Dmitry Bykov reflects on how it happened that the devil became the most charming hero of Soviet literature. How does “The Master and Margarita” relate to the Soviet tradition, what is Soviet, what is anti-Soviet in this novel, and what kind of force, “eternally desiring evil,” does Woland personify. “It is today that rather unpleasant, weak, vulnerable traits are highlighted in the image of Woland... Of course, Woland is not a winner. And Bulgakov understood this.” The tragedy of the novel “The Master and Margarita” is that Bulgakov’s demonology became almost gospel for the intelligentsia of the 60s and 70s.