The genre of the work is a heart of a dog. The story "Heart of a Dog": the history of creation and fate

Composition

So, as a sign of peaceful greetings
I take off my hat, I beat it with my brow
Learning the philosopher-poet
Under a discreet hood.
A.S. Pushkin

According to the genre, Heart of a Dog (1925) is a story, but, speaking about its genre originality, it should be recognized that this is a socio-philosophical satirical story with elements of fantasy.

The story describes the NEP Moscow in the mid-20s of the XX century. The life of ordinary people, for the sake of whose happiness the revolution was made, is very difficult. Suffice it to recall the girl typist, citizen Vasnetsova. For her work, she receives a pittance, which is impossible to feed on even in the cafeteria of the "Normal Nutrition of Employees of the Central Council of National Economy", so she is forced to become the mistress of her boss, a boorish and self-righteous "native of the people" (I). This figure ("chairman of something") thinks: "My time has come. Now I (...) no matter how much I cheat - everything on a woman's body, on cancerous necks, on Abrau-Dyurso. Because I was hungry in my youth enough, it will be with me, but the afterlife does not exist ”(I). A young typist will become Sharikov's bride, and, of course, she will agree to marry this miracle of nature not from a good life.

The author describes ordinary Soviet people sympathetically, but there are other characters in the story who are satirically ridiculed. This is a fat cook from the aforementioned dining room "Normal Nutrition ...": he steals quality food, and feeds visitors rotten, which makes these visitors have stomach aches. This is the new elite - the patients of Professor Preobrazhensky, well-fed and satisfied, but preoccupied with various sexual problems. The professor himself, who looks like a medieval French knight, and his faithful apprentice-squire Dr. Bormental, who wanted to correct the laws of nature, are also ridiculed.

The social content of the story is expressed through a description of the everyday life of Moscow: in the capital, as before, criminals (Klim Chugunkin) roam about, there is a problem of food supplies, the drama of communal apartments, and bitter drunkenness. In other words, Bulgakov shows the discrepancy between official Soviet propaganda and real life. The social idea of ​​the story is to show the hard, unsettled life of an ordinary person in the Soviet country, where, as in the old days, swindlers and scoundrels of all stripes rule the ball - from the canteen manager to high-ranking patients of Professor Preobrazhensky. These heroes are depicted satirically, and the logic of the narrative leads the reader to the conclusion that the well-fed and comfortable life of such people is paid for by the suffering of the entire people during the years of the revolution and civil war.

In the story, the social content is closely intertwined with philosophical reflections on the new, post-revolutionary time and the "new" person generated by this time. The work should highlight at least two serious philosophical problems.

The first is about the responsibility of the scientist for his discoveries. Professor Preobrazhensky decided to carry out a unique operation - to transplant the human pituitary gland into the brain of an experimental dog. Since Philip Filippovich is a talented surgeon, he managed to implant the pituitary gland of the bandit Klim Chugunkin into the brain of Sharik, a mongrel. The scientist conceived this operation in order to test his guesses regarding the artificial rejuvenation of the human body. Having received an extract of the sex hormone from the pituitary gland, the professor could not yet know that there are many different hormones in the pituitary gland. The result was unexpected: the experimenter's miscalculation led to the birth of a disgusting informer, an alcoholic, a demagogue - Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov. With his experiment, Preobrazhensky challenged evolution, the natural state of things in nature.

But, according to Bulgakov, violating the laws of nature is very dangerous: a monster may appear that will destroy the experimenter himself, and along with him all of humanity. In fiction, this idea was developed both in the middle of the 19th century (M. Shelley's novel "Frankenstein, or New Prometheus"), and many times in the 20th century (A.N. Tolstoy's novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin", B. Brecht's play "Galileo ", The story of the Strugatsky brothers" Monday begins on Saturday ", etc.). Preobrazhensky understood the full danger of his scientific experience when Sharikov robbed him, tried to survive from his apartment, wrote a denunciation about the professor's counter-revolutionary statements and actions. Philip Philipovich, in a conversation with Bormenthal, admitted his experience was practically useless, albeit brilliant, from a scientific point of view: “Explain to me, please, why you need to artificially fabricate Spinoza, if any woman can give birth to a genius at any time. (...) Humanity itself takes care of this and in the evolutionary order stubbornly every year, separating from the mass of any filth, creates dozens of outstanding geniuses that adorn the globe ”(VIII).

