Excavating Counter-Humanistic Discourses Through Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita (1967)

Abstract

Humanism is an anthropocentric discourse that weaves a narrative of progress and happiness around an essentialist construct of being human. Since all discourses are historical in nature, this study aims at analyzing humanism as a historical discourse that was dominant in the 20th century modern era and legitimized an exclusionary definition of being human. Furthermore, this study aims to reveal that humanism’s essentialism dehumanizes and alienates people by making them conform to rigid standards of thought and behavior that it posits as universal and absolute. For this purpose, the selected text The Master and Margarita (1967) by Mikhail Bulgakov is taken as representative of the modern episteme wherein humanism was the dominant discourse and therefore dehumanized several characters. To reveal the historicity of humanism, the study utilizes Michel Foucault’s archaeology for undertaking an archaeological analysis of humanist discourses throughout the text. An archaeological analysis of discourses analyzes and makes evaluative claims regarding discourses as products of their historical time periods rather than having a universal essence. To supplement archaeological analysis, the research utilizes textual analysis as the research methodology to study and analyze humanist discourses and excavate counter-humanistic discourses from the text. Finally, the study posits supernatural discourses as counter-humanist discourses with the potential to rehumanize historically dehumanized characters within the selected text.