Bulgakov's fascination with the figure of Molière dates from September 1929 and the beginning of his work on the play Kabala svyatosh (Mol'yer) (The Cabal of Hypocrites (Molière)); and over the next six and a half years this interest was to engender four separate works differing greatly in form and purpose. Bulgakov had naturally been long familiar with Molière's plays from his reading and from his theatre-going, but what particularly captivate his attention now are the details of the playwright's biography. This emphasis may have arisen directly out of the anguish of Bulgakov's own experiences in the late 1920s. But by now the political situation was such that he could not risk expressing his views in an explicitly autobiographical piece; and the next work he wrote must, for financial reasons if no other, be accepted by the authorities for publication or performance. The story of Molière's life offered enough historically authenticated material to justify a work whose main theme was to be the pressures to which the writer is exposed, particularly since the socio-political setting was a suitably deplorable absolute monarchy at a remove of nearly three centuries.