Editing Mikhail Bulgakov (section)

==Life and work==
===Early life===
[[File:Bulgakov House Moscow (3).jpg|thumb|Bulgakov House in Moscow. Bulgakov's novel ''Master and Margarita'' was written here.]]
Mikhail Bulgakov was born on {{OldStyleDate|15 May|1891|3 May}} in [[Kiev]], [[Kiev Governorate]] of the [[Russian Empire]], at 28 Vozdvishenskaya Street, into a Russian family, and baptized on {{OldStyleDate|18 May|1891|6 May}}.{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=4}} He was the oldest of the seven children of {{ill|Afanasiy Bulgakov|ru|Булгаков, Афанасий Иванович}}{{snd}} a [[Table of Ranks|state councilor]], a professor at the [[Kiev Theological Academy]], as well as a prominent Russian [[Eastern Orthodox Christianity|Orthodox]] essayist, thinker and translator of religious texts. His mother was Varvara Mikhailovna Bulgakova (''nee'' Pokrovskaya), a former teacher at a women's gymnasium.{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|pp=6{{ndash}}7}}{{sfn|Bulgakova|Lyandres|1988|p=42}} The academician [[Nikolai Petrov (academician)|Nikolai Petrov]] was his godfather,{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=9}} while his godmother was his paternal grandmother, Olympiada.{{sfn|Chudakova|2023|p=32}}

Afanasiy Bulgakov (1859 - 1907) was born in [[Oryol]], [[Oryol Governorate]], the oldest son of Ivan Abramovich Bulgakov, a priest, and  his wife Olympiada Ferapontovna.{{sfn|Chudakova|2023|pp=31{{ndash}}32}}{{sfn|Bulgakova|Lyandres|1988|p=41}} He first studied in a seminary in Oryol, and then studied in Kiev Theological Academy from 1881 to 1885, and was named a docent of the Academy in 1886.{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|pp=5{{ndash}}6}} Varvara Bulgakova (1869 - 1922) was born in [[Karachev]]; her father, Mikhail Pokrovsky, was a [[protoiereus]].{{sfn|Chudakova|2023|pp=31-32}}{{sfn|Bulgakova|Lyandres|1988|p=42}} According to Edythe C. Haber, in his "autobiographical remarks" Bulgakov stated that she was a descendant of [[Tartary|Tartar]] hordes, which supposedly influenced some of his works.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Haber |first1=Edythe C. |title=Mikhail Bulgakov: The Early Years |date=1998 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=70 |isbn=978-0-674-57418-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aAYOu62zcVUC&q=tartar |access-date=19 June 2024}}</ref> Afanasiy and Varvara married in 1890.{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=6}} Their other children were Vera (b. 1892), Nadezhda (b. 1893), Varvara (b. 1895), Nikolai (b. 1898), Ivan (b. 1900), and Yelena (b. 1902).{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=7}}  

All the children received a good education; they read the classics of Russian and European literature, studied music, and went to concerts. Mikhail played piano, sang baritone, and enjoyed opera. In particular, he enjoyed ''[[Faust (opera)|Faust]]'' by [[Gounod]]; according to his sister Nadezhda, he attended showings of ''Faust'' at least 40 times.{{sfn|Curtis|2019|pp=1{{ndash}}2}} At home, Mikhail and his siblings acted out plays that they enjoyed; the family also had a [[dacha]] in [[Bucha, Ukraine|Bucha]].{{sfn|Chudakova|2023|pp=32{{ndash}}33}}{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=17}}

