A summary of Mikhail Bulgakov’s "The Great Chancellor"

This book is an early, rough draft of the famous novel "The Master and Margarita," which the author worked on from 1928 to 1934. The text is remarkable for its vivid depiction of the formation of the familiar plot. Woland, Margarita, and the Master, who in this version is often referred to simply as a poet, are already in the story. Some characters have different names, and certain events unfold completely differently than in the final work.

Meeting at Patriarch’s Ponds

The story begins on a hot spring evening at Patriarch’s Ponds. Mikhail Aleksandrovich Berlioz, secretary of the writers’ association, and Ivan Nikolaevich Popov, poet, are sitting on a bench. The poet writes under the pseudonym Bezdomny. They greedily sip warm fruit water. They are animatedly discussing a new anti-religious poem.

Suddenly, a mysterious foreigner sits down with them. He unceremoniously interrupts the conversation. The stranger proves the existence of God. Then he predicts Berlioz’s imminent death. The cause of death will be that a certain Annushka has already bought and spilled sunflower oil. The foreigner claims to have personally been present at Pontius Pilate’s interrogation. A few minutes later, Berlioz runs to the turnstile. He slips on the tram tracks. The tram decapitates him before the eyes of the Komsomol leader.

Madness in the capital

A shocked Ivan Bezdomny tries to pursue the foreigner. He calmly leaves with his strange companions: a suspicious regent in a checkered jacket and a huge black cat. The pursuit proves completely unsuccessful.

Ivan gets into absurd situations. He breaks into someone else’s apartment on Ostozhenka Street, where he takes a candle for some reason. The poet loses his clothes while swimming in the Moskva River and is forced to wear someone else’s dirty underwear. Disguised as this, he sets off to search for the killers in the Kremlin.

Meanwhile, writers gather in the Griboyedov House restaurant, awaiting their leadership. Soon they learn the terrible news of the death of Berlioz and their friend Tsygansky.

Cabaret theater director Styopa Likhodeyev wakes up with a terrible hangover in the apartment he shared with Berlioz. The foreigner he met yesterday appears before him. He introduces himself as Doctor Woland and shows him a signed contract for performances. Soon, a checkered Koroviev and a huge black cat appear. They declare that Styopa needs some fresh air. The director is mysteriously transported to Vladikavkaz. There, he encounters the Lilliputian Pulse and faints with terror.

Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy, chairman of the housing association, visits the empty apartment. Koroviev persuades him to rent the premises to Woland and discreetly slips the building manager a large bribe. Bosoy hides the money in the toilet.

Soon, following a telephone tip from Koroviev, his home is searched. Soviet rubles are mysteriously converted into dollars, and Nikanor Ivanovich is arrested.

Theater financial director Rimsky and administrator Varenukha receive desperate telegrams from Styopa in Vladikavkaz. Varenukha goes to take these papers to the police. In a public garden, he is brutally beaten by two of Woland’s henchmen. They take all the documents and carry the administrator off to an unknown location.

A magic session and its consequences

That evening, a magic show is taking place at the Cabaret. Woland sits calmly in a chair. His retinue performs unimaginable miracles. The checkered Fagot-Koroviev and the cat perform card tricks, then conjure up a bountiful rain of money.

Master of ceremonies Melusi attempts to explain the events using scientific hypnosis. In response, the cat leaps on him and rips his head off. The audience begs for mercy. The cat returns his head, and the audience eagerly snatches up the fresh gold coins falling from the ceiling.

After the performance, Rimsky is left alone in his office. Varenukha appears. The administrator is acting extremely unnaturally and constantly smacking her lips. Rimsky notices that Varenukha casts no shadow. The director realizes he is facing a real vampire. Rimsky turns gray with horror.

Meanwhile, Ivan Bezdomny is admitted to Professor Stravinsky’s psychiatric clinic. The doctor logically convinces the poet to stay for treatment. That night, Woland appears in Ivan’s ward. He continues his interrupted story about Pontius Pilate and Yeshua Ha-Nozri.

