Prose writer, playwright.

Born on May 3 (15 NS) in Kyiv in the family of a professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy. “The Bulgakov family is large, friendly, cultural, musical, theatrical,” recalls the wife of Bulgakov’s younger brother.

Until the fall of 1900 he studied at home, then entered the first grade of the Alexander Gymnasium, where the best teachers in Kyiv were concentrated. Already in the gymnasium, Bulgakov showed his various abilities: he wrote poetry, drew caricatures, played the piano, sang, composed oral stories and told them beautifully.

After graduating from high school in 1909, not without hesitation (the path of an artist or writer beckoned), he became a student at the Faculty of Medicine of the Kyiv Imperial University of St. Vladimir, where he has been studying for almost seven years (the university charter allowed repeating the program of a particular course). In 1913 he married T. Lappa.

With the outbreak of the First World War, he and his wife worked in a hospital, then volunteered for the front, worked in a front-line hospital, gaining medical experience under the guidance of military surgeons. In 1916, after graduating from the university, he received a diploma with honors and went to the Smolensk province as a zemstvo doctor, which was reflected in “Notes of a Young Doctor.”

The civil war found Bulgakov in Kyiv. He saw the decline of the “white movement”, witnessed the German occupation of Ukraine in 1918, and the atrocities of the Petliura gangs.

In 1919 1921 he lived in Vladikavkaz (he ended up in the Caucasus in search of brothers who served in the White Army, promising his mother to find them who had disappeared during the civil war), worked in the newspaper "Caucasus", which did not last long, since the Whites left the city and Bulgakov suffered from relapsing fever. The Soviet government established in the city called for cooperation from all literate people, and Bulgakov, who after his recovery was appointed head of the literary section of the arts department of public education, shared everything he knew and could. In Vladikavkaz he began writing for the theater; the comedy “Self-Defense” was staged and was a success. Inspired by success, Bulgakov wrote two more plays: “Clay Grooms” and “Paris Communards”; with the production of the latter, Vladikavkaz celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Paris Commune. The play was recommended by Glavpolitprosvet for production in Moscow theaters.

In 1921 he moved to Moscow. During the NEP, literary life in Russia began to revive, private publishing houses were created, and new magazines were opened. In 1922, Bulgakov published not only feuilletons and correspondence, but also the stories “The Extraordinary Adventures of the Doctor” and “The Spiritualistic Seance” (in the magazine “Rupor”). In the newspaper "Nakanune" and its literary supplement, many of M. Bulgakov's works were published: "Notes on Cuffs", "The Adventures of Chichikov", "Forty Forty", "Travel Notes", "Crimson Island", etc. (1922 24) . M. Bulgakov’s popularity began with publications in “Nakanune”.

In 1924 he worked for the railway workers' newspaper Gudok, which at that time united such talented writers as Yu. Olesha and V. Kataev, I. Ilf and E. Petrov, K. Paustovsky and others. On the initiative of the Moscow Art Theater, he created a play based on the novel “The White Guard”, which was staged under the name “Days of the Turbins”. In 1927 he completed the drama "Running", which was banned shortly before the premiere.

In 1925, the story “Fatal Eggs” was published in the almanac “Nedra”, which caused discontent among the authorities. Therefore, the story “Heart of a Dog,” already prepared for publication, was not permitted for publication (it was first published in 1987). In 1928, Bulgakov began writing the novel “The Master and Margarita” and worked on it for twelve years, that is, until the end of his life, without hoping to publish it. (The novel was first published at the end of 1966 - beginning of 1967 in the magazine "Moscow".) In 1965, "Theatrical Novel", written in 1936 - 1937, was published in the magazine "New World".

In 1929–1930, not a single play by Bulgakov was staged, not a single line of his appeared in print. Then he sent a letter to Stalin with a request either to allow him to leave the country or to give him the opportunity to earn a living. Got a job as an assistant director at the Moscow Art Theater (1930 36). His play “The Cabal of the Saint” was staged at the Moscow Art Theater and then removed from the repertoire. Bulgakov moved to the Bolshoi Theater, where he worked as an opera librettist and translator.

Mikhail Bulgakov is a Russian writer and playwright, the author of many works that today are considered classics of Russian literature. It is enough to name such novels as “The Master and Margarita”, “The White Guard” and the stories “Diaboliad”, “Heart of a Dog”, “Notes on the Cuffs”. Many of Bulgakov's books and plays have been filmed.

Childhood and youth

Mikhail was born in Kyiv in the family of professor-theologian Afanasy Ivanovich and his wife Varvara Mikhailovna, who was raising seven children. Misha was the oldest child and, whenever possible, helped his parents manage the household. Of the other Bulgakov children, Nikolai, who became a biologist, Ivan, who became famous in emigration as a balalaika musician, and Varvara, who turned out to be the prototype of Elena Turbina in the novel “The White Guard,” became famous.

After graduating from high school, Mikhail Bulgakov entered the university at the Faculty of Medicine. His choice turned out to be connected solely with mercantile desires - both uncles of the future writer were doctors and earned very good money. For a boy who grew up in a large family, this nuance was fundamental.

During the First World War, Mikhail Afanasyevich served in the front-line zone as a doctor, after which he practiced medicine in Vyazma, and later in Kyiv, as a venereologist. In the early 20s, he moved to Moscow and began literary activity, first as a feuilletonist, later as a playwright and theater director at the Moscow Art Theater and the Central Theater of Working Youth.

