Biography. Childhood and youth Bulgakov M

The end of the 19th century is a complex and contradictory time. There is nothing surprising in the fact that it was in 1891 that one of the most mysterious Russian writers was born. We are talking about Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov - director, playwright, mystic, scriptwriter and libretto of operas. Bulgakov's story is no less fascinating than his work, and the Literaguru team takes the liberty of proving it.

Birthday of M.A. Bulgakov - 3 (15) May. The father of the future writer, Afanasy Ivanovich, was a professor at the Theological Academy in Kyiv. Mother, Varvara Mikhailovna Bulgakova (Pokrovskaya), raised seven children: Mikhail, Vera, Nadezhda, Varvara, Nikolai, Ivan, Elena. The family often staged performances for which Mikhail composed plays. Since childhood, he loved performances, vaudeville, space scenes.

Bulgakov's house was a favorite meeting place creative intelligentsia. His parents often invited eminent friends who had a certain influence on the gifted boy Misha. He was very fond of listening to adult conversations and willingly participated in them.

Youth: education and early career

Bulgakov studied at the gymnasium No. 1 in the city of Kyiv. After graduating from it in 1901, he became a student at the medical faculty of Kyiv University. The choice of profession was influenced by the financial condition of the future writer: after the death of his father, Bulgakov took responsibility for a large family. His mother remarried. All children, except Mikhail, remained in good relations with stepfather. The eldest son wanted to be financially independent. He graduated from the university in 1916 and received a medical degree with honors.

During the First World War, Mikhail Bulgakov served as a field doctor for several months, then got a job in the village of Nikolsky (Smolensk province). Then some stories were written, later included in the cycle "Notes of a Young Doctor". Due to the routine of a boring provincial life, Bulgakov began to use drugs that were available to many representatives of his profession by occupation. He asked to be transferred to a new place so that drug addiction would be implicit for others: in any other case, the doctor could be deprived of his diploma. A devoted wife helped to get rid of the misfortune, who secretly diluted the narcotic substance. She in every possible way forced her husband to leave a bad habit.

In 1917, Mikhail Bulgakov received the position of head of the departments of the Vyazemsky city zemstvo hospital. A year later, Bulgakov and his wife returned to Kyiv, where the writer was engaged in private medical practice. Morphine addiction was defeated, but instead of drugs, Mikhail Bulgakov often drank alcohol.

Creation

At the end of 1918, Mikhail Bulgakov joined the officer detachment. It is not established whether he was called up as a military doctor, or whether he himself expressed a desire to become a member of the detachment. F. Keller, the second-in-command, disbanded the detachments, so that he did not participate in the fighting at that time. But already in 1919 he was mobilized into the army of the UNR. Bulgakov escaped. Versions regarding further fate writer disagree: some witnesses claimed that he served in the Red Army, some - that he did not leave Kyiv before the arrival of the Whites. It is authentically known that the writer was mobilized into the Volunteer Army (1919). At the same time he published the feuilleton "Future Prospects". The Kyiv events were reflected in the works The Extraordinary Adventures of the Doctor (1922), The White Guard (1924). It is worth noting that the writer chose literature as his main occupation in 1920: after completing his service in the hospital of Vladikavkaz, he began to write for the newspaper Kavkaz. creative way Bulgakov was thorny: during the period of the struggle for power, an unfriendly statement addressed to one of the parties could end in death.

Genres, themes and issues

In the early twenties, Bulgakov wrote mainly works about the revolution, mostly plays, which were subsequently staged on the stage of the Vladikavkaz Revolutionary Committee. Since 1921, the writer lived in Moscow and worked in various newspapers and magazines. In addition to feuilletons, he published individual chapters of stories. For example, "Notes on Cuffs" saw the light on the pages of the Berlin newspaper "On the Eve". Especially many essays and reports - 120 - were published in the newspaper Gudok (1922-1926). Bulgakov was a member of the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers, but at the same time his art world was not dependent on the ideology of the union: he wrote with great sympathy about the white movement, about tragic destinies intelligentsia. His problematic was much broader and richer than allowed. For example, the social responsibility of scientists for their inventions, a satire on the new way of life in the country, etc.

In 1925, the play "Days of the Turbins" was written. She was a resounding success on the stage of the Moscow Art academic theater. Even Joseph Stalin appreciated the work, but nevertheless, in each thematic speech, he focused on the anti-Soviet nature of Bulgakov's plays. Soon the writer's work was criticized. Over the next ten years, hundreds of scathing reviews were published. The play "Running" about the Civil War was forbidden to be staged: Bulgakov refused to make the text "ideologically correct". In 1928-29 the performances of Zoya's Apartment, Days of the Turbins, and Crimson Island were excluded from the theater repertoire.

But the emigrants studied Bulgakov's key works with interest. He wrote about the role of science in human life, about the importance of the right attitude towards each other. In 1929, the writer was thinking about the future novel The Master and Margarita. A year later, the first edition of the manuscript appeared. Religious themes, criticism of Soviet realities - all this made the appearance of Bulgakov's works on the pages of newspapers impossible. It is not surprising that the writer seriously considered moving abroad. He even wrote a letter to the Government, in which he asked either to be allowed to leave, or to be given the opportunity to work in peace. For the next six years, Mikhail Bulgakov was an assistant director at the Moscow Art Theater.

