M. Bulgakov, 1923, "I am writing a novel, and, let me assure you; it will be a novel, which will produce a heat wave in Heavens..."
M. Bulgakov, 1924, "I have been writing "White Guard" for a year. I love this novel more then any of my other things."
M. Bulgakov, 1925, "It would be an awful shame if I am mistaken, and "White Guard" is not a powerful thing."
The White Guard is less famous than Mikhail Bulgakov's comic hit, The Master and Margarita, but it is a lovely book, though completely different in tone. It is set in Kiev during the Russian revolution and tells a story about the war's effect on a middle-class family (not workers). The story was not politically correct and thereby contributed to Bulgakov's lifelong troubles with the Soviet authorities. It was, however, well-loved, and the novel was turned into a successful play at the time of its publication in 1967. |
