Complete biography of Bulgakov: life and work. Literary and historical notes of a young technician

If you conduct a survey among reading people on the topic “Favorite Russian writer,” a significant part of the respondents will probably answer: “Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov, of course.” This person is associated primarily with talented work“The Master and Margarita”, which is no coincidence: the genius of the novel is recognized today by the entire world community.

M. A. Bulgakov. Biography. Childhood and youth

This is one of the best who was born in 1891, May 15th. In addition to the boy himself, there were six more children in the family. Bulgakov's early years were spent in Kyiv - a city that he loved immensely and “inscribed” in many of his books.

In 1906, the young man entered the medical faculty. His studies were excellent, so in 1916 he graduated from the university, receiving the title “Doctor with honors.”

Back in 1913, Mikhail Bulgakov got married. His first wife was Tatyana Lappa.

After graduating from university, Bulgakov was sent to the Southwestern Front as a doctor. In 1917 he was transferred to a hospital in the city of Vyazma. It is known that around this time he began taking morphine. First for medicinal purposes, and then due to addiction.

Writing activity, career

During his military service, the doctor began to show his writing abilities. young man, although this matter has long attracted him. The result of his stay in different hospitals was the series “Notes young doctor" The young writer Mikhail Bulgakov spoke about his life in his “Morphia”.

Since 1921 he began to collaborate with some literary magazines and newspapers. Two years later, Mikhail Afanasyevich joined the Writers' Union.

In 1925 he married again. Now on Lyubov Belozerskaya.

Bulgakov began to study seriously writing activity. It is curious that the play “Days of the Turbins” was praised by Stalin himself, although he noted that the work was anti-communist. Bulgakov received even less approval from his colleagues, who overwhelmingly criticized his work.

As a result, by 1930, the writer’s works practically ceased to be published and published. Among other things, Bulgakov began to try himself as a director. Many performances staged by him took place in Moscow theaters.

His most famous works were: “Heart of a Dog”, “ White Guard», « Fatal eggs"and, of course, "The Master and Margarita."

M. A. Bulgakov. Biography. Later years

The writer first conceived the idea of “The Master and Margarita” back in 1928. And only in 1939 he decided to implement it. However, he could not do this on his own, since his vision was deteriorating every day. Bulgakov dictated the final version of the novel to his third wife Elena, whom he married in 1929. From the beginning of 1940, his relatives and friends were constantly on duty near his bed.

In 1940, reports appeared that Mikhail Bulgakov had died. The biography of this man was vivid and ambiguous. And not only our compatriots, but also foreigners still continue to read the masterpieces he created.

Mikhail Bulgakov was born on May 3 (15), 1891 in Kyiv in the family of Afanasy Ivanovich Bulgakov, a teacher at the Theological Academy. Since 1901, the future writer received primary education at the First Kyiv Gymnasium. In 1909 he entered the Faculty of Medicine at Kyiv University. In his second year, in 1913, Mikhail Afanasyevich married Tatyana Lappa.

Medical practice

After graduating from university in 1916, Bulgakov got a job in one of the Kyiv hospitals. In the summer of 1916 he was sent to the village of Nikolskoye, Smolensk province. In a short biography of Bulgakov, one cannot fail to mention that during this period the writer became addicted to morphine, but thanks to the efforts of his wife, he was able to overcome the addiction.

During the civil war in 1919, Bulgakov was mobilized as a military doctor in the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, and then in the army of Southern Russia. In 1920, Mikhail Afanasyevich fell ill with typhus, so he could not leave the country with the Volunteer Army.

Moscow. The beginning of a creative journey

In 1921, Bulgakov moved to Moscow. He is actively involved in literary activities, begins to collaborate with many periodicals in Moscow - “Gudok”, “Worker”, etc., takes part in meetings literary circles. In 1923, Mikhail Afanasyevich joined the All-Russian Writers Union, which also included A. Volynsky, F. Sologub, Nikolai Gumilev, Korney Chukovsky, Alexander Blok.

