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Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov is one of the outstanding writers of the 20th century, who wrote works that have become literary classics. Many of the literary works of the prose writer were not recognized during his lifetime and gained popularity only after his death. Bulgakov’s books, a list of which is presented below, allowed the writer to perpetuate his name and become one of the most widely read authors in Russia.
10 Chichikov’s adventures
“The Adventures of Chichikov” ─ Bulgakov’s satirical story, in which all Gogol’s heroes come to life and set off to travel around Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The protagonist of the work, Chichikov, gets into the car and heads to the hotel where he visited a century ago. The book tells about the fraudulent tricks of the protagonist already in modern Russia, which are nevertheless revealed. The work ends by saying that everything stated was just a dream.
9. Day of our lives
“Day of Our Lives” ─ a short work by Mikhail Afanasyevich. The book conveys the scandalous atmosphere of apartment number 50 in house 10, located on Sadovaya Street. There for some time the writer lived with his wife T. N. Lapa. Later, Bulgakov described the same housing in his novel The Master and Margarita, which received a reputation as a bad apartment.
8. Fatal eggs
“Fatal Eggs” belong to the fantastic works of Bulgakov. In the center of the plot of the book is the zoologist Persikov, whose experiments led to a fatal mistake. A chicken pestilence has begun in the country, and in order to stabilize the situation, the zoologist is developing a special emitter that allows the embryo to develop in the egg much faster and be born. As an experiment, he is going to conduct an experiment also on the eggs of not only birds, but also crocodiles, ostriches, snakes. By mistake, a large batch of eggs is sent not to Persikov, but to the state farm, where they begin to use the zoologist’s emitters in practice. A whole horde of reptiles fill the country and move towards Moscow. The indignant people, who consider Persikov to be guilty of everything, burst into his apartment and kill the experimenter.
7. Diaboliad
“Diaboliad” ─ a book by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, touching on the theme of the “little man” who becomes a victim of the bureaucratic machine. The protagonist Korotkov associates her with diabolical power. He is fired, after which the character goes crazy and is thrown off the roof of a multi-storey building. For a long time, the literary work was refused to be published, and the writer himself admitted that the story was a failure.
6. dog’s heart
“Dog’s heart” ─ one of Bulgakov’s best books, filmed in 1988. The story takes place in the 20s. One of the main characters of the work, Professor Preobrazhensky, decides to conduct an experiment and transplant the pituitary gland of the dead tramp to the dog Sharik. The dog is reborn as a human named Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov, who is very dumb, aggressive, and likes to drink. From the owner of the pituitary gland, the new character inherited only the worst features. He perfectly manages to adapt in society, in addition to this, he is given the position of head of cleaning Moscow streets from stray animals. Preobrazhensky realizes that the experiment has failed and decides to return Sharikov to his original form.
5. Notes on cuffs
“Notes on Cuffs” refers to the autobiographical works of Mikhail Afanasyevich. The book never appeared in full publication during the writer’s lifetime. Bulgakov describes in almost detail his life in the Caucasus, as well as his first months in Moscow. The main problem of the book lies in the difficult relationship between Bulgakov and the authorities. The story includes two parts and begins with a dialogue between the main character suffering from typhus and his friend. They talk about the need to create an arts department in the newspaper, which in the future will be headed by the main character. The further events of the book tell about the fate of Bulgakov’s prototype, his wanderings and commitment to his beloved work.
4. Moliere
“Moliere” ─ a historical novel, which is also a biography of the writer himself, written in art form. The book was first published after Bulgakov’s death. During his lifetime, the publishing houses refused to publish the novel due to the lack of a “Marxist idea” in it. The author describes the life of the protagonist from birth. He writes that one of the great geniuses was born into the world. So far, this is an unremarkable newborn, but in the future he will have the glory of the best comedian in his lifetime.
3. Theatrical novel
“Theatrical Romance” refers to the unfinished works of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov. The second title of the novel is “Notes of a Dead Man”. The book is written in the first person, which is the writer of a certain Sergei Leontyevich Maksudov. Despite all the tragedy of the second name, the work turned out to be very cheerful. A feature of artistic work is that it was created without any sketches and drafts. The preface is written on behalf of a certain publisher who decided to fulfill the will of the late Maksudov and publish his novel. At the same time, the publisher warns that everything written is the fruit of the sick imagination of the deceased author.
2. White Guard
“White Guard” rightfully included in the list of the best books written by Bulgakov. The novel describes the events of 1918 that took place in Ukraine during the Civil War. In the center of the work is a family of Russian intellectuals, as well as their close friends and relatives. The military events affected them with a social cataclysm. The book contains many biographical sketches. So, the main characters are the prototypes of the friends and relatives of the writer himself. This is evidenced by the documentary accuracy of the events and characters described by Bulgakov. The novel clearly traces the process of destruction of the Russian intelligentsia. Initially, the author’s ideas included writing a trilogy, but only one book out of three was published.
1. The Master and Margarita
“The Master and Margarita” ─ one of the main creations of an outstanding writer of the 20th century. The book was not completed during the life of Mikhail Afanasevich. Subsequently, the spouse of the deceased was engaged in editing the draft manuscripts left. The novel includes two storylines, one of which involves the Master writing a novel about Pontius Pilate. The further the reader delves into the book, the less noticeable the line between these two parts of a great work becomes. The complete unification of the two storylines occurs in the last chapters, when one of the disciples of Yeshua (Jesus) comes to Woland (the Devil). The book carries a deeply philosophical meaning, where there are no clear lines between Evil and Good, Truth and Falsehood.