In 1901, Bulgakov joined the First Kiev Gymnasium, where he developed an interest in [[Russian literature|Russian]] and [[European literature]] (his favourite authors at the time being [[Nikolay Gogol|Gogol]], [[Aleksander Pushkin|Pushkin]], [[Fyodor Dostoevsky|Dostoyevsky]], [[Saltykov-Shchedrin]], and [[Charles Dickens|Dickens]]), theatre and opera. The teachers of the Gymnasium exerted a great influence on the formation of his literary taste. After the death of his father in 1907, Mikhail's mother, a well-educated and extraordinarily diligent person, assumed responsibility for his education. After graduation from the Gymnasium in 1909,<ref name="timeline">{{cite web| url =http://www.m-a-bulgakov.ru/hronika.html| title =Bulgakov timeline /Краткая хроника жизни и творчества М.А.Булгакова| publisher =www.m-a-bulgakov.ru| access-date =10 October 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20111009010439/http://www.m-a-bulgakov.ru/hronika.html| archive-date =9 October 2011}}</ref> Bulgakov entered the Medical Faculty of [[Kiev University]].

In the summer of 1908, Bulgakov met Tatiana Lappa. Lappa, who lived in Saratov, had arrived in Kiev to visit her relatives; her aunt was a friend of Varvara Bulgakova and thus introduced her to the young Bulgakov.{{sfn|Chudakova|2023|pp=55{{ndash}}56}}{{sfn|Bulgakova|Lyandres|1988|p=109}} In 1909, Bulgakov began to study medicine at the Kiev University. In 1912, Lappa arrived in Kiev to study. The two married in April 1913.{{sfn|Chudakova|2023|p=64}}

Bulgakov was staying with Lappa's parents in [[Saratov]] at the outbreak of the [[First World War]]. Her mother opened a field hospital for wounded soldiers, where Bulgakov worked as a doctor.{{sfn|Chudakova|2023|p=68}}{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=27}}{{sfn|Bulgakova|Lyandres|1988|p=112}} The couple returned to Kiev in the autumn.{{sfn|Chudakova|2023|p=68}} In 1916, Bulgakov graduated from the university, after which he volunteered for the [[Red Cross]].{{sfn|Chudakova|2023|p=71}} His wife volunteered as a nurse.{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=27}} He first worked in [[Kamianets-Podilskyi]], then he was transferred to [[Chernivtsi]] in the same year.{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=28}}{{sfn|Chudakova|2023|pp=71{{ndash}}72}}<ref name="congress">{{cite web| author = Katherine Konchakovska and Bohdan Yasinsky| year = 1998| url = https://www.loc.gov/rr/european/bulgaklc.html| title = Mikhail Bulgakov in the Western World: A Bibliography| publisher = Library of Congress| access-date = 10 October 2011| archive-date = 26 September 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110926205804/http://www.loc.gov/rr/european/bulgaklc.html| url-status = live}}</ref> In September of that year he was transferred to Moscow; and then to the village of Nikolskoye in the [[Smolensk Oblast]].{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=28}}{{sfn|Bulgakova|Lyandres|1988|p=112}} The time he spent working as a doctor would be the inspiration for his short story cycle, ''[[A Young Doctor's Notebook]]'' and his short story, ''Morphine''.{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=28{{ndash}}29}} ''Morphine'' is based on the author's actual addiction to [[morphine]], which he started taking to alleviate the allergic effects of an anti-[[diphtheria]] drug, after accidentally infecting himself with the disease while treating a child with the same condition. While visiting Kiev with his wife, they received advice from Bulgakov's stepfather on countering his addiction in the form of injecting distilled water instead of morphine, which gradually helped Bulgakov to end his addiction.<ref name="criticallives">{{cite book |last1=Curtis |first1=J.A.E. |title=Critical Lives: Mikhail Bulgakov |date=2017 |publisher=Reaktion Books |location=United Kingdom |isbn=978-1-78023-741-1 }}</ref>{{rp|pp=22{{ndash}}25}}

In the autumn of 1917 he was transferred to the town of [[Vyazma]], but left for Moscow in either November or December of that year in an unsuccessful attempt to gain a military discharge.{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|pp=29{{ndash}}30}} After briefly visiting Lappa's parents in [[Saratov]], they returned to Kiev in February 1918.{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|pp=30{{ndash}}31}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chudakova |first1=Marietta |title=Mikhail Bulgakov: the Life and Times |date=2019 |publisher=Glagoslav Publications |isbn=978-1-78437-981-0 |pages=74–79}}</ref> Upon returning Bulgakov opened a private practice at his home at Andreyevsky Descent, 13.{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=32}} Here he lived through the [[Russian Civil War|Civil War]] and witnessed ten coups. Successive governments drafted the young doctor into their service while two of his brothers were serving in the [[White Army]] against the Bolsheviks.

