Red Book Group: The Master and Margarita

This month’s book for the Red Book Club is The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (YMCA Press, 1967). The novel centres around a visit by the devil and his entourage to the Soviet Union. The devil, manifested as one Professor Woland, challenges the Soviet citizens' beliefs towards religion and condemns their behaviour throughout the book.

Described as “almost surrealist", this book defies classification into one genre. It variably touches on themes of the cult of personality, atheism, corruption, love, prophecy and the struggle between good and evil. The human experience is captured in this book, and causes as much debate when read now as when it was first published as samizdat in the 1960s.

The Red Book Group is a book club which explores political themes through works of fiction. We meet roughly every month at the iCafe on Ingram Street, Glasgow. To find out more, go to: http://www.penscotland.com/red-book-club.

Although we do not charge for attending any of our events, we do appreciate a small donation towards the costs of hiring the room. Alternatively, feel free to become a member of PEN Scotland.