Philosophy

An idea of ​​the philosophy of the master of the printed word is given by the most famous works. For example, in the story "Diaboliad" (1922), the problem of "little people" is described, which is so often addressed by the classics. According to Bulgakov, bureaucracy and indifference is a real diabolical force, and it is difficult to resist it. The already mentioned novel "The White Guard" is largely autobiographical in nature. This is the life story of one family in a difficult situation: Civil war, enemies, the need to choose. Someone believed that Bulgakov was too loyal to the Whites, someone reproached the author for his loyalty Soviet power.

In the story " Fatal eggs"(1924) tells a truly fantastic story of a scientist who inadvertently deduced the new kind reptiles. These creatures multiply incessantly and soon fill the entire city. Some philologists argue that the figures of the biologist Alexander Gurvich and the leader of the proletariat V.I. were reflected in the image of Professor Persikov. Lenin. Another famous story is dog's heart"(1925). Interestingly, in the USSR it was officially published only in 1987. At first glance, the plot is satirical in nature: the professor transplants the human pituitary gland into the dog, and the dog Sharik becomes a man. But is it a man?.. Someone sees in this plot a prediction of future repressions.

Originality of style

The main trump card of the author was mysticism, which he wove into realistic works. Thanks to this, critics could not directly accuse him of insulting the feelings of the proletariat. The writer skillfully combined frank fiction and real social and political problems. However, its fantastic elements are always an allegory for similar phenomena that actually occur.

For example, the novel The Master and Margarita combines the most different genres: from parable to farce. Satan, who chose the name Woland for himself, one day arrives in Moscow. He meets people who are being punished for their sins. Alas, the only power of justice in Soviet Moscow is the devil, because officials and their henchmen are stupid, greedy and cruel to their fellow citizens. They are the real evil. Against this background, the love story of the talented Master (and after all, Maxim Gorky was called the master in the 1930s) and the brave Margarita unfolds. Only mystical intervention saved the creators from certain death in an insane asylum. The novel, for obvious reasons, was published after Bulgakov's death. The same fate awaited the unfinished "Theatrical Novel" about the world of writers and theatergoers (1936-37) and, for example, the play "Ivan Vasilyevich" (1936), a film based on which is watched to this day.

The nature of the writer

Friends and acquaintances considered Bulgakov both charming and very modest. The writer was always polite and knew how to step into the shadows in time. He had the talent of a storyteller: when he managed to overcome his shyness, everyone present listened only to him. The character of the author was based on best qualities Russian intelligentsia: education, humanity, compassion and delicacy.

Bulgakov loved to joke, never envied anyone and never looked for a better life. He was distinguished by sociability and secrecy, fearlessness and incorruptibility, strength of character and gullibility. Before his death, the writer said only one thing about the novel "The Master and Margarita": "To know." Such is his mean characteristic of his brilliant creation.

Personal life

1. While still a student, Mikhail Bulgakov married Tatyana Nikolaevna Lappa. The family had to face a shortage of funds. The first wife of the writer is the prototype of Anna Kirillovna (the story "Morphine"): disinterested, wise, ready to support. It was she who pulled him out of the narcotic nightmare, together with her he went through the years of devastation and bloody strife of the Russian people. But a full-fledged family did not work out with her, because in those hungry years it was difficult to think about children. The wife suffered greatly from the need to have abortions, because of this, Bulgakov's relationship cracked.
2. So time would have passed if not for one evening: in 1924, Bulgakov was introduced Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya. She had connections in the world of literature, and it was not without her help that The White Guard was published. Love has become not just a friend and comrade, like Tatyana, but also the muse of the writer. This is the second wife of the writer, the affair with which was bright and passionate.
3. In 1929 he met Elena Shilovskaya. Subsequently, he admitted that he only loved this woman. By the time of the meeting, both were married, but the feelings were very strong. Elena Sergeevna was next to Bulgakov until his death. Bulgakov had no children. The first wife had two abortions from him. Perhaps that is why he always felt guilty before Tatyana Lappa. The adopted son of the writer was Yevgeny Shilovsky.

