The novel The Master and Margarita, multifaceted composition and problematics. Features of the composition of the novel “The Master and Margarita”. Storylines and through whom they are presented. (Mikhail Bulgakov)

Lesson topic: “Genre and composition of M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita.”

The purpose of the lesson: acquaintance with the complex fate of his works; talk about the meaning of the novel, its fate, show the features of the genre and composition.

During the classes:

1. Reading a textbook about the life and work of M. Bulgakov, about the complex fate of his works.

2. Teacher's lecture.

The novel “The Master and Margarita” is the main work of M. Bulgakov, the beloved child of his imagination, his literary feat. He worked on it for about 12 years (from 1928 to 1940). The surviving materials from eight editions make it possible to trace how the concept of the novel, its plot, composition, system of images, title, changes, how much work and effort was given so that the work acquired completeness and artistic perfection.

Like his hero, the Master, the writer did not believe in the possibility of seeing his book published. During the Stalinist dictatorship, the dominance of vulgar sociological criticism, it was difficult to expect a miracle. It is no coincidence that out of three hundred reviews published on his works and collected by the writer, 298 were destroyed. And of those critics and writers who read the manuscript, few were able to appreciate it. Among those who gave her high praise, one can first name Anna Akhmatova, who said about the author of “The Master and Margarita”: “He is a genius.”

The appearance of the novel in the Moscow magazine (No. 11, 1966), even in a truncated form (a total of 159 deletions of the text were made), had a stunning effect on readers and baffled critics. They had to appreciate something completely unusual, which had no analogues in modern Soviet literature neither in the formulation of problems, nor in the nature of their solution, nor in the images of the characters, nor in style. Full text appeared first in Paris (1967), and in 1973 in the writer’s homeland.

They began to actively publish Bulgakov and study his work only in the 800s of the 20th century. The novel has caused and is causing heated controversy, various hypotheses, and interpretations. For example, even today there are quarrels about what is considered a canonical text. Bulgakov did not complete his brainchild; several versions of the work were preserved in his archive. Until now, it brings surprises and amazes with its inexhaustibility. “The Master and Margarita” does not fit into traditional, familiar schemes.

3. Conversation.

Try to determine the genre of the novel.

Answer: you can call it everyday life, since it reproduces pictures of Moscow life of the 20-30s; both fantastic and satirical.

A novel of multi-genres and multi-facetedness. Everything in it is closely intertwined, just like in life.

The composition of the novel is also unusual.

How would you define the composition of Bulgakov's work?

Answer: The composition of “The Master and Margarita” is original and multifaceted. Within the framework of a single work, two novels interact in a complex manner - a narrative about the life of the Master and the novel he created about Pontius Pilate. The chapters of the insert novel about one day of the Roman procurator are dispersed in the main narrative about the Moscow life of the main character and the people around him. Thus, in Bulgakov’s book two time plans and two differently organized artistic spaces. However, they are closely related. The fate of Bulgakov himself is reflected in the fate of the Master, and the fate of the Master in the fate of his hero Yeshua. A series of reflections creates the impression of a perspective that goes deep into historical time, into eternity.

What time period do the events of the novel cover?

Answer: the Moscow events from the time of the meeting and argument between Berlioz and Bezdomny with the “foreigner” and until Woland and his retinue, along with the Master and his beloved leave the city, only four days pass. For that a short time Many events take place: fantastic, tragic, and comic. The heroes of the novel are revealed from an unexpected side, in each of them something that was implicit is revealed. Woland’s gang seems to provoke people into actions, reveals their essence, sometimes in the literal sense, as happened in Variety.

The gospel chapters, which take place over the course of one day, take us almost two thousand years ago, to a world that has not gone away forever, but exists in parallel with the modern one. And, of course, it is more real.

Who is the narrator of the story of Pontius Pilate and Yeshua?

Answer: This story is told from several points of view, which gives credibility to what is happening. Chapter 2 “Pontius Pilate” is told to the “atheists” Berlioz and Bezdomny Woland.

Ivan Bezdomny saw the events of Chapter 16 “Execution” in a dream, in a madhouse. In chapter 19, Azazello gives the incredulous Margarita an excerpt from the Master’s manuscript. In chapter 25, “How the procurator tried to save Judas from Karif,” Margarita reads the resurrected manuscripts in the Master’s basement, continues reading (chapter 28, “Burial”) and ends it at the beginning of chapter 27. The objectivity of what is happening is emphasized by “staples” - repeating sentences that end one chapter and begin the next.

From the point of view of composition, it is also unusual that the hero, the Master, appears only in chapter 13 (“The Appearance of the Hero”). This is one of the many mysteries of Bulgakov, the resolution of which we will try to get closer to.

Lesson summary

1. When was the novel “The Master and Margarita” published in our country?

2. What is its genre uniqueness?

3. What is interesting about the composition of the novel?

It is not for nothing that the novel “The Master and Margarita” is called the “sunset novel” of M. Bulgakov. For many years he rebuilt, supplemented and polished his final work. Everything that M. Bulgakov experienced in his life - both happy and difficult - he devoted all his most important thoughts, all his soul and all his talent to this novel. And a truly extraordinary creation was born.

