Mikhail Bulgakov must have had a thing for cats. He’s must have been like the Russian Edward Gorey or something because there are cats in this book. Gorey was so well known for his cats that Tove Jansson (yes that one) wrote a story short about it.
Satan, however, is of a different from than cat in this book.
If Satan is in this book, he is the powers that control the theater and drive an author to the end of his rope. This isn’t Satan conjuring Helen, this isn’t a bargain with a temporary gain but eternal damnation, this is just eternal damnation.
Not really surprising that Terry Gilliam wrote the introduction because the black humor does remind one of the Pythons.
It helped that am also reading a book about Russian artists so I understood some of the references. I would recommend keeping a reference handy, if you are not familiar with Russian theatre.