The Master and Margarita / Мастер и Маргарита. Книга для чтения на английском языке

The Master and Margarita / Мастер и Маргарита. Книга для чтения на английском языке
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov

Russian Modern Prose
Предлагаем вниманию читателей знаменитый роман советского писателя Михаила Булгакова «Мастер и Маргарита».

Роман, написанный в течение одного из самых мрачных десятилетий двадцатого века, отражает сложную историческую эпоху и настроения советского общества тех времен. Бог и дьявол, добро и зло, творчество и гибель – в романе множество сюжетных линий, противоречивых героев, поступки которых неоднозначны и вызывают у читателя и грусть, и смех, и желание открывать роман и окунаться в его мистику и волшебство снова и снова.

Представляем полный текст романа в переводе с русского на английский язык Хью Аплина.

Михаил Булгаков

The Master and Margarita / Мастер и Маргарита. Книга для чтения на английском языке

© Hugh Aplin, 2008

© Каро, 2020

Part One

1. Never Talk to Strangers

At the hour of the hot spring sunset at Patriarch’s Ponds two citizens appeared. The first of them – some forty years old and dressed in a nice grey summer suit – was short, well fed and bald; he carried his respectable pork-pie hat[1 - pork-pie hat – шляпа с круглой плоской тульёй, шляпа-"пирожок”] in his hand, and had a neatly shaved face adorned by spectacles of supernatural proportions in black horn frames. The second – a broad-shouldered, gingery, shock-headed young man with a checked cloth cap cocked towards the back of his head – was wearing a cowboy shirt, crumpled white trousers and black soft shoes.

The first was none other than Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz, the editor of a thick literary journal and chairman of the board of one of Moscow’s biggest literary associations, known in abbreviation as MASSOLIT[2 - MASSOLIT: The organization is an invention of Bulgakov’s. (Комментарий И. Беспалова)],[3 - MASSOLIT – Массолит – вымышленное объединение литераторов] while his young companion was the poet Ivan Nikolayevich Ponyrev, who wrote under the pseudonym Bezdomny.[4 - Bezdomny: The poet’s pseudonym, reminiscent of those of Maxim Gorky (“bitter”), Demyan Bedny (“poor”) and others, means “homeless”. (Комментарий И. Беспалова)]

Entering the shade of the lime trees that were just becoming green, the writers first and foremost hurried towards a colourfully painted little booth with the inscription "Beer and Minerals”.

Yes, the first strange thing about that terrible May evening should be noted. Not just by the booth, but along the entire tree-lined avenue running parallel to Malaya Bronnaya Street, not a single person was about. At that hour, when people no longer even seemed to have the strength to breathe, when the sun, having heated Moscow up to an unbearable degree, was toppling in a dry mist somewhere down beyond the Garden Ring Road, nobody had come along here under the lime trees, nobody had sat down on a bench: the avenue was empty.

“Narzan,[5 - Narzan: Sparkling mineral water. (Комментарий И. Беспалова)] please,” requested Berlioz.

“There’s no Narzan,” replied the woman in the booth, and for some reason took umbrage[6 - to take umbrage – обижаться].

“Is there beer?” enquired Bezdomny in a hoarse voice[7 - in a hoarse voice – хриплым, осипшим голосом].

“They’ll be bringing beer towards evening,” the woman replied.

“What is there, then?” asked Berlioz.

“Apricot squash – only it’s warm,” said the woman.

“Well, come on, come on, come on!”

The apricot squash produced an abundant yellow foam, and there was a sudden smell of the hairdresser’s in the air. Having quenched their thirst[8 - to quench one’s thirst – утолять жажду], the writers immediately started hiccuping; they settled up, and seated themselves on a bench with their faces to the pond and their backs to Bronnaya.

At this point the second strange thing occurred, concerning Berlioz alone. He suddenly stopped hiccuping; his heart gave a thump[9 - heart gave a thump – сердце встрепенулось] and disappeared somewhere for a moment, then returned, but with a blunt needle lodged in it. Moreover, Berlioz was seized by terror – groundless, but so powerful that he felt the urge to flee from Patriarch’s Ponds at once without a backward glance.