The second philosophical problem of the story is about people's observance of the laws of social development. In the author's opinion, it is impossible to cure social diseases in a revolutionary way: the writer is deeply skeptical about the revolutionary process in his backward country and opposes it with “the beloved and Great Evolution” (letter from MA Bulgakov to the Government of the USSR dated March 28, 1930). The story "Heart of a Dog" reflected a sharp change in Bulgakov's public views in comparison with the previous beliefs presented in the novel "White Guard" (1921-1924). Now the writer understands that it is not a revolution with its unpredictable explosions and zigzags, but a great, unstoppable evolution that acts in accordance with nature, natural and human. Only as a result of the revolution can such personalities as Shvonder and Sharikov come to power - uneducated, uncultured, but self-righteous and decisive.

It seems to Shvonder and Sharikov that it is easier to arrange a just society: everything must be taken away and divided. Therefore, Shvonder is outraged that Professor Preobrazhensky lives in a seven-room apartment and even has a servant (the cook Darya Petrovna and the maid Zina). The fighter for "universal justice" and at the same time the chairman of the house of coma cannot understand that a scientist for normal work and successful experiments requires room and release from household worries. With his scientific discoveries, the scientist brings such enormous benefits to society that it is beneficial for society itself to create good living conditions for it. After all, an outstanding scientist, as Preobrazhensky is presented in the story, is a rarity and a great value for the nation. However, such reasoning is beyond the understanding of Shvonder, and he, seeking formal social equality, as he understands it, constantly incites Sharikov against Philip Filippovich. Analyzing the situation, the professor is sure that as soon as Sharikov is done with his “creator”, he will surely “deal with” his “ideological leader” (VIII). Then Shvonder will not be good at it, because Sharikov is a dark, spiteful and envious force that cannot create anything, but wants to divide everything, and capture more for itself. Sharikov's view of the world seems primitive to Preobrazhensky (and to Bulgakov himself), although nothing else could have been born in the undeveloped brains of Polygraph Poligrafovich. Skeptical about the idea of ​​"general carve-up", the writer essentially repeats the opinion of the Russian philosopher N.A. Berdyaev, who wrote that "equality is an empty idea and that social justice should be based on the dignity of each person, and not on equality" ...

The story contains elements of fiction, which make the plot entertaining and at the same time help to reveal the idea of ​​the work. Of course, the operation to transplant the pituitary gland and the very transformation of the dog into a humanoid creature are fantastic, but the fantastic (even from the point of view of physiologists of the beginning of the XXI century) ideas of artificial rejuvenation of the human body seemed quite real to some Russian scientists in the mid-20s of the XX century. This is evidenced by newspaper articles-reports, enthusiastically describing the promising experiments of physicians (L.S.Aizerman "Loyalty to the idea and loyalty to ideas" // Literature at school, 1991, No. 6).

So, in his story, Bulgakov, being a doctor, expressed skepticism about the problem of rejuvenation, and as a writer, he satirically depicted the “success” of medical gerontologists and philosophically comprehend the consequences of the revolutionary human intervention in the life of nature and society.

The story "Heart of a Dog" can be considered the most interesting work of Bulgakov's early work, since the main artistic principles of the writer were fully manifested in it. In a small work, Bulgakov succeeded in a lot: to depict in sufficient detail and satirically the modern life of the country of the Soviets, to pose the most important moral problem about the responsibility of a scientist for his discovery, and even to express his own understanding of the ways of development of human society. New social conditions give rise to "new" people, and the story talks about the collapse of the idea that a "new" person can be created quickly, for example, by some wonderful pedagogical or surgical methods. The courage of Professor Preobrazhensky, who took it into his head to improve nature itself, was severely punished.

The versatility of its content "Heart of a Dog" reminds of Bulgakov's main work - the novel "The Master and Margarita", because in terms of genre features both the novel and the story coincide - a socio-philosophical satirical work with elements of fantasy.

Other compositions on this work

The work of Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov is an interesting, bright and original look at the life and customs of the USSR. The writer, who found himself in the times of the empire, did not accept Soviet power, living in a society that caused him only fear and misunderstanding. Dissatisfaction with Soviet reality was reflected in him in his famous story "Heart of a Dog", in which he depicted the struggle between two worlds in all their contradictions. The many-wise Lytrecon offers you an analysis of the story "Heart of a Dog".

