Who He Is
A literary critic who, with Ariman and the writer Mstislav Lavrovich, signs the wave of hostile articles against the master's novel. He appears in the articles, recounted by the master, and in the apartment that Margarita destroys.
Latunsky! [...] Latunsky! It was he who... It was he who finished off the master!
Trajectory
In chapter 13, in the master's account to Ivan Nikolayevich Bezdomny, the articles by Latunsky and the others attack the book as an apology for Christ and coin against it the expression "Pilatism"; the master falls ill with fear and burns the manuscript (see the manuscript). Among them all, Latunsky's, titled "A Militant Old Believer," is the one the master singles out as the worst.
I assure you that the works of Ariman and Lavrovich were no more than a joke compared with what had been written by Latunsky.
In chapter 21 Margarita reads his name on the bulletin board of Dramlit House, breaks into the apartment, destroys everything with a hammer and floods the neighbors below. He himself is not at home, and the narrator credits his luck to the mourning meeting scheduled because of the death of Berlioz.
The critic Latunsky was born under a lucky star. It saved him from the encounter with Margarita, who had turned into a witch.
At the dinner after the ball, when Margarita tells Woland that she wrecked the critic's apartment, Behemoth and Azazello offer to go after him, and it is she who holds them back.
No, please, my lord, there is no need for that, I beg you!
Themes Embodied
The standard themes that run through him are Art and Revenge, the latter through Margarita's flight.
Relationships
- The Master: the author whose novel he attacked.
- Margarita: the one who destroys his apartment and then prevents the retinue from punishing him.
- Azazello and Behemoth: the ones who offer to go after him.