In 1919, he was mobilised as an army physician by the [[White Army]].{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|pp=46{{ndash}}48}} In September 1919, Bulgakov was in [[Grozny]] with his wife.{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=49}} While there, he observed the fighting between the forces of [[Anton Denikin]] and [[Uzun-Hajji]] in the city of [[Chechen-Aul]]; this became part of one of his earliest works, "Unusual Adventures" ({{langx|ru|Необыкновенные приключения}}).{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|pp=50{{ndash}}56}} There, he became seriously ill with [[typhus]] and barely survived.<ref name="congress"/><ref>Vilensky, Yu, G., Bulgakov's doctor (1991) T. I. Borisova (ed.) Kiev. Zdorovie. pp. 99–103. {{ISBN|5-311-00639-0}}</ref> In the Caucasus, he started working as a journalist, but when he and others were invited to return as doctors by the French and German governments, Bulgakov was refused permission to leave Russia because of the typhus. That was when he last saw his family; after the Civil War and the rise of the Soviets most of his relatives emigrated to Paris.

===Career===
Bulgakov had expressed his desire to be a writer as early as 1912 or 1913, when he showed his sister Nadezhda his first attempt at a story, called ''The Fiery Serpent'' ({{langx|ru|Огненный змий}}), about an alcoholic who dies in a fit of [[delirium tremens]], and stated to her that he planned to be a writer.{{sfn|Chudakova|2023|p=60}}{{sfn|Bulgakova|Lyandres|1988|p=114}} According to his first wife, he first began to consistently write in [[Vyazma]], where at nights he would work on a story called ''The Green Serpent'' ({{langx|ru|Зеленый змий}}).{{sfn|Bulgakova|Lyandres|1988|p=114}}

After his illness, Bulgakov abandoned his medical practice to pursue writing. Bulgakov in his autobiography wrote that he abandoned medicine for writing in early 1920; according to his friend {{ill|Pavel Popov|ru|Попов, Павел Сергеевич}}, Bulgakov abandoned medicine for good on 15 February 1920. At this time, he was in [[Vladikavkaz]].{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=57}} His first book was an [[almanac]] of [[feuilleton]]s called ''Future Perspectives'', written and published the same year. He wrote and saw his first two plays, ''Self Defence'' and ''The Turbin Brothers'', being produced for the city theater stage with great success.<ref name="timeline"/><ref name="congress"/>

[[File:Bulgakov1910s.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Bulgakov in 1916]]

After travelling through the Caucasus, Bulgakov headed for Moscow, intending "to remain here forever". It was difficult to find work in the capital, but he was appointed secretary to the literary section of Glavpolitprosvet (Central Committee of the Republic for Political Education).<ref name="congress"/> In September 1921, Bulgakov and his wife settled near [[Patriarshy Ponds|Patriarch's Ponds]], on [[Bulgakov House (Moscow)|Bolshaya Sadovaya street, 10]]. To make a living, he started working as a correspondent and [[feuilletons]] writer for the newspapers ''Gudok'', ''Krasnaia Panorama'' and ''Nakanune'', based in Berlin.<ref name="congress"/> For the [[Nedra almanac]], he wrote  ''[[Diaboliad]]'', ''[[The Fatal Eggs]]'' (1924), and ''[[Heart of a Dog]]'' (was forbidden to publish), works that combined bitter satire and elements of science fiction and were concerned with the fate of a scientist and the misuse of his discovery.

