Mikhail Bulgakov's novel 'The Master and Margarita' is a roman à clef. The author criticises real people in the Soviet Union of the 1930s and creates absurd situations by combining reality and fiction. That mix is hidden throughout the novel in small details that seem trivial at first glance, but are important to those who want to know what it's really about. In this book you will find a description of the social, political, economic and cultural context of the novel, along with a description of all the characters and their prototypes. You will also find annotations by chapter, explaining the names, locations, situations, quotations, and other elements that Mikhail Bulgakov used to illustrate his opinion on the Soviet society, with the aim of better understanding the novel. Finally, the book also contains The Agony of the Filmmakers, the full story of the nearly forty film directors who wanted to make a screen version of the novel. Some succeeded, but most did not.

At various places in this book you will find QR (Quick Reference) codes that you can scan to immediately access more detailed information on the website The Master and Margarita.