Books

The first published book by Mikhail Bulgakov was the story “The Adventures of Chichikov,” written in a satirical manner. It was followed by the partially autobiographical “Notes on Cuffs,” the social drama “Diaboliad,” and the writer’s first major work, the novel “The White Guard.” Surprisingly, Bulgakov’s first novel was criticized from all sides: local censorship called it anti-communist, and the foreign press described it as too loyal to the Soviet regime.

Mikhail Afanasyevich spoke about the beginning of his medical career in the collection of short stories “Notes of a Young Doctor,” which is still read with great interest today. The story “Morphine” especially stands out. One of the author’s most famous books, “The Heart of a Dog,” is also associated with medicine, although in reality it is a subtle satire on Bulgakov’s contemporary reality. At the same time, the fantastic story “Fatal Eggs” was written.

By 1930, Mikhail Afanasyevich’s works were no longer published. For example, “The Heart of a Dog” was first published only in 1987, “The Life of Monsieur de Moliere” and “Theatrical Novel” - in 1965. And the most powerful and incredibly large-scale novel, “The Master and Margarita,” which Bulgakov wrote from 1929 until his death, first saw the light only in the late 60s, and then only in an abbreviated form.

In March 1930, the writer, who had lost his footing, sent a letter to the government in which he asked to decide his fate - either to be allowed to emigrate, or to be given the opportunity to work. As a result, he received a personal call and was told that he would be allowed to stage plays. But the publication of Bulgakov’s books never resumed during his lifetime.

Theater

Back in 1925, Mikhail Bulgakov’s plays were staged on the stage of Moscow theaters with great success - “Zoyka’s Apartment”, “Days of the Turbins” based on the novel “The White Guard”, “Running”, “Crimson Island”. A year later, the ministry wanted to ban the production of “Days of the Turbins” as an “anti-Soviet thing,” but it was decided not to do this, since Stalin really liked the performance, who visited it 14 times.

Soon, Bulgakov's plays were removed from the repertoire of all theaters in the country, and only in 1930, after the personal intervention of the Leader, Mikhail Afanasyevich was reinstated as a playwright and director.

He staged Gogol's "Dead Souls" and Dickens's "The Pickwick Club", but his original plays "", "Bliss", "Ivan Vasilyevich" and others were never published during the playwright's lifetime.

The only exception was the play “The Cabal of the Holy One,” staged based on Bulgakov’s play “” in 1936 after a five-year series of refusals. The premiere was a huge success, but the troupe managed to give only 7 performances, after which the play was banned. After this, Mikhail Afanasyevich quits the theater and subsequently earns a living as a translator.

Personal life

The first wife of the great writer was Tatyana Lappa. Their wedding was more than poor - the bride did not even have a veil, and they then lived very modestly. By the way, it was Tatyana who became the prototype for Anna Kirillovna from the story “Morphine”.

In 1925, Bulgakov met Lyubov Belozerskaya, who came from an old family of princes. She was fond of literature and fully understood Mikhail Afanasyevich as a creator. The writer immediately divorces Lappa and marries Belozerskaya.

And in 1932 he meets Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, née Nuremberg. A man leaves his second wife and leads his third down the aisle. By the way, it was Elena who was depicted in his most famous novel in the image of Margarita. Bulgakov lived with his third wife until the end of his life, and it was she who made titanic efforts to ensure that the works of her loved one were subsequently published. Mikhail had no children with any of his wives.

There is a funny arithmetic-mystical situation with Bulgakov’s spouses. Each of them had three official marriages, like himself. Moreover, for the first wife Tatyana, Mikhail was the first husband, for the second Lyubov - the second, and for the third Elena, respectively, the third. So Bulgakov’s mysticism is present not only in books, but also in life.

Death

In 1939, the writer worked on the play “Batum” about Joseph Stalin, in the hope that such a work would definitely not be banned. The play was already being prepared for production when the order came to stop rehearsals. After this, Bulgakov’s health began to deteriorate sharply - he began to lose his vision, and congenital kidney disease also made itself felt.

Mikhail Afanasyevich returned to using morphine to relieve pain symptoms. Since the winter of 1940, the playwright stopped getting out of bed, and on March 10, the great writer passed away. Mikhail Bulgakov was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery, and on his grave, at the insistence of his wife, a stone was placed that had previously been installed on the grave.

Bibliography

• 1922 - “The Adventures of Chichikov”
• 1923 - “Notes of a Young Doctor”
• 1923 - “Diaboliad”
• 1923 - “Notes on Cuffs”
• 1924 - “White Guard”
• 1924 - “Fatal Eggs”
• 1925 - “Heart of a Dog”
• 1925 - “Zoyka’s Apartment”
• 1928 - “Running”
• 1929 - “To a Secret Friend”
• 1929 - “Cabal of the Saint”
• 1929-1940 - “The Master and Margarita”
• 1933 - “The Life of Monsieur de Molière”
• 1936 - “Ivan Vasilyevich”
• 1937 - “Theatrical Romance”

Born in the city of Kyiv on May 3, 1891 in the family of associate professor (since 1902 - professor) of the Kyiv Theological Academy Afanasy Ivanovich Bulgakov(1859-1907) and his wife Varvara Mikhailovna (nee Pokrovskaya) (1869-1922) on Vozdvizhenskaya Street, 28. The family had seven children: Michael(1891-1940), Vera (1892-1972), Nadezhda (1893-1971), Varvara (1895-1954), Nikolai (1898-1966), Ivan (1900-1969) and Elena (1902-1954).

