Magic Of The Sorcerer Molière.
Posting #11.
“What is truth?”
John 18:38.
Continuing
the “dog” theme, Bulgakov also wrote a novella Dog’s Heart, where a dog receives a transplant of cerebellum from a
dead man’s body, and the dog becomes a man.
An
amazingly interesting novella, my first Bulgakov book I read as a college
student.
What
Bulgakov writes next in the 7th chapter of Molière, happens to be a false clue:
“And alas! This was close to the truth [the fact that in the
audience of the Illustre Theatre was
not a single living dog]!”
Also
very interesting is the story of the preacher from a neighboring parish “who, in parallel with the theater performances, launched
passionate sermons about the devil snaring in his claws not only the cursed
comedians but also those who attended their comedies.”
Apparently,
it was on account of this zealous preacher that Molière’s Illustre Theatre was practically empty all the time.
And
here Bulgakov writes that “at first Jean-Baptiste
Molière had a wild thought that it would be so good to have that preacher
slaughtered!”
1. To begin with, during the execution of Yeshua, there
were two actual dogs present on the hill, who probably belonged to Gestas and
Dimas, the two troublemakers executed alongside Yeshua. The “third dog” was
Yeshua’s disciple Matthew Levi, who by that time had totally “belonged” to his
master.
2. Secondly, Matthew Levi was anxious to “slaughter”
Yeshua, and then himself, in order to save his master from the agonizing death
on the cross.
3.
And thirdly,
Pontius Pilate was indeed overcome by a desire for vengeance against Judas who
had betrayed Christ for the sum of thirty pieces of silver.
As
for the two actual dogs, one cannot in any way call this “truth.” That’s
offensive, but it makes the researcher think. Who is Bulgakov really talking
about in his subnovel Pontius Pilate?
With such comparisons, obviously not about God, not about Christ! What Bulgakov
presents here is a human story which during Bulgakov’s time was occurring
practically every day. Innocent people were maliciously calumnied by their
detractors just for having better apartments and valuables, such as paintings,
porcelain services, gold and silver, precious stones, etc.
Nikita
Mikhalkov received an Oscar in the United States for a movie in which the hero
fancies the wife of a man whom he slanders to have him out of the way, so that
he can take his wife for himself.
Against
the background of the central story of the New Testament, Bulgakov shows his
own time. It is revolting that all too often contemporary history creates an
aura of martyrdom over people who sent others to the Gulags on trumped up
charges just because they found themselves there as well when their malicious
slander had been exposed.
It
is also against the background of the Biblical story of Christ that Bulgakov
metaphorically relates the story of the Russian poet N. S. Gumilev. From my
previous chapters, the reader already knows that in Bulgakov’s enigmatic
version, the role of Yeshua covers Gumilev, while the role of Pontius Pilate rests
with the Russian poet V. Ya. Bryusov. The discussion of “what is truth?” has
sent a powerful signal to the reader of the real time frame of Bulgakov’s story
as it relates to the author’s own time. In other words, the reader must realize
that Bulgakov’s Yeshua has a prototype among the author’s contemporaries whose
significance in the context of Russian literature is monumental.
On
the basis of all that has been said, I must insist that it is not only
Bulgakov’s Theatrical Novel which was
written much later (in 1938), but with no less assurance his novel Molière, that can be called A Dress Rehearsal for Master and Margarita,
for the reason that in both these works Bulgakov drops clues for us, which must
at least serve us as food for thought both for the researcher and the reader.
There
is no blasphemy whatsoever in the novel Master
and Margarita. This novel’s occasional condemnation as an Euangelion from the Devil has no merit. Pontius Pilate is not a counter-version
of the classical Biblical story of Jesus Christ. It is a thoroughly mystical
work of fiction depicting the events of Bulgakov’s own time.
To
be continued…
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