Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov became one of the most widely read, discussed and remembered authors of the 20th century. His work, personal life and even death are supplemented by secrets and legends, and the novel “Master and Margarita” wrote the name of its creator in gold letters in the annals of Russian and world literature. But secrets always enveloped his person, and the question: “Why did Bulgakov make himself a death mask?” was never fully disclosed.
Hard way
Now Bulgakov’s name is well-known, but there was a time when his works were not published, and he himself was under the close supervision of the authorities and rabid party adherents. This at the same time annoyed and upset the writer, because he had to be constantly on the alert so as not to give occasion for idle conversations and claims. Bulgakov’s life was never easy - not while working as a doctor, nor as the author of theater plays, nor as a novelist. But the last imprint - the posthumous mask of Bulgakov - suggests that high society, and first of all the authorities, appreciated his talent.
Personal life
Mikhail Afanasevich was born on May 3, 1891 in Kiev in the family of a teacher of the Kiev Theological Academy. He was the oldest child. In addition to him, his parents had two brothers and four sisters. When the boy was seven, his father fell ill with nephrosclerosis and soon died.
Michael received secondary education in the best Kiev gymnasium, but was not particularly diligent. This did not stop the young man from entering the medical faculty of Imperial University. Just at that moment, the war of 1914-1918 began, and education took place in the field. At the same time, he meets his future wife, Tatyana Lappa, a fifteen-year-old girl who holds great promise. They did not put off everything in a long box, and when Bulgakov was in his second year, they got married.
World War I
This historical event did not split the measured life of the young couple. They did everything together. Tatyana went to her front-line hospitals for her husband, organized sorting and assistance centers for the injured, and actively participated in the work as a nurse and assistant. Bulgakov received his medical diploma while at the front. In March 1916, the future writer was recalled to the rear and sent to Smolensk province to head a medical center. There he began his official medical practice. You can read about it in the stories “Notes of a young doctor” and “Morphine”.
Addiction
In the summer of 1917, making a tracheotomy for a child with diphtheria, Mikhail Afanasevich decided that he could become infected, and prescribed morphine as a preventive measure to relieve itching and pain. Knowing that the medicine was highly addictive, he continued to take it and eventually turned into his permanent “patient”. His wife Tatyana Lappa did not accept this state of affairs and, together with I.P. Voskresensky, was able to rid the writer of this habit. But the medical career was over, since morphinism was considered an incurable disease. Later, already sorting out the habit, he was able to start a private practice. This was by the way, since fights were going on in Kiev and its suburbs, the power was constantly changing, and qualified medical assistance was required. This time is reflected in the novel The White Guard. There appear not only fictional characters, but also members of his family: sisters, brother, son-in-law.
North Caucasus
In the winter of 1919, Bulgakov was again mobilized as a military officer and sent to Vladikavkaz. There he settles in, calls his wife with a telegram and continues to heal. Participates in military operations, helps the local population, writes stories. Basically describes his "adventures", life in an unusual environment. In 1920, medicine was finished forever. And a new milestone began in life - journalism and the so-called small genres (stories, novels), which were published in local North Caucasian newspapers. Bulgakov wanted fame, but his wife did not share his aspirations. Then they began a mutual gap. But when a writer becomes ill with typhus, his wife nurses him, sitting day and night, by the bed. After recovering, I had to get used to the new order, since Soviet power came to Vladikavkaz.
Heavy period
The twenties of the last century were not easy for the Bulgakov family. It was necessary to earn a living by hard daily work. This greatly exhausted the writer, did not allow him to breathe calmly. During this period, he begins to write "commercial" literature, mainly plays that he himself did not like and considered unworthy to be called art. Later, he ordered them all to be burned.
The power of the Soviets tightened the regime more and more, not only the works were criticized, but also random scattered phrases that were collected by ill-wishers. Naturally, in such conditions it became difficult to live, and the couple left first to Batum, and then to Moscow.
Moscow life
The image of Bulgakov for many was associated with the heroes of his own works, which later life itself proved. Having changed several apartments, the couple stopped at a house at ul. Bolshaya Sadovaya 10, apartment number 50, immortalized in the author’s most famous novel “The Master and Margarita”. Problems started again with work, products were issued on cards in stores, and it was extremely difficult to get these treasured pieces of paper.
