Olga G. Voronina's original and valuable study of two iconic literary works of the twentieth century, Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita (1966) and Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers (1933), addresses narrative strategies that both authors use to critically absorb, expand, and poetically frame familiar biblical texts. Both novels share remarkable similarities in a somewhat playful, apocryphal approach to Gospel and an entirely different, unique and personal poetic articulation of the figure of the Divine, manifested as the Jewish God Yahweh in Mann's trilogy and as Yeshua Ha-Notsri, the prototype of Christ, in Bulgakov's sunset novel. The Master and Margarita and Joseph and His Brothers take inspiration from the Bible, which is interpreted and re-created in a modern, secular perspective by retelling familiar biblical narratives in which divine protagonists are de- and re-mythologized.

A substantial proportion of the book is based on similarities in the use of narrative strategies in Bulgakov's and Mann's treatment of biblical stories, as according to Voronina, both authors “use biblical criticism only to refine their poetic vision, not to define or delimit it” (7). Voronina explores these strategies on the level of the text as a specifically poetic mode of engagement with the scripture. The portion dedicated to Mann's and Bulgakov's literary interaction with their contemporary political and cultural landscape is also substantial, as the novels are firmly embedded in the background of the contemporary turbulent political situation in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, characterized by the radical instrumentalization of biblical criticism for political purposes in Germany and an almost complete abolishment and prosecution of religion in the Soviet Union.

A varied array of examples from both narratives, translated by the author into English, makes for a very lively verbal texture. Voronina closely follows the plots of both narratives and explains how Yahweh and Ha-Notsri are textually represented not only by Bulgakov and Mann, as the “primary” authors, but also by other characters in the novels, as authors in their own rights. Yeshua's story is authored, edited and recorded by other protagonists in various forms of the oral and written narratives, while Yeshua has another primary author, the Master.

Voronina particularly emphasizes the element of ambiguity as crucial in the textual construction and interpretation of Yahweh and Ha-Notsri. In both novels, Bulgakov and Mann demystify and desacralize their divine protagonists, yet leaving the possibility of their divine nature, immortality, capability of resurrection, creating miracles, and the existence of the transcendent open. Ha-Notsri is a vulnerable human still capable of creating miracles and immortality, while, though in Mann's narrative God is consistently demythologized as a human construct and a subject of fiction, this does not make the idea of Him less significant or compelling. Supporting this argument with numerous textual examples, Voronina comes to the conclusion that this strategy creates uncertainty and results in the coexistence of two mutually exclusive, irreconcilable readings of Yeshua and Yahweh.

The book is structured with an introduction, six chapters, and a conclusion. In each chapter, a cluster of carefully chosen narrative strategies is subject to close reading, reframed in insightful theoretical embellishments, and followed by a conclusion and detailed notes. Chapters 1–3 are devoted to Bulgakov's novel, while chapters 4–6 depicts Mann's Joseph and His Brothers.

Both novels evoke and provoke multiple interpretations, escaping straight-forwardness and embracing ambiguity, inspiring the readers to participate actively in the construction of meaning by negotiating the texts of the novels and the biblical context. Voronina has created a convincing, far-researching, unique and engaging study of Bulgakov's and Mann's poetic versions of biblical narratives, which both de- and re-mythologize the source text and are characterized by syncretism and rich intertextuality. The book is undoubtedly interesting and inspiring not only for Slavic and German scholars but also for any reader who is interested in a different and innovative approach to the study of comparative literature. The spiritual, scientific, and scholarly merits of this book perfectly complement one another.