GALINA SEDOVA’S BULGAKOV. CCCXLII

Margarita Beyond Good And Evil

Continued.

“...These words never and forever,

A track – behind a wheel...

Dark-skinned arms and blue rivers

– Ach – **** your Mariula!”

Marina Tsvetaeva. A Rendez-Vous With Pushkin. 1913.

M. A. Bulgakov was also impressed by the early poetry of Marina Tsvetaeva, dedicated by her to A. S, Pushkin. The point is that Bulgakov composed Woland’s cavalcade exclusively of Russian poets to whom Pushkin was an idol.

By providing the main storyline of the triangle, as well as a very important storyline connected to Pushkin – Marina Tsvetaeva becomes a very attractive candidate for the role of the principal female character of Master and Margarita.

As her poem A Rendez-Vous with Pushkin will show (as well as her several other poems about Pushkin), M. A. Bulgakov took many ideas from Marina Tsvetaeva’s poetry for his novel Master and Margarita, and for his other works, – ideas that cannot be attributed to any other poets.

A Rendez-Vous with Pushkin opens with these lines:

“I am ascending a steep white road.

My lightweight feet do not get tired

To get higher than the height…”

Here is where Bulgakov takes his idea of the endless staircase from. This is why it is Koroviev, whose prototype is A. S. Pushkin, who meets Margarita on that staircase.

“I remember the curly-haired magus

Of these lyrical places [the Crimea]…”

This is why a slight confusion arises in Master and Margarita, in view of the fact that Bulgakov bestows the title of magus on Woland, calling him thus 3 times [see my posted chapter Woland Identity]. Then where does the title magus come from in application to Koroviev, in his meeting with Margarita, if not from the same poem by Marina Tsvetaeva? –

“A magus, regent, wizard, translator, or the devil knows who in reality, – in a word, Koroviev, –took a bow … and invited Margarita to follow him…”

And here is Marina Tsvetaeva:

“Pushkin! –

You would have known by the very first glance

Who has met you on your way.

And you would have beamed,

And would never have offered me

To walk up the hill arm-in-arm.”

In Bulgakov, Margarita follows Koroviev, who lights up their way with his oil lamp.

Running somewhat ahead, –

“…Watching as somewhere at our feet,

Inside some dear little clay hut,

There glimmered a first light…”

Compare this to Bulgakov’s:

“…But then far and above a little light started flickering and getting closer…”

Back to Tsvetaeva’s A Rendez-Vous with Pushkin,

“…Without leaning on the dark-skinned arm,

I would be talking while walking…

Old wines and old thrones…”

[See The Ball of a Hundred Kings.]

And also : “the unique name Marina.” [Bulgakov gives her an even more unique name: “Margarita.”]

“…Amulets, cards, vials and candles,

Gold and silver,

False, reaching into the soul speeches

From charming lips…

Half-smiles, in response to questions,

And young kings…”

Here we already have more than enough to realize that it is after this poem that M. A. Bulgakov, with his imagination, paints the drawing room of the jeweler’s widow’s apartment, now occupied by Woland and his retinue, for the reader.

“Ladanki, amulets” turn into the smell of “ladan, incense,” and also into “church brocade” on the table, where we see “old wines” in old bottles. Marina Tsvetaeva’s “gold and silver” turns into “a platter of pure gold,” as well as into gold plates and gold two-prong forks. From one of such gold plates, Andrei Fokich tastes “meat of the first freshness,” which belongs to a man just slaughtered for this purpose. [Namely, Pyatnazhko, see my chapter Cannibalism, posted segment CII about this.]

And of course M. Tsvetaeva’s “vials” explain the “scent of strongest perfume” in Bulgakov.

Offering Andrei Fokich “a game of dice... dominoes... cards?” Bulgakov places M. Tsvetaeva’s “cards” in last place not to reveal the secret of Woland, whose prototype V. V. Mayakovsky loved to play cards.

Even Mayakovsky’s adversary S. A. Yesenin writes about Mayakovsky’s passion for playing cards, in his sketch about his trip to America, titled The Iron Mirgorod. Describing the steamboat Paris, S. A. Yesenin writes:

“I walked through enormous halls of specialized libraries, walked through recreation rooms, where card games were played (and where I somewhat regretted that Mayakovsky wasn’t there), walked through the dance hall…”

Although Bulgakov does not call poets “kings,” like M. Tsvetaeva apparently does, still he assigns “royal blood” to Margarita, which supports the claim that he takes the idea of calling poets “kings” from Marina Tsvetaeva, who not only calls her contemporary poets “young kings,” but explicitly calls A. S. Pushkin the “king.”

“My eternal heart and service

Only to him. The King!”

This is why Backenbarter, alias Koroviev [see my posted segment XLV], calls Margarita “Bright Queen,” when she passes her “lust” test. Margarita is “bright” (or “light-colored”), because this is how Tsvetaeva calls A. S. Pushkin. (Paradoxically, she stresses his “light-colored eyes” and “light-colored hair.”) This is precisely how she calls herself, emphasizing the Russian blood.

So this is why Woland says about Margarita:

“Yes, Koroviev is right. How whimsically has the deck been shuffled! Blood!”

And again:

“Blood is a great thing!” said Woland cheerfully for some unknown reason…

(More clarity on the subject of blood, later in this chapter.)

But now everything is clear, and we know “for what reason.” –

Woland’s cavalcade, including him and Margarita, are Russian poets.

Both these words carry equal weight. All of them are Russian poets.

To be continued…