On February 1, 1922, Bulgakov's mother dies. This event becomes a terrible blow for him, it is especially insulting for the writer that he is not even able to go to the funeral. Two years later, there is a final break with Lappa. By the time of their divorce, Mikhail Afanasevich already had a stormy romance with Lyubov Belozerskaya, who became his second wife. She was a ballerina, a woman from high society. It was to such Bulgakov that the writer’s wife dreamed, but their marriage was short-lived.
Pereschistensky time
The heyday of Bulgakov’s career as a writer and playwright is coming. His plays are staged, the audience welcomes them favorably, life is getting better. But at the same time, the NKVD begins to become interested in the writer and tries to incriminate him with disrespect for the current government or worse. How bans fell from the cornucopia : to performances, to print in the press, to public performances. Then again there was a lack of money. In 1926, the writer was even summoned for interrogation. On April 18 of that year, the famous telephone conversation with Stalin took place, which again changed Bulgakov's life for the better. He was taken as a director at the Moscow Art Theater.
Nuremberg-Shilovskaya-Bulgakova
It was there, at the Moscow Art Theater, that the writer met his third wife, Elena Sergeyevna Shilovskaya. At first they were just friends, but then they realized that they could not live without each other, and decided not to torment anyone. The break between Shilovskaya and her first husband was very long and unpleasant. She had two children, whom the couple divided among themselves, and immediately after Belozerskaya gave Bulgakov a divorce, the lovers got married. This woman became a real support and support for him in the most difficult years of life. While working on the most famous novel and during his illness.
"Master and Margarita" and recent years
The work on the central novel completely captured the writer, he paid her a lot of attention and strength. In 1928, only the idea of the book appeared, in 1930 a draft version came out, which underwent the significant transformations necessary for the light to be seen by the text that everyone probably remembers by heart. Some pages were copied dozens of times, and the last years of Bulgakov’s life were busy editing already finished fragments and dictating the “clean” version to Elena Sergeevna.
But dramatic activity does not stand idle in the last years of Bulgakov’s life. He puts plays based on the works of his favorite authors - Gogol and Pushkin, he writes “on the table”. Alexander Sergeevich was the only poet whom the writer loved. And one of those figures from whom the death mask was removed . Bulgakova attends the idea of a theatrical work about Stalin, but the Secretary General stopped these attempts.
On the verge of death
On September 10, 1939, the writer suddenly lost his sight. Bulgakov (the cause of his father’s death is nephrosclerosis) recalls all the symptoms of this ailment and comes to the conclusion that he has the same disease. Thanks to the efforts of his wife and spa treatment, the manifestations of sclerosis recede. This allows you to even return to the abandoned work, but not for long.
Bulgakov’s death date is March 10, 1940, at twenty to five in the afternoon. He departed into another world, stoically transferring all suffering and pain. Leaving behind a rich creative heritage. The secret of the death of Mikhail Bulgakov was not a secret at all: the complications of nephrosclerosis killed him as much as his father. He knew how it would end. Of course, no one could say exactly when this sad event will happen, when Bulgakov will die. The cause of death was obvious, but how much more he could hold on to life was not.
The funeral service and the funeral were very solemn. By tradition, a death mask was removed from the face of the writer. It was decided to cremate Bulgakov, according to his will. Comrade Mikhail Afanasevich’s pen, colleagues from the Moscow Art Theater, members of the Writers' Union came to the memorial service. Even the secretary of Stalin called, and after that a big epitaph came out in Literaturnaya Gazeta. He was buried in the Novodevichy cemetery, near the grave of Chekhov.
If you are concerned about the question: “Where is Bulgakov’s posthumous mask stored?”, The answer is simple: she went to the same posthumous casts to the museum. Then such sculptures were made only in exceptional cases, which speaks of respect and veneration of Bulgakov as a talented writer, despite all the difficulties of his life. There is no writer in the will, and there could not be a clause in which the death mask would fit. Bulgakov was never occupied by idle fop, especially of this kind. Capturing this moment was decided by his colleagues.