1. Bulgakov's first work is The Adventures of Svetlana. The story was written when the future writer was seven years old.
2. The play "Days of the Turbins" was loved by Joseph Stalin. When the author asked to be released abroad, Stalin himself called Bulgakov with the question: “What, are you very tired of us?” Stalin watched Zoya's apartment at least eight times. It is believed that he patronized the writer. In 1934, Bulgakov asked for a trip abroad so that he could improve his health. He was refused: Stalin understood that if the writer remained in another country, then The Days of the Turbins would have to be removed from the repertoire. These are the features of the author's relationship with the authorities
3. In 1938, Bulgakov wrote a play about Stalin at the request of representatives of the Moscow Art Theater. The leader read the script of "Batum" and was not too pleased: he did not want the general public to find out about his past.
4. "Morphine", which tells about the drug addiction of a doctor - autobiographical work, which helped Bulgakov overcome addiction. Confessing to paper, he received strength to fight the disease.
5. The author was very self-critical, so he liked to collect criticism of strangers. He cut out all the reviews of his creations from newspapers. Of the 298, they were negative, and only three people praised Bulgakov's work in his entire life. Thus, the writer knew firsthand the fate of his hunted hero - the Master.
6. The relationship between the writer and his colleagues was very difficult. Someone supported him, for example, director Stanislavsky threatened to close his legendary theater if it bans the showing of The White Guard. And someone, for example, Vladimir Mayakovsky, offered to boo the screening of the play. He publicly criticized his colleague, very impartially assessing his achievements.
7. The Behemoth cat was, it turns out, not at all an invention of the author. Its prototype was Bulgakov's phenomenally smart black dog with the same nickname.

Death

Why did Bulgakov die? In the late thirties, he often spoke of imminent death. Friends considered it a joke: the writer loved practical jokes. Actually Bulgakov, former doctor, noticed the first signs of nephrosclerosis - a severe hereditary disease. In 1939, the diagnosis was made.

Bulgakov was 48 years old - the same age as his father, who died of nephrosclerosis. At the end of his life, he again began to use morphine to dull the pain. When he went blind, his wife wrote the chapters of The Master and Margarita for him from dictation. Editing stopped at the words of Margarita: “So, this, therefore, is the writers following the coffin?” On March 10, 1940, Bulgakov died. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Bulgakov's house

In 2004, the opening of the Bulgakov House, a museum-theater and a cultural and educational center, took place in Moscow. Visitors can ride a tram, see an electronic exposition dedicated to the life and work of the writer, sign up for night tour in a "bad apartment" and meet a real cat Behemoth. The function of the museum is to preserve Bulgakov's heritage. The concept is connected with the mystical theme that the great writer loved so much.

There is also an outstanding Bulgakov Museum in Kyiv. The apartment is riddled with secret passages and manholes. For example, from the closet you can get into the secret room, where there is something like an office. There you can also see many exhibits talking about the writer's childhood.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Bulgakov Mikhail - the beginning of the Path

In 1909, Mikhail Bulgakov graduated from the First Kyiv

The choice of the profession of a doctor was explained by the fact that both mother's brothers, Nikolai and Mikhail Pokrovsky, were doctors, one in Moscow, the other in Warsaw, both made good money. Mikhail, a therapist, was the doctor of Patriarch Tikhon, Nikolai, a gynecologist, had an excellent practice in Moscow.

Bulgakov studied at the university for 7 years - having been released for health reasons (kidney failure), he filed a report to serve as a doctor in the Navy and, after the refusal of the medical commission, asked to be sent to the hospital as a Red Cross volunteer.

October 31, 1916 - received a diploma of approval "in the degree of a doctor with honors with all the rights and benefits, laws Russian Empire assigned to this degree.

Photo, which in the family was called "Misha-Doctor". 1912

After the outbreak of the First World War, M. Bulgakov worked as a doctor in the frontline zone for several months. Then he was sent to work in the village of Nikolskoye, Smolensk province, after which he worked as a doctor in Vyazma.

Since 1917, M. A. Bulgakov began to use morphine, first with the aim of alleviating allergic reactions to an anti-diphtheria drug, which he took, fearing diphtheria after the operation. Then the morphine intake became regular.

In December 1917, M. A. Bulgakov first came to Moscow. He stayed with his uncle, the famous Moscow gynecologist N. M. Pokrovsky, who became the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky from the story "Heart of a Dog".

In the spring of 1918, M. A. Bulgakov returned to Kyiv, where he began private practice as a venereologist - at this time he stopped using morphine.

During the Civil War, in February 1919, M. Bulgakov was mobilized as a military doctor in the Ukrainian army. People's Republic. Then, judging by his recollections, he was mobilized into the White Armed Forces of the South of Russia and was appointed military doctor of the 3rd Terek Cossack Regiment. In the same year, he managed to work as a Red Cross doctor, and then again in white Armed Forces South of Russia. As part of the 3rd Terek Cossack Regiment, he was in the North Caucasus. Published in newspapers (article "Future Prospects"). During the retreat of the Volunteer Army in early 1920, he was ill with typhus and therefore was forced not to leave the country.

Bulgakov Mikhail - three beloved women in life.

“Find Tasya, I must apologize to her,” the terminally ill man whispered into the ear of his sister, who was bending over him. The wife stood in the corner of the room, struggling to hold back her tears.

Mikhail Bulgakov died hard. It was hard to believe that this tormented man had once been a slender blue-eyed youth who later became a great writer. A lot happened in Bulgakov's life - there were dizzying ups and a time of lack of money, he was loved by dazzling beauties, he was familiar with many prominent people that time. But before his death, he remembered only about his first love - about a woman with whom he did not in the best way and the guilt before which he wanted to atone - about Tatyana Nikolaevna Lappa.