The history of writing the story "Heart of a Dog" - these are interesting facts, miraculously preserved in the hard times of the post-revolutionary history of Russia:

1. The story was written by Bulgakov in 1925 by order for the magazine "Nedra", where his works "The Devil's Day" and "Fatal Eggs" were previously published.
2. The book was originally called Heart of a Dog. A monstrous story ”, but then the author decided to make the title more concise.
3. The prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky is the famous surgeon and the uncle of the writer N.M. Pokrovsky.
4. It was never published during the life of the writer, so it is not known for certain what exactly inspired the writer to create it. However, many literary scholars paid attention to the fact that Bulgakov's plot echoes the novel by H. Wells "The Island of Dr. Moreau", where the scientist discovered a way to transform animals into people. The leitmotif of the story echoes many literary works of the twenties, when, after the revolutionary storms and the transition to a peaceful life, some confusion and disappointment reigned in society due to the fact that the revolution did not solve the eternal problems of mankind.
5. When Bulgakov first read his book at the Nikitsky Subbotnik, he was immediately reported to the Cheka: "The whole thing is written in hostile, breathing endless contempt for Sovstroy, and denies all his achievements."

The story "Heart of a Dog" was banned in the USSR because Lev Kamenev, a high-ranking member of the Bolshevik Party, saw in the text a "poignant pamphlet on modernity" that "should never be printed." After such a verdict, Nedra magazine and the Moscow Art Theater terminated the agreement with the writer on the publication and theatrical production of the book. In 1926, Mikhail Bulgakov was searched, and even the manuscripts of the scandalous creation were seized from him. The history of publishing the story "Heart of a Dog" ended only in 1987, when the era of publicity began.

Genre and direction

"Heart of a Dog" refers to in literature. Despite the insignificant fantastic element, which is also explained from the point of view of science, the author seeks to objectively depict the surrounding reality. The characters he created, their actions and words look authentic and naturalistic. The author has successfully recreated the flavor of the era in the smallest detail: from singing ideologically correct songs to "devastation in the closets." The reader may believe that the events described could have happened in real life.

The genre of Bulgakov's "Heart of a Dog" can be defined as a story. The narrative covers a fairly short period of time, includes a small number of characters and storylines. But at the same time, the work is characterized by a huge number of details and real places, which give a more complete picture of the events taking place than the action in the story.

Composition and conflict

The composition of the work "Heart of a Dog" is circular:

• The narrative opens the inner monologue of the homeless dog Sharik, which serves as an exhibition designed to reveal the background and show the reader the main characters.
• The operation on the Ball and its transformation into a human is the plot that marks the beginning of the conflict.
• The culmination of the conflict falls on Sharik's attempt to adapt to a new life and his conflict with the professor.
• The finale ends with another internal monologue of the dog Sharikov, which marks the resolution of the conflict and the return of everything to square one - the denouement.

There are several conflicts in Bulgakov's story:

1. The first conflict lies in the confrontation between the intellectual of Professor Preobrazhensky and the house management, which consists of workers and political activists. This conflict is intended to show the clash of two generations and types of people who think in completely different categories. Bulgakov is on the side of the professor, because the privileges that he defends are deserved by his hard work. Shvonder, on the other hand, looks like a caricatured upstart who became significant only thanks to the coup.
2. The second conflict occurs between the dog Sharik transformed into a human and the people around him, including the professor. The idea of ​​this conflict lies in the danger that threatens humanity if it does not restrain itself on the path of progress. Polycarp Sharikov could not become a full-fledged person, because he missed the necessary stages of development, but at the same time he demanded everything that he did not deserve. Conflicts are interconnected, and at the climax they are completely woven into one.

The bottom line: what is the story about?

The mongrel dying in an alley is found by the old professor Philip Preobrazhensky. Immediately giving the dog the name Sharik, Philip Philipovich brings it to his luxurious multi-room apartment with an unknown purpose.

The professor turns out to be a significant person serving many wealthy and influential people, including members of the Communist Party. With just one call, Preobrazhensky terrifies and confuses the head of the local housing administration, Shvonder, who wanted to transfer one of the seven rooms in the professor's apartment to the indigent.

Finally, we find out what Philip Philipovich was up to and why he needed Sharik. By transplanting the necessary organs, the professor decided to turn a dog into a human. The operation ends with a brilliant success, Sharik transforms into a human and takes the name Sharikov.

Since time, due to the bad genetics of the organ donor and the inability of the professor to integrate his experimental into human society, Sharikov's character begins to deteriorate.

