The Diaboliad

Interesting Facts

• The novella is a satire on the bureaucratic system and the absurdity of Soviet reality in the 1920s.
• The protagonist, Korotkov, encounters incredible and absurd situations that underscore the chaos and absurdity of the surrounding world.
• Bulgakov uses elements of grotesque and fantasy to depict the absurdity and tragicomic nature of life in Soviet bureaucracy.
• The work was written in 1923 but remained unpublished for a long time due to censorship.
• The novella contains autobiographical elements, as Bulgakov himself worked in Soviet institutions and faced bureaucratic absurdities.