Family test

…SUMMER in Kyiv. Beautiful couples are walking along the embankment, carved chestnut leaves are swaying, the air is filled with some unknown, but very pleasant aromas, and after provincial Saratov it seems that you got to a fabulous ball. This is how 16-year-old Tatyana Lappa remembered her visit to her Kyiv aunt in 1908. “I will introduce you to a boy, he will show you the city,” the aunt said to her young niece.

Tanya and Mikhail were perfect for each other - they were the same age, both from good families(Tatyana's father was the manager of the Saratov State Chamber, and Mikhail was from the family of a professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy), so it is not surprising that tender feelings quickly flared up between young people.

When the holidays ended and Tanya went back to Saratov, the lovers continued to correspond and maintain relationships, much to the displeasure of their families. Parents could be understood - Bulgakov's mother was alarmed by the fact that her son had abandoned his studies at the university, and Tatyana's parents really did not like the telegram sent by Bulgakov's friend. “Telegraph deception arrival. Misha is shooting himself, ”the telegram that came to the Lapp house appeared in a telegram after her parents did not let Tatiana go to Kyiv for the holidays.

But, as usual, the obstacles only warmed up the feelings of the lovers, and already in 1911, Bulgakov went to Saratov to get acquainted with his future father-in-law and mother-in-law. In 1913, the parents finally came to terms with the wishes of the children (by that time Tatyana had already managed to become pregnant and have an abortion) and gave their consent to the marriage.

They stood in front of the altar, beautiful and happy. And neither of them could feel the seriousness of the moment - both were constantly drawn to laugh. “How they fit together in the carelessness of nature!” - Bulgakov's sister Vera once said about young lovers, and I must say that at that moment it was true truth. However, over time, there was no trace of the former carelessness.

Trial by war

glory test

For the sake of Lyubov Belozerskaya, Bulgakov destroyed the marriage with Tatyana Lappa

In the fall of 1921, the couple moved to Moscow. A fierce struggle for survival began. Bulgakov wrote The White Guard at night, Tatyana sat nearby, regularly serving her husband basins of hot water to warm icy hands. Efforts were not in vain - in a few years, Bulgakov the writer comes into fashion. But family life gave a crack. Tatyana was not too interested in her husband's literary research and, as a writer's wife, seemed too inconspicuous. Bulgakov, although he assured Tatyana that he would never leave her, warned: “If you meet me on the street with a lady, I will pretend that I don’t know you.” At that time, Bulgakov actively flirted with fans.

But Bulgakov never kept his promise never to leave Tatyana. 11 years after the wedding, he offered her a divorce. Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya, a 29-year-old lady with rich biography recently arrived from overseas. She had just separated from one husband, she was going to marry another, but it did not work out. So the romance with Bulgakov came in very handy. And Bulgakov liked her sophistication, love of literature, sharp tongue and secular gloss. At first, Mikhail offered Tatyana the three of them to settle in their apartment (the third, of course, was to be Belozerskaya), but, having met a stubborn refusal, he packed his things and left.

About selling your soul

It is known that Bulgakov often went to big theater to listen to Faust. This opera always cheered him up. The image of Faust himself was especially close to him.

But one day Bulgakov returned from the theater gloomy, in a state of severe depression. This was connected with the work on which the writer had recently begun to work - the play "Batum". Agreeing to write a play about Stalin, Bulgakov recognized himself in the image of Faust, who sold his soul to the devil.

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missing character

In 1937, on the anniversary of the death of A. S. Pushkin, several authors presented plays dedicated to the poet. Among them was the play by M. A. Bulgakov "Alexander Pushkin", which was distinguished from the works of other authors by the absence of one character. Bulgakov believed that the appearance of this actor on the stage will be vulgar and tasteless. The missing character was Alexander Sergeevich himself.

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Treasure of Mikhail Bulgakov

As you know, in the novel "The White Guard" Bulgakov quite accurately described the house in which he lived in Kyiv. And the owners of this house, for one detail of the description, disliked the writer very strongly, since it brought direct damage to the building. The fact is that the owners broke all the walls, trying to find the treasure described in the novel, and, of course, found nothing.

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Few people know that the novel "The Master and Margarita" was dedicated to the beloved writer Elena Sergeevna Nurenberg.

It was his last love and the strongest, she brought much suffering and happiness to both. By the time they met, they already had families that had to be destroyed in order to unite their destinies forever by marriage.

Bulgakov began writing The Master and Margarita in 1929, and seven years earlier he had been presented with Alexander Chayanov's book Venediktov, or Memorable Events of My Life.

Its main characters were Satan and a student named Bulgakov, who fights with him for the soul of his beloved woman, and in the end the lovers are united. According to the writer's wife, Lyubov Belozerskaya, Chayanov's story served as a creative impetus for writing the novel The Master and Margarita.

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History of Woland

Woland Bulgakov got his name from Goethe's Mephistopheles. In the poem "Faust" it sounds

only one

time when Mephistopheles asks evil spirit part and give him the way: "Nobleman Woland is coming!" In the old German literature the devil was called by another name - Faland. It also occurs in The Master and Margarita, when the variety show attendants cannot remember the magician's name: "...Maybe Faland?"

