Editor biography

Dr. Danielle Ann Jones is a writer and literary translator. She first visited Russia and Ukraine in 1994 and has returned many times since. In 2012–2013, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholar Award to Perm, Russia. She teaches literature and writing at the University of Montana Western.

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Author biography

Leonid Vasilyevich Solovyov was born in 1906 in the city of Tripoli, Lebanon, where his parents had been working for the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. In 1909, the family returned to Russia; in 1921, it moved to Kokand, Uzbekistan. Solovyov worked for several regional newspapers and, during his travels in Uzbekistan's Fergana Province, studied regional folklore.

In 1930, Solovyov left for Moscow and enrolled in the literary and screenwriting program at the Institute of Cinematography, graduating in 1932. While living in Moscow, Solovyov wrote a number of novels, short stories, and screenplays. Disturber of the Peace – the first part of Solovyov's best known work, The Tale of Hodja Nasreddin – was published in 1939. During the Second World War, Solovyov served as a war correspondent and produced several wartime stories and screenplays.

In 1946, Solovyov was accused of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism against the Soviet state. He was interred in several prison camps until 1954, when he was cleared of all charges and released. The second part of The Tale of Hodja Nasreddin, subtitled The Enchanted Prince, was written in the camps and completed around 1950. After his imprisonment, Solovyov settled in Leningrad. The two parts of The Tale of Hodja Nasreddin were published together for the first time in 1956 and enjoyed a very favorable reception. However, the author's health began to decline, and he passed away in 1962.

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Author biography

Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov was born in 1891 in Kiev, the eldest son of a professor at a theological seminary. After graduating from the medical school at Kiev University in 1916, Bulgakov served as a field doctor in the Russian civil war and was eventually transferred to the Caucasus, where he made the decision to pursue a literary career. His brothers enlisted as well, but ended up in Paris, while Mikhail remained in Russia. He began writing around 1916; by 1924, he had completed his first major novel, The White Guard.

The Fatal Eggs was first published in 1925 in the journal Nedra. Bulgakov faced extensive censorship and criticism for his allegedly anti-Soviet views, and many of his works remained unpublished until long after his death. The Fatal Eggs, an early short novel, is the only one of Bulgakov's better known works that was published in its entirety during the author's lifetime. During his life, Bulgakov was best known for his plays, such as Days of the Turbins, based on The White Guard and rumored to be particularly favored by Joseph Stalin. However, relentless hounding by Soviet critics effectively stifled his writing career by the late 1920s.

In 1930, with all of his plays banned and no theater willing to employ him, Bulgakov wrote to the Soviet government asking for permission to emigrate. Stalin telephoned Bulgakov personally and denied his request, appointing Bulgakov to a position at the Moscow Art Theater instead. During the last decade of his life, Bulgakov continued to work on plays, stage adaptations, and short stories, as well as his best known and final novel, The Master and Margarita.

Bulgakov died from inherited nephrosclerosis in 1940, leaving the editing of The Master and Margarita unfinished. Today, Bulgakov is considered one of the most important Russian literary figures of the 20th century.

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