Magic Of The Sorcerer Molière.
Posting #24.
“He resurrected his
Lazarus, [who] lived for just
one evening, as there was just
one performance.”
M. Bulgakov. Molière.
Making
a stop at the men’s outhouse in order to check whether the electrician had
installed a new working light bulb, Varenukha heard behind him a purring voice:
“Is that you, Ivan
Savelyevich?
Varenukha winced, turned around, and saw in front of him a short,
fat creature with what looked to him like a cat’s physiognomy.
That’s me. So? – replied Varenukha with animosity.
Very, very nice! – responded the catlike fatso in a squeaky
voice, and then suddenly with a swing boxed Varenukha on the ear so [violently]
that the cap flew off the administrator’s head. The fat man’s blow made the
whole outhouse light up for a moment with a quivering light, and in the sky
echoed a corresponding thunder strike. Then followed another flash of light and
in front of the administrator appeared another one, short but with athletic
shoulders, his red hair like fire, one eye wall-eyed, and a fang in his mouth.
Apparently left-handed, this other one boxed the administrator’s other ear. In
response, there was another thunder strike in the sky, and a crashing shower
covered the wooden roof of the outhouse.
What are you doing, Comrades?
– whispered the
half-crazed administrator, and received a third terrible blow who knows from which
of the two, so that blood gushed from his nose on the tolstovka.
What’s there in your
briefcase, parasite? –
shrilly shouted the catlike. – Telegrams?
Weren’t you warned over the phone not to take them anywhere? Haven’t we warned
you, I’m asking you? And still you rushed to do it?
Give me the briefcase, scum!
– yelled the other one in
that same nasal voice that had been talking on the phone, and he tore the
briefcase from Varenukha’s trembling hands.”
Here
yet again the researcher is dealing with parallel realities, that is, in
chapter 26 The Burial, of Pontius Pilate, and in chapter 10 The News From Yalta of Master and Margarita proper.
Which
is why the characters in both cases may be the same. In the scene with
Varenukha (L. N. Tolstoy), the researcher finds Kot Begemot (M. Yu. Lermontov)
and Azazello (S. A. Yesenin).
Why
doesn’t Bulgakov, in the scene of killing Judas, name the two avengers, but
only calls them “the man in front” and “the second man”?
This
scene from chapter 26 The Burial happens
to be a parallel scene with the scene of the killing of Baron Meigel in chapter
23 Satan’s Great Ball. Both these
scenes are scenes of retribution for the tragic death of the Russian poet N. S.
Gumilev, executed on false report in August 1921. It is Gumilev who appears in
the role of Abadonna and takes off his dark glasses so that Baron Meigel would
recognize him. (See my chapter The Guests
at Satan’s Great Ball: The Green Lady.)
It
is Azazello who actually kills Baron Meigel by shooting him with his pistol.
Taking part in this scene are also Kot Begemot (M. Yu. Lermontov) and Koroviev
(A. S. Pushkin), both killed in duels.
But
Baron Meigel here is identified with Judas, as the person who slandered Gumilev
was indeed a Judas to the poet.
In
the 24th chapter of Bulgakov’s novel Molière, He is Resurrected
And Dies Again, M. Bulgakov describes how Molière was fighting for his play
Tartuffe (The Deceiver):
“Seductively smiling, [Molière] stood before the king, showed him
the manuscript of his play and told him how he corrected the play. The king
said something indefinite, like that he had nothing against this play. Molière
and his comedians, experiencing great agitation, rehearsed Tartuffe under the new title: The
Deceiver.
On August 5th, the unforgettable day of the opening
performance, the public poured into Palais-Royal. The success was tremendous.
However on the next day Monsieur Molière was handed the order to immediately
stop all performances of The Deceiver [formerly
Tartuffe].”
As
for a “parallel” with 24th chapter of Master and Margarita: The Extraction of Master – here it is. In Molière, Bulgakov writes:
“He [Molière] resurrected his Lazarus [Tartuffe], but he [Lazarus] lived for just one evening of August 5th
, as there was just one performance.”
In
Master and Margarita, Bulgakov shows
a “resurrection” of master in the 24th chapter.
A
dying Margarita, poisoned by Azazello’s cream, in her delirium, hallucinates
through all her adventures. Largely following A. S. Pushkin’s advice on Russian
fairytales, Bulgakov takes his own course in them, sending Margarita into the
devil’s service. Overcoming all obstacles, as she is supposed to do in a
Russian fairytale, Margarita “Premudraya” (The Wise) comes out ahead and
conjures up the ghost of master, “Ivan Durak” (The Fool) in Russian fairytales.
Master
gives up the ghost at the psychiatric clinic and this ghost rushes into the
no-good apartment #50, where he also starts having hallucinations. They both
perish a la Tristan and Isolde. An indication of the mystery is the mystical
figure of Azazello who appears both in Margarita’s mansion and at the
psychiatric clinic. (See my chapters The
Transformation of Master and Margarita and The Spy Novel of Master and Margarita.)
The End.
***
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