The first edition of the work contained detailed description(15 handwritten pages) will accept Woland when he first appears under the guise of a "stranger". This description is now almost completely lost. In addition, in the early version of Woland, the name was Astaroth (one of the highest-ranking demons of hell, according to Western demonology). Later, Bulgakov replaced him, apparently because this image could not be identical to Satan.

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"Heart of a Dog" and the Russian Revolution

Traditionally, the story "Heart of a Dog" is interpreted in only one political vein: Sharikov is an allegory of the lumpen proletariat, which unexpectedly received many rights and freedoms, but quickly revealed selfishness and a desire to destroy its own kind. However, there is another interpretation, as if this story was a political satire on the leadership of the state in the mid-1920s.

In particular, that Sharikov-Chugunkin is Stalin (both have an "iron" second surname), prof. Preobrazhensky is Lenin (who transformed the country), his assistant Dr. Bormental, who is constantly in conflict with Sharikov, is Trotsky (Bronstein), Shvonder is Kamenev, assistant Zina is Zinoviev, Daria is Dzerzhinsky, etc.

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Prototype Behemoth

Woland's famous assistant had real prototype, only in life he was not a cat at all, but a dog - a black dog of Mikhail Afanasyevich named Behemoth. This dog was very smart. Once when Bulgakov was celebrating with his wife New Year, after the chiming clock, his dog barked 12 times, although no one taught her this.

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Bulgakov Mikhail - family and childhood.

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov - the world literary genius, was also a great doctor, a master of his craft. He never cheated and was true to his humanistic ideals.

Mikhail Bulgakov was born on May 3 (15), 1891 in the family of an associate professor (since 1902 - professor) of the Kyiv Theological Academy Afanasy Ivanovich Bulgakov (1859-1907) and his wife Varvara Mikhailovna (nee - Pokrovskaya) (1869-1922) on Vozdvizhenskaya Street , 28 in Kyiv.

The writer's father, Afanasy Ivanovich Bulgakov, was indeed a professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy. But he received the title of ordinary professor in 1906, shortly before his early death. And then, in the year of the birth of his first son, he was a young assistant professor of the academy, a man of great talent and the same great ability to work.

He knew languages ​​- both ancient and new. He spoke English, which was not included in the programs of theological seminaries and theological academies. He had a lively, light style, he wrote a lot and with enthusiasm.

Associate professor and then professor of the history of Western faiths, he was especially fond of Anglicanism, perhaps because Anglicanism - with its historical opposition to Catholicism - was considered akin to Orthodoxy. This gave A. I. Bulgakov the opportunity not to denounce, but to study the history of the English church. One of his articles was translated in England and met with friendly responses there, he was proud of it.

In the obituaries for his death, his colleagues at the theological academy did not forget to mention that the deceased was a man of "strong faith." He was a decent man and very demanding of himself, and since he served in the theological academy, he was, of course, a believer. But I chose spiritual education not at the behest of my heart. He, who came out of the provincial and large family a priest, moreover, a priest of one of the poorest in Russia, the Oryol province, there were no other ways to education, like his brothers.

The children of the clergy could receive spiritual education free of charge. Afanasy Ivanovich Bulgakov graduated from the Theological Seminary in Orel brilliantly, was not recommended, but "intended" for further study at the Theological Academy, in connection with which he signed the following mandatory document:

“I, the undersigned, a student of the Oryol Theological Seminary, Afanasy Bulgakov, destined by the board of the seminary to be sent to the Kyiv Theological Academy, gave this signature to the board of the aforementioned seminary that upon arrival at the academy I undertake not to refuse admission to it, but upon completion of the course - from entering the spiritual-school service. After that, he received the “permit and per diem allowance for travel, as well as for acquiring underwear and shoes,” which were quite necessary for him.

He also graduated brilliantly from the Theological Academy in Kyiv. On the back of his diploma, the following - partly typographic, partly handwritten - text: “The pupil named in this document from August 15, 1881 to August 15, 1885 was in the academy on state support, for which he ... is obliged to serve in the spiritual and educational department for six years ... and in case of withdrawal from this department ... must return the amount used for its maintenance ... ”- a three-digit amount is entered.

He brilliantly defended his master's thesis ("Essays on the History of Methodism", Kyiv, 1886), receiving the title of associate professor.

The career of a teacher at the Theological Academy - Associate Professor, Extraordinary, then Ordinary Professor - was an honorary one. But he did not want this career for his sons and was determined to give his children a secular education.

In 1890, A. I. Bulgakov married a young teacher of the Karachevskaya progymnasium, the daughter of an archpriest, Varvara Mikhailovna Pokrovskaya.

It is difficult to say whether her father, another grandfather of the writer, archpriest of the Kazan Church in the city of Karachev (the same Oryol province) Mikhail Vasilyevich Pokrovsky, had more money, or he was simply more educated, younger, more promising - he gave his children a secular education.