The work is unusual, first of all, in terms of its genre. Researchers still cannot determine it. Many consider “The Master and Margarita” a mystical novel, citing the words of the author: “I am a mystical writer.” Other researchers call this work satirical, others consider M. Bulgakov’s novel fantastic, and still others consider it philosophical. It must be said that there are reasons for all these definitions, as we will see below.

But first, a few words about the composition of the novel, without analysis of which it is impossible to understand its genre originality. The book clearly highlights two themes: real world Moscow of the 30s, where the master and Margarita live, and the world of ancient Yershalaim, where Yeshua and Pontius Pilate act. It should be noted that the second plot is in a sense canonical - since the depiction of gospel events is one of the deepest traditions of world literature. In this regard, it is enough to recall such works as “Paradise Regained” by J. Milton, “Jesus Christ in Flanders” by O. Balzac, “Christ Visiting the Men” by N. Leskov and others.

The story about Yeshua is written in the genre of a parable novel. The account of events is coldly objective, tragically tense and impersonal. The author does not declare himself in any way - neither by addressing the reader, nor by expressing his opinion about what is happening. Based on the events described, we could expect precisely in this layer of Bulgakov’s novel the expression of the mystical principle - various miracles and transformations. But there is nothing like this in the master’s novel - all events are absolutely real. The author even refuses the resurrection scene - as a sign of the presence of a miracle in the human world.

The novel-parable represents a kind of starting point from which the events of the contemporary layer of M. Bulgakov develop. The truth, unrecognized in ancient Yershalaim, again comes to the world. All mysticism has been paradoxically transferred into the narrative of this world. It is also serious - let us recall, for example, the appearance of the living dead at Satan's ball or the transformation of Voland and his retinue at the end of the novel. It is also grotesque, turning into the mysticism of current modernity and manifesting itself in the mysterious movements of Styopa Likhodeev, and in miracles in a variety show, and in the “bad apartment” from which people disappear. It is also ironic: just remember the beginning of the novel, when the devil asks Berlioz if the devil exists, and, having received a negative answer, complains: “What is it you have - no matter what you miss, there is nothing.” The combination of satire and mysticism thus determines the genre nature of the novel about the master.

From the collision of two worlds and two novels, a very unique philosophy emerges.

From the first pages of the novel, the theme of fate arises. The sudden death of Berlioz immediately raises philosophical questions: who breaks the thread of life? Is it possible to influence human destiny? The answer to these questions will be given, but not immediately, and not even in this time and space. Yeshua denies the possibility of one person influencing the fate of another in earthly life. But in another life, in the other world, this is possible; Margarita frees the master and brings forgiveness to Frida, and the master grants Pontius Pilate the desired meeting with the wandering philosopher. This is how the novel begins to comprehend the unity of existence and non-existence, the real fate of man and afterlife.

The need to talk about this arises because the writer is deeply convinced: the truth historical process forgotten, and humanity is going the wrong way. The novel about Yeshua is a return to this mistake, when Pontius Pilate was the first to make moral choice, for which humanity has been paying for more than two thousand years. The story of the master himself is a repetition of the same mistake. But the repetition of a mistake also brings with it a new return - as a reminder of the truth in a new round of history.

So, we are convinced that the genre nature of M. Bulgakov’s novel is complex and original. But this is how a work should have been, surviving through so many cataclysms of history. This is what a manuscript should be like if it didn’t burn.

The genre uniqueness of the novel "The Master and Margarita" - the "last, sunset" work of M. A. Bulgakov still causes controversy among literary scholars. It is defined as a myth novel, philosophical novel, menippea, mystery novel, etc. “The Master and Margarita” very organically combined almost all the genres existing in the world and literary trends. According to the English researcher of Bulgakov's creativity J.

Curtis, the form of “The Master and Margarita” and its content make it a unique masterpiece, parallels with which “are difficult to find in both Russian and Western European literature.” literary tradition". No less original is the composition of "The Master and Margarita" - a novel within a novel, or a double novel - about the fate of the Master and Pontius Pilate.

On the one hand, these two novels are opposed to each other, while on the other hand they form a kind of organic unity. The plot combines two layers of time in an original way: biblical and contemporary to Bulgakov - the 1930s. and I century. ad. Some events described in the Yershalaim chapters are repeated exactly 1900 years later in Moscow in a parodic, reduced version.

There are three storylines in the novel: philosophical - Yeshua and Pontius Pilate, love - the Master and Margarita, mystical and satirical - Woland, his retinue and Muscovites. They are presented in a free, bright, sometimes bizarre form of storytelling and are closely interconnected with Woland’s infernal image. The novel begins with a scene on the Patriarch's Ponds, where Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz and Ivan Bezdomny are heatedly arguing with a strange stranger about the existence of God.

