Mikhail Bulgakov (1992 [1967]) The Master and Margarita, translated from the Russian by Michael Glenny.

Published posthumously Bulgakov’s classic is one of those books I kept meaning to read. The Master is Satan, or Woland, making a visit to Moscow, to have a look at mankind to see if they’ve changed much. But the master is also a would-be novelist, and the lover of Margarita. He is writing about Pontius Pilate, the astrologer’s son and fifth Procurator of Judea. At the trial of Christ Satan, of course, was there and had a front row seat, so when Pilot asks of Christ ‘What is truth?’(John 13:38) the devil is in the details. There are more than one devil. Behemoth, in the guise of wisecracking cat, not just fluffy tail and fur, is part of Satan’s retinue that put on a show in the Variety Theatre - and what a show. Nobody would have believed it. But truth can grow feet.   Azazello, who was said to have brought mankind knowledge of weapons and cosmetics, (guns or mascara, take your pick?) here has an idiotic walleye, and a false squint and is the demon of the waterless desert that likes nothing better than brandy and good food. Koroviev-Faggot is the joker whose punchiness always turns out foul. Yet there is near the end a chapter titled Absolution and Eternal Refuge. Matthew the Levite comes to Woland to plead for the fate of Margarita and the master. He comes from that other Master from Galilee, Yeshua Ha-Nostri, that was crucified at Golgotha. The devil, in whatever guise he takes, finds all the usual vices. Communism or Socialism is found as wanting as the brutality of Capitalism. A man’s a man for a’ that. Dress it up. Here we have some sympathy for the devil, but the system of corruption stinks. It’s an old story within a story.