Judging by the fact that Varvara Mikhailovna, at the age of twenty, was a “teacher and overseer” of a women’s gymnasium (which her position was proudly noted in her marriage certificate by the archpriest, who personally married his daughter with an associate professor of the Kyiv Academy), most likely, she graduated from the gymnasium and, maybe to be the eighth, additional, "pedagogical" class, which gave the title of teacher. For her generation and for her environment, she was a woman of extraordinary education. Her two brothers - Mikhail and Nikolai - studied at the university and became doctors.

Bulgakov's children - seven, almost the same age - grew up one after another, strong boys and beautiful, confident girls: Mikhail (1891-1940), Vera (1892-1972), Nadezhda (1893-1971), Varvara (1895-1954), Nikolay (1898-1966), Ivan (1900-1969) and Elena (1902-1954).

The Bulgakov family at the dacha. Sitting from left to right: Vanya, D.I. Bogdazhevsky, V.M. Bulgakov, A.I. Bulgakov, Lelya. Standing: Vera, Unknown, Varya, Misha, Nadia. Bucha, 1906

In the late 1920s, Mikhail Bulgakov told P. S. Popov: “... The image of a lamp with a green shade. This is a very important image for me. It arose from childhood impressions - the image of my father writing at the table. I think the lamp under the green shade on my father's desk often burned past midnight ...

The world of the Bulgakov family was strong and joyful. And acquaintances were very fond of visiting this house, and relatives - to visit. The joyful, even festive atmosphere of the family was made by the mother.

“Mom, bright queen,” her eldest son called her. Fair-haired, with very bright (like her son's) eyes, pleasantly plump after seven births and at the same time very mobile, lively (according to her daughter Nadezhda, Varvara Mikhailovna, already a widow, willingly played tennis with her almost adult children), she she ruled her little kingdom perfectly, a benevolent, adorable, kind queen with a soft smile and an unusually strong, even domineering character.

Mikhail Bulgakov is a Russian writer, playwright, director and actor. His works have become classics of Russian literature.

World fame brought him the novel "The Master and Margarita", which was repeatedly filmed in many countries.

When Bulgakov was at the height of his popularity, the Soviet government forbade the stage production of his plays and the publication of his works.

After receiving his diploma, Bulgakov filed a petition to pass military service in the Navy, as a doctor.

However, he failed to pass the medical examination. As a result, he asked to be sent to the Red Cross to work in a hospital.

At the height of the First World War (1914-1918), he treated soldiers near the frontline.

After a couple of years, he returned to Kyiv, where he began working as a venereologist.

Interestingly, during this period of his biography, he began to use morphine, which helped him get rid of the pain caused by taking the anti-diphtheria drug.

As a result, throughout his subsequent life, Bulgakov will be painfully dependent on this drug.

Creative activity

In the early 20s, Mikhail Afanasevich arrived in. There he begins to write various feuilletons, and soon takes on plays.

Later, he becomes a theater director of the Moscow Art Theater and the Central Theater of Working Youth.

Bulgakov's first work was the poem "The Adventures of Chichikov", which he wrote at the age of 31. Then several more stories came out from under his pen.

After that he writes fantastic story"Fatal Eggs", which was positively received by critics and aroused great interest among readers.

dog's heart

In 1925, Bulgakov published the book "Heart of a Dog", in which the ideas of the "Russian revolution" and the "awakening" of the social consciousness of the proletariat are masterfully intertwined.

According to literary critics, Bulgakov's story is a political satire, where each character is the prototype of one or another political figure.

The Master and Margarita

Having received recognition and popularity in society, Bulgakov set about writing the main novel in his biography - The Master and Margarita.

He wrote it for 12 years, until his death. An interesting fact is that the book was published only in the 60s, and even then not completely.

In its final form, it was published in 1990, a year before.

It is worth noting that many of Bulgakov's works were published only after his death, since they were not censored.

Bullying Bulgakov

By 1930, the writer began to be subjected to increasing persecution by Soviet officials.

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attention to creative heritage M. Bulgakov is now huge: his books have been published in millions of copies, 10-volume, 5-volume collections of essays have appeared, the M. Gorky Institute of World Literature announced the preparation of an academic collection of works, the writer's works are filmed, staged, his plays are shown in many theaters, dozens of books and thousands of articles are devoted to the work and life of the Master - M. Bulgakov.

The childhood and youth of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov passed in Kyiv. Here he was born on May 15, 1891 in the family of a teacher of the Kyiv Theological Academy Afanasy Ivanovich Bulgakov and his wife Varvara Mikhailovna. After him, two more sons and four daughters appeared in the family: Vera (1892), Nadezhda (1893), Varvara (1895), Nikolai (1898), Ivan (1900), Elena (1901).

A classmate of M. Bulgakov, writer Konstantin Paustovsky, recalled: “The Bulgakov family was well known in Kyiv - a huge, branched, thoroughly intelligent family ... Outside the windows of their apartment, the sounds of the piano were constantly heard, .. the voices of youth, running around, laughter, disputes and singing. Such families ... were the decoration of provincial life".

In 1907, his father, Afanasy Ivanovich, died, but the Academy secured a pension for the Bulgakov family, and the material basis of life was quite strong.

After graduating from the gymnasium in 1909, M. Bulgakov entered the medical faculty of Kyiv University. While studying at the university, in 1913 he married Tatyana Nikolaevna Lappa (daughter of the manager of the Treasury in Saratov).

University graduated in 1916. After several months of service as a hospital doctor, he was sent to the Nikolsky zemstvo hospital in the Smolensk province, and a year later he was transferred to Vyazma, to the city zemstvo hospital, as head of the infectious and venereological department; according to the reviews of his superiors, "he has proven himself to be an energetic and indefatigable worker."

In February 1918, M. Bulgakov returned to Kyiv, where he opened a private medical practice; survived here whole line coups: white, red, Germans, Petliurists. This Kyiv year of Bulgakov was later reflected in his novel The White Guard.

In the autumn of 1919, he was mobilized by the Volunteer Army, fell on North Caucasus, becomes a military doctor of the Terek Cossack regiment.

In December of the same year, he left the service in the hospital, with the advent of the Bolsheviks, he began working as a journalist in local newspapers, head of the literary department (Lito) of the sub-department of arts of the Vladikavkaz Revolutionary Committee, made presentations, lectures, taught at the People's Drama Studio of Vladikavkaz, wrote several plays and staged them at the local theater.

In 1921 began new period in the life of M. Bulgakov - Moscow. In September 1921, a journalist, aspiring playwright and writer came to Moscow - without money, but with great hopes.

He worked for some time in Moscow Lito (Literary Department of the Main Political Education of the People's Commissariat of Education) as a secretary, collaborated in various newspapers, since 1922 he worked in the railway newspaper "Gudok" as a full-time feuilletonist. In total, in 1922-1926, he published more than 120 reports, essays and feuilletons in Gudok.

In 1925, M. Bulgakov married Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya.

In 1932 with L.E. Belozersky divorced and married Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya.

Bulgakov was aware that he was reluctantly a journalist, a reporter; he was becoming more confident that his path was different - belles-lettres.

Fame for the writer was brought by his satirical stories in the first half of the 1920s - "The Devil" (1923) and "Fatal Eggs" (1924). The third part of the satirical "trilogy" - the story "Heart of a Dog" (written in 1925) - was not published during the author's lifetime. In May 1926, Bulgakov's house was searched, as a result of which the manuscript of the story "Heart of a Dog" and the diary were seized. In the 1920s and 30s, Notes on the Cuffs (1923), an autobiographical cycle Notes of a Young Doctor (1925-1926) were written - about work in the Zemstvo Smolensk hospital, biographical story"The Life of Monsieur de Molière" (1932), "Theatrical Novel (Notes of a Dead Man)" (1937), "To a Secret Friend" (published in 1987).

Real great success, fame came with the novel "The White Guard" (1925-1927) and the play "Days of the Turbins" (1926), in the center of which is the fate of the intelligentsia in the Russian revolution. The position of M. Bulgakov as a writer is evidenced by the words from his speech on February 12, 1926 at the debate " Literary Russia": "It's time for the Bolsheviks to stop looking at literature from a narrowly utilitarian point of view, and it is necessary, finally, to give a place in their journals to the real "living word" and "living writer". It is necessary to give the writer the opportunity to write simply about “a person”, and not about politics.

M. Bulgakov's talent was equally subject to both prose and drama (which is not often found in literature): he is the author of a number of works that have become classics of drama: the dramatic pamphlet "Crimson Island" (1927), plays "Running" (1928) , "Adam and Eve" (1931), "Bliss" ("Dream of the engineer Rhine") (1934), "The Last Days (Pushkin)" (1935), the dramas "The Cabal of the Saints (Molière)" (1936), the comedies "Ivan Vasilyevich" (1936), plays "Batum" (1939). M. Bulgakov also wrote dramatizations of literary works: based on the poem by N. V. Gogol " Dead Souls"(1930), based on the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace" (1932), based on the novel by Cervantes "Don Quixote".

In the second half of the 1920s and in the 1930s, M. Bulgakov was known mainly as a playwright, some of his plays were staged in theaters, while most were banned - in 1929, all the plays of M. Bulgakov were removed from the repertoire by the Glavrepertkom. By the end of the 1930s, Bulgakov was perceived by novice writers as a writer already forgotten, lost somewhere in the 1920s, probably dead. The writer himself told about such a case.

The difficult situation, the inability to live and work in the USSR prompted M. Bulgakov to write a letter to the Government of the USSR on March 28, 1930 (hereinafter this letter, famous in the history of Soviet literature, is quoted in abbreviation):

"I am addressing the Government of the USSR with the following letter:

1. After all my works were banned, among the many citizens to whom I am known as a writer, voices began to be heard giving me the same advice.

Compose a "communist play" (I quote quotes), and, in addition, address the Government of the USSR with a letter of repentance containing a rejection of my previous views expressed by me in literary works, and assurances that from now on I will work as a fellow travel writer devoted to the idea of ​​communism.

Purpose: escape from persecution, poverty and inevitable death in the final.

I did not heed this advice. It is unlikely that I would have been able to appear before the Government of the USSR in a favorable light by writing a false letter, which is an unkempt and, moreover, naive political curbet. I did not even attempt to compose a communist play, knowing for sure that such a play would not work for me.

The desire that has ripened in me to end my writer's torments makes me turn to the Government of the USSR with a truthful letter.

2. After analyzing my album clippings, I found in the press of the USSR for ten years of my literary work 301 reviews about me. Of these: commendable - there were 3, hostile and abusive - 298.

The last 298 are a mirror image of my writing life.

The hero of my play “Days of the Turbins”, Alexei Turbin, was called “a son of a bitch” in print in verse, and the author of the play was recommended as “obsessed with dog old age.”<…>

They wrote “about Bulgakov, who will remain what he was, a neo-bourgeois offspring, splashing poisoned, but powerless saliva on the working class and its communist ideals” (“Koms. Pravda”, 14 / X-1926).<…>

And I declare that the press of the USSR is absolutely right.<…>

3. I did not whisper these thoughts in the corner. I enclosed them in a dramatic pamphlet and put this pamphlet on the stage. The Soviet press, standing up for the Glavrepertkom, wrote that Crimson Island was a libel against the revolution. This is frivolous babble. There is no libel on the revolution in the play for many reasons, of which, due to lack of space, I will point out one: it is impossible to write a libel on the revolution, due to its extreme grandiosity. A pamphlet is not a libel, and the Glavrepertkom is not a revolution.<…>

4. This is one of the traits of my work, and it alone is completely sufficient for my works not to exist in the USSR. But with the first feature in connection with all the others that appear in my satirical stories: black and mystical colors (I - mystical writer), which depict the innumerable ugliness of our life, the poison with which my tongue is impregnated, deep skepticism about the revolutionary process taking place in my backward country, and opposing it to the beloved and Great Evolution, and most importantly - the image scary features my people, those traits that, long before the revolution, caused the deepest suffering of my teacher M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.<…>

5. And, finally, my last features in the ruined plays - "Days of the Turbins", "Running" and in the novel "The White Guard": a stubborn portrayal of the Russian intelligentsia as the best layer in our country. In particular, the image of the intelligentsia-noble family, abandoned by the will of immutable fate in the years civil war to the camp of the White Guard, in the tradition of "War and Peace". Such an image is quite natural for a writer who is closely connected with the intelligentsia.

But such images lead to the fact that their author in the USSR, along with his heroes, receives - despite his great efforts to become dispassionately above the Reds and Whites - a certificate of an enemy White Guard, and having received it, as everyone understands, he can consider himself finished. man in the USSR.

6. My literary portrait completed, and it is also a political portrait. I cannot say how deep the crime can be found in it, but I ask for one thing: do not look for anything outside of it. It has been done in good faith.

7. Now I am destroyed.<…>

All my things are hopeless.<…>

8. I ask the Soviet Government to take into account that I am not political figure, but a writer, and that I gave all my production to the Soviet stage.<…>

9. I ask the Government of the USSR to order me to urgently leave the USSR, accompanied by my wife Lyubov Evgenievna Bulgakova.

10. I appeal to the humanity of the Soviet government and ask me, a writer who cannot be useful at home, in the fatherland, to generously set me free.

11. If, however, what I wrote is unconvincing, and I am doomed to lifelong silence in the USSR, I ask the Soviet Government to give me a job in my specialty and send me to the theater to work as a full-time director.<…>

My name has been made so odious that job offers from my side met with fright, despite the fact that in Moscow a huge number of actors and directors, and with them the directors of theaters, are well aware of my virtuoso knowledge of the stage.<…>

I ask to be appointed as a laboratory director at the 1st Art Theater - in best school, headed by masters K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko.

If I am not appointed director, I ask for position extras. If it’s impossible to be an extra, I ask for the position of a stage worker.

If this is also impossible, I ask the Soviet Government to deal with me as it sees fit, but to do something, because I, a playwright who wrote 5 plays, known in the USSR and abroad, has this moment, - poverty, street and death.

With excitement, expected and yet unexpected for the writer, there was a response - a call from I.V. Stalin on April 18, 1930.

It was an unexpected question. But Mikhail Afanasyevich quickly replied: "I thought about it a lot, and I realized that a Russian writer cannot exist outside his homeland." Stalin said: “I think so too. Well, then, go to the theater? - "Yes, I would like to". - "Which one?" — “In the Artistic. But they don't accept me there." Stalin said: “You submit your application again. I think you will be accepted." Half an hour later, a call came from Art Theater. Mikhail Afanasyevich was invited to work" 1 .

However, M. Bulgakov's position did not fundamentally change, many of his works continued to be banned, he died without seeing very many of his works published.

Before last days work was underway on the main book - the "sunset" novel "The Master and Margarita". February 13, 1940 writer last time dictates amendments to the text of the novel.

M. Bulgakov died on March 10, 1940 at 4:39 pm. The urn with the ashes of the writer was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.