In 1924, Bulgakov divorced his first wife, and a year later, in 1925, he married Lyubov Belozerskaya.

Mature creativity

In 1924 - 1928, Bulgakov created his most famous works - “The Diaboliad”, “Heart of a Dog”, “Blizzard”, “Fatal Eggs”, the novel “The White Guard” (1925), “Zoykina’s Apartment”, the play “Days of the Turbins” ( 1926), “Crimson Island” (1927), “Running” (1928). In 1926, the Moscow Art Theater premiered the play “Days of the Turbins” - the work was staged on the personal instructions of Stalin.

In 1929, Bulgakov visited Leningrad, where he met E. Zamyatin and Anna Akhmatova. Because of sharp criticism revolution in his works (in particular, in the novel “Days of the Turbins”), Mikhail Afanasyevich was summoned several times for interrogation by the OGPU. Bulgakov is no longer published; his plays are prohibited from being staged in theaters.

Recent years

In 1930, Mikhail Afanasyevich personally wrote a letter to I. Stalin asking for the right to leave the USSR or to be allowed to earn a living. After this, the writer was able to get a job as an assistant director at the Moscow Art Theater. In 1934 Bulgakov was accepted into Soviet Union writers, whose chairmen are different times there were Maxim Gorky, Alexey Tolstoy, A. Fadeev.

In 1931, Bulgakov broke up with L. Belozerskaya, and in 1932 he married Elena Shilovskaya, whom he had known for several years.

Mikhail Bulgakov, whose biography was full of events of different nature, recent years I was very sick. The writer was diagnosed with hypertensive nephrosclerosis (kidney disease). On March 10, 1940, Mikhail Afanasyevich died. Bulgakov was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

The Master and Margarita

“The Master and Margarita” is the most important work of Mikhail Bulgakov, which he dedicated to his last wife Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova, and worked on it for more than ten years until his death. The novel is the most discussed and important work in the biography and work of the writer. During the writer's lifetime, The Master and Margarita was not published due to censorship bans. The novel was first published in 1967.

Other biography options

There were seven children in the Bulgakov family - three sons and four daughters. Mikhail Afanasyevich was the eldest child.
Bulgakov’s first work was the story “The Adventures of Svetlana,” which Mikhail Afanasyevich wrote at the age of seven.
Bulgakov with early years He had an exceptional memory and read a lot. One of the largest books that the future writer read at the age of eight was V. Hugo’s novel “The Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris».
Bulgakov’s choice of becoming a doctor was influenced by the fact that most of his relatives were engaged in medicine.
The prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky from the story “ Heart of a Dog" became Bulgakov's uncle - gynecologist N. M. Pokrovsky.

Who is Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov? Great writer, satirist, playwright, director and actor. It is very difficult to summarize Bulgakov's biography. Bulgakov, whose interesting facts of life are difficult to describe briefly, is worthy of respect and memory of posterity. Let's look at his biography in a little more detail than what is written on the pages of Wikipedia.

From his pen came an incredible number of dramatizations, plays, stories, opera librettos, film scripts and stories. For many people, this man still remains a mystical mystery, mainly thanks to his incomparable works, such as “The Master and Margarita” and many others. Now we will try to understand in more detail the biography of the writer.

The writer's childhood

Life and work of Bulgakov originates from May 3 (15), 1891. The child was very beautiful and had a memorable appearance. Blue bottomless eyes and a thin figure perfectly emphasized Mikhail’s artistry. Since childhood, the boy was very interested, if not in love, with literature. One of the first large works I read young Mikhail, there was a book “Notre Dame Cathedral” by Victor Hugo. At that time the boy was only eight years old. And even earlier, at the age of seven, his first work came out of his childhood hand - the story “The Adventures of Svetlana.”