Shvonder takes responsibility for Sharikov's employment, filling out documents for him and arranging for a cat catching service. Under the influence of the head of the house administration, Sharikov begins to see in Preobrazhensky his direct enemy, begins to blackmail the professor, threatening to write a denunciation. At this moment, assistant to Philip Filippovich - Ivan Bormental loses his temper and kills Sharikov.

At the end of the story, the reader learns that Preobrazhensky saved Sharikov's life, turning him back into Sharik's dog and leaving him to live with him.

The main characters and their characteristics

The system of images in the story "Heart of a Dog" is framed by the Many-Wise Litrecon in the form of a table:

Themes

The theme of the story "Heart of a Dog" predetermined its fate: the author walked along the edge and raised such issues that were defiantly censored:

1. Scientific progress- on the example of the professor, it is clearly shown that often, following the path of irrepressible progress, humanity itself is not fully aware of its actions and does not understand what they can lead to. In any discovery, it is important not to disturb the natural course of things so much as to exclude nature from human life and ignore its laws.
2. New power- the work is imbued with hostility to the Soviet regime, in which Bulgakov saw something alien and dangerous. The universal passion for equality and brotherhood killed individuality in people and deprived them of the opportunity to think freely.
3. Creation of the type of Soviet person- the ideology of communism implies a change in human consciousness through a change in being. Ideology was supposed to educate people from whom nails could be made, as Mayakovsky wrote. Bulgakov, accustomed to thinking of himself as an elite, did not believe that ordinary workers and peasants would ever be able to compare with him. The point was not only in origin, but in the fact that people have different possibilities, and one cannot equalize them without deforming them.
4. Kindness- the world depicted in the story "Heart of a Dog" is completely devoid of kindness. The brutal reality embitters people who have no pity even for the dog, let alone each other. Preobrazhensky himself saves the dog only in order to obtain material for the experiment.
5. The culture- Professor Preobrazhensky's apartment is represented by a lonely island of culture and refinement in the middle of an ocean of rudeness and ignorance. Only there you can still hear exquisite speech and correct Russian without abuse and vulgarity. Every word of the professor is said consciously and correctly, but the speech of Shvonder and others like him is like clippings from revolutionary newspapers, mixed somehow.
6. Upbringing- Bulgakov showed what an important role education plays in the formation of a person. Preobrazhensky and Bormental could not convey their values ​​to Sharikov, instill in him a culture, as a result, he began to learn from Shvonder, opposing himself to his own creators. It is impossible to create a real person without education and a long path of formation that takes place in youth.
7. Pride and humility- at the beginning of the story, Philip Filipovich appears before us as a proud man who considers himself capable of overcoming nature, but at the end he resigns himself to the failure of his experiment, realizing that it is better to return everything as it was.

Problems

The problematic of the story "Heart of a Dog" became fatal for Bulgakov. Raising acute social and political problems, he fell into disgrace and lost many sources of his income:

1. Devastation after the Civil War- the country in Bulgakov's story is a deplorable sight. Dark streets covered with snow, gloomy tired people and dilapidated houses surround the heroes. But not only everyday life is in decline, but also the people themselves, who have lost their life guidelines and do not understand how to arrange life for them. It is about this that the writer speaks through the lips of Professor Preobrazhensky.
2. Bureaucracy- in the person of Shvonder, the writer showed the emerging Soviet bureaucrat - an executive person obsessed with formalism and interested only in fulfilling the will of the state. Such a person evokes a clear dislike in Bulgakov, in him he sees his direct enemy.
3. Harassment of dissent- between the professor and the house management at the first meeting, extremely hostile relations are established. Convinced communists understand that Preobrazhensky has a worldview that directly contradicts their own views. This alone arouses antipathy in them and a desire to harm Philip Philipovich, who is saved only by his connections. The writer looks with condemnation at the attempt of the communists to invade a person's personal life and an attempt to forcibly change someone's beliefs.
4. Raid on the intelligentsia- the story shows an atypical situation when an anti-Soviet intellectual not only avoids the repressive machine of the state, but uses it for his own purposes. However, he also has to constantly be on the watch, expecting some meanness from the haters. For Bulgakov, as for an intellectual, such a situation seems unacceptable and absurd.
5. The inability of the new government to organize life- through the lips of Preobrazhensky, Bulgakov expresses the claims of the new government for the mess and lawlessness that reigns in the country. In his opinion, the country and the people need a strong hand that will finally make people work and fulfill their duties, and not only demand the right.
6. The negative consequences of scientific discoveries- in the first half of the twentieth century, the belief that uncontrolled technological progress is dangerous for humanity was spreading more and more around the world. These views are our own response in the work of Bulgakov and the image of Preobrazhensky, who himself created what almost ruined him.
7. Cruelty to animals- Bulgakov separately emphasizes the evil that people inflict on a stray dog ​​Sharik, from the cook pouring boiling water over him, to the professor who uses the dog for his experiment. According to the writer, if people are cruel towards a harmless dog, then they are doubly ruthless towards each other.

