The Diary of a Dead Man

Description

Bulgakov soon moved to Moscow, the capital, which had become a magnet for writers from all over the country. Numerous literary circles formed, and private publishing houses and bookstores opened. Thanks to his persistence, he managed to establish himself in a new profession in a hungry and cold Moscow in 1921. He began publishing in the newspaper “Godok,” collaborated with the editorial staff of “Nakanuni” in Berlin, and frequented creative circles, forging literary friendships. He considered his work at the newspaper meaningless, but he was compelled to earn a living. He wrote, “I have lived three lives…” The Arabic reader will encounter this sentence within the context of this unfinished novel we are presenting.

In his columns in Nakanuny, Bulgakov satirized official slogans and journalistic conventions. It was in this newspaper that his two works, *Adventures of an Extraordinary Doctor* (1922) and *Notes on Sleeves* (1922-1923), were published. In the former, he depicted the rapidly shifting authorities and armies, his descriptions imbued with an undisguised disgust. His protagonist rejected the ideologies of both the Whites and the Reds. However, the writer’s courage grew with each successive work, and he began to dare to offer outright criticism.

Mikhail Bulgakov’s most important work is *The Master and Margarita*, which brought him international fame, albeit posthumously. His third wife, Elena Sergeyevna Bulgakova, had vowed to publish the novel.