The father of the future writer was an associate professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy, and his mother taught at the Karachay gymnasium. Mikhail Afanasyevich was the eldest child in a large family. The writer had four sisters - Varvara, Lena, Vera and Nadezhda, and two brothers - Kolya and Vanya.

Little Misha's family was from hereditary bell nobles; their ancestors were priests and served in the Oryol province.

Education of Mikhail Bulgakov

At the age of eighteen, Mikhail Afanasyevich graduated from the First Kyiv Gymnasium, after which he entered the Faculty of Medicine at Kiev University. His choice was influenced by the fact that most of his relatives worked in the medical field and lived quite well.

Interesting fact. Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov had an uncle N.M. Pokrovsky, who worked as a gynecologist in Moscow and was a very respected and experienced doctor. It was in his image that Professor Preobrazhensky was described.

Bulgakov was a rather closed, secretive person, who did not like to talk about personal matters and suffered from frequent neuroses. Perhaps such misfortunes as premature death father (he died at forty-eight due to serious kidney inflammation) and the suicide of his close friend Boris Bogdanov due to non-reciprocal love for the master’s sister, Varvara Bulgakova.

First wedding

This wedding would be a great subject for a movie. On April twenty-sixth, 1913, M. A. Bulgakov married Tatyana Lappa. Mikhail at that time was twenty-two years old, and his chosen one was a year younger than his beloved.

Tatyana was not from a poor family, and she should have had enough money for a wedding dress, but on the wedding day, the bride stood in front of the altar in a dress skirt and blouse, which her indignant mother managed to buy just before the ceremony.

But, in spite of everything, according to eyewitnesses, it was one of the most happy weddings. There was a lot of joy and laughter.

Later, Tatyana recalled that Bulgakov was a wasteful person who did not know how to manage finances rationally. He was not afraid to spend his last money on a taxi if he had a desire to ride around the city.

The bride's mother was not happy with her son-in-law. If she saw that another piece of jewelry was missing from her daughter, it was immediately clear that it had already been pawned at the pawnshop.

Medical talent of the writer

M.A. Bulgakov was a surprisingly talented doctor. He received at least forty people a day. But fate was not particularly favorable to his aspirations. Mikhail Afanasyevich was very susceptible to various diseases.

Passion for drugs

In 1917 Bulgakov became infected with diphtheria. To get rid of the disease, the writer takes the serum, as a result of which he begins to have a severe allergic reaction, accompanied by severe pain.

To get rid of the torment, Mikhail begins to inject himself with morphine, and then simply becomes addicted to it.

Faithful Tatyana Lappa heroically helps him escape from drug captivity. She consciously reduced the administered dose of the drug, replacing it with distilled water. It was very difficult, because the writer more than once attempted to kill his beloved; once, he threw a hot Primus stove at Tatyana, and also threatened her with a pistol more than once. The girl reacted to this with angelic calm, justifying such actions by the fact that the writer did not want to harm her, he just felt very bad.

Life without morphine

Thanks to the great efforts of the betrothed, in 1918 Mikhail Afanasyevich stops taking morphine. In the same year, his studies with Pokrovsky, his uncle on his mother’s side, ended. Bulgakov returns to Kyiv as a venereologist.

First World War

When did the first one begin? world war Bulgakov worked as a doctor near the front, but he was soon mobilized into the army of the UPR (Ukrainian People's Republic), and then to the south of Russia, where Mikhail Afanasyevich was appointed doctor of the third Terek Cossack regiment, as part of this regiment he visited the north of the Caucasus and managed to work as a doctor in the Red Cross Society.

In 1920, the writer fell ill with typhus, and therefore was forced to remain in the Caucasus. At the same time, he was published in newspapers and began to write drama. In a letter cousin, Bulgakov says that he found what he should have been doing for four years now - writing.

In honor of Bulgakov’s great works, there was even a memorial plaque placed on the building of the regional hospital in Chernivtsi (Ukraine), where he worked as a surgeon.