Meaning

The work reflects the turbulent and disturbing atmosphere of the early twentieth century. The author looks to the future with dismay, warning humanity against the path along which it is going. The main idea of ​​the story "Heart of a Dog" is hidden in the symbolic meaning of the experiment itself. In the post-revolutionary period, the ideologists of the Bolshevik Party took care of the process of creating a new type of person - the Soviet. Motivational posters hung everywhere, newspapers and magazines described exceptionally useful and correct news occasions, slogans sounded at meetings and rallies, and education in schools was completely subordinated to the needs and demands of the party. It was decided to make a well-coordinated mechanism out of the people that would master the industrialization necessary for a backward agrarian country. Preobrazhensky did the same: he created a new type of man. But his idea, like that of the party, failed, because it is impossible to go against nature and simplify man into a mechanism. The Soviet government ignored what Preobrazhensky did not notice - the process of education, long and complex, like the process of the historical formation of the people, which cannot be forced. This is the main idea of ​​the story "Heart of a Dog": it is necessary to recognize the failure of the Soviet experiment and return to the natural order in which each person had a "place according to his ability." Universal equality is just as impossible as the creation of a full-fledged man from a dog.

Bulgakov's conservative convictions are clearly visible in the work. The ball symbolizes the Russian people, the professor - the Russian intelligentsia, which, according to Bulgakov, liberated the people, and Shvonder stands for the Soviet regime, which, due to the weakness of the intelligentsia, took on the role of educator of the people and led it against the intelligentsia. The writer saw the salvation of the country in an orderly and evolutionarily developing system that would return the peasants and workers to their proper place, and not take them to where they would not cope with their duties, just as Sharikov did not cope with the role of man.

What does it teach?

In the person of Sharikov, the writer demonstrates to us what lack of culture and ignorance are. Bulgakov's hero shows how a decent person should not behave. The author makes us think that outdated bourgeois morality is much higher than proletarian morality, because it is based on eternal values ​​and centuries of experience that new people deny. We can draw a historical conclusion from the story "Heart of a Dog": the global Soviet experiment was initially doomed to failure, because it is impossible to artificially equalize people with different capabilities and inclinations.

The story also teaches us prudence and restraint in our desires. He talks about how important it is to respect others and defend individual freedom.

Criticism

If similarly grossly disguised (for all this “humanization” is only an emphatically noticeable, careless make-up) attacks appear on the book market of the USSR, then the White Guard abroad ... can only envy the exceptional conditions for counterrevolutionary authors in our country.

However, the intelligentsia approved of Bulgakov's work, and reviews from critics greatly supported him in difficult times:

“This is the first literary work that dares to be yourself. The time has come for the realization of the attitude to what happened ... [I mean the October Revolution of 1917] "(M. Ya. Schneider, 1925)

“I was very pleased to read your review of M. Bulgakov ... his humorous things are pearls, promising an artist of the first rank from him. But the censorship cuts him mercilessly. Recently I stabbed the wonderful thing "Heart of a Dog", and he completely falls in spirit. " (V. Veresaev (Smidovich) - M. Voloshin (Kirienko-Voloshin), letter dated April 8, 1925)

More modern critics also noted the skill of Bulgakov, who was able to convey the character of the era, which he witnessed:

One of the burning problems of that time was the problem of the value of the human person. Most often, social demagogues reduced the question to external "indicators": if a worker, then "ours"; if from the nobility or the bourgeois, then the enemy, the "alien element" who has no right to revolutionary conquests, in essence, has no rights at all, "bereft". The antagonism of the warring parties, quite natural during the years of the revolution and the civil war, deftly inflated and warmed up and after the revolutionary events, when V.I.Lenin called on all segments of the population of Russia to cooperate with the Soviet government. Bulgakov showed such an antagonism between Preobrazhensky and Bormenthal, on the one hand, and Shvonder and members of the house committee, on the other. Until the victory was won by Preobrazhensky, his talent, his genius. And Bulgakov, together with his heroes, triumphs this victory. " (Victor Petelin, article "Happy time" // Bulgakov M. A. Collected works in 10 volumes. T. 3. Heart of a dog. - M .: Golos, 1995. - 464 p.)

