Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita”: Does Chapter XI, “Ivan is Split in Two,” indicate multiple personality is key to understanding classic novel?

This post is prompted by “Moscow’s Magic Realism” by Boris Fishman in tomorrow’s New York Times Book Review. His essay is from the foreword to a new edition of the novel. He loves the book, and the appearance of his essay and the new edition remind me that the novel is a classic.

The chapters have titles, and I have peeked at chapter XI. The title says that Ivan, a poet, is split into two personalities, but the text indicates four: old Ivan, new Ivan, a bass voice (“which did not come from either of the Ivans”), and “a mysterious figure” on the balcony.

I may not get to it for a few weeks, but how can I not read a classic novel in which the novelist portrays a writer as having multiple personality?