Mikhail Bulgakov
Grove Press
12 January 2027
160
eBook - EPUB
Modern Classics
ARC via NetGalley/Edelweiss
When rich, successful Professor Preobrazhensky befriends a scroungy Moscow mongrel named Sharik, he attempts a scientific first—transplanting into the stray dog the testes and pituitary gland of a recently deceased man. With a lecherous, vulgar human animal now on the loose, the professor’s hitherto respectable life descends into chaos as Sharik inevitably finds his niche in the bureaucracy as the government official in charge of purging the city of cats.
Written in 1925 but unpublished in the Soviet Union until 1987, Heart of a Dog is a bitingly comic masterpiece and one of the essential works of twentieth-century Russian literature. Called “an anarchic, resistant work of genius” by The New Yorker and “as clean and bright as a scalpel” by The Sunday Times, this is Mikhail Bulgakov at his most inventive. In exposing the folly of trying to remake human nature by force and ideology, this satire is as ferocious and timely now as when it was written.
I read Master and Margarita many years ago and loved it, so I was keen to explore more of Bulgakov's works with Heart of a Dog. This book is a rich polite satire that is not the least bit subtle in its comedic take on Soviet-era bureaucracy and ideology. Although short it packs a punch and often made me laugh out loud. I especially enjoyed the distinct personality Bulgakov gave to Sharik, both as a dog and later, too, as a dog-human hybrid. I am giving this one 4.5 stars.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley/Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
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