Writer's career

In 1921 Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov moves to Moscow, where he begins to make a living by writing feuilletons for many famous, and not so famous, newspapers and magazines, such as:

Horn;
Russia;
Worker;
Red magazine for everyone;
Revival;
Medical worker.

Some statistics. From 1922 to 1926, more than 120 feuilletons were published in the Gudok newspaper, essays and articles by M.A. Bulgakov.

Bulgakov joins the All-Russian Union of Writers (1923), where he meets Lyubov Belozerskaya, who already in 1925 becomes the writer's second wife.

In October 1926 The Moscow Art Theater staged the production “Days of the Turbins” with dizzying success, which was especially popular even with Stalin. The leader said that this was an anti-Soviet thing, and Bulgakov was “not ours,” but at the same time he attended the performance of the production about fifteen times. True, except at the Moscow Art Theater, the production was not staged anywhere else.

In 1929, the writer met Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, she became the writer’s third and last wife in 1932.

Persecution of Bulgakov

A successful career did not gratify one’s self-esteem for long brilliant writer. Already in 1930, Bulgakov’s works ceased to be published, productions were subject to bans.

From this moment on, the writer begins to have a difficult financial situation. In the same year, Bulgakov wrote to his brother in Paris about his problems. He also sends a letter to I. Stalin himself, saying in it that the leader must determine his future, either allow him to go abroad, or give him the opportunity to earn his living in home country.

Almost a month later, Stalin himself called Bulgakov and advised him to contact the Moscow Art Theater with a request for a job.

At the Moscow Art Theater, the writer was hired as an assistant director, and five years later he played a role in the play “ Pickwick Club».

The play “The Kabbalah of the Holy One” was rehearsed for five years and was a huge success in 1936, but after seven performances, an article was published in the Pravda newspaper, criticizing the production to the nines. After this, Bulgakov left the Moscow Art Theater and got a job at Bolshoi Theater as a librettist and translator.

In 1939, Bulgakov was preparing to stage the play “Batum,” dedicated to I. Stalin, but just before the premiere a telegram arrived saying that Stalin was prohibiting the production because he considered a play about himself inappropriate.

Death of a Writer

After this, M. Bulgakov’s health deteriorated sharply, he stopped seeing, doctors diagnosed kidney inflammation. The writer starts taking morphine again to relieve pain.

At the same time, the wife of E. S. Bulgakov, under the dictation of her husband, completes the last and final version"The Master and Margarita".

The writer died on March 10, 1940. At that time he was only 49 years old. M. A. Bulgakov was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery; at his grave, at the request of the writer’s wife, a tombstone from the grave of N. V. Gogol, which would later be called “Golgotha,” was installed.

Works of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov

For your own is inadmissible short life the writer managed to leave an invaluable literary contribution to his descendants. The name of such a great writer cannot be forgotten, and manuscripts, as we know, do not burn. Here is a small list of masterpieces of the great writer:

The Master and Margarita;
White Guard;
Notes of a young doctor;
Morphine;
Fatal Eggs;
Theatrical novel;
Diaboliad;
I killed;
Red Crown;
Square on wheels;
Adventures of a Dead Man.

For many, Mikhail Bulgakov is their favorite writer. His biography is interpreted by people various directions differently. The reason is how certain researchers relate his name to the occult. For those interested in this particular aspect, we can recommend reading the article by Pavel Globa. However, in any case, its presentation should begin from childhood, which is what we will do.

The writer's parents, brothers and sisters

Mikhail Afanasyevich was born in Kyiv in the family of a theology professor Afanasy Ivanovich, who taught at the Theological Academy. His mother, Varvara Mikhailovna Pokrovskaya, also taught at the Karachay gymnasium. Both parents were hereditary bell nobles; their priest grandfathers served in the Oryol province.