Critics have noticed that "Heart of a Dog" is pure satire, and that even the reader himself is subject to ridicule:

Formally, it can be regarded as a work dedicated to a new stage in the triumph of science: the hero, Professor Preobrazhensky, manages ... to cope with the creation of his own hands that rebelled against him. But do not rush to conclusions based on formal signs. Indeed, at the same time, again formally, "Heart of a Dog" is a satire, as everyone who reads it witnesses. Therefore, it is necessary to understand whether science triumphs in this case or is subjected to ridicule. And if it is not science that is ridiculed here, then what?<…>Yes, the reader of "Heart of a Dog" laughs at himself ... ... The reader ... and serves as the main object of ridicule in "Heart of a Dog".<…>(E. G. Stepanyan, "About Mikhail Bulgakov and the" heart of a dog ", publishing house" Oklik ", 2011)

So, as a sign of peaceful greetings
I take off my hat, I beat it with my brow
Learning the philosopher-poet
Under a discreet hood.
A.S. Pushkin

According to the genre, Heart of a Dog (1925) is a story, but, speaking about its genre originality, it should be recognized that this is a socio-philosophical satirical story with elements of fantasy.

The story describes the NEP Moscow in the mid-20s of the XX century. The life of ordinary people, for the sake of whose happiness the revolution was made, is very difficult. Suffice it to recall the girl typist, citizen Vasnetsova. For her work, she receives a pittance, which is impossible to feed on even in the cafeteria of the "Normal Nutrition of Employees of the Central Council of National Economy", so she is forced to become the mistress of her boss, a boorish and self-righteous "native of the people" (I). This figure ("chairman of something") thinks: "My time has come. Now I (...) no matter how much I cheat - everything on a woman's body, on cancerous necks, on Abrau-Dyurso. Because I was hungry in my youth enough, it will be with me, but the afterlife does not exist ”(I). A young typist will become Sharikov's bride, and, of course, she will agree to marry this miracle of nature not from a good life.

The author describes ordinary Soviet people sympathetically, but there are other characters in the story who are satirically ridiculed. This is a fat cook from the aforementioned dining room "Normal Nutrition ...": he steals quality food, and feeds visitors rotten, which makes these visitors have stomach aches. This is the new elite - the patients of Professor Preobrazhensky, well-fed and satisfied, but preoccupied with various sexual problems. The professor himself, who looks like a medieval French knight, and his faithful apprentice-squire Dr. Bormental, who wanted to correct the laws of nature, are also ridiculed.

The social content of the story is expressed through a description of the everyday life of Moscow: in the capital, as before, criminals (Klim Chugunkin) roam about, there is a problem of food supplies, the drama of communal apartments, and bitter drunkenness. In other words, Bulgakov shows the discrepancy between official Soviet propaganda and real life. The social idea of ​​the story is to show the hard, unsettled life of an ordinary person in the Soviet country, where, as in the old days, swindlers and scoundrels of all stripes rule the ball - from the canteen manager to high-ranking patients of Professor Preobrazhensky. These heroes are depicted satirically, and the logic of the narrative leads the reader to the conclusion that the well-fed and comfortable life of such people is paid for by the suffering of the entire people during the years of the revolution and civil war.

In the story, the social content is closely intertwined with philosophical reflections on the new, post-revolutionary time and the "new" person generated by this time. The work should highlight at least two serious philosophical problems.

The first is about the responsibility of the scientist for his discoveries. Professor Preobrazhensky decided to carry out a unique operation - to transplant the human pituitary gland into the brain of an experimental dog. Since Philip Filippovich is a talented surgeon, he managed to implant the pituitary gland of the bandit Klim Chugunkin into the brain of Sharik, a mongrel. The scientist conceived this operation in order to test his guesses regarding the artificial rejuvenation of the human body. Having received an extract of the sex hormone from the pituitary gland, the professor could not yet know that there are many different hormones in the pituitary gland. The result was unexpected: the experimenter's miscalculation led to the birth of a disgusting informer, an alcoholic, a demagogue - Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov. With his experiment, Preobrazhensky challenged evolution, the natural state of things in nature.

