3.5
Manuscripts Don't Burn
ByPublisher Description
In Manuscripts Don't Burn the title a line from his famous novel, J.A. E. Curtis presents a gripping chronicle of Bulgakov's life, using as source material, among other documents, a partial copy of one of his diaries which was presumed lost and uncovered decades later in the KGB’s archives. That diary and those of his third wife record the nightmarish precariousness of life during the Stalinist purges. Also included are letters to Stalin, in which Bulgakov pleads to be allowed to emigrate; letters to his siblings; intimate notes to his second and third wives; and letters to and from other writers such as Gorky and Zamyatin.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesManuscripts Don't Burn Reviews
3.5
“‘There’s no such thing as a writer who falls silent. If he falls silent, it means he was never a true writer’
For a man who created one of the most comedic pieces of satire I have read, Bulgakov’s life was so drained of hope that it’s fascinating that ‘the master and margarita’ came to be.
My respect for Bulgakov, after reading this, has only increased.”
“Quite a mixture of the everyday aspects of his life to the big pivotal moments.
I was quite surprised at Bulgakov’s anxiety and insecurities, only before knowing about his failing physical health. The more I read though, I understood that it was the oppressive Soviet regime that led to this.
The only real success he had in his literary life was The Days Of The Turbins play, which ran for years, it’s such a tragedy for him that his well known works now were not published in his lifetime . I felt sadness reading the letters and diary entries, as he did not live a very fulfilled and happy life although some sort of justice happened after he died to recognise him as a great writer.”
About Mikhail Bulgakov
is a prize-winning translator of Russian who recently received her second Translation Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts to translate Olga Slavnikova’s newest novel,
. She has translated classic literary works by Nina Berberova and Yuri Olesha, as well as Edvard Radzinsky’s
.
is professor in the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies at the University of Sheffield. He is author, editor, or coeditor of more than fifteen books, including
Other books by Mikhail Bulgakov
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