Hacker News Reader

Comment by kidintech | Hacker News Reader

A lot of friends that I respect and people on HN recommended "Master and margarita". I have only got back into reading ~4 years ago, so I haven't gone through all the great literature, but this felt different right after its midway point (starting with Satan's ball). My advice is to look for a translation with plenty of footnotes, because historical context plays a big part.

It's different to anything I've ever read, and definitely stays with you.

View on HN

The burgin and o’connor translation is by far the most excellent english version.

chapter end-notes that tell you all the soviet jokes you missed.

wow, that sounds worthy of a re-read in english just for that. thanks!

just in case there are other Romanians around, the best translation I've found is the one by Antoaneta Olteanu (from Corint).

Any familiarity with the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation? It's the only one available at my library, but if the Burgin/O'Connor translation is truly superior I'll just get it on Amazon.

my russian relatives and peers swear up and down that the burgin is the only one that’s even close to accurate in tone. So it’s the only one i've read.

there’s a kindle version too.

it's a fantastic book, philosophical and silly, beautiful and funny and sad, & arguably made more moving by the fact that bulgakov left it in a drawer when he died, broke and obscure. it's one of my all time favorite books and perfect for rn. sidenote, here's a pretty (non-spoiler-y) animation that someone made about it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BrA-XHXZ07E

Reply on news.ycombinator.com