But, according to Bulgakov, violating the laws of nature is very dangerous: a monster may appear that will destroy the experimenter himself, and along with him all of humanity. In fiction, this idea was developed both in the middle of the 19th century (M. Shelley's novel "Frankenstein, or New Prometheus"), and many times in the 20th century (A.N. Tolstoy's novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin", B. Brecht's play "Galileo ", The story of the Strugatsky brothers" Monday begins on Saturday ", etc.). Preobrazhensky understood the full danger of his scientific experience when Sharikov robbed him, tried to survive from his apartment, wrote a denunciation about the professor's counter-revolutionary statements and actions. Philip Philipovich, in a conversation with Bormenthal, admitted his experience was practically useless, albeit brilliant, from a scientific point of view: “Explain to me, please, why you need to artificially fabricate Spinoza, if any woman can give birth to a genius at any time. (...) Humanity itself takes care of this and in the evolutionary order stubbornly every year, separating from the mass of any filth, creates dozens of outstanding geniuses that adorn the globe ”(VIII).

The second philosophical problem of the story is about people's observance of the laws of social development. In the author's opinion, it is impossible to cure social diseases in a revolutionary way: the writer is deeply skeptical about the revolutionary process in his backward country and opposes it with “the beloved and Great Evolution” (letter from MA Bulgakov to the Government of the USSR dated March 28, 1930). The story "Heart of a Dog" reflected a sharp change in Bulgakov's public views in comparison with the previous beliefs presented in the novel "White Guard" (1921-1924). Now the writer understands that it is not a revolution with its unpredictable explosions and zigzags, but a great, unstoppable evolution that acts in accordance with nature, natural and human. Only as a result of the revolution can such personalities as Shvonder and Sharikov come to power - uneducated, uncultured, but self-righteous and decisive.

It seems to Shvonder and Sharikov that it is easier to arrange a just society: everything must be taken away and divided. Therefore, Shvonder is outraged that Professor Preobrazhensky lives in a seven-room apartment and even has a servant (the cook Darya Petrovna and the maid Zina). The fighter for "universal justice" and at the same time the chairman of the house of coma cannot understand that a scientist for normal work and successful experiments requires room and release from household worries. With his scientific discoveries, the scientist brings such enormous benefits to society that it is beneficial for society itself to create good living conditions for it. After all, an outstanding scientist, as Preobrazhensky is presented in the story, is a rarity and a great value for the nation. However, such reasoning is beyond the understanding of Shvonder, and he, seeking formal social equality, as he understands it, constantly incites Sharikov against Philip Filippovich. Analyzing the situation, the professor is sure that as soon as Sharikov is done with his “creator”, he will surely “deal with” his “ideological leader” (VIII). Then Shvonder will not be good at it, because Sharikov is a dark, spiteful and envious force that cannot create anything, but wants to divide everything, and capture more for itself. Sharikov's view of the world seems primitive to Preobrazhensky (and to Bulgakov himself), although nothing else could have been born in the undeveloped brains of Polygraph Poligrafovich. Skeptical about the idea of ​​"general carve-up", the writer essentially repeats the opinion of the Russian philosopher N.A. Berdyaev, who wrote that "equality is an empty idea and that social justice should be based on the dignity of each person, and not on equality" ...

The story contains elements of fiction, which make the plot entertaining and at the same time help to reveal the idea of ​​the work. Of course, the operation to transplant the pituitary gland and the very transformation of the dog into a humanoid creature are fantastic, but the fantastic (even from the point of view of physiologists of the beginning of the XXI century) ideas of artificial rejuvenation of the human body seemed quite real to some Russian scientists in the mid-20s of the XX century. This is evidenced by newspaper articles-reports, enthusiastically describing the promising experiments of physicians (L.S.Aizerman "Loyalty to the idea and loyalty to ideas" // Literature at school, 1991, No. 6).

So, in his story, Bulgakov, being a doctor, expressed skepticism about the problem of rejuvenation, and as a writer, he satirically depicted the “success” of medical gerontologists and philosophically comprehend the consequences of the revolutionary human intervention in the life of nature and society.

