Master and

A Note on the Text and
Acknowledgements
Mikhail Bulgakov – Master and Margarita
At his death, Bulgakov left The Master and Margarita in a slightly unfinished
state. It contains, for instance, certain inconsistencies - two versions
of the ‘departure’ of the master and Margarita, two versions of Yeshua’s
entry into Yershalaim, two names for Yeshua’s native town. His final revisions,
undertaken in October of 1939, broke off near the start of Book
Two. Later he dictated some additions to his wife, Elena Sergeevna, notably
the opening paragraph of Chapter 32 (’Gods, my gods! How sad the
evening earth!’). Shortly after his death in 1940, Elena Sergeevna made a
new typescript of the novel. In 1965, she prepared another typescript for
publication, which differs slightly from her 1940 text. This 1965 text was
published by Moskva in November 1966 and January 1967. However, the
editors of the magazine made cuts in it amounting to some sixty typed
pages. These cut portions immediately appeared in samizdat (unofficial
Soviet ’self-publishing’), were published by Scherz Verlag in Switzerland
in 1967, and were then included in the Possev Verlag edition (Frankfurtam-Main,
1969) and the YMCA-Press edition (Paris, 1969). In 1975 a new
and now complete edition came out in Russia, the result of a comparison
of the already published editions with materials in the Bulgakov archive.
It included additions and changes taken from written corrections on other
existing typescripts. The latest Russian edition (1990) has removed the
most important of those additions, bringing the text close once again to
Elena Sergeevna’s 1965 typescript. Given the absence of a definitive authorial
text, this process of revision is virtually endless. However, it involves
changes that in most cases have little bearing for a translator.
The present translation has been made from the text of the original
magazine publication, based on Elena Sergeevna’s 1965 typescript, with
all cuts restored as in the Possev and YMCA-Press editions. It is complete
and unabridged.
The translators wish to express their gratitude to M. O. Chudakova for
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