulgakov isn't mentioned in the middle school and high school curriculum, in my country at least. I think many more people would know of him if he was.

Some pieces of art are just not so mainstream and trendy, no matter how phenomenal they are, probably because they weren't fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time.

Personally, I learned about the book from my mother and father - both liked the book, and it became my favourite.

There aren't many ways to heard about the book, except on places like /lit/, and it's very highly rated on those places.

>>9695356
People know Dostoevsky only for Crime and Punishment. And people also know J.K. Rowling for only one book.