The Volokh Conspiracy
[Sasha Volokh, September 21, 2007 at 3:57pm] Trackbacks
Life imitates art:

Someone just dropped by my office asking for one Caryn Voland, an admissions officer here at Georgetown Law with an office number similar to my own. See how life imitates art: This is how Bulgakov, in his novel The Master and Margarita, describes the aftermath of the plot involving the character Voland, who is Satan in disguise (this can be spelled Woland in translations):

Besides cats, some minor unpleasantnesses befell certain persons.

Detained for a short time were: in Leningrad, the citizens Wolman and Wolper; in Saratov, Kiev and Kharkov, three Volodins; in Kazan, one Volokh; and in Penza – this for totally unknown reasons – doctor of chemical sciences Vetchinkevich. True, he was enormously tall, very swarthy and dark-haired.

liberty (mail) (www):
So, in which circle of Hell does your office reside, that she expected to find Satan there?
9.21.2007 4:11pm
Guest101:
Despite the feeling that most of the satire was going over my head, given my relative lack of expterise on Russian history and culture, The Master and Margarita was one of the most enjoyable novels I have read.
9.21.2007 4:21pm
Hmm:
Master &Margarite was very highly recommended to me, but I was disappointed. I think it's kind of a "you had to be there" sort of humor, and I simply don't have a good frame of reference for Soviet Russia in 1935.

Actually, my favorite parts of the book were the internal chapters retelling the Gospel.
9.21.2007 5:09pm
UW2L:
So it's Caryn, not you, whom I should contact about whether there will be a magic show this weekend? I was looking forward to getting a new fall wardrobe and a bit of pocket money.
9.21.2007 6:04pm
Latinist:
I have to post a strangely similar experience of my fathers. He was reading Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, and was just at the place (if I remember correctly) where the character Arkady is introduced and described, when the phone rang. He picked it up, and a Russian-accented voice asked, "Arkady?"

Just a very, very weird wrong number.
9.21.2007 11:43pm
wfjag:
For life imitating art, think about "This is Spinal Tap" and then go see:

Ted Nugent - Love Grenade. “The Nuge is back and bigger and louder than ever on Love Grenade, his first album in five years!” and the CD cover at:

http://www.tednugent.com/store/Product.aspx?id=DM000596

Alternative CD cover for those who pre-ordered the CD:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Nugent_love_grenade.jpg

At least Spinal Tap was a parody. I think Nugent may actually believe in himself.
9.23.2007 2:05pm

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