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Mikhail Bulgakov
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Heart of a Dog Paperback – January 21, 1994

by Mikhail Bulgakov (Author), Mirra Ginsburg (Translator)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 695 ratings
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I first read Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita on a balcony of the Hotel Metropole in Saigon on three summer evenings in 1971. The tropical air was heavy and full of the smells of cordite and motorcycle exhaust and rotting fish and wood-fire stoves, and the horizon flared ambiguously, perhaps from heat lightning, perhaps from bombs. Later each night, as was my custom, I would wander out into the steamy back alleys of the city, where no one ever seemed to sleep, and crouch in doorways with the people and listen to the stories of their culture and their ancestors and their ongoing lives. Bulgakov taught me to hear something in those stories that I had not yet clearly heard. One could call it, in terms that would soon thereafter gain wide currency, "magical realism". The deadpan mix of the fantastic and the realistic was at the heart of the Vietnamese mythos. It is at the heart of the present zeitgeist. And it was not invented by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as wonderful as his One Hundred Years of Solitude is. Garcia Marquez's landmark work of magical realism was predated by nearly three decades by Bulgakov's brilliant masterpiece of a novel. That summer in Saigon a vodka-swilling, talking black cat, a coven of beautiful naked witches, Pontius Pilate, and a whole cast of benighted writers of Stalinist Moscow and Satan himself all took up permanent residence in my creative unconscious. Their presence, perhaps more than anything else from the realm of literature, has helped shape the work I am most proud of. I'm often asked for a list of favorite authors. Here is my advice. Read Bulgakov. Look around you at the new century. He will show you things you need to see.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    123 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Grove Press
  4. Publication date
    January 21, 1994
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0802150594
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0802150592
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Dystopian novelette by Mikhail Bulgakov, written in Russian in 1925 as Sobachye serdtse. It was published posthumously in the West in 1968, both in Russian and in translation, and in the Soviet Union in 1987. The book is a satirical examination of one of the goals of the October Revolution of 1917: to create a new breed of man, uncorrupted by the past and above petit bourgeois concerns. In addressing this subject The Heart of a Dog savages the rigid Soviet mind-set, science fiction, and a pseudoscientific theory of the 1920s that held out the promise of sexual rejuvenation through surgical transplantation of monkey glands. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grove Press; Reprint edition (January 21, 1994)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 123 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802150594
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802150592
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 695 ratings

About the author

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Mikhail Bulgakov

Mikhail Bulgakov

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Mikhaíl Afanasyevich Bulgakov (/bʊlˈɡɑːkəf/; Russian: Михаи́л Афана́сьевич Булга́ков, pronounced [mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bʊlˈɡakəf]; May 15 [O.S. May 3] 1891 – March 10, 1940) was a Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which has been called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Unknown [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
695 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Bel
5.0 out of 5 stars Open to many interpretations ...
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2004
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Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) endured the difficult experience of having to live under the pressure of censorship, but has nonetheless left some interesting books that allow us to know what he thought about the process that has taking place in the newborn Soviet Russia. "Heart of a dog" is one of those books. It was written by Bulgakov in 1925, but it wasn`t published in Soviet Russia until 1987, due to the fact that it can easily be interpreted as a critical satire regarding the URSS.

"Heart of a dog" is the story of a stray dog, Sharik, that hasn`t led an easy life. He lives in the streets of Moscow, and eats what he can, when he can. However, one day a doctor gives him food and takes him to his home. Sharik believes that his fate has changed, but he doesn`t know that the doctor has rather strange intentions...

The doctor wants to perform an experiment on Sharik, in order to learn what would happen if some human organs were transplanted to a dog. The doctor performs the operation, implanting in Sharik the pituitary gland and the testicles of a dead criminal. Against all odds, Sharik survives the operation, and from that moment on begins an extraordinary transformation, that makes him more and more human.

But what kind of human is he?. Sharik can talk, and asks everybody to call him first "Mr. Sharikov", and afterwards "Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov". He also walks like a human being, and somehow resembles one... But can he think, or does he merely repeat what he hears, specially Marx`s teachings?. Has the doctor`s experiment ruined a perfectly good dog, making him a perfectly despicable "human" being that threatens to denounce counterrevolutionaries and chases cats?.

