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The Heart of a Dog
by: Mikhail Bulgakov, Richard Pipes

Used Price: $60.56

Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9781860460838
ISBN: 1860460836
Label: Harvill Press
Manufacturer: Harvill Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 128
Publication Date: 1997-01
Publisher: Harvill Press
Studio: Harvill Press

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:

This hilarious, brilliantly inventive novel by the author of The Master and Margarita tells the story of a scroungy Moscow mongrel named Sharik. Thanks to the skills of a renowned Soviet scientist and the transplanted pituitary gland and testes of a petty criminal, Sharik is transformed into a lecherous , vulgar man who spouts Engels and inevitably finds his niche in the bureaucracy as the government official in charge of purging the city of cats.

Amazon.com Review:
This early novella from Mikhail Bulgakov, published in 1925, already shows the surreal comic genius that later produced The Master and Margarita, the writer's masterpiece. A kind of Frankenstein parable, Heart of a Dog is the story of a stray dog that gains a human intelligence after a prominent Moscow professor transplants human glands into the unfortunate canine's body.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- You can drag the mass of humanity to water, but you can't make them drink
This slim novel by Bulgakov has been well disected in these reviews already, and I wouldn't usually contribute another opinion unless I thought I had something to add. However, after reading all the other reviews, my opinion (and only my opinion) was that they were slightly misleading. I am referring particularly to the three descriptions this book seems to generate most - Timeless, Hilarious and Kafkaesque.

First let me say that I enjoyed "Heart of a Dog" very much. I liked it, which is why I rated it four stars. I thought the satire very pointed, the humor endearing, and the premise absurdly good. Obviously Bulgakov was a dedicated, intelligent man, one who was prepared to suffer for what he had to say, and it is truly a crime that did.

But I did not think "Heart ... Read More

Rating:

- As a transplant nurse, I can REALLY appreciate this book...
I've read this book several times. It's a short read - it's also hysterical (in a cynical sort of way, beware). I was introduced to the works of Mikhail Bulgakov in the mid-90s, and, after devouring Master and Margarita, I just had to read this one.

I won't give away the plot - it's been described in mulitple other reviews. But the idea of a man-dog smoking a cigar and wearing suspenders always makes me laugh 'til I nearly pee. It's a great book. But you must have a dry sense of humor to fully appreciate it!!

Read this and then read other Bulgakov books. It is understandable why Soviet Russia would have banned him during his time. What a shame, as he was truly an incredibly gifted author!

Rating:

- An Analysis of "Heart of a Dog"
If perused only ephemerally, or taken merely at face value, Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Heart of a Dog," is likely to give the reader a false impression of simplicity or childishness; however, if more carefully surveyed in light of the monumental political and historical context in which it was penned, the novel, formally seeming silly or fantastical, reveals itself to be a highly critical analysis and commentary of the Russian Revolution of 1917, as well as subsequent events. This fanciful tale of an unfortunate street dog transformed, against its own will, into a drunken and vice-laden human monstrosity, closely parallels the fitful and savage conversion of the Russian Empire and its peoples into the Soviet Union and its subjects. When said dog, Sharik, first makes his appearance in the tale, he is ... Read More

Rating:

- massively overrated
This sat on my shelf for about a year. I purchased it because I had enjoyed the author's competent but not earth-shaking "Master and Margarita."

Unfortunately, when I finally finished it (in an afternoon: it's only 120 pages) it became one of those books that was a lot better before you have actually read it.

I knew what it was about, of course: a Soviet era satire (written in 1925, but not published in the USSR until 1987) about a dog who, owing to the experiments of a scientist, gets the opportunity to enjoy life as a human -- and low-level party functionary -- for a while.

Alas! Before I read it, the satire was dead on, the characterization sharp, and the story was "brilliantly inventive," as the back cover promises.

But that's not actually ... Read More

Rating:

- Hilarious, sarcastic look at Soviet life
Written in 1925, Bulgakov's Heart of a Dog is an absolutely hilarious and wonderfully sarcastic look at Soviet life, directly after the revolution.

The plot focuses on genius professor Preobrazhensky, who transplants the pituitary gland from a minor criminal into a stray dog named Sharik (little ball, in Russian). Gradually, the dog turns into a disgusting, crass little man and terrorizes the professor's household...

Sharik transforms into a dark satire of a Soviet official - Director of the agency responsible for clearing Moscow of 'vagrant quadrupeds' such as cats. He drinks, chases women, steals money, etc. All the while, Preobrazhensky battles the newly formed proletariate housing committee that has taken control of his luxury apartment building.

Absolutely ... Read More

Books : The Heart of a Dog