Mikhail Bulgakov. The Life and Times
Marietta Chudakova (°Moscow, 1937) is an historian of twentieth-century literature and well-known expert on Mikhail Bulgakov’s works. In 1959, she graduated from the Philological Faculty of the Moscow State University. After some years of teaching Russian language and literature, she got her PhD in 1964.
From 1965 to 1984, Chudakova worked at the Manuscripts Department of the USSR State Library, where she played an active part in the acquisition of the writer’s personal archive from Bulgakov’s widow Yelena Sergeevna, who saved his unpublished works from oblivion and published them after his death in 1940. Marietta Chudakova also chairs the Bulgakov Foundation in Moscow, and was closely involved in the creation of the official M.A. Bulgakov Museum in the notorious flat no. 50 at Bolshaya Sadovaya ulitsa.
Marietta Chudakova’s two-piece Жизнеописание Михаила Булгакова [Zhizneopisanie Mikhaila Bulgakova] or Biography of Bulgakov was first published in 1988 and is still one of the most authoritative and comprehensive studies of the writer’s life. It has received acclaim for the journalistic style in which it is written: the author draws on unpublished manuscripts and early drafts of Bulgakov’s novels to bring the writer to life. She also explores archive documents and memoirs written by some of Bulgakov’s contemporaries so as to construct a comprehensive and nuanced portrait of the writer and his life and times.
Almost 29 years after its first publication, Chudakova’s work has been translated in English. On January 29, 2017, the publishing house Glagoslav Publications will release Mikhail Bulgakov: The Life and Times. It will be of particular interest to international researchers studying Mikhail Bulgakov’s life and works, but can also be recommended to a broader audience worldwide.
Mikhail Bulgakov: The Life and Times
The book can be pre-ordered at the website of Glagoslav Publications , both in printed version and in various digital formats with the following link.
! Update 19/03/2017- The publishing house Glagoslav had promised to ship the orders for this book in January 2017. They are not ready, however, and have now promised to send it in the month of May 2017.
! Update 17/10/2020 - The release date has been changed 15 times (!) in the last 2.5 years. On August 27, 2019, the publisher announced on its website that the book would be published on August 31, 2019. But on September 30, 2020, I suddenly read that the book would have been published on July 30, 2019. I never received the copy I ordered (and paid for) in 2017. Normally I would have had to insist on my rights again, but I was so curious about the book that I downloaded the e-book. At bol.com. So that Glagoslav Publications had to give up its distribution commission. My little revenge. You can read my review of the book by clicking on the link below.