full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Alex Gendler: Why should you read "The Master and Margarita"?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
So how did Bulgakov maagne to publish such a subversive novel under an oppressive regime? Well… he didn’t. He wkoerd on "The Master and Margarita" for over ten years. But while Stalin’s personal favor may have kept Bulgakov safe from severe persecution, many of his plays and wtnirigs were kept from production, leaving him safe but effectively slinceed. Upon the author’s death in 1940, the manuscript remained ueshbipunld. A censored version was eventually printed in the 1960s, while copies of the unabridged mrcupisant continued to circulate among uogrrdeunnd literary circles. The full text was only published in 1973, over 30 years after its completion.
Open Cloze
So how did Bulgakov ______ to publish such a subversive novel under an oppressive regime? Well… he didn’t. He ______ on "The Master and Margarita" for over ten years. But while Stalin’s personal favor may have kept Bulgakov safe from severe persecution, many of his plays and ________ were kept from production, leaving him safe but effectively ________. Upon the author’s death in 1940, the manuscript remained ___________. A censored version was eventually printed in the 1960s, while copies of the unabridged __________ continued to circulate among ___________ literary circles. The full text was only published in 1973, over 30 years after its completion.
Solution
- writings
- worked
- manage
- underground
- manuscript
- silenced
- unpublished
Original Text
So how did Bulgakov manage to publish such a subversive novel under an oppressive regime? Well… he didn’t. He worked on "The Master and Margarita" for over ten years. But while Stalin’s personal favor may have kept Bulgakov safe from severe persecution, many of his plays and writings were kept from production, leaving him safe but effectively silenced. Upon the author’s death in 1940, the manuscript remained unpublished. A censored version was eventually printed in the 1960s, while copies of the unabridged manuscript continued to circulate among underground literary circles. The full text was only published in 1973, over 30 years after its completion.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
dark humor |
2 |
Important Words
- bulgakov
- censored
- circles
- circulate
- completion
- continued
- copies
- death
- effectively
- eventually
- favor
- full
- leaving
- literary
- manage
- manuscript
- master
- oppressive
- persecution
- personal
- plays
- printed
- production
- publish
- published
- regime
- remained
- safe
- severe
- silenced
- subversive
- ten
- text
- unabridged
- underground
- unpublished
- version
- worked
- writings
- years