Art

The Theme in the Work

Commissioned literature is in the novel from the very first scene. In chapter 1, Berlioz, magazine editor and president of Massolit, argues with the poet Ivan Nikolayevich Bezdomny over the anti-religious poem he wrote to order, and wants to correct it: Jesus should not appear with negative traits, he should not have existed. In chapter 5, Griboyedov House hands out to its members trips, summer houses and the best restaurant in Moscow, and what is envied in it is a membership card; in chapter 6, the poet Riukhin, returning from the clinic in the back of a truck, admits to himself that he does not believe a word of what he writes, shortly before the truck stops in front of the statue of Pushkin.

Set against this is the novel of the Master, written about Pilate in a basement near the Arbat, with its last words known in advance. Chapter 13 tells the rest: the editor's refusal, the articles by Ariman, Lavrovich and Latunsky, the word "Pilatism," the fear, the manuscript in the stove. In chapter 21, Margarita, already a witch, destroys Latunsky's apartment; in 24, Woland asks to see the novel, Behemoth pulls it out intact from under himself, and Woland does not accept that it burned. In 28, Korovyov is barred at the door of Griboyedov for lacking a writer's identity, and the house ends up in flames.

The end of the book is the end of the Master's novel. In chapter 29, Matthew Levi tells Woland that "he" read the Master's work; in 32, Woland makes clear that whoever read it is the one who wants to see Pilate, and that the couple's refuge was requested by Yeshua Ha-Notzri. In chapter 30, the Master, who knows the book by heart, tells Ivan that he will no longer write about that hero. In 32, Woland asks him to finish the novel with a sentence, and the sentence frees Pontius Pilate; the last line of the chapter takes up the words that the Master, in chapter 13, already knew would close his book.

The book sets two ways of being a writer against each other and resolves them unevenly. Massolit has membership cards, a restaurant and funds, and no work; the Master has the work and loses everything else, even his name. Korovyov says this aloud at the door of Griboyedov, shortly before it burns. Woland's line in chapter 24 does not promise that art will win in the world that burned it; it promises that art does not depend on that world, and the novel confirms this by giving the reader, not the editorial board, the decision about the author's fate.

Where It Appears

• Part One, Chapter 1: Never talk to strangers: Berlioz, magazine editor, demands from the young poet Ivan that the commissioned anti-religious poem stop portraying Jesus in a negative light and start denying that he ever existed.
• Part One, Chapter 5: It happened at Griboyedov: At Griboyedov House, the headquarters of Massolit, writers receive trips and summer houses, and those who arrive from outside are consumed with envy of the membership card, the color of coffee.
• Part One, Chapter 6: Schizophrenia, as was said: The poet Riukhin, returning from the clinic, concludes that his poems are bad because he does not believe a word of what he writes, and soon after, before the statue of Pushkin, envies the poet's luck.
• Part One, Chapter 13: The hero appears: The Master writes a novel about Pilate, sees the editor reject it and the critics attack it, and on an October night, sick with fear, burns the manuscript in the stove.
• Part Two, Chapter 21: The flight: Margarita breaks into the apartment of the critic Latunsky, whose article destroyed the publication of the Master's novel, and destroys it with a hammer.
• Part Two, Chapter 24: The rescue of the master: Behemoth pulls the novel about Pilate, intact, from under his own body, and Woland tells the Master, who believed it burned, that manuscripts don't burn.
• Part Two, Chapter 28: The last adventures of Korovyov and Behemoth: At the door of Griboyedov, the registry woman asks Korovyov for writer's identification, and he answers that it is not identities that define a writer, but what he writes.
• Part Two, Chapter 29: The fate of the Master and Margarita is decided: Matthew Levi tells Woland that someone has read the Master's novel, and asks him to take the author with him and return his peace.
• Part Two, Chapter 30: It's time! It's time!: When Margarita asks that the novel be taken along, the Master answers that he knows it by heart and, as he says goodbye to Ivan, tells him he will write no more about the book's hero.
• Part Two, Chapter 32: Forgiveness and eternal refuge: The Master shouts the phrase that ends his novel, "He is free!", and Pilate runs along the lunar path after the dog, to meet Yeshua.

Passages

Riukhin's confession, the portrait of the Massolit poet.

The Master recalls the night he burned the novel.

Woland's answer to the author who says he destroyed the work.

The Griboyedov criterion, inverted at the door of the house itself.

The request that reaches Woland because of a reading.