Misha himself was the eldest child in the family, he had two brothers: Nikolai, Ivan and four sisters: Vera, Nadezhda, Varvara, Elena.

The future writer was thin, graceful, artistic with expressive blue eyes.

Education and character of Mikhail

In his hometown Bulgakov was educated. His biography contains information about graduating from the First Kyiv Gymnasium at the age of eighteen and from the medical faculty of Kyiv University at the age of twenty-five. What influenced the formation of the future writer? The untimely death of his 48-year-old father, the stupid suicide of his best comrade Boris Bogdanov because of love for Varya Bulgakova, the sister of Mikhail Afanasyevich - all these circumstances determined the character of Bulgakov: suspicious, prone to neuroses.

First wife

At twenty-two, the future writer married his first wife, Tatyana Lappa, a year younger than him. Judging by the memoirs of Tatyana Nikolaevna (she lived until 1982), a film could be made about this short marriage. The newlyweds managed to spend the money sent by their parents on a veil and wedding dress before the wedding. For some reason they laughed at the wedding. Of the flowers given to the newlyweds, the majority were daffodils. The bride was wearing a linen skirt, and her mother, who arrived and was horrified, managed to buy her a blouse for the wedding. Bulgakov's biography by date, thus, culminated in the wedding date of April 26, 1913. However, the happiness of the lovers was destined to be short-lived: in Europe at that time there was already a smell of war. According to Tatyana’s recollections, Mikhail did not like to save money, he was not distinguished by prudence in spending money. For him, for example, it was in the order of things to order a taxi with his last money. Valuable items were often pawned in pawn shops. Although Tatiana’s father helped the young couple with money, the funds constantly disappeared.

Medical practice

Fate rather cruelly prevented him from becoming a doctor, even though Bulgakov had talent and professional flair. The biography mentions that he had the misfortune of contracting dangerous diseases while practicing professional activity. Mikhail Afanasyevich, wanting to realize himself as a specialist, was active as a doctor. Over the course of a year, Dr. Bulgakov saw 15,361 patients at outpatient appointments (forty people a day!). 211 people were treated in his hospital. However, as you can see, Fate itself prevented him from becoming a doctor. In 1917, having become infected with diphtheria, Mikhail Afanasyevich took a serum against it. The result was a severe allergy. He relieved her painful symptoms with morphine, but then became addicted to this drug.

Bulgakov's recovery

His admirers owe the healing of Mikhail Bulgakov to Tatyana Lappa, who deliberately limited his dose. When he asked for an injection of a dose of the drug, his loving wife injected him with distilled water. At the same time, she stoically endured her husband’s hysterics, although he once threw a burning Primus stove at her and even threatened her with a pistol. At the same time, his loving wife was sure that he did not want to shoot, he just felt very bad...

Bulgakov's short biography contains the fact of high love and sacrifice. In 1918, it was thanks to Tatyana Lappa that he stopped being a morphine addict. From December 1917 to March 1918, Bulgakov lived and practiced in Moscow with his maternal uncle, successful gynecologist N. M. Pokrovsky (later the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky from “The Heart of a Dog”).

Then he returned to Kyiv, where he again began working as a venereologist. The practice was interrupted by the war. More he to medical practice didn't come back...

World War I and Civil War

The First World War marked moves for Bulgakov: at first he worked as a doctor near the front line, then he was sent to work in the Smolensk province, and then to Vyazma. During the Civil War from 1919 to 1921, he was mobilized twice as a doctor. First - to the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, then - to the White Guard Armed Forces of the South of Russia. This period of his life later found its literary reflection in the cycle of stories “Notes of a Young Doctor” (1925-1927). One of the stories it contains is called "Morphine".