Berlioz glanced back in anguish, unable to understand what had frightened him. He turned pale, mopped his brow with his handkerchief and thought: “What is the matter with me? This has never happened before… my heart’s playing up… I’m overtired. Maybe it’s time to let everything go to the devil and be off to Kislovodsk…”

And then the sultry air thickened before him, and out of this air was woven a transparent citizen of very strange appearance. On his little head a jockey’s peaked cap, a little checked jacket – tight, and airy too. a citizen almost seven feet tall, but narrow in the shoulders, unbelievably thin, and a physiognomy, I beg you to note, that was mocking[10 - mocking physiognomy – глумливая физиономия].

Berlioz’s life had been shaped in such a way that he was not used to extraordinary phenomena. Turning still paler, he opened his eyes wide and thought in confusion: “It can’t be!.”

But, alas, it could, and the lanky citizen you could see through swayed to both left and right in front of him without touching the ground.

At this point Berlioz was horror-stricken[11 - horror-stricken – охваченный ужасом] to such a degree that he closed his eyes. And when he opened them, he saw that everything was over, the mirage had dissolved, the one in checks had vanished, and at the same time the blunt needle had dropped out of his heart.

“Well, I’ll be damned!” exclaimed the editor. “You know, Ivan, I almost had a seizure[12 - to have a seizure – получить удар] just now because of the heat! There was even something like a hallucination…” He tried to grin, but alarm was still dancing in his eyes, and his hands were trembling. However, he gradually calmed down, fanned himself with his handkerchief and, saying quite brightly, “Well, and so.” he renewed the speech that had been interrupted by the drinking of the apricot squash.

This speech, as was learnt subsequently, was about Jesus Christ. The thing was, the editor had commissioned a long antireligious poem from the poet for the next issue of his journal. Ivan Nikolayevich had written this poem, in a very short time too, but unfortunately had not satisfied the editor with it at all. Bezdomny had outlined the main character of his poem – Jesus, that is – in very dark colours, yet nonetheless, in the editor’s opinion, the whole poem needed to be written all over again. And so now the editor was giving the poet something in the way of a lecture on Jesus, with the aim of underlining the poet s basic error.

It is hard to say what precisely had let Ivan Nikolayevich down[13 - to let somebody down – подвести к.-л.] – whether it had been the graphic power of his talent, or his utter unfamiliarity with the question on which he was writing – but his Jesus had come out as just a living Jesus who had once existed: only, true, a Jesus furnished with all the negative features possible.

And Berlioz wanted to demonstrate to the poet that the main thing was not what Jesus was like, whether he was good or bad, but that this Jesus, as a person, had not existed in the world at all, and that all the stories about him were simply inventions, the most commonplace myth.

It must be noted that the editor was a well-read man, and pointed very skilfully in his speech to the ancient historians – for example, to the celebrated Philo of Alexandria[14 - Philo of Alexandria: a philosopher and religious thinker (c.25 bc-50 ad). (Комментарий И. Беспалова)][15 - Philo of Alexandria – Филон Александрийский, философ и религиозный мыслитель] and to the brilliantly educated Flavius Josephus,[16 - Flavius Josephus: Roman historian (37 ad-after 100). (Комментарий И. Беспалова)][17 - Flavius Josephus – Иосиф Флавий, еврейский историк и военачальник] who had never said a word about the existence of Jesus. Displaying sound erudition[18 - sound erudition – блестящая эрудиция], Mikhail Alexandrovich also informed the poet, incidentally, that the passage in book fifteen, chapter forty-four of the celebrated Annales of Tacitus,[19 - the celebrated Annales of Tacitus: The chronicle Annales by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (c.55-c.120) deals with Roman history of the years 14–68. (Комментарий И. Беспалова)][20 - Annales of Tacitus – «Анналы», последнее и самое крупное сочинение древнеримского историка Публия Корнелия Тацита] where the execution of Jesus is spoken of, is nothing other than a later forged interpolation.

The poet, to whom everything being imparted by the editor was news, listened to Mikhail Alexandrovich attentively with his lively green eyes fixed upon him, and only hiccuping occasionally, cursing in a whisper the apricot squash.

