GALINA SEDOVA’S BULGAKOV. CXV.

Cats Continues.

“Paris is worth a mass.“

Henri Navarre.

In his creative work, Bulgakov followed the more traditional line of representing the demonic force--- namely, the cat. Even long before Master and Margarita, the theme of the demonic force in the form of a “black cat with phosphorous eyes” appears in his Diaboliada. Talking to Berlioz, in Master and Margarita, Woland says:

“…Yes, sarcoma,” squinting his eyes like a cat, he [Woland] repeated the sonorous word.

This explains why Woland tolerates, and even finds pleasure in the audacious behavior of Kot Begemot, and it also partially explains  why Bulgakov himself has such pleasure in introducing one of his principal characters in the guise of a cat.

On the other hand, having written the best spy novel ever written, Bulgakov could not help but squint his own eyes out of sheer pleasure, considering that spies are traditionally referred to as cats, being the most intelligent and cunning animals in the world.

The fact that Woland is himself a “cat” explains his special interest in Margarita, who, according to Bulgakov, is herself a descendant of the “Koshkin [Cat’s] Clan.” (See my Fantastic Novel of Master and Margarita, posted segments XXIV and XXV.)

“…Yes, how right is Koroviev.--- Blood…”

Thrice on the pages of Master and Margarita Bulgakov depicts Margarita as a cat.

“The hissing of an enraged cat was heard in the room, and Margarita, howling—‘Take this from a witch!’--- clawed into the face of Aloysius Mogarych with her fingernails.”

The other two instances are more complicated, and we shall discuss them later on in this chapter, in a different context.

In fact, all members of Woland’s retinue are cats. Even though Bulgakov gives no clue about Koroviev, still, having discovered that the dark-violet knight, into whom Koroviev transforms at the end of Master and Margarita is A. S. Pushkin, we can assert that in the context of the famous Lukomorye he is the “learned cat” whom Bulgakov splits (like he splits many other things) into both greatest Russian poets.

Bulgakov also plays up, with his inimitable sense of humor, his own Bulgakovian “cat’s clan,” supplying his characters with “black gauntlet-like gloves.” Bulgakov shows this from the comical side, with the help of Kot Begemot:

“Pants are not standard clothing for a cat, Messire. Would you also order me to put on boots? A cat in boots is possible in fairytales only, Messire!” (A direct reference to Puss in Boots, who, as we remember from the classic Dorè illustrations to Charles Perrault, not only put on boots, but he also wore that same type of black gauntlet gloves, which thus become implicit attributes of Bulgakov’s cats.)

Not by accident, therefore, three characters in the novel wear black gauntlet-like gloves. The first wearer of these gloves is Margarita:

“Thus we were walking in silence; then she inserted her hand in a black gauntlet-like glove in my arm.”

In this peculiar way, Bulgakov shows that, even before her meeting with Master, Margarita had been turned into a witch by the demonic force.

The second character to appear in these famous gloves, but not in his usual form as a cat, is Kot Begemot:

“In the driver’s seat was a black long-nosed rook in… gauntlet-type gloves.” (See my chapter Birds, segment Rook [#L].)

And the third personage to wear such gloves is Woland himself.---

“It’s time,--- Woland pointed with his hand in a black gauntlet glove.”

Although Woland’s whole team is feline, Bulgakov, without repeating himself five times, draws our attention to this fact nevertheless. Appearing in these gauntlet gloves as the second-time rook-chauffeur, Koroviev is also a cat by this association. [See my chapter Birds, Segment Rook [#L].]

There is yet another twist relating to the idea of the “black gauntlet-type gloves.” Their first appearance is in Bulgakov’s first novel White Guard, where he describes to us the already familiar figure of M. S. Shpolyansky as wearing such gloves. [See Man and the People, Segment XLV.]---

“…Hands in gauntlet gloves, like Marcel’s in The Huguenots…”

As we remember, the poet Rusakov, corrupted by Shpolyansky, believes that M. S. Shpolyansky is a “precursor of the Antichrist,” that is, of the devil. But what we are interested in here is Bulgakov’s original source of the idea, which happens to be in this case Meyerbeer’s opera The Huguenots, which addresses the subject of St. Bartholomew’s Night. Two lovers, the main characters of the opera, perish on the day of their wedding, which falls on St. Bartholomew’s Day. In other words, what we have here is seemingly Guessard’s “bloody wedding” in Paris…

But not so fast! Although the principal work of François Guessard is the ten-volume anthology of French poetry, which brings us to another very interesting story, connected to the naked fat man, the Backenbarter (more about it later in this segment), he was also quite interested in French history. Thus, for instance, he made a trip to the Vatican, to review the documents pertaining to the Siege of Orleans. He was also the one who published the private letters of Margarita Valois, who married Henri of Navarre (“Paris is worth a Mass!”) on 18^th of August, 1572, and five days later, on the night of August 23/24, 1572, the St. Bartholomew’s Night occurred.

Although this event can well receive the name of the “bloody wedding,” because it was triggered by the wedding of Henri Navarre and Margarita Valois, the date is the crux of the matter. There is no doubt that Bulgakov changes the date deliberately, showing the reader that the date is nothing but another one of his clues, his next-in-line riddle.

In Master and Margarita, Bulgakov gives us two chronological dates only: the specific year 1571 and more generally the sixteenth century. Being “mistaken” by one year (1571 and 1572), Bulgakov thus indicates to us that the story of the naked fat man, the Backenbarter, about “Guessard’s Bloody Wedding in Paris,” is indeed “nonsense” as Bulgakov calls it himself. Introducing into the text the key word Yenisei, Bulgakov clearly shows the reader that he is talking in fact about Russian, and not French or any other history, hinting about the connection of the great Russian poet A. S. Pushkin with the Decembrists. (See my chapter Backenbarter.)

As a matter of fact, the year 1571 is famous in Russian history for the great fire of Moscow. (See my posted segment XXXIV. It is quite obvious that Bulgakov could make no mistake here.

François Guessard is useful to Bulgakov here for two reasons:

1.      So that the reader would eventually understand that the naked fatso, the Backenbarter, is a poet. (As we remember, Guessard compiled an anthology of poets.)

2.      That in Guessard’s anthology of French poets there is already hidden an explanation why this particular poet is naked and drunk. (For this see my next posting coming up tomorrow.)

As the reader has already found out, Master and Margarita is a rebus filled with clues, as to who the main characters of Bulgakov’s novel really are. Introducing the two luminaries of Russian literature (A. S. Pushkin and M. Yu. Lermontov) into his novel, Bulgakov also studs it with little gems of Russian history. Both dates given in Master and Margarita (the year 1571 and 16^th century) point to that fact, which allows me to write extensively about the rich Russian history which Bulgakov knew so well, and loved.

To be continued in the next posting tomorrow…