"The Records of a Dead Man" are the writings of the suicide Sergej Leontjewitsch Maksudow from Kiev, which he sent to his friend for review. Filled with melancholy, the small employee of the newspaper "Dampfschiffahrt" recounts how he once wrote a novel in his life. His acquaintances criticize the language and unanimously believe that this manuscript will not pass censorship. It’s no wonder that the occasional writer is overcome by gloom and wants to take his own life. He is interrupted by the sounds of Gounod's "Faust" opera, and suddenly strange things begin to unfold. With biting irony and bitter sarcasm, "The Records of a Dead Man" (1936/37) describes Bulgakov's entry into the grotesque world of literature and theater in 1920s Moscow, parodying the characterless pursuit of success of his contemporaries.