In 1909 Michael Bulgakov He graduated from the First Kyiv Gymnasium and entered the medical faculty of Kyiv University. October 31, 1916 - received a diploma confirming “the degree of doctor with honors with all the rights and benefits assigned to this degree by the laws of the Russian Empire.”

In 1913 M. Bulgakov entered into his first marriage - with Tatyana Lappa (1892-1982). Their financial difficulties began on their wedding day. According to Tatyana’s memoirs, this is clearly felt: “Of course, I didn’t have any veil, nor a wedding dress - I had to do with all the money that my father sent. Mom came to the wedding and was horrified. I had a pleated linen skirt, my mother bought a blouse. We were married by Fr. Alexander. ...For some reason they laughed terribly at the altar. We rode home after church in a carriage. There were few guests at dinner. I remember there were a lot of flowers, most of all daffodils...” Tatyana's father sent her 50 rubles a month, a decent amount at that time. But the money in their wallet quickly dissolved, as Bulgakov He did not like to save money and was a man of impulse. If he wanted to take a taxi with his last money, he decided to take this step without hesitation. “Mother scolded me for my frivolity. We come to her for dinner, she sees - neither my rings nor my chain. “Well, that means everything is in the pawnshop!”

After the outbreak of the First World War Michael Bulgakov I worked as a doctor in the front-line zone for several months. Then he was sent to work in the village of Nikolskoye, Smolensk province, after which he worked as a doctor in Vyazma.

Since 1917, he began using morphine, first to alleviate allergic reactions to the anti-diphtheria drug, which he took because he was afraid of diphtheria after an operation. Then the morphine intake became regular. In December 1917, he came to Moscow for the first time, staying with his uncle, the famous Moscow gynecologist N. M. Pokrovsky, who became the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky from the story “The Heart of a Dog.” In the spring of 1918 M. Bulgakov returns to Kyiv, where he begins private practice as a venereologist. At that time Michael Bulgakov stops using morphine.

During the Civil War, in February 1919, Michael Bulgakov was mobilized as a military doctor in the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. At the end of August 1919, according to one version, M. Bulgakov was mobilized into the Red Army as a military doctor; On October 14-16, during street battles, he went over to the side of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia and became a military doctor of the 3rd Terek Cossack Regiment.

In the same year, he managed to work as a doctor for the Red Cross, and then in the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. As part of the 3rd Terek Cossack Regiment he fought in the North Caucasus. He was actively published in newspapers (article “Future Prospects”). During the retreat of the Volunteer Army at the beginning of 1920, he fell ill with typhus and because of this he could not leave for Georgia, remaining in Vladikavkaz.

At the end of September 1921 Michael Bulgakov moved to Moscow and began collaborating as a feuilletonist with metropolitan newspapers (Gudok, Rabochiy) and magazines (Medical Worker, Rossiya, Vozrozhdenie, Red Journal for Everyone). At the same time, he published individual works in the newspaper “Nakanune”, published in Berlin. From 1922 to 1926, more than 120 reports, essays and feuilletons were published in Gudok Mikhail Bulgakov.

In 1923 Michael Bulgakov joined the All-Russian Writers Union. In 1924, he met Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya (1898-1987), who had recently returned from abroad, who in 1925 became his new wife.

Since October 1926, the play “Days of the Turbins” was staged at the Moscow Art Theater with great success. Its production was allowed for a year, but was later extended several times, since I. Stalin liked the play, who attended its performances several times. In his speeches Joseph Stalin then he agreed that “Days of the Turbins” was “an anti-Soviet thing, and Bulgakov not ours,” he argued that the impression from the “Days of the Turbins” was ultimately positive for the communists (letter to V. Bill-Belotserkovsky, published by himself Stalin in 1949). At the same time, intense and extremely harsh criticism of creativity takes place in the Soviet press M. Bulgakova. According to his own calculations, over 10 years there were 298 abusive reviews and 3 favorable ones. Among the critics were such influential officials and writers as Mayakovsky, Bezymensky, Averbakh, Shklovsky, Kerzhentsev and many others.

At the end of October 1926 at the Theater. Vakhtangov’s premiere of the play “Zoyka’s Apartment” was a great success.

In 1928 Michael Bulgakov I traveled with my wife to the Caucasus, visited Tiflis, Batum, Cape Verde, Vladikavkaz, Gudermes. This year the premiere of the play “Crimson Island” took place in Moscow. U M. Bulgakova the idea of ​​a novel arose, later called “The Master and Margarita”. The writer also began work on a play about Moliere (“The Cabal of the Holy One”).

In 1929 Bulgakov met Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, who became his third and last wife in 1932.

By 1930 works Bulgakov They stopped publishing, plays were removed from the theater repertoire. The plays “Running”, “Zoyka’s Apartment”, “Crimson Island” were banned from production; the play “Days of the Turbins” was removed from the repertoire. In 1930 Bulgakov wrote to his brother Nikolai in Paris about the unfavorable literary and theatrical situation for himself and the difficult financial situation. At the same time, he wrote a letter to the USSR Government, dated March 28, 1930, with a request to determine his fate - either to give him the right to emigrate, or to provide him with the opportunity to work at the Moscow Art Theater. April 18, 1930 Bulgakov called Joseph Stalin, who recommended the playwright to apply for admission to the Moscow Art Theater.

