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Contents

I. INTRODUCTION
II. WOLAND'S RECEPTION IN HUNGARY

III. INTERPRETATION of MASTER and MARGARETA
1) Polemic on the literary form
2) Interpretation of meaning-levels of the novel

IV. THE PROCESS OF READING
A) First impressions and their further way (Examining the first chapter of the novel)
B) Journey in a novel. (Examining the perception of Master and Margareta among students of secondary grammar school and teacher's training college)
C) How to read Bulgakov's text?

V. THE RECEPTION
A) Sympathy, viewpoint, interpretation (The heroes of Master and Margareta among Hungarian readers)
B) Simplified perception and interpretation of interaction among characters
C) Simplifying relation system into interactions
D) Comprehensive interpretations
E) Factors influencing reception

VI. EPILOG

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Introduction

This study is a part of the Centre for Library Science and Methodology researches on reading studied the connection of a reader and literature for ten years.

For many respects Bulgakov's novel offers an excellent opportunity to examine reading experience, the interpretation, the appreciation and the impact of literary works mainly with sociological and psycho-sociological methods. It offers an opportunity to raise questions relative to the reader's consciousness, world view, as well as his philosophical, political, and moral views. This novel is no nauseating test meal. On the contrary. The plot is gripping like that of a thriller. The reader can easily identify himself with many of its characters. It is humorous offering a pleasant entertainment. It is full of information about both the antiquities and recent history. The three subplots merge into one in a cathartic dénoument. Why do we regard the novel unconventional? Because its value view and symbols used are difficult to understand. There are plots and underlying meanings. The reader is expected to be well-versed in many disciplines; philosophy mythology, history and literature. The treatment of time is unusual. The novel is a masterly alloy of farce, transcendency, irony and realism.

We believe that it is worthwhile examining who and why selects now he reads it, how he interprets and appreciates it. The findings are to enable us to answer several questions.

1. We shall know more of the various reading attitudes, there are simplifying attitudes which over-emphasize certain elements and disregard others; there are genuinely subtle ones - and thereby of the artistic efficiency of the work.

2. We shall examine three types of readers; he who cannot penetrate the work beyond the factual level with the protagonist emotionally, and he who is able to analyze and the synthesize what he reads.

3. We are to come to know more of how the reader attempts to make his job of digestion easier.

4. We shall attempt to find out whether the novel can alter the reader's world view or the deep-seated views he holds defy all influence.

5. We hope to be able to establish the degree to which the reader gets involved and interested. (We assume that, due to differences in social practice, career, experience and system of values, the impact of the novel differs with the readers and group readers.)

6. We shall examine how the reader relates this book to his earlier experiences in reading.

We are going to examine the availability and reception of the book in Hungary, Therefore we shall seek answers to the following questions:

1. When and in what editions was the novel published. How many copies have been sold. What about the layout, illustrations, postscripts, etc.

2. We should like to establish the past and present accessibility of the novel in public libraries.

3. How did critics react to the novel in Hungary as well as abroad.

4. How many and what sort of people have read it.

5. We should like to evaluate the reception of the novel.

6. We shall seek an answer to the question; who and why reads it during a given period /the second half of 1978/ among library users, whether they like it or not.

As far as the nature of the issue and our limited resources allow us, we should like to examine the process of the reception and comprehension of the novel.

1. What experience does the reader have before starting to read the novel; what books did he read; what was his attitude toward them, what is his world view like; what system of values does he have,

2. We wish to examine the comprehension of the work while subjects are reading it. (to see the development of interpretation and evaluation)

3. We intend to ask the opinion about the novel of readers who will have completed reading it by the time of the survey and those who read it years before.

The sample will be taken in the first place among the "spontaneous" readers of the novel. For this reason a record will be kept of the readers of novel in the relevant libraries. Some 200 to 300 library users are to represent the entire library using readership of the novel. Groups of twenty people each are to be set up comprising junior and senior manual workers, junior and senior technical intellectuals and professional men in the field of the humanities, university students studying literature and those studying the sciences, librarians and teachers of literature. Another experiment is envisaged with a secondary school class or literary circle. We wish to discuss with them not only issues arising during and after reading the novel, but also some other related problems.

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