“I am invisible and I am free,” said Margarita.
In Michael Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita Margarita is an unloving wife. She has found and lost the love of her life. When he is gone, she does not know whether he went to the jail, to the other side of That Old Cold Styx River, or to some other place unknown. (Turns out that he went to the insane asylum, so her thoughts were not quite far off). One day she sits on the bench and silently speaks to her lover (yes, she always does). She pleads with him in her mind to give her a sign that he is alive or to release her from the memory of him and her everlasting need to reach out to all that's left of him and to her memory of him.
Then a strange looking gentleman takes a seat next to her and repeats to her the very words she has just spoken in her mind. Stop just sitting here and watching your days go by, he says, there are things that you can do to change the charted course of events that can only lead you to the sad place. Of course, such a possibility comes with a leap of faith, or perhaps something darker.
The rest is history. You probably know it, and if you don't, I shouldn't be the spoiler. But I am talking about it anyway. Why am I?
My experience of Vol de Nuit and the scenes of Master and Margarita run parallel.
Margarita watches the clock for just the time to put on the cream given to her by the stranger. As she puts it on her body, the cream smells a little bit like swamp water. She sees the amazing change, laughs as she watches her wrinkles disappear and her eyes shine, and finally dances to the bureau to write her husband a note, "Forgive me and forget me as soon as you can. I have become a witch from the grief and adversities that had struck me."
Vol de Nuit opens up with galbanum. When I smelled it for the first time at Dawn Spencer Hurwitz's studio, it reminded me of swamp. I hated it. I smelled it in its undiluted form then, but even now, when I smell Sikkim, Silences or Chanel #19, the jolt of galbanum makes my nerves tingle and my body get ready to jump at whatever happens.
What happens with Vol de Nuit is Margarita's laughter. Sparkling aldehydes — seems like they are jumping in the air, and if I swallow one of those bits of laughter, I will jump around and laugh, too. Vol de Nuit takes me with Margarita for a flight at night, filled with laughter and her boisterous energy bottled up for a long time and now bubbling out.
Most everyone who’s read The Master and Margarita has pondered the book's ending. What does it symbolize? To Hell with the details(as the Devil would say).
This is how I feel about the guerlinaide. I know there are others who know many more than I do. I cannot even tell how my experience with Vol de Nuit's base stacks up to theirs. All I do know is that it is very comforting. So I guess I have given you my opinion of the novel's ending despite my wishes.
–Olga Rowe, Guest Contributor
Forour draw is 2ml sample vial of Vintage Vol de Nuit from a friend’s (thanks to A.R.) extensive vintage Guerlain collection. Please comment on Olga’s first article, the magic of Guerlain, your favorite galbanum perfume (and if you have read the book your favorite character) or any note that you learned to love. Draw ends Monday Oct 10, 2011 EST
Editor’s Note: The Master and Margarita (Russian: Ма́стер и Маргари́та) is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, woven around the premise of a visit by the Devil to the fervently atheistic Soviet Union. Written in 1967, many critics consider the book to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. The book has influenced Mick Jagger, Pearl Jam, and Scottish band song Franz Ferdinand "Love and Destroy" is based on Margarita in the novel. Fiction, Music tell stories… as do great fragrances.
On the Guerlainade :For 175 years, no one but the Company – whose in-house perfumers were all descendants until Thierry Wasser – knew exactly what notes compromised this mysterious and iconic accord; most fragrance experts believe it contains Bergamot, jasmine, Bulgarian rose, orange blossom, iris, (possibly linden, lilac and vetiver), tonka bean, and vanilla according to my sources