"The tom, it turned out, was not only a solvent, but also a disciplined beast. At the conductor's first cry, he ceased his advance, got down from the step, and sat down at the stop, rubbing his whisker with the coin. But as soon as the conductor pulled the cord and the cars started, the tom proceeded to do what anyone else would who had been expelled from a streetcar but must nevertheless get to his destination. Allowing all three cars to go by, the tom jumped up onto the rear of the last one, sank his claws into a rubber tube projecting from the wall, and rode away, thus saving himself the fare."
this great bitterly comedic novel is definitely in my top 25 of all time. sometimes you wonder how it got published in soviet russia. fact is, it wasn't published during his lifetime but 26years after his death. even then it was a contraband piece of literature for many years. amazingly, it has all the features of a meta-fictional LATE 20th century work: fantastic events, stories within stories, animal characters. salman rushdie claims it to be his inspiration for The Satanic Verses.
it certainly makes you wonder just how much great art was lost during the soviet years.
MICHAIL BULGAKOV b. MAY 15TH 1891
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