In 1930 he worked as a director at the Central Theater of Working Youth (TRAM). From 1930 to 1936 - at the Moscow Art Theater as an assistant director. In 1932, on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater, the play “Dead Souls” by Nikolai Gogol was staged. Bulgakov. In 1935 Bulgakov performed on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater as an actor - in the role of the Judge in the play “The Pickwick Club” based on Dickens. The experience of working at the Moscow Art Theater is reflected in the work Mikhail Bulgakov“Theatrical Novel” (“Notes of a Dead Man”), in which many theater employees are brought out under changed names.

In January 1932, I. Stalin (formally A. Enukidze) again allowed the production of “The Days of the Turbins,” and before the war it was no longer prohibited. However, this permission did not apply to any theater except the Moscow Art Theater.

The play “The Cabal of the Holy One” was released in 1936, after almost five years of rehearsals. After seven performances, the production was banned, and Pravda published a devastating article about this “false, reactionary and worthless” play. After the article in Pravda, Bulgakov left the Moscow Art Theater and began working at the Bolshoi Theater as a librettist and translator. In 1937 Michael Bulgakov working on librettos for “Minin and Pozharsky” and “Peter I”. He was friends with Isaac Dunaevsky.

In 1939 M. Bulgakov worked on the libretto of "Rachel", as well as on a play about I. Stalin(Batum). The play was already being prepared for production, and Bulgakov I went to Georgia with my wife and colleagues to work on the play, when a telegram arrived about the cancellation of the play: Stalin considered it inappropriate to stage a play about himself. From that moment (according to the memoirs of E. S. Bulgakova, V. Vilenkin, etc.) health M. Bulgakova began to deteriorate sharply, he began to lose his vision. Doctors diagnosed him with hypertensive nephrosclerosis. Bulgakov continued to use morphine, prescribed to him in 1924, to relieve pain symptoms. During the same period, the writer began to dictate to his wife the latest versions of the novel “The Master and Margarita.”

Since February 1940, friends and relatives were constantly on duty at the bedside M. Bulgakova. On March 10, 1940, Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov died. On March 11, a civil memorial service took place in the building of the Union of Soviet Writers. Before the memorial service, Moscow sculptor S. D. Merkurov removed from his face Mikhail Bulgakov death mask.

Creation

Stories and novels

1922 - “The Adventures of Chichikov”
1922 - “White Guard” (1922-1924)
1923 - “Diaboliad”
1923 - “Notes on Cuffs”
1923 - “Crimson Island”
1924 - “Fatal Eggs”
1925 - “Heart of a Dog” (published in the USSR in 1987)
1928 - “Great Chancellor. Prince of Darkness" (part of the draft version of the novel "The Master and Margarita", 1928-1929)
1928 - “The Engineer’s Hoof” (1928-1929)
1929 - “To a Secret Friend” (published in the USSR in 1987)
1929 - “The Master and Margarita” (1929-1940, published in the USSR in 1966-1967, completely in 1973)
1933 - “The Life of Monsieur de Moliere” (published in the USSR in 1962)
1936 - “Theatrical Novel” (“Notes of a Dead Man”) (unfinished novel (1936-1937), published in the USSR in 1965)

Plays, scripts

1925 - “Zoyka’s Apartment”
1925 - “Days of the Turbins”
1926 - “Running” (1926-1928)
1927 - “Crimson Island” (published in the USSR in 1968)
1929 - “Cabal of the Saint”
1931 - “Adam and Eve”
1932 - “Crazy Jourdain” (published in the USSR in 1965)
1934 - “Bliss (the dream of engineer Rhine)” (published in the USSR in 1966)
1934 - “The Inspector General”
1935 - “The Last Days (Alexander Pushkin)” (published in the USSR in 1955)
1935 - “An Unusual Incident, or The Inspector General”
1936 - “Ivan Vasilyevich”
1936 - “Minin and Pozharsky” (published in the USSR in 1980)
1936 - “The Black Sea” (published in the USSR in 1988)
1937 - “Rachel” (opera libretto based on the story “Mademoiselle Fifi” by Guy de Maupassant, 1937-1939, published in the USSR in 1988)
1939 - “Batum” (a play about the youth of I.V. Stalin, original title “Shepherd”, 1939, published in the USSR in 1988)
1939 - “Don Quixote”

Stories

1922 - “No. 13. - House of Elpit-Rabkommun"
1922 - “Arithmetic”
1922 - “On the night of the 3rd”
1922 - “At the Zimin Theater”
1922 - “How He Went Crazy”
1922 - “Kaenpe and Kape”
1922 - “The Red Crown”
1922 - “Raid. In the magic lantern"
1922 - “The Extraordinary Adventures of the Doctor”
1922 - “November 7th Day”
1922 - “Beware of counterfeits!”
1922 - “Birds in the Attic”
1922 - “Workers’ Garden City”
1922 - “Soviet Inquisition”
1923 - “Chinese history. 6 paintings instead of a story"
1924 - “Memory...”
1924 - “Khan’s Fire”
1925 - “Towel with a Rooster”
1925 - “Baptism by turning”
1925 - “Steel Throat”
1925 - “Blizzard”
1925 - “Egyptian Darkness”
1925 - “The Missing Eye”
1925 - “Star Rash”
1925 - “La Boheme”
1925 - “Holiday with Syphilis”
1926 - “The Story of Diamonds”
1926 - “I Killed”
1926 - “Morphine”
1926 - “Treatise on Housing”
1926 - “Psalm”
1926 - “Four Portraits”
1926 - “Moonshine Lake”

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov. Born May 3 (May 15), 1891 in Kyiv, Russian Empire - died March 10, 1940 in Moscow. Russian and Soviet writer, playwright, theater director and actor.