Between 1922 and 1926, Bulgakov wrote several plays (including ''[[Zoyka's Apartment]]''), none of which were allowed production at the time.<ref name="timeline"/> ''[[Flight (play)|The Run]]'', treating the horrors of a fratricidal war, was personally banned by [[Joseph Stalin]] after the Glavrepertkom (Department of Repertoire) decided that it "glorified emigration and [[White movement|White]] generals".<ref name="congress"/> In the spring of 1924, Bulgakov divorced Tatyana Lappa.{{sfn|Yanovskaya|1983|p=45}} The next year, he married Lyubov Belozerskaya.

When one of Moscow's theatre directors severely criticised Bulgakov, Stalin personally protected him, saying that a writer of Bulgakov's quality was above "party words" like "left" and "right".<ref>[[Simon Sebag Montefiore]], p. 110. swedish edition of ''Stalin: The Red Tsar and His Court''.</ref> Stalin found work for the playwright at a small Moscow theatre, and next the [[Moscow Art Theatre]] (MAT). Bulgakov's first major work was the novel ''[[The White Guard]]'' (Belaya gvardiya [Белая гвардия]), serialized in 1925 but never published in book form.<ref name="Bulgakov's_first_work_britannika">[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mikhail-Bulgakov Mikhail Bulgakov's biography on britannica] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210402174117/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mikhail-Bulgakov |date=2 April 2021 }} Bulgakov's first work was Belaya gvardiya (The White Guard)</ref> 
On 5 October 1926, ''[[The Days of the Turbins]]'', the play which continued the theme of ''The White Guard'' (the fate of Russian intellectuals and officers of the Tsarist Army caught up in revolution and Civil war) was premiered at the MAT.<ref name="timeline"/> Stalin liked it very much and reportedly saw it at least 15 times.<ref name="StalinTheDaysoftheTurbins_chayka_org"/><ref name="stalin-s-secret-love-affair-with-the-white-guard_standard_co_uk"/>

His plays ''[[Ivan Vasilievich (play)|Ivan Vasilievich]]'' (Иван Васильевич), ''Don Quixote'' (Дон Кихот) and ''Last Days'' (Последние дни [Poslednie Dni], also called ''Pushkin'') were banned. The premier of another, [[The Cabal of Hypocrites|''Moliėre'' (also known as ''The Cabal of Hypocrites'')]], about the [[Molière|French dramatist]] in which Bulgakov plunged "into fairy Paris of the XVII century", received bad reviews in ''[[Pravda]]'' and the play was withdrawn from the theater repertoire.<ref name="congress"/> In 1928, ''Zoyka's Apartment'' and ''The Purple Island'' were staged in Moscow; both comedies were accepted by the public with great enthusiasm, but critics again gave them bad reviews.<ref name="congress"/> By March 1929, Bulgakov's career was ruined when  Government censorship stopped the publication of any of his work and his plays.<ref name="timeline"/>

In despair, Bulgakov first wrote a personal letter to Joseph Stalin (July 1929), then on 28 March 1930, a letter to the Soviet government.<ref name="letter">{{cite web| url  =http://lib.ru/BULGAKOW/b_letter.txt| script-title  =ru:Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков. Письмо правительству СССР| publisher  =lib.ru/Новый мир, 1987, N8.| access-date  =10 October 2011| language  =ru| archive-date  =31 October 2019| archive-url  =https://web.archive.org/web/20191031233327/http://lib.ru/BULGAKOW/b_letter.txt| url-status  =live}}</ref> He requested permission to emigrate if the Soviet Union could not find use for him as a writer.<ref name="congress"/> In his autobiography, Bulgakov claimed to have written to Stalin out of desperation and mental anguish, never intending to post the letter. He received a phone call directly from the Soviet leader, who asked the writer whether he really desired to leave the Soviet Union. Bulgakov replied that a Russian writer cannot live outside of his homeland. Stalin gave him permission to continue working at the Art Theater; on 10 May 1930,<ref name="timeline"/> he re-joined the theater, as stage director's assistant. Later he adapted [[Gogol]]'s ''[[Dead Souls]]'' for stage.

