While working on his novel in 1937-1939, Bulgakov sometimes believed in the possibility of the publication, but at other times didn't dream of ever seeing it in print. In summer 1938, when the manuscript was finished, the author lost all hope. "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", wrote Bulgakov from Moscow to his wife on June 15 1938, "'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..." * (translator's bold) Over thirty years has passed when on November 22 1969, Yelena Bulgakova has told us how with an almost ritual attention to detail Bulgakov has organized the reading.. "He divided it into four evenings.. All arrived exactly 7:30pm. Sat in his office in half-circle, like in the theatre. He sat at his desk, lighted candles. Read. When he finished reading, the dinner table had to be perfectly set. 'Well, now a shot of vodka', he would say, rubbing hands. Nobody was allowed to talk about the novel; everyone was barely able to stay silent... He wrote the Conclusion on the fourth evening.. When he finally finished reading that night, he said: 'Well, tomorrow I am taking the novel to the publisher!' and everyone was silent". There were such sharp differences between the novel and the books in print [in Soviet Union] at the time - the bible chapters, the character possessing inhumanly powers.. - that at first the readers were in shock. It was hard to listen when in the back of their minds was the thought of what was going to happen to such a novel, and to its author... As if he already knew the future readers' reaction, Bulgakov, in 1934, when working on the first version of the manuscript, included in the story Master tells Ivan an admission of how the author tried to read his novel "to some people, but even half of it wasn't understood". In the end of the reading the panic Bulgakov's friends felt overpowered their admiration of this rare and bright literary phenomena. "At times the strain became too much", honestly wrote V. Vilenkin, "I remember when he finished reading, we were silent for a long time, and felt overwhelmed and bruised. And it was quite a while before I understood the philosophical and moral implications of this incredible work..." May 14, 1939 Yelena Bulgakova wrote in her diary, "When he read the last chapters, everyone sat paralyzed. Everything scared them. P. (P. A. Markov, in charge of the literature division of MHAT) later at the door fearfully tried to explain to me that trying to publish the novel would cause terrible things". Bulgakov watched all this with a sad and slightly amused air ("My own judgement of the book is already made.."). In the sixties, after Stalin's death, a lot of the literary works previously banned were published. Master and Margarita was first published in 1967 in number 11 of Moscow magazine. The readers experienced a sharp feeling of loss, which stems from the conclusion of the novel. Every line speaks with Bulgakov's voice, "You will be reading these pages when I will no longer be among you; you will look for me, but you will not find me". Marietta Chudakova Webmaster's Translation * Due to the political climate of the 1930s & 40s Soviet Union, Bulgakov would have faced ostracism, work camps and maybe even death had he attempted to publish Master and Margarita.