Reflecting on the reading this week I found it interesting to think about what this book would be like without the Russian setting. What exactly would the story look like without its soviet background? The black and white (and red, I suppose) background of order and protocol and social expectations really serve to create the perfect canvas for these crazy bursts of the spiritual realm and altered Bible stories and all sorts of shenanigans. While it makes for a sort of psychedelic merri-go-round of plot and character and silly social rules and black government orders, each individual element gets its own clear, distinct spotlight somehow. While the soviet setting would typically seem to so contradict the almost New Orleans type occult activity, the satirical spin Bolgokov places over the background really causes it to blend and knit in with the rest of his masterpiece.
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