In 1919, on November 26, for the first time in his life, he published an article in the Grozny newspaper, which, in fact, presented the gloomy forebodings of a White Guard officer. The Red Army at Yegorlytskaya station in 1921 defeated the advanced forces of the White Guards - the Cossack cavalry... His comrades are riding beyond the cordon. However, fate prevents Mikhail Afanasyevich from emigrating: he falls ill with typhus. In Vladikavkaz, Bulgakov is being treated for a fatal illness and is recovering. His biography records the reorientation of life goals, creativity takes over.

Playwright

Mikhail Afanasyevich, emaciated, in the uniform of a white officer, but with torn shoulder straps, in Tersky Narobraz works in the theater section of the arts department, in the Russian theater. During this period, a severe crisis occurred in Bulgakov’s life. There is no money at all. She and Tatyana Lappa live by selling the severed parts of a miraculously surviving gold chain. Bulgakov made a difficult decision for himself - never to return to medical practice. With a tormented heart, in 1920 Mikhail Bulgakov wrote the most talented play “Days of the Turbins”. The writer’s biography testifies to the first repressions against him: in the same 1920, the Bolshevik commission expelled him from work as a “former”. Bulgakov is trampled, broken. Then the writer decides to flee the country: first to Turkey, then to France, he moves from Vladikavkaz to Tiflis via Baku. In order to survive, he betrays himself, Truth, and Conscience and in 1921 writes the conformist play “Sons of the Mullah,” which the Bolshevik theaters of Vladikavkaz willingly include in their repertoire. At the end of May 1921, while in Batumi, Mikhail Bulgakov summoned his wife. His biography contains information about the gravest crisis in the writer’s life. Fate cruelly takes revenge on him for betraying his conscience and talent (meaning the above-mentioned play, for which he received a fee of 200,000 rubles (33 pieces of silver). This situation will repeat itself again in his life).

Bulgakovs in Moscow

The spouses still do not emigrate. In August 1921, Tatyana Lappa left alone for Moscow through Odessa and Kyiv.

Soon, following his wife, Mikhail Afanasyevich also returned to Moscow (it was during this period that N. Gumilyov was shot and A. Blok died). Their life in the capital is accompanied by moving, instability... Bulgakov’s biography is not easy. Summary her subsequent period - desperate attempts talented person realize yourself. Mikhail and Tatyana live in the apartment (described in the novel “The Master and Margarita” - house number 10 on Bolshaya Sadovaya Street (Pigit’s house), number 302 bis, which was kindly provided to them by their brother-in-law, philologist A.M. Zemsky, who left for Kyiv to his wife). The house was inhabited by rowdy and drinking proletarians. The couple felt uncomfortable, hungry, and penniless. This is where their breakup occurred...

In 1922, Mikhail Afanasyevich suffered a personal blow - his mother died. He feverishly begins to work as a journalist, putting his sarcasm into feuilletons.

Literary activity. “Days of the Turbins” - Stalin’s favorite play

Lived life experience and thoughts, born of a remarkable intellect, were simply torn onto paper. A short biography of Bulgakov records his work as a feuilletonist in Moscow newspapers ("Worker") and magazines ("Vozrozhdenie", "Russia", "Medical Worker").

Life, distorted by the war, begins to improve. Since 1923, Bulgakov was accepted as a member of the Writers' Union.

In 1923, Bulgakov began working on the novel The White Guard. He creates his famous works:

"Diaboliad";
"Fatal Eggs";
"Heart of a Dog"

"Adam and Eve";
"Alexander Pushkin";
"Crimson Island";
"Running";
"Bliss";
“Zoyka’s apartment”;
"Ivan Vasilievich."

And in 1925 he married Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya.

He also became successful as a playwright. Even then, the Soviet state’s paradoxical perception of the classic’s work was evident. Even Joseph Stalin was contradictory and inconsistent in relation to him. He watched the Moscow Art Theater production "Days of the Turbins" 14 times. Then he declared that “Bulgakov is not ours.” However, in 1932, he ordered its return, and in the only theater in the USSR - the Moscow Art Theater, noting that after all, “the impression of the play on the communists” was positive.