Mikhail Bulgakov was born on May 3 (15), 1891 in the family of an associate professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy at 28 Vozdvizhenskaya Street in Kyiv.

Father - Afanasy Ivanovich Bulgakov (1859-1907), Russian theologian and church historian.

Mother - Varvara Mikhailovna Bulgakova (nee Pokrovskaya; 1869-1922).

Sister - Vera Afanasyevna Bulgakova (1892-1972), married to Davydov.

Sister - Nadezhda Afanasyevna Bulgakova (1893-1971), married Zemskaya.

Sister - Varvara Afanasyevna Bulgakova (1895-1956), prototype of the character Elena Turbina-Talberg in the novel “The White Guard”.

Brother - Nikolai Afanasyevich Bulgakov (1898-1966), Russian scientist, biologist, bacteriologist, Ph.D.

Brother - Ivan Afanasyevich Bulgakov (1900-1969), balalaika musician, in exile since 1921, first in Varna, then in Paris.

Sister - Elena Afanasyevna Bulgakova (1902-1954), prototype of the “blue eyes” in V. Kataev’s story “My Diamond Crown”.

Uncle - Nikolai Ivanovich Bulgakov, taught at the Tiflis Theological Seminary.

Niece - Elena Andreevna Zemskaya (1926-2012), famous Russian linguist, researcher of Russian colloquial speech.

In 1909, Mikhail Bulgakov graduated from the First Kyiv Gymnasium and entered the medical faculty of Kyiv University. The choice of becoming a doctor was explained by the fact that both mother’s brothers, Nikolai and Mikhail Pokrovsky, were doctors, one in Moscow, the other in Warsaw, both earned good money. Mikhail, a therapist, was Patriarch Tikhon’s doctor, Nikolai, a gynecologist, had an excellent practice in Moscow. Bulgakov studied at the university for 7 years - having been exempted for health reasons (kidney failure), he submitted a report to serve as a doctor in the navy and, after the refusal of the medical commission, asked to be sent as a Red Cross volunteer to the hospital.

On October 31, 1916, he received a diploma confirming “the degree of doctor with honors with all the rights and benefits assigned to this degree by the laws of the Russian Empire.”

In 1913, M. Bulgakov married Tatyana Lappa (1892-1982). Financial difficulties began on the wedding day. This can be seen in Tatyana Nikolaevna’s memoirs: “Of course, I didn’t have any veil, nor a wedding dress - I had to do with all the money that my father sent. Mom came to the wedding and was horrified. I had a pleated linen skirt, my mother bought a blouse. We were married by Fr. Alexander. ...For some reason they laughed terribly at the altar. We rode home in a carriage. There were few guests. I remember there were a lot of flowers, most of all daffodils...” Tatyana's father sent 50 rubles a month, a decent amount at that time. But the money quickly disappeared: M. A. Bulgakov did not like to save and was a man of impulse. If he wanted to take a taxi with his last money, he decided to take this step without hesitation. “Mother scolded me for my frivolity. We come to her for dinner, she sees - neither my rings nor my chain. “Well, that means everything is in the pawnshop!”

After the outbreak of World War I, M. Bulgakov worked as a doctor in the front-line zone for several months. Then he was sent to work in the village of Nikolskoye, Smolensk province, after which he worked as a doctor in Vyazma.

Since 1917, M. A. Bulgakov began to use morphine, first in order to alleviate allergic reactions to the anti-diphtheria drug, which he took out of fear of diphtheria after the operation. Then the morphine intake became regular.

In December 1917, M. A. Bulgakov came to Moscow for the first time. He stayed with his uncle, the famous Moscow gynecologist N. M. Pokrovsky, who became the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky from the story “The Heart of a Dog.”

In the spring of 1918, M. A. Bulgakov returned to Kyiv, where he began private practice as a venereologist - at this time he stopped using morphine.

During the Civil War, in February 1919, M. Bulgakov was mobilized as a military doctor into the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. Then, judging by his memoirs, he was mobilized into the white Armed Forces of the South of Russia and was appointed military doctor of the 3rd Terek Cossack Regiment. In the same year, he managed to work as a doctor for the Red Cross, and then again in the white Armed Forces of the South of Russia. As part of the 3rd Terek Cossack Regiment he was in the North Caucasus. Published in newspapers (article “Future Prospects”). During the retreat of the Volunteer Army at the beginning of 1920, he was sick with typhus and therefore was forced not to leave the country. After recovery, in Vladikavkaz, his first dramatic experiments appeared - he wrote to his cousin on February 1, 1921: “I was 4 years late with what I should have started doing long ago - writing.”

