THE YOUR CAT BOOK CLUB
We explore a masterpiece that might just uncover why humans feel so emotionally in tune with our feline counterparts.
This month’s feline-related book up for discussion is ‘The Master and Margarita’ by Mikhail Bulgakov.
Welcome back to the Your Cat Book Club, where we delve into cat literature. Did you enjoy ‘The Guest Cat’? Let us know your thoughts via email or with #Your Cat Book Club on social media. After reading a slim, poetic novel, this month we have something completely different.
Our next read is a superbly engaging story, penned in Russia during the Soviet Union era. It has been described as one of the best novels of the 20th century. It is magical and page-turning and unlike anything else I have ever read — indeed, it is one of the most memorable books I have ever enjoyed. Its iconic cover depicts a black cat clearly up to no good. We’re reading ‘The Master and Margarita’ by Mikhail Bulgakov.
What happens when the devil shows up in atheistic Soviet Russia? A mysterious professor and foreigner, Woland, appears in Moscow along with a strange entourage of witches, vampires, and other otherworldly entities.
Unsurprisingly, the book wasn’t published in Bulgakov’s lifetime; Satan’s appearance satirises the gullibility of the new elite, and authority in general. When it was published between 1966-67,
There is lightness in
its satire.
it came in a heavily censored serial form.The uncensored manuscript was published in 1973.
To introduce the plot briefly, the Master is a repressed novelist who burns his manuscript after critics attack his work and is admitted to a psychiatric ward. Margarita is married to a wealthy bureaucrat, but really, she is in love with the Master.To free him from the psychiatric ward, she accepts a flying ointment which transforms her into a witch and sells her soul to the devil.
Bulgakov was familiar with the witch trials. In his archive was ‘The History of the relation of Man with the Devil’ by Mikhail Aleksandrovich Orlov from 1904. In it, nuns claimed to have been visited by and possessed by demons, including the devil Behemoth. The black cat on the iconic front cover of ‘The Master and Margarita’ is called Behemoth. He is an enormous demonic black cat and a prominent member of Woland’s strange retinue.
We cat-lovers all know that black cats were historically — and, to some, still are — considered portents of bad luck. In Britain, the idea of a witch’s cat comes from the belief in familiar spirit animals, demonic entities who would help a witch or cunning person do magic. Like the cats of alleged witches, Behemoth can transform into a human form.The Behemoth in Bulgakov’s satirical novel drinks vodka, plays chess, is sarcastic and vulgar, and tells bad jokes. He likes his firearms. He deals out cruel punishments. He is pretty evil.
LIGHT AND DARK
This all makes ‘The Master and Margarita’ sound like a novel that is incredibly dark and sinister, with no light.
But for all its darkness, there is lightness in its satire.The devils are never taken too seriously. What’s more, the book is an acknowledgement of our shadow side. Bulgakov emphasised evil and darkness are as inseparable from our world as lightness and goodness. Says Woland: “But would you kindly ponder this question: What would your good do if evil didn’t exist, and what would the Earth look like if all the shadows disappeared? After all, shadows are cast by things and people.” Bleaker than shadow is nothingness, surely? We need to recognise the darkness, or it can wreak havoc unseen.
I think this is why the cat is the perfect character for this book. They are our little carnivores, deeply in touch with their shadow. They have claws and teeth but they can also offer us deep love and affection. They love to bathe in the sunlight. They are not subservient and do not come on command. They retain autonomy. We know our cats are not evil, though they have been persecuted historically for their cultural associations with witchcraft. It is a common joke among cat owners that their cats are evil geniuses, secretly living double-lives. We know our outdoor cats wander, sometimes appearing at strangers’ houses. Non cat-lovers often think of this as a betrayal. But isn’t it wonderful to know a creature so in touch with their lightness and darkness wishes to be our companion?
Though Behemoth at times seems more human than cat-like, he does have his real feline counterparts. According to Bulgakov’s second wife, Lyubov Evgenevna Belozerskaya, Behemoth was inspired by Flushka, their own huge grey cat. At the Bulgakov House in Moscow, there now lives a large black cat called Stepan. I love that the museum employees claim to not know where he came from.
CAPTURING MAGIC
There have been several adaptations of ‘The Master and Margarita’ for film and television. All have had a mixed reception, leading to speculation that this material is ‘cursed.’ Famous director Baz Luhrmann has secured the film rights to this book. In conversation with radio producer Rosa Ellen, Luhrmann says the moment where Margarita accepts the flying ointment is his favourite part of the novel: “The episode where the demonic Azazello provides Margarita with a magical ointment in preparation for the Devil’s midnight ball is one of the greatest moments in Russian in all of literature.” Whether this new adaptation happens or not, we recommend reading before viewing. Clearly this is a book whose magic is not so easily captured.
The cat is the perfect character for this book.