GALINA SEDOVA’S BULGAKOV. CCCXL

Margarita Beyond Good And Evil Continued.

“…My poems, like precious wine,

Will have their time to come.”

Marina Tsvetaeva. Untitled. 1913.

Note the first six lines of Blok’s earlier-quoted untitled 1906 poem from Various:

“Your storm has carried me away

And overturned me.

And quietly rising over me

Was the blueness of the dying day.

I am lying on the ground,

Smashed and overturned by the storm.

These lines undoubtedly deserve our special attention, as they serve as an illustration of the death scene, the scene of master’s poisoning, in the 30^th chapter of Master and Margarita:

“All three of them drank from the glasses, making a large gulp. All at once, the pre-storm light started to fade in master’s eyes, his breath stopped, he felt that the end had come. He could still see how a mortally pale Margarita was helplessly stretching her arms to him, dropped her head on the table, and slipped down onto the floor… Poisoner! – was the last thing master had the time to shout. He wanted to grab a knife from the table, to stab Azazello with it, but his hand helplessly slid off the tablecloth; everything surrounding master in the basement was now colored black and then disappeared altogether. He fell backwards, and in his fall, cut the skin of his temple against the corner of the bureau’s board.”

As for the Falernian wine itself, which Azazello had brought with him as a gift from Woland –

“And here again I forgot! – wheezed Azazello, slapping his forehead. Too many things to do! The point is that Messire has sent you a gift – here he was addressing master directly – a bottle of wine. Please note that this is the same wine which the procurator of Judea used to drink: the Falernian wine…”

Here the sly Bulgakov once again confuses the reader with the words: “…here he was addressing master directly…” as they clearly refer to Marina Tsvetaeva’s poetry:

“…Out of a piece of dark coffin brocade, Azazello produced an utterly moldy jug. The wine was sniffed, poured into glasses, peered through, against the light from the window, fading away before the storm. They saw how everything seen through it was receiving the color of blood… To Woland’s health! –  exclaimed Margarita, raising her glass.”

Here Bulgakov goes with Marina Tsvetaeva, who writes the following in a 1913 poem:

“My poems, written so early

That I didn’t know at the time that I was a poet,

Breaking away like the drizzle from a fountain,

Like sparks from rockets,

Breaking in, like little devils,

Into a sanctuary of sleep and incense,

My poems about youth and death –

Unread poems! –

Scattered in the dust of bookshops

Where no one wanted them or wants them,

My poems, like precious wine,

Will have their time to come.”

From the same untitled early poem by Marina Tsvetaeva comes Bulgakov’s scene, or rather nature-morte, in the 18^th chapter, closing Part I of Master and Margarita:

“There was a table there, having looked at which, the God-fearing buffet vendor shuddered: the table was laid with church brocade. On the brocade table cover there were countless bottles – rotund, moldy, and covered with dust [sic!]…”

It is quite striking that all this multitude of wine bottles appears in Chapter 18, the last chapter of Part I, whereas Part II opens with Chapter 19 Margarita. It is as if Bulgakov is pointing us in the direction of M. Tsvetaeva’s poetry.

An amazing precision on Bulgakov’s part! Working on his masterpiece and using the poetry of great Russian poets, he simultaneously introduces these poets as character prototypes of his novel.

Truly, Bulgakov in his work implements A. S. Pushkin’s behest to Russia’s poets and writers that a real writer must always work in a scholar’s study.

To be continued…