To Woland’s question “who controls human life and all order on earth in general,” if there is no God, Ivan Bezdomny, as a convinced atheist, answers: “Man himself controls.” But soon the development of the plot refutes this thesis. Bulgakov reveals relativity human knowledge and predestination life path. At the same time, he affirms man's responsibility for his destiny. Eternal questions: “What is truth in this unpredictable world?

Are there immutable, eternal moral values", - are put by the author in the Yershalaim chapters (there are only 4 (2, 16, 25, 26) of the 32 chapters of the novel), which, undoubtedly, are the ideological center of the novel. The course of life in Moscow in the 1930s merges with the Master’s narrative about Pontius Pilate.

Hunted in modern life, the genius of the Master finally finds peace in Eternity. As a result, the storylines of the two novels are completed, converging at one spatio-temporal point - in Eternity, where the Master and his hero Pontius Pilate meet and find “forgiveness and eternal shelter.” Unexpected turns, situations and characters of the biblical chapters are mirrored in the Moscow chapters, contributing to such a plot conclusion and the disclosure of the philosophical content of Bulgakov's narrative.

Bulgakov is a very famous and world-recognized writer. Personally, I really love his work and admire the peculiarities of the plot and compositional lines. Today we will talk about the features of composition and plot in this work, namely in the novel “The Master and Margarita”.

Bulgakov dedicated almost everything last years life writing the novel “The Master and Margarita”.

The main theme of Bulgakov's works was the theme of the antithesis of good and evil. In the novel “The Master and Margarita” this theme is central. The composition of the work is multifaceted, because it combines modernity, fantasy and history. Its peculiarity is that the novel depicts three separate worlds (Moscow, Otherworld, Yershalaim). Each world has its own structure. The compositional plot of the Moscow World is the appearance of Woland in Moscow, the culmination of which is “Satan’s Ball”.

There are three storylines in The Master and Margarita: Moscow, Yershalaim, and the relationship between the Master and Margarita. Another feature is the presence of a system of plot doubles in the work, that is, each world has its own system of characters.

We can distinguish love (Mather and Margarita), philosophical (the opposition of good and evil), mystical and satirical.

Two different periods of time are intertwined in the work (Biblical, 1st century AD, Bulgakov’s modernity, 30s of the 20th century).

The novel can be called autobiographical, because the prototype of Margarita was Bulgakov’s third wife, Elena Sergeevna, and in the image of the Master you can recognize the writer himself.

“The Master and Margarita” is a “novel within a novel,” that is, it tells the story of the novel about Pontius Pilate and the fate of the Master and Margarita. Both novels are part of a single work, despite their opposition.

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Updated: 2018-01-23

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Each piece of art Over time, it takes its well-deserved place in literature. The most famous novel Mikhail Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita". These pages amaze with their depth of meaning; there is nothing superfluous here.

Let's start with a composition that is quite unusual: a novel within a novel. The hero of the work writes a novel about the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. And the lines of his work form a peculiar interweaving with the novel of the author himself.

This technique was chosen by Bulgakov for a reason, because it helps to achieve the main goal - to touch upon many problems: false and true creativity, crime and punishment, love and devotion, courage and cowardice. In addition, the author shows a new interpretation of biblical events.

The cross-cutting idea of ​​Bulgakov's novel is the value of real creativity. To reveal it, he introduces us to two heroes - Berlioz, the stupid and narrow-minded chairman of a large Moscow literary association, editor of a magazine, and the poet, Ivan Bezdomny, who publishes his poems on the pages of this periodical. Berlioz's views and the narrowness of his thinking cannot be changed; he immediately dies on the tram tracks. But the poet has a chance to be reborn. And this is exactly what happens to him in the mental hospital.

The topic raised is not accidental. It was painful for the author himself. Many critics believe that behind the image of the Master is none other than Bulgakov.

To depict the theme of creativity in its entirety, the writer suggests looking at the members of MASSOLIT, scribblers who have one desire - to fill their bellies. The master is completely different, he stands out from this environment and is simply expelled from there. But there are those who will appreciate this genius - otherworldly forces and Margarita, who loved him even before they met.

- image ideal woman who is faithful and has real feelings. Their meeting with the Master is not accidental, it is, as they say, fate. Margarita does not need the life that suits most “ordinary” women. She is very lonely, and her eyes clearly show this. The heroine of the novel is the embodiment of the author's ideal of a wife, a friend of the great creator.

The persecution forces the Master to hide from everyone in a clinic for the mentally ill, but his beloved remains faithful to him even in this situation. This is true devotion, pure and devoid of any self-interest. This topic is also important for Bulgakov.

The Master's novel conveys a different interpretation of biblical motifs. Yeshua on the pages of his work is not God, but an ordinary wandering philosopher, who is not alien to ordinary human suffering and fears.

Bulgakov also touches on the problem of conscience in his work. It is revealed through the image. He understands perfectly well that Yeshua is innocent and brings only good to people. But the desire to maintain a high rank pushes him to sentence - death penalty. But Pontius will also not escape retribution - immortality and pangs of conscience will become his eternal punishment.

In the novel "The Master and Margarita" it is revealed great amount those whose interpretation is striking in its unusualness and depth.