Moreover, Joseph Stalin subsequently, in his historical address to the people on July 3, 1941, uses the phraseology of Alexei Turbin’s words: “I am addressing you, my friends...”

In the period from 1923 to 1926, the writer’s creativity flourished. In the fall of 1924, in literary circles in Moscow, Bulgakov was considered the No. 1 active writer. The biography and work of the writer are inseparably linked. It's working out for him literary career, becoming the main business of his life.

The writer's short and fragile second marriage

The first wife, Tatyana Lappa, recalls that, while married to her, Mikhail Afanasyevich repeated more than once that he should marry three times. He repeated this after the writer Alexei Tolstoy, who believed that family life the key to a writer's fame. There is a saying: the first wife is from God, the second is from people, the third is from the devil. Was Bulgakov’s biography artificially formed according to this far-fetched scenario? Interesting facts and mysteries are not uncommon in it! However, Bulgakov’s second wife, Belozerskaya, a socialite, actually married a wealthy, promising writer.

However, the writer lived in perfect harmony with his new wife for only three years. Until in 1928, the writer’s third wife, Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, “appeared on the horizon.” Bulgakov was still in his second official marriage when this whirlwind romance began. The writer described his feelings for his third wife with great artistic force in The Master and Margarita. Mikhail Afanasyevich’s affection for the new woman with whom he felt a spiritual connection is evidenced by the fact that on 10/03/1932 the registry office dissolved his marriage with Belozerskaya, and on 10/04/1932 an alliance was concluded with Shilovskaya. It was the third marriage that became the main thing in his life for the writer.

Bulgakov and Stalin: the writer’s lost game

In 1928, inspired by his acquaintance with “his Margarita” - Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, Mikhail Bulgakov began creating his novel “The Master and Margarita”. A short biography of the writer, however, testifies to the beginning creative crisis. He needs space for creativity, which does not exist in the USSR. Moreover, there was a ban on the publication and production of Bulgakov. Despite his fame, his plays were not staged in theaters.

Joseph Vissarionovich, an excellent psychologist, knew very well the weak sides of the personality of this talented author: suspiciousness, a tendency to depression. He played with the writer like a cat plays with a mouse, having an indisputable dossier against him. On May 7, 1926, the only search of all time was carried out at the Bulgakovs’ apartment. They fell into the hands of Stalin personal diaries Mikhail Afanasyevich, seditious story “Heart of a Dog”. In Stalin's game against the writer, a trump card was obtained that fatally led to the disaster of the writer Bulgakov. Here's the answer to your question: " Interesting biography Is it Bulgakov?" Not at all. Until he was thirty years old adult life was filled with plenty of suffering from poverty and instability, what really followed was six years of more or less measured prosperous life, but it was followed by a violent break in Bulgakov’s personality, illness and death.

Refusal to leave the USSR. The leader's fatal call

In July 1929, the writer addressed a Letter to Joseph Stalin, asking to leave the USSR, and on March 28, 1930, he addressed the Soviet government with the same request. Permission was not given.

Bulgakov suffered, he understood that his grown talent was being ruined. Contemporaries remembered the phrase he uttered after yet another failure to receive permission to leave: “I was blinded!”

However, this was not the final blow. And he was expected... Everything changed with Stalin’s call on April 18, 1930. At that moment, Mikhail Bulgakov and his third wife, Elena Sergeevna, were laughing as they drove to Batum (where Bulgakov was going to write a play about Stalin’s young years). At the Serpukhov station, a woman who entered their carriage announced: “Telegram for the accountant!”

The writer, uttering an involuntary exclamation, turned pale, and then corrected her: “Not to the accountant, but to Bulgakov.” He expected... Stalin appointed telephone conversation on the same date - 04/18/1930.

The day before, Mayakovsky was buried. Obviously, the leader’s call could equally be called a kind of prevention (he respected Bulgakov, but still put gentle pressure) and a trick: in a confidential conversation, extract an unfavorable promise from the interlocutor.

