Semi-autobiographical and brimming with satire—as many of Bulgakov’s works were—Black Snow paints a vibrant portrait of life behind the curtains of the Russian literary and theater arenas in the early 1900s.
Semi-autobiographical and brimming with satire—as many of Bulgakov’s works were—Black Snow paints a vibrant portrait of life behind the curtains of the Russian literary and theater arenas in the early 1900s.Maxudov is a failed novelist who, after contemplating suicide, adapts his novel into a play that—seemingly at random—is chosen to be produced at the renowned Independent Theatre. As it so often does in theater, chaos ensues—including bloodthirsty battles between the show’s two co-directors (modeled on Stanislavsky, the famed inventor of Method Acting, and his co-director) over control of the production, near-constant drama brewing between the actors, and the playwright’s own growing host of misgivings and insecurities about his place in the theatrical community. With each rehearsal turning more disastrous than the last, it becomes less and less clear whether Maxudov’s play will ever be performed at all. The success of the play based on his first novel, The White Guard, launched Mikhail Bulgakov’s long and tumultuous relationship with the Russian stage. Black Snow, written towards the end of the Russian author and playwright’s life, takes numerous stabs at the theatrical community of which he was a part for many years as well as at the heavy censorship Bulgakov endured throughout his career, both in print and on the stage. The Alma Classics edition of Black Snow is translated by Roger Cockrell with the authorization of the Bulgakov Estate and Andrew Nurnberg Associates. Roger Cockrell, previously the Head of the University of Exeter’s Russian Department, has worked extensively on expert translations of Russian works including Bolshevik Ideology and Literature, as well as other Bulgakov works such as The Fatal Eggs and The White Guard. His translation reflects the clear, humorous, and profound language of the original with colloquial English idioms and phrasings. Readers without previous experience in Russian literature will find this translation to be accessible and fun, even though the subtext of Bulgakov’s works is the murky, mysterious underbelly of Soviet culture.
Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Bulgakov was a Russian playwright, novelist, and physician best known for his satirical classic, The Master and Margarita. Born in Kiev in 1891, Bulgakov was drawn to both literature and the theater from his early youth. As a young man, Bulgakov studied to become a doctor and volunteered with the Red Cross during the First World War. He practiced medicine for some years after WWI, and was eventually drafted as an army physician during the Russian Civil War. He contracted typhus and nearly died at his posting, and after a shaky recovery he began his professional transition from physician to playwright and author. From 1919 until his death in 1940, his plays, short stories, and novels enjoyed degrees of critical and popular success, but Bulgakov also endured a great deal of criticism and censorship due to his propensity to mercilessly satirize the ethical and political shortcomings of life in the Soviet Union. His witty, biting, and frequently grotesque storytelling style caught the eye of Joseph Stalin, earning him some degree of political immunity. By the end of the 1920s, however, Bulgakov’s career had ground to a halt due to a government ban on the performance or publication of his work. Bulgakov’s relationship with Stalin protected him from arrest and execution, but he could not publish any of his works or stage his plays for the remaining years of his life. Over the next decade, the ailing writer began work on The Master and Margarita, which would be his last major creative effort before his death. A brilliant satire of Soviet society, it was not published until 1966, 26 years after his death. Although he never experienced stable success and renown during his life, Bulgakov’s body of work is now firmly situated within the pantheon of great 20th century Russian literature and theater.