I don`t want to tell you more about this book: you really should read it yourself. It isn`t long, but it is quite interesting. What is more important, it is open to many interpretations, and you can always find your own. Some people believe that for Bulgakov Sharik represented the failure of those who try to create new beings (exactly what was supposedly being done at that time in the URSS, with the "soviet man"). Others highlight the glimpses of Soviet society that "Heart of a dog" allows us to have, and think that the aim of the author was to give the reader at least an idea of what it was like to live in the URSS at that time...

These few possible interpretations don't exclude others, so read this book and find them!!. Obviously, I highly recommend "Heart of a dog"...

Belen Alcat
12 people found this helpful
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Richard Ballard
4.0 out of 5 stars A critical statement shrouded in fiction
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2023
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Mikhail Bulgakov is considered one of the Soviet Union's truly great writers. I have limited exposure to Soviet authors; I review the novel based on face value reading.

An injured dog dying in the Moscow winter curses the cruel uncaring proletariat who either bedevil him or ignore his plight. Then a bourgeois gentleman feeds the dog and encourages him to follow; the distinguished professor shares his seven-room warm apartment with a male physician, a female laboratory assistant and an older female housekeeper. The professor and physician clean and bandage the dog's wounds, feed him, and restore the dog's health; the dog (now named Sharik) relishes his bourgeois new life. Then the professor and physician operate on Sharik, substituting a freshly dead human criminal's pituitary and testes for the dog's pituitary and testes. Sharik barely survives the operation; he awakens but his body and mind are changing.

Sharik develops an upright posture, some hair regrows while other hair sheds giving Sharik a somewhat humanoid appearance, and Sharik begins to speak. As Sharik vocalizes the professor realizes that Sharik retains both dog and human criminal memories and attitudes, and some of these attitudes are trouble. Sharik is an unpleasant houseguest who wrecks, steals, terrorizes the household's females, and carouses all hours of the night. When the professor and physician attempt to moderate Sharik's behavior, Sharik gets a government job (controlling stray cats) and then formally complains to the local housing committee and to other Soviet bureaucracy, thus threatening the professor's bourgeois lifestyle. The professor desperately seeks a solution as the situation deteriorates.

The post-revolutionary Soviet government sought to scientifically create the Socialist worker's paradise; the government had little appetite for satire or criticism. Mikhail Bukgakov wrote this novel in 1925; the Soviet government barred his work being published and this novel wasn't published until 1968 (in the West, later in Russia). The English translation is very readable and this novel is worthwhile as a reflection of its time, but I do not consider it a great novel.
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Araceli Dominguez
5.0 out of 5 stars Me gustó mucho
Reviewed in Mexico on July 15, 2023
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Un libro muy interesante para los amantes de los perros
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Suzan S
5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite
Reviewed in Canada on February 15, 2019
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Bulgakov is a giant of world literature. If you don't know him, you need to. This book is a good place to start.
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E. E. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Bulgakov, unearthing a god of writing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2015
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Bulgakov is a kind of unearthed god. He lived his life in misery, ticking off the years, crushed into the too-tight shoes of Bolshevism. 'Ok, I'm 30.. I haven't written anything of significance and I would like to emigrate.' They would not let him emigrate and would not allow his work to be published. By his 40th birthday he was saying the same thing. Some plays he was allowed to put on, but they were often pulled before opening night, He would then write to Stalin. Stalin would not write back, but he would then be appointed director of some theatre or theatrical arts committee. So many ups and downs. You must read his biography. A more unsatisfying life while he lived it, is unlikely to be found, but his writing is pure heaven. The oddest thing of all. His great novels; Heart of a Dog, Master and Margarita, all came to light long after his death, due to the relentless efforts of his third of fourth wife. Behind every man.. is a GREAT WOMAN!
4 people found this helpful
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paul lingas
4.0 out of 5 stars Bugakov's subtle humor
Reviewed in Canada on October 25, 2022
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A very entertaining book with deep social satyre
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David
4.0 out of 5 stars Mikhail Bulgakov is growing on me.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 16, 2014
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It seems it could of gone on for much longer, but very rich in humour and style. A good start into the world of mikhail, I hope to enjoy some more of his books.
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