At the end of September 1921, M. A. Bulgakov moved to Moscow and began collaborating as a feuilletonist with metropolitan newspapers (Gudok, Rabochiy) and magazines (Medical Worker, Rossiya, Vozrozhdenie, Red Journal for everyone"). At the same time, he published some of his works in the newspaper Nakanune, published in Berlin. From 1922 to 1926, the newspaper “Gudok” published more than 120 reports, essays and feuilletons by M. Bulgakov.

In 1923, Bulgakov joined the All-Russian Writers Union. In 1924, he met Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya (1898-1987), who had recently returned from abroad, who became his wife in 1925.

Since October 1926, the play “Days of the Turbins” was performed at the Moscow Art Theater with great success. Its production was allowed only for a year, but was later extended several times. The play attracted the attention of I. Stalin himself, who watched it more than 14 times. In his speeches, I. Stalin said that “Days of the Turbins” was “an anti-Soviet thing, and Bulgakov is not ours” and when the play was banned, Stalin ordered its return (in January 1932) and before the war it was no longer banned. However, this permission did not apply to any theater except the Moscow Art Theater. Stalin noted that the impression from the “Days of the Turbins” was ultimately positive for the communists (letter to V. Bill-Belotserkovsky, published by Stalin himself in 1949).

At the same time, intense and extremely harsh criticism of M. A. Bulgakov’s work takes place in the Soviet press. According to his own calculations, over 10 years there were 298 abusive reviews and 3 favorable ones. Among the critics were influential writers and literary officials (Mayakovsky, Bezymensky, Averbakh, Shklovsky, Kerzhentsev and others).

At the end of October 1926 at the Theater. Vakhtangov, the premiere of the play based on M. A. Bulgakov’s play “Zoyka’s Apartment” was a great success.

In 1928, M.A. Bulgakov traveled with his wife to the Caucasus, where they visited Tiflis, Batum, Cape Verde, Vladikavkaz, Gudermes. This year the premiere of the play “Crimson Island” took place in Moscow. M. A. Bulgakov came up with the idea of ​​a novel, later called “The Master and Margarita.” The writer also began work on a play about Moliere (“The Cabal of the Holy One”).

In 1929, Bulgakov met Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, who became his third and last wife in 1932.

By 1930, Bulgakov's works were no longer published, and his plays were removed from the theater repertoire. The plays “Running”, “Zoyka’s Apartment”, “Crimson Island” were banned from production; the play “Days of the Turbins” was removed from the repertoire. In 1930, Bulgakov wrote to his brother Nikolai in Paris about the unfavorable literary and theatrical situation for himself and the difficult financial situation. At the same time, he wrote a letter to the USSR Government, dated March 28, 1930, with a request to determine his fate - either to give him the right to emigrate, or to provide him with the opportunity to work at the Moscow Art Theater. On April 18, 1930, Bulgakov received a call, who recommended that the playwright apply to enroll him in the Moscow Art Theater.

In 1930 he worked as a director at the Central Theater of Working Youth (TRAM). From 1930 to 1936 - at the Moscow Art Theater as an assistant director. In 1932, the play “Dead Souls” by Nikolai Gogol, staged by Bulgakov, was staged on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater. In 1934, Bulgakov was twice denied permission to travel abroad, and in June he was admitted to the Union of Soviet Writers. In 1935, Bulgakov performed on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater as an actor - in the role of the Judge in the play “The Pickwick Club” based on Dickens. The experience of working at the Moscow Art Theater was reflected in Bulgakov’s work “Notes of a Dead Man” (“Theatrical Novel”), for which many theater employees became the material for the characters.

The play “The Cabal of the Holy One” (“Molière”) was released in February 1936, after almost five years of rehearsals. Although E. S. Bulgakova noted that the premiere on February 16 was a huge success, after seven performances the production was banned, and Pravda published a devastating article about this “false, reactionary and worthless” play. After the article in Pravda, Bulgakov left the Moscow Art Theater and began working at the Bolshoi Theater as a librettist and translator. In 1937, M. Bulgakov worked on the libretto of “Minin and Pozharsky” and “Peter I”. He was friends with Isaac Dunaevsky.

In 1939, M. A. Bulgakov worked on the libretto “Rachel”, as well as on a play about I. Stalin (“Batum”). The play was already being prepared for production, and Bulgakov with his wife and colleagues went to Georgia to work on the play, when a telegram arrived about the cancellation of the play: Stalin considered it inappropriate to stage a play about himself.

From that moment (according to the memoirs of E. S. Bulgakova, V. Vilenkin and others), M. Bulgakov’s health began to deteriorate sharply, he began to lose his sight. Doctors diagnosed Bulgakov with hypertensive nephrosclerosis enru - a hereditary kidney disease. Bulgakov continued to use morphine, prescribed to him in 1924, to relieve pain symptoms.

During the same period, the writer began to dictate to his wife the latest version of the novel “The Master and Margarita.”

Before the war, two Soviet theaters staged performances based on M. A. Bulgakov’s play “Don Quixote.”

Since February 1940, friends and relatives were constantly on duty at M. Bulgakov’s bedside. On March 10, 1940, Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov died. On March 11, a civil memorial service took place in the building of the Union of Soviet Writers.