A visit to the clinic and new guests in the apartment

The next day, Berlioz’s uncle Latunsky arrives at his apartment. He’s traveling from Kyiv. Latunsky is eager to take over the vacant apartment. He encounters a tearful Koroviev. Then a talking cat in glasses appears and takes his passport. A red-haired dwarf wearing bells named Fiello throws his uncle down the stairs. He hits him on the neck with a boiled chicken. Fiello roughly throws Latunsky’s belongings down the stairs. Horrified, his uncle flees back to Kyiv.

Soon, the Cabaret bartender, Barsky, arrives. He complains about the counterfeit money. The audience’s money from the previous day has turned into shredded paper. Woland criticizes him for the sturgeon, which is not fresh anymore. The bartender’s money, right in his pocket, becomes real again.

However, on the way home, they turn into newspaper scraps again. Barsky’s hat turns into a scratching cat.

The Transfiguration of Margarita and the Grand Ball

Margarita Nikolaevna, pining for her lover, sits on the boulevard. She sees Berlioz’s funeral procession. Then she meets Fiello, who proposes a bold deal. He promises a meeting with the poet. Fiello hands her a magic cream. After applying it, Margarita becomes a witch and gains the power of flight.

Margarita flies out of the window, invisible, on a broom. She wreaks havoc in the apartment of her quarrelsome neighbor, Pelageya Pavlovna. She smashes streetlights on Arbat Street. Margarita flies out of town to the river. There, she joins a nighttime witches’ sabbath. Then the entire company returns to Moscow in flying cars.

Margarita enters Woland’s apartment through the chimney. A riotous ball of the dark forces is underway. She sees a multitude of strange creatures. The guests drink and dance in the crimson light of the fireplace. Woland receives Margarita in his bedroom. The severed head of Baron von Meisen is brought into the hall. The Baron had attempted to spy on the dark forces. The Baron’s blood turns to wine right in his skull.

After the ball, Margarita asks for her lover to be returned. Woland’s henchmen quickly deliver the ailing poet. He looks terribly frightened. The Devil returns their old basement to them. He banishes the new tenant, Ponkovsky, from it forever. Woland gives the poet a black revolver.

Chaos, fires and poisoning

Woland’s retinue begins to openly sow chaos. Koroviev and Behemoth cause chaos in a store at the Smolensk market. The cat eats tangerines and a whole Kerch herring. Then they set the building on fire.

Soon, Griboyedov’s house also catches fire. The inseparable couple is dining there at the restaurant. A pirate waiter serves them beer, but soon disappears without a trace. Massive fires break out throughout Moscow. Sitting on a high terrace, Woland and his servants calmly watch the city burn.

In the morning, Azazello appears in the lovers’ basement. He offers them wine. The drink turns out to be poisoned. The poet and Margarita fall dead. They are immediately resurrected in a new, mystical body. Azazello sets fire to their basement. The trinity soars into the sky.

Flying over Moscow, the poet bids the city farewell forever. He witnesses general panic and fire. Along the way, Margarita rescues a little boy from the balcony of a burning building. On Sparrow Hills, armed men in boats and planes attempt to stop them. The powerful whistles of Behemoth and Koroviev quickly destroy their pursuers.

The last flight and forgiveness

The horsemen leave the capital. They gallop swiftly over the night-lit land. Their appearance changes dramatically. Koroviev appears as a sad, purple knight. The cat completely loses his comical appearance. Woland himself flies in black velvet, carrying a heavy sword.

They arrive at a rocky gorge. Pontius Pilate has been imprisoned there for almost two thousand years. His faithful dog, Banga, is at his side. The procurator suffers from insomnia and remorse.

Woland declares Pilate forgiven. The former procurator rushes along the moonlit path to meet Yeshua. Woland informs the poet of his future fate. The poet has earned eternal rest. The entire company leaves the real world forever.