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The Master and Margarita is an intriguing text in terms of its Gothic approach. Aside from its obvious Gothic terror, themes, motifs and atmosphere, the circumstances of the composition and final publication of the novel arouse a certain uncanny sensation for readers and critics alike. One of the most memorable comments made by this work is 'manuscripts don't burn' (Bulgakov 2004, 326). Considered in light of the novel's story - in which the Master, author of a controversial and mysteriously insightful book about Pontius Pilate, destroys his creation only to have it miraculously resurrected by the devil himself on Easter Sunday morning - this statement can be interpreted as a comment on textuality and the unique and unquantifiable 'true' nature of the written word. Considered in light of Bulgakov's destruction of his own masterpiece, The Master and Margarita, in 1930, and its reconstruction and publication many years after his death, it would also seem that the dark magic at work in the story has reached out beyond the text to reverberate a Romantic philosophy of the enigmatic origins and immortality of art. As Andrew Barrât put it, it is as though '[w]e have been permitted to read the unwritable' (Barrât 1987, 311).
'Permitted' is an interesting choice of word here in relation to the controversy that surrounds the novel. The initial censorship of the work is of note, but can be contextualised in terms of the extremely restrictive nature of the Soviet state during the Stalinist period. At this time, many writers were convicted for publishing 'antagonistic' works and even for publishing outside of the Soviet Union. However, in the years following its official publication in the Soviet Union in 1967, The Master and Margarita continued to be surrounded by controversy. Striking a note of resemblance with the renowned 'Rushdie affair', as recently as 2006, the Mikhail Bulgakov Museum in Moscow was gutted by a fire that was started by a fanatic who condemned the novel as satanic. According to one news report, the Bulgakov house was largely destroyed. The book had been condemned by the Orthodox Church as 'the fifth gospel, that of Satan',1 and the fanatical leader of a group of demonstrators destroyed the museum and its 'pornographic' contents. As will be demonstrated...