Before the funeral service, Moscow sculptor S. D. Merkurov removed the death mask from M. Bulgakov’s face.

M. Bulgakov was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery. At his grave, at the request of his widow E. S. Bulgakova, a stone was installed, nicknamed “Golgotha,” which previously lay on the grave.

Bulgakov treated him with respect. Once, at the name day of the wife of the playwright Trenev, his neighbor in the writer’s house, Bulgakov and Pasternak found themselves at the same table. Pasternak read his translations of poems from Georgian with a special aspiration. After the first toast to the hostess, Pasternak announced: “I want to drink to Bulgakov!” In response to the objection of the birthday girl-hostess: “No, no! Now we’ll drink to Vikenty Vikentyevich, and then to Bulgakov!” - Pasternak exclaimed: “No, I want for Bulgakov!” Veresaev, of course, is a very big man, but he is a legitimate phenomenon. And Bulgakov is illegal!”

After the writer’s death, she wrote the poem “In Memory of M. A. Bulgakov” (March 1940).

Michael Bulgakov. Romance with a secret

Personal life of Mikhail Bulgakov:

First wife - Tatyana Nikolaevna Lappa (1892-1982), first wife, the main prototype of the character Anna Kirillovna in the story “Morphine”. They were married in the period 1913-1924.

Tatyana Lappa - the first wife of Mikhail Bulgakov

Second wife - Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya (1895-1987). They were married in 1925-1931.

Lyubov Belozerskaya - the second wife of Mikhail Bulgakov

Third wife - Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya (1893-1970). They got married in 1932. She was the main prototype of the character Margarita in the novel The Master and Margarita. After the death of the writer, she is the custodian of his literary heritage.

Stories and novels by Mikhail Bulgakov:

“The Adventures of Chichikov” (poem in 10 paragraphs with a prologue and epilogue, October 5, 1922)
"The White Guard" (novel, 1922-1924)
“Diaboliada” (story, 1923)
“Notes on Cuffs” (story, 1923)
"The Crimson Island" (story, published in Berlin in 1924)
“Fatal Eggs” (story, 1924)
“Heart of a Dog” (story, 1925, published in the USSR in 1987)
"Great Chancellor. Prince of Darkness" (part of the draft version of the novel "The Master and Margarita", 1928-1929)
"The Engineer's Hoof" (novel, 1928-1929)
“To a Secret Friend” (unfinished story, 1929, published in the USSR in 1987)
“The Master and Margarita” (novel, 1929-1940, published in the USSR in 1966-1967, second version in 1973, final version in 1990)
“The Life of Monsieur de Molière” (novel, 1933, published in the USSR in 1962)
“Theatrical Novel” (“Notes of a Dead Man”) (unfinished novel (1936-1937), published in the USSR in 1965).

Plays, librettos, film scripts by Mikhail Bulgakov:

“Zoyka’s Apartment” (play, 1925, staged in the USSR in 1926, released in mass circulation in 1982)
“Days of the Turbins” (play based on the novel “The White Guard”, 1925, staged in the USSR in 1925, released in mass circulation in 1955)
"Running" (play, 1926-1928)
“Crimson Island” (play, 1927, published in the USSR in 1968)
“The Cabal of the Holy One” (play, 1929, (staged in the USSR in 1936), in 1931 the censor was allowed to be staged with a number of cuts called “Molière”, but even in this form the production was postponed)
“Dead Souls” (dramatization of the novel, 1930)
"Adam and Eve" (play, 1931)
“Crazy Jourdain” (play, 1932, published in the USSR in 1965)
“Bliss (the dream of engineer Rhine)” (play, 1934, published in the USSR in 1966)
“The Inspector General” (film script, 1934)
“Alexander Pushkin” (play, 1935 (published in the USSR in 1955)
“An Extraordinary Incident, or The Inspector General” (play based on the comedy by Nikolai Gogol, 1935)
“Ivan Vasilyevich” (play, 1936)
“Minin and Pozharsky” (opera libretto, 1936, published in the USSR in 1980)
“The Black Sea” (opera libretto, 1936, published in the USSR in 1988)
“Rachel” (libretto of the opera based on the story “Mademoiselle Fifi” by Guy de Maupassant, 1937-1939, published in the USSR in 1988)
“Batum” (a play about the youth of I.V. Stalin, original title “Shepherd”, 1939, published in the USSR in 1988)
“Don Quixote” (libretto of the opera based on the novel by Miguel de Cervantes, 1939).

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov- Russian writer and playwright. Author of novels, stories, collections of stories, feuilletons and about two dozen plays.