In it, Bulgakov voluntarily refused to go abroad, which he could not forgive himself for the rest of his life. This was his tragic loss.

A very complex knot of relationships connects Stalin and Bulgakov. We can say that seminarian Dzhdugashvili outplayed and broke both the will and life of the great writer.

Last years of creativity

Subsequently, the author concentrated all his talent, all his skill on the novel “The Master and Margarita,” which he wrote for the table, without any hope of publication.

The play “Batum” created about Stalin was rejected by the secretariat of Joseph Vissarionovich, pointing out methodological error writer - the transformation of a leader into a romantic hero.

In fact, Joseph Vissarionovich was jealous, so to speak, of the writer of his own charisma. From then on, Bulgakov was allowed to work only as a theater director.

By the way, Mikhail Afanasyevich is considered one of the best directors in the history of Russian theater, Gogol and Saltykov-Shchedrin (his favorite classics).

Everything he wrote, unspoken and biased, was “impossible.” Stalin consistently destroyed him as a writer.

Bulgakov still wrote, he responded to the blow, as a real classic could do... A novel about Pontius Pilate. About an all-powerful autocrat who is secretly afraid.

Moreover, the first version of this novel was burned by the author. It was called differently - “Devil's Hoof”. In Moscow, after writing it, there were rumors that Bulgakov wrote about Stalin (Iosif Vissarionovich was born with two fused toes. People call this the hoof of Satan). Panicking, the author burned the first version of the novel. This is where the phrase “Manuscripts don’t burn!” was subsequently born.

Instead of a conclusion

In 1939, the final version of The Master and Margarita was written and read to friends. This book was destined to be published for the first time in an abridged version only after 33 years... The terminally ill Bulgakov, suffering from kidney failure, did not have long to live...

In the fall of 1939, his vision deteriorated critically: he was practically blind. On March 10, 1940, the writer passed away. Mikhail Bulgakov was buried on March 12, 1940 at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Bulgakov's full biography is still a subject of debate. The reason is that the Soviet, emasculated version presents the reader with an embellished picture of the author’s loyalty to the Soviet regime. Therefore, if you are interested in the life of a writer, you should critically analyze several sources.

Mikhail Bulgakov is a Russian writer, playwright, director and actor. His works have become classics of Russian literature.

The novel “The Master and Margarita” brought him worldwide fame, which was repeatedly filmed in many countries.

When Bulgakov was at the peak of his popularity, Soviet power banned the staging of his plays in theaters, as well as the publication of his works.

Bulgakov in his youth

After receiving his diploma, Bulgakov submitted a request to pass military service in the Navy, as a doctor.

However, he failed to pass the medical examination. As a result, he asked to be sent to the Red Cross to work in a hospital.

At the height of the First World War (1914-1918), he treated soldiers near the front line.

A couple of years later he returned to Kyiv, where he began working as a venereologist.

It is interesting that during this period of his biography he began to use morphine, which helped him get rid of the pain caused by taking the anti-diphtheria drug.

As a result, throughout the rest of his life, Bulgakov will be painfully dependent on this drug.

Creative activity

In the early 20s, Mikhail Afanasyevich came to. There he begins to write various feuilletons, and soon takes up plays.

Later, he became a theater director at the Moscow Art Theater and Central Theater working youth.

Bulgakov's first work was the poem “The Adventures of Chichikov,” which he wrote at the age of 31. Then several more stories came from his pen.

After this he writes fantastic story"Fatal Eggs", which was positively received by critics and aroused great interest among readers.

Heart of a Dog

In 1925, Bulgakov published the book “Heart of a Dog,” which masterfully intertwines the ideas of the “Russian Revolution” and the “awakening” of the social consciousness of the proletariat.

According to literary scholars, Bulgakov's story is a political satire, where each character is a prototype of one or another political figure.