God, Evil, and the Saviour hermeneutics and the reconstruction of a character in Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita /
This paper reconstructs Bulgakov's interpretation of God, Evil, The Saviour, and of Man on the basis of the text of The Master and Margarita. This objective is approached in two stages. The first part of the paper examines Bulgakov's novel as a treatment of one of the most basic hermeneuti...
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| Dokumentumtípus: | Könyv része |
| Megjelent: |
1992
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| Sorozat: | Acta Universitatis Szegediensis de Attila József nominatae : papers in english and american studies
4 Papers in English and American studies : Tomus IV. - Literary theory and biblical hermeneutics : proceedings of the International Conference: "Reading Scripture - Literary Criticism and Biblical Hermeneutics", Pannonhalma, 4-6 July, 1991 4 |
| Kulcsszavak: | Orosz irodalom - regény, Orosz irodalom története - 20. sz., Regényelemzés - orosz, Hermeneutika - bibliai |
| Tárgyszavak: | |
| Online Access: | http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/68664 |
| Tartalmi kivonat: | This paper reconstructs Bulgakov's interpretation of God, Evil, The Saviour, and of Man on the basis of the text of The Master and Margarita. This objective is approached in two stages. The first part of the paper examines Bulgakov's novel as a treatment of one of the most basic hermeneutical problems, that of the authentic reconstructability of Christ's story - involving not only the genuineness of the Gospels but the possibility of a real „hermeneut". The second part of the paper interprets the main ideas of Bulgakov's „theology". Our principal thesis is that, in The Master and Margarita, Bulgakov - beginning from the phenomenology of totalitarian power - attempts to re-interpret the nature and the direction of human history and the central concepts of Christianity, and to create a world view which takes into consideration the existential situation offered by the modern period. In this sense, Bulgakov found himself in an usual, or (more precisely) an „inverted" hermeneutical situation (I am using the concept in the Gadamerian sense). Tradition as an alien body of thought does not address him, assaulting his prejudices and forcing him to interpret it. (Gadamer, op. cit., p. 212.) It is the present that confronts him with its provocative influence, assaulting his prejudices about man, humanity, art, redemption, evil, etc. The paper finds Bulgakov's image of God and man to be in close accord with Bulgakov's theories. In particular, it considers the influence of The Destiny of Man (O naznachen'ü cheloveka. Opit paradoksalnoi et'iki.) Like Berdyaev, Bulgakov considers creativety the highest value. In his interpretation, creation is of divine origin, and God's essence lies in his creativity. The creator is the ideal form of man. The , perfect hermeneut can only be the chosen artist who unifies in himself all the three forms of knowledge, religion, science, and art. Only one character's reconstruction is mentioned in the title. The reason for this is that the key to the Bulgakovian theology is clearly Woland, even if his character can only be clarified inductively and only at the end of the paper. it is his character that proves that, to Bulgakov, the devil has nothing to do with Evil. Evil is earthly power and, in its ultimate form, is embodied in the totalitarian state. It also becomes clear in examining Woland's character that there are two Saviours in The Master and Margarita. One is Jesus, reconstructed according to the ideas of Berdyaev, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky: he is the bearer of goodness and mercy, alien from judgment. The other is Woland, the principle of punishment and vengeance. He is necessary because the meek Saviour and creative God, two intellectuals, cannot free man man from captivity to power. In Woland's character, Bulgakov rehabilitates the Berdyaevian ethics of law: Jehovah, Moses, and Kant, and the Last Judgment, all of which were previously divorced from Jesus' character, are reinscribed in it. The paradox and dilemma expressed in the novel are essentially that, on the on hand, Bulgakov sees himself, his two title characters, and the majority of his contemporaries trapped in permanent frustration and despair, and desiring redemption by vengeance. On the other hand, he still elevates the principle of mercy and creativity over vengeance, without however claiming that he himself would ever be able to forgive. Having subjected the central concepts of Bulgakov's „theology" and world-view to hermeneutical reconstruction, we can declare first of all that they constitute a response to totalitarianism. The insight into totalitarianism led George Orwell to imagine a nightmare vision of dystopia. By contrast, bulgakov seeks to salvage values from beneath the ruins of the present, and to find as well a purpose and a hope for tomorrow. |
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| Terjedelem/Fizikai jellemzők: | 217-225 |
| ISSN: | 0230-2780 |