Mikhail Bulgakov was born in Kyiv in the family of Associate Professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy Afanasy Ivanovich Bulgakov (1859-1907) and his wife Varvara Mikhailovna (nee Pokrovskaya). In 1909 he graduated from the Kyiv First Gymnasium and entered the medical faculty of Kyiv University. In 1916, he received a medical diploma and was sent to work in the village of Nikolskoye, Smolensk province, then worked as a doctor in the city of Vyazma. In 1915, Bulgakov entered into his first marriage - with Tatyana Lappa. During the civil war in February 1919, Bulgakov was mobilized as a military doctor into the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, but almost immediately deserted. In the same year he managed to become a doctor of the Red Cross, and then in the White Guard Armed Forces of the South of Russia. He spends some time with Cossack troops in Chechnya, then in Vladikavkaz. At the end of September 1921, Bulgakov moved to Moscow and began collaborating as a feuilletonist with metropolitan newspapers (Gudok, Rabochiy) and magazines (Medical Worker, Rossiya, Vozrozhdenie). At the same time, he published individual works in the newspaper "Nakanune", published in Berlin. From 1922 to 1926, more than 120 reports, essays and feuilletons by Bulgakov were published in Gudka. In 1923, Bulgakov joined the All-Russian Writers' Union. In 1924, he met Lyubov Evgenievna Belozerskaya, who had recently returned from abroad, and who soon became his new wife. In 1928, Bulgakov travels with Lyubov Evgenievna to the Caucasus, visiting Tiflis, Batum, Cape Verde, Vladikavkaz, Gudermes. This year the premiere of the play “Crimson Island” is taking place in Moscow. Bulgakov conceived the idea of ​​a novel, later called “The Master and Margarita” (a number of researchers of Bulgakov’s work note the influence on him in the conception and writing of this novel by the Austrian writer Gustav Meyrink, in particular, one can talk about the inspiration of such novels of the latter as “Golem”, which Bulgakov read translated by D. Vygodsky, and “Green Face”). The writer also begins work on a play about Moliere (“The Cabal of the Saint”). In 1929, Bulgakov met Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, his future third wife. In 1930, Bulgakov's works ceased to be published, and plays were removed from the theater repertoire. The plays "Running", "Zoyka's Apartment", "Crimson Island" are prohibited from being staged; the play "Days of the Turbins" has been removed from the repertoire. In 1930, Bulgakov wrote to his brother Nikolai in Paris about the unfavorable literary and theatrical situation for himself and the difficult financial situation. Then he writes a letter to the USSR Government with a request to determine his fate - either to give him the right to emigrate, or to provide him with the opportunity to work at the Moscow Art Theater. Bulgakov receives a call from Joseph Stalin, who recommends that the playwright apply to enroll him in the Moscow Art Theater. In 1930, Bulgakov worked at the Central Theater of Working Youth (TRAM). From 1930 to 1936 - at the Moscow Art Theater as an assistant director, on whose stage in 1932 he staged Nikolai Gogol's "Dead Souls". Since 1936 he worked at the Bolshoi Theater as a librettist and translator. In 1936, the premiere of Bulgakov's "Moliere" took place at the Moscow Art Theater. In 1937, Bulgakov worked on the libretto of “Minin and Pozharsky” and “Peter I”. In 1939, Bulgakov worked on the libretto "Rachel", as well as on a play about Stalin ("Batum"). Contrary to the writer's expectations, the play was banned from publication and production. Bulgakov's health condition is deteriorating sharply. Doctors diagnose him with hypertensive nephrosclerosis. The writer begins to dictate to Elena Sergeevna the latest versions of the novel “The Master and Margarita”. Since February 1940, friends and relatives have been constantly on duty at the bedside of Bulgakov, who suffers from kidney disease. On March 10, 1940, Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov died. On March 11, a civil memorial service took place in the building of the Union of Soviet Writers. Before the funeral service, Moscow sculptor S.D. Merkurov removes the death mask from Bulgakov’s face.

Creation Bulgakov, in his own words, wrote his first story in 1919. 1922-1923 - publication of "Notes on Cuffs", in 1925 a collection of satirical stories "Diaboliad" was published. In 1925, the story “Fatal Eggs” and the story “Steel Throat” (the first in the series “Notes of a Young Doctor”) were also published. The writer is working on the story “Heart of a Dog”, the plays “The White Guard” and “Zoyka’s Apartment”. In 1926, the play “Days of the Turbins” was staged at the Moscow Art Theater. In 1927, Mikhail Afanasyevich completed the drama "Running". From 1926 to 1929, Bulgakov’s play “Zoyka’s Apartment” was staged at the Evgeny Vakhtangov Studio Theater; in 1928-1929, “The Crimson Island” (1928) was staged at the Moscow Chamber Theater. In 1932, the production of "Days of the Turbins" was resumed at the Moscow Art Theater. In 1934, the first complete version of the novel “The Master and Margarita” was completed, including 37 chapters.

Major works* Future prospects (article in the newspaper "Grozny") (1919) * Throat of Steel (1925) * White Guard (1922-1924) * Notes on cuffs (1923) * Blizzard (1925) * Star Rash (1925) * Zoyka's apartment ( 1925), published in the USSR in 1982 * Cabal of the Holy One (1929) * Baptism by Turning (1925) * Fatal Eggs (1924) * Towel with a Rooster (1925) * The Missing Eye (1925) * Egyptian Darkness (1925) * Heart of a Dog (1925), published in the USSR in 1987 * Morphine (1926) * Treatise on housing. Storybook. (1926) * Running (1926-1928) * Crimson Island (1927) * The Master and Margarita (1928-1940), published in 1966-67. * Bliss (The Dream of Engineer Rhine) (1934) * Ivan Vasilyevich (1936) * Moliere (The Cabal of the Holy One), post. 1936) * Notes of a Dead Man (Theatrical novel) (1936-1937), published in 1966 * Last days ("Pushkin", 1940)

Bulgakov Encyclopedia: http://www.bulgakov.ru/ Moscow State Bulgakov Museum: http://www.bulgakovmuseum.ru/ Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia