Diaboliada
Continues.
“…So come to me from
the infernal fire,
My little devil, my disheveled
wit,
And sit here like a parrot by
my side.
I’ll say: ‘A fool,’ and you
must shout: ‘A fool!’”
M. Yu. Lermontov.
By
the same token as we have three instances of the Hallelujah Foxtrot in Master
and Margarita, there are three instances of Woland being transformed into… Voice.
[Returning to the scene of Kalsoner Shaven being transformed
into Kalsoner Bearded and back, Bulgakov shows this very skillfully, that’s why
the voice change may pass unnoticed. But with the change in voice, Kalsoner’s
whole persona changes as well. See my yesterday’s posting #LXXXVII.]
1. The first time it happens when Ivan, at the Massolit
restaurant, “looked under the nearest table and
exclaimed forlornly: ‘No, he isn’t here!’”
The very next sentence: “Two voices could be
heard.” Of these two voices we are specifically interested in one. “The basso voice said pitilessly: ‘It’s an open and shut case: delirium tremens!’” Bulgakov
does not describe the speakers, but the “basso voice” is an attribute of Woland.
Ivanushka’s bizarre behavior draws instant attention. The reader can clearly
see that he is looking for Woland, that is, “the consultant,” but he cannot
find him at the restaurant: “No, he isn’t here! He isn’t!” Ironically, he is looking for
Woland at the behest of Woland himself, who has managed to get into Ivan’s
head. On a previous occasion, Woland already suggested Ivanushka’s search of building #13, apartment #47, after
which he suggested that Ivan run to
the Moskva River and plunge in, swallow-style.
The word swallow here, just like the
word basso before, points to Woland,
and in this manner Bulgakov shows the reader that Ivan finds himself under the
power of the devil. By saying the words delirium
tremens, Woland introduces the diagnosis of Ivan’s alleged condition into
the crowd of people. Woland is most likely invisible, as we now enter the second
instance of Woland playing Voice:
2.
Next, Ivanushka
hears the following virtually said into his ear: “Excuse me, excuse me. Say it more precisely,”
sounded a soft and polite voice over the ear of Ivan Nikolayevich. “Killed, say, how’s that? Who
killed?” Here is a clear-cut instance of Woland changing his voice,
just like Kalsoner does it in Diaboliada.
It goes without saying that it is rather difficult to call a deep basso voice “soft and polite.” “And what is his name?”
they asked softly into his ear. Judging by Ivan’s behavior (he started
looking around), it is clear that he did not see who it was who was asking him
those questions, and thus Woland produced the impression that Ivan was talking
to himself, by answering inaudible questions. In his eagerness to warn
everybody about the calamity that befell them in the person of Woland, Ivan’s
problem was that he was too agitated, producing an impression of mental imbalance.
Here is a similar picture to that in Diaboliada,
where the mysterious “lustrine little old
man” pushes Korotkov into a hysterical condition by his threats, violent sobbing,
and persistent misnaming Korotkov as Kolobkov, right before he is called into
the boss’s office. Here, likewise, right in front of our eyes we have an
explicit effort to discredit the witness, that is, Ivanushka, also driven to
hysterics.
Thus a parallel fantastical reality is being created
by Bulgakov, where through the use of the supernatural he shows how easy it is
to drive a person insane if he is being worked on by a team of psych-ops, what
Bulgakov calls, in Master’s words, “to shake a man.”
Driven to despair by the incredulity of the crowd,
Ivanushka, just like Korotkov, becomes violent.
3. And a third time “voice” appears already in the
psychiatric clinic, where Ivanushka, pumped up with medications, splits into
two Ivans, and the new Ivan mockingly asks the old Ivan:
“So, who is it that I come out to be in
this case?”
“A fool!” distinctly said a basso voice
somewhere, which did not belong to either Ivan, and sounded suspiciously like
the basso of the consultant [Woland].
So
here, using the supernatural element, Bulgakov clearly shows how mind games are
played, using the example of Woland the devil, who can control the thoughts of
his quarry at a distance. By the same token, the psych-ops can successfully put
certain ideas into a person’s mind and in such a way control the flow
of this person’s thoughts.
We
can see now that Korotkov in Diaboliada had
every reason to worry, as he never saw both Kalsoners, shaven and bearded,
together, and thus he understood that he was being played a mind game with.
Another convincing example of this is the allegory with Jan Sobiesky.
When
Korotkov comes into the hall for the first time, apart from the man looking
very much like Jan Sobiesky there is also a certain “golden woman” sitting at
the desk with a typewriter and softly purring a song to herself,
supporting her cheek with her hand. When he runs into the hall the second time,
the hall is empty, which means that neither Jan Sobiesky nor the golden woman
are there. What are left are the typewriter and the statue without an ear and
without the nose, plus the left arm has been broken off, which in parallel
should mean that the people were there before, but having done their job, have
left.
The
last name of the woman somewhat clears up the picture. Persymphans is deciphered as the “first symphonic ensemble,” and
such an ensemble playing without a conductor did indeed exist in the USSR in
the 1920’s and 1930’s. In such a manner Bulgakov gives us a hint that both the
“golden woman” and Jan Sobiesky himself were part of a group of psych-ops
calling themselves Persymphans,
meaning that already in those times certain branches of intelligence were
called “musicians,” which is very useful to know in connection with A. S. Rokk,
the “flutist” of Fateful Eggs (see my
Rokk subchapter of the Nature chapter, posted as
##LXXVIII-LXXIX).
The
most interesting phrase in the Machine
Horror chapter of Diaboliada is
this:
“Comrade
Blond! Shoot me on the spot, but do fix me some kind of document, any kind...”
Take notice also of these words of
Korotkov: “Give
me back my papers. My sacred name. Reinstate!”
And
indeed, if we just distance ourselves from the fantastic for a moment, the
natural question comes to mind: Why are they all refusing to call Korotkov by
his real name Korotkov, but instead are calling him by the name of the thief
who stole his papers? Why can’t he stay in Moscow, and find himself another
job, but is being forced to make a choice between Poltava and Irkutsk, both
these workplaces requiring him to leave Moscow? The answer to both these
questions can be found in the first appearance of the mysterious “lustrine
little old man,” in the chapter Diabolic
Trick of Diaboliada.---
To
be continued tomorrow…
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