The Fiery Angel

Before "The Master and Margarita" there was "The Fiery Angel" — a literary mystification with "an adventurous element, astonishing adventures and 'devilishness'". The main character Renata, possessed by evil spirits, breaks the hearts of two men at once: the landsknecht Ruprecht and the young count Heinrich. After meeting the fatal beauty, Ruprecht is plunged into a whirlpool of demonology, magical rituals, and flights to a witches' sabbath (or was it a vision?), and meets Doctor Faustus, Mephistopheles, and the occultist Agrippa von Nettesheim. The novel is based on a fantastical interpretation of the relationships between Bryusov, Nina Petrovskaya, and Andrei Bely. Presenting himself in the preface as the editor and translator of the authentic manuscript of the 16th century, the author provided the edition with detailed "explanatory notes", emphasizing his extensive erudition in the occult sciences.