“There isn’t a single eastern religion,” said Berlioz, “in which, as a rule, a chaste virgin doesn’t give birth to a god. And without inventing anything new, in exactly the same way, the Christians created their Jesus, who in reality never actually lived. And it’s on that the main emphasis needs to be put…”

Berlioz’s high tenor resounded in the deserted avenue, and the deeper Mikhail Alexandrovich clambered into the thickets[21 - to clamber into the thickets – лезть в дебри] into which only a very educated man can clamber without the risk of coming a cropper, the more and more interesting and useful were the things the poet learnt about the Egyptian Osiris, the most merciful god and son of heaven and earth,[22 - Osiris… and earth: The Egyptian god of death, life and fertility. (Комментарий И. Беспалова)][23 - Osiris – Осирис, бог смерти в египетской мифологии] and about the Phoenician god Tammuz,[24 - Tammuz: The Mesopotamian god of fertility. (Комментарий И. Беспалова)][25 - Tammuz – Таммуз, бог плодородия в др. Месопотамии] and about Marduk,[26 - Marduk: The most important god in the Babylonian pantheon. (Комментарий И. Беспалова)][27 - Marduk – центральное божество вавилонского пантеона, главный бог города Вавилона] and even about the lesser-known stern god Huitzilopochtli,[28 - Huitzilopochtli – Вицлипуцли, бог войны у древних Ацтеков] who was at one time much revered by the Aztecs in Mexico.[29 - Huitzilopochtli… Aztecs in Mexico: The Aztec sun and war god. (Комментарий И. Беспалова)]

And it was at precisely the moment when Mikhail Alexandrovich was telling the poet about how the Aztecs used to make a figurine of Huitzilopochtli from dough that the first person appeared in the avenue.

Subsequently – when, frankly speaking, it was already too late – various organizations presented their reports with a description of this person. A comparison of the reports cannot help but cause amazement. Thus in the first of them it is said that this person was small in stature[30 - small in stature – маленького роста], had gold teeth and limped on his right leg. In the second the person was enormous in stature[31 - enormous in stature – высоченного роста], had platinum crowns and limped on his left leg. The third states laconically that the person had no distinguishing features.

It has to be acknowledged that not one of those reports is of any use whatsoever.

First of all: the person described did not limp on either leg, and was neither small nor enormous in stature, but simply tall. As far as his teeth are concerned, on the left side he had platinum crowns, and on the right gold ones. He wore an expensive grey suit and foreign shoes the same colour as the suit. He had his grey beret cocked jauntily over one ear, and under his arm he carried a walking stick with a black handle in the shape of a poodle’s head. To look at, he was about forty plus. Mouth a bit crooked. Clean-shaven. Dark-haired. The right eye black, the left for some reason green. Eyebrows black, but one higher than the other. In short – a foreigner.

After passing the bench on which the editor and the poet were located, the foreigner cast a sidelong glance at them, stopped, and suddenly sat down on the next bench, two steps away from the friends.

"German…" thought Berlioz.

"English…" thought Bezdomny. "And look at that – he’s not too hot to be wearing gloves."

But the foreigner cast his eye over the square of tall buildings bordering the pond, and it became apparent that he was seeing this place for the first time, and that it had grabbed his interest.

He arrested his gaze on the top storeys, in whose window panes there were dazzling reflections of the broken sunlight that was leaving Mikhail Alexandrovich for ever, then he moved it down to where the window panes had started darkening, as they do towards evening; he grinned condescendingly about something, screwed up his eyes, put his hands on the handle of the walking stick and placed his chin on his hands.

“Ivan,” said Berlioz, “your depiction of, for example, the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, was very good and satirical, but the real point is that a whole series of sons of god had already been born before Jesus – like, let’s say, the Phoenician Adonis, the Phrygian Attis, the Persian Mithras. To put it briefly, not one of them was ever born and none of them existed, including Jesus too, and it’s essential that, instead of depicting the birth or, let’s suppose, the visit of the Magi, you should depict the absurd rumours about that visit. Otherwise, according to your narrative, it turns out that he was actually born!”

At this point Bezdomny made an attempt to stop the hiccups that had him in agony and held his breath, and as a result he emitted a louder and more agonizing hiccup, and at that same moment Berlioz interrupted his speech, because the foreigner suddenly rose and headed towards the writers.

They looked at him in surprise.

“Excuse me, please,” he began on coming up, with a foreign accent, but without garbling the words, “if I permit myself, without being acquainted… but the topic of your learned conversation is so interesting that.”