In 1932, Bulgakov married for the third time, to Yelena Shilovskaya, who would prove to be inspiration for the character Margarita in ''The Master and Margarita'', which he started working on in 1928.<ref name="congress"/>  During the last decade of his life, Bulgakov continued to work on ''The Master and Margarita'', wrote plays, critical works, and stories and made several translations and dramatisations of novels. Many of them were not published, others were "torn to pieces" by critics. Much of his work (ridiculing the Soviet system) stayed in his desk drawer for several decades. The refusal of the authorities to let him work in the theatre and his desire to see his family who were living abroad, whom he had not seen for many years, led him to seek drastic measures{{Clarify|date=February 2011}}. Despite his new work, the projects he worked on at the theatre were often prohibited, and he was stressed and unhappy.

===Last years===
In the late 1930s, he joined the [[Bolshoi Theatre]] as a [[librettist]] and consultant. He left after perceiving that none of his works would be produced there. Stalin's favor protected Bulgakov from arrests and execution, but he could not get his writing published. His novels and dramas were subsequently banned and, for the second time, Bulgakov's career as playwright was ruined. When his last play ''Batum'' (1939), a complimentary portrayal of Stalin's early revolutionary days,<ref name="az_lib_batum">{{cite web |url=http://lib.ru/BULGAKOW/batum.txt |title=Батум. Комментарии |publisher=lib.ru |access-date=10 October 2011 |archive-date=12 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112122007/http://lib.ru/BULGAKOW/batum.txt |url-status=live }}</ref> was banned before rehearsals, Bulgakov requested permission to leave the country but was refused.

[[File:Bulgakov Grave April 2015.jpg|thumb|upright|Gravestone of Mikhail Bulgakov and [[Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova|Elena Bulgakova]]]]

In poor health, Bulgakov devoted his last years to what he called his "sunset" novel. The years 1937 to 1939 were stressful for Bulgakov, veering from glimpses of optimism, believing the publication of his masterpiece could still be possible, to bouts of depression, when he felt as if there were no hope. On 15 June 1938, when the manuscript was nearly finished, Bulgakov wrote in a letter to his wife:
<blockquote>"In front of me 327 pages of the manuscript (about 22 chapters). The most important remains – editing, and it's going to be hard, I will have to pay close attention to details. Maybe even re-write some things... 'What's its future?' you ask? I don't know. Possibly, you will store the manuscript in one of the drawers, next to my 'killed' plays, and occasionally it will be in your thoughts. Then again, you don't know the future. My own judgement of the book is already made and I think it truly deserves being hidden away in the darkness of some chest..."</blockquote>

In 1939, Bulgakov organized a private reading of ''The Master and Margarita'' to his close circle of friends. [[Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova|Elena Bulgakova]] remembered 30 years later, "When he finally finished reading that night, he said: 'Well, tomorrow I am taking the novel to the publisher!' and everyone was silent", "...Everyone sat paralyzed. Everything scared them. P. (P. A. Markov, in charge of the literature division of MAT) later at the door fearfully tried to explain to me that trying to publish the novel would cause terrible things", she wrote in her diary (14 May 1939).

In the last month of his life, friends and relatives were constantly on duty at his bedside. On 10 March 1940, Bulgakov died from [[nephrotic syndrome]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zilberstein|first1=Gleb|last2=Maor|first2=Uriel|last3=Baskin|first3=Emmanuil|last4=D'Amato|first4=Alfonsina|last5=Righetti|first5=Pier Giorgio|title=Unearthing Bulgakov's trace proteome from the Master i Margarita manuscript|journal=Journal of Proteomics|volume=152|pages=102–108|doi=10.1016/j.jprot.2016.10.019|pmid=27989937|year=2016}}</ref> (an inherited kidney disorder). His father had died of the same disease, and from his youth Bulgakov had guessed his future mortal diagnosis. On 11 March, a [[civil funeral]] was held in the building of the [[Union of Soviet Writers]]. Before the funeral, the Moscow sculptor [[Sergey Merkurov]] cast a [[death mask]] of his face. He was buried in the [[Novodevichy Cemetery]] in Moscow.