Ма́стер и Маргари́та

The Master and Margarita
By Mikhail Bulgakov

One of the greatest novels of the 20th Century. I kept coming across refrences to this novel lately, and decided it was high time that I read it. Although there is much criticism concerning some of the translations, I believe the newest translation, by Pevear and Volokhonsky published by Penguin (Link) is one of the best. As soon as I started reading this fantastic novel, I knew it would live up to the hype, and I would read it more than once.

Set in then modern Russia (early 20th Century) and in the Holy Land at the time of Yeshua, Bulgakov paints a picture of the Devil as not so much a hideous looking monster, but an erudite man of the world, impeccably dressed but still just as evil as one would expect. The cast of characters includes a bow tie wearing, chess playing, vodka loving, pistol toting, black cat named Behemoth.

Incidentally, this was the novel that inspired Mick Jagger to write the Rolling Stones classic, Sympathy for the Devil. This is Russian literature at it's best.

I cannot recommend it enough.

Xu Bing's new installation: When words take flight

 By Dan Bischoff/For The Star-Ledger

NEW YORK — Xu Bing is a quiet man behind owlish glasses who has the fugitive stoop of a scholar, and his entire career as an international artist has always been intertwined with the written word.

 

The big glass cube Renzo Piano designed for the lobby of the Morgan Library & Museum is, therefore, kind of perfect for Xu. It looks like a zoo aviary, and in that space, from floor to ceiling, Xu has traced the shape of the Chinese character for “bird” across time like a flock rising from a flat lake, each reiteration hanging on scores of tiny, glittering monofilaments.