The story "Heart of a Dog" can be considered the most interesting work of Bulgakov's early work, since the main artistic principles of the writer were fully manifested in it. In a small work, Bulgakov succeeded in a lot: to depict in sufficient detail and satirically the modern life of the country of the Soviets, to pose the most important moral problem about the responsibility of a scientist for his discovery, and even to express his own understanding of the ways of development of human society. New social conditions give rise to "new" people, and the story talks about the collapse of the idea that a "new" person can be created quickly, for example, by some wonderful pedagogical or surgical methods. The courage of Professor Preobrazhensky, who took it into his head to improve nature itself, was severely punished.

The versatility of its content "Heart of a Dog" reminds of Bulgakov's main work - the novel "The Master and Margarita", because in terms of genre features both the novel and the story coincide - a socio-philosophical satirical work with elements of fantasy.

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History

The story was written in January-March 1925. During a search carried out at Bulgakov's OGPU on May 7, 1926 (order 2287, file 45), the manuscript of the story was also seized from the writer. Three versions of the text have survived (all in the Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library).

In the USSR, in the 1960s, the story was distributed in samizdat.

In 1967, unbeknownst to and against the will of the writer's widow E.S. "(London).

Plot

The story of the dog turned into a man quickly became known in medical circles, and then became the property of the tabloid press. Colleagues express their admiration for Professor Preobrazhensky, Sharik is demonstrated in the medical lecture hall, and curious people begin to come to the professor's house. But Preobrazhensky was not happy with the outcome of the operation, he understood that he could get out of Sharikov.

Meanwhile, Sharik falls under the influence of the communist activist Shvonder, who convinced him that he was a proletarian suffering from oppression by the bourgeoisie (in the person of Professor Preobrazhensky and his assistant Dr. Bormental), and turned him against the professor.

Shvonder, being the chairman of the house committee, issued Sharik documents in the name of Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov, arranged for him to work in the service for the capture and destruction of homeless animals (in the "cleaning") and forced the professor to register Sharikov in his apartment. In "cleaning" Sharikov quickly made a career, becoming the boss. Under the influence of Shvonder, having read communist literature and feeling like a boss, Sharikov begins to be rude to the professor, to behave cheekily at home, to steal things with money and harass the servants. In the end, it got to the point that Sharikov wrote a false denunciation against Professor and Doctor Bormental. This denunciation only thanks to the influential patient of the doctor did not reach the law enforcement agencies. Then Preobrazhensky and Bormental ordered Sharikov to get out of the apartment, to which he refused and threatened the doctor with a revolver. Bormental pounced on and disarmed Sharikov, after which he and the professor, unable to endure the antics of Polygraph Poligrafovich any longer and expecting only a worsening of the situation, decided to do the opposite operation and transplanted a canine pituitary gland to Sharikov, and he gradually began to lose his human appearance and turned into a dog again.

Characters (edit)

Facts

A number of Bulgakov scholars believe that Heart of a Dog was a political satire on the leadership of the state in the mid-1920s. In particular, that Sharikov-Chugunkin is Stalin (both have an "iron" second surname), prof. Preobrazhensky is Lenin (who transformed the country), his assistant Dr. Bormental, who is constantly in conflict with Sharikov, is Trotsky (Bronstein), Shvonder is Kamenev, assistant Zina is Zinoviev, Daria is Dzerzhinsky, and so on.

Censorship

An agent of the OGPU was present at the reading of the manuscript of the story during a meeting of writers in Gazetny Pereulok, who described the work as follows:

[...] such things, read in the most brilliant Moscow literary circle, are much more dangerous than the uselessly harmless speeches of the 101st class of writers at the meetings of the All-Russian Union of Poets.

The first edition of "Heart of a Dog" contained practically open allusions to a number of political figures of that time, in particular to the Soviet plenipotentiary in London Christian Rakovsky and a number of other functionaries known in the circles of the Soviet intelligentsia for scandalous love affairs.

Bulgakov hoped to publish "Heart of a Dog" in the almanac "Nedra", but they recommended not even giving the story to Glavlit for reading. NS Angarsky, who liked the work, was able to pass it on to Lev Kamenev, but he said that "this sharp pamphlet on the present should never be printed." In 1926, when a search was carried out in Bulgakov's apartment, the manuscripts of "The Heart of a Dog" were seized and returned to the author only after the petition of Maxim Gorky three years later.

In Samizdat, the story was already distributed in the early 1930s.

Mikhail Bulgakov's story "Heart of a Dog", written in 1925 in Moscow, is a filigree example of the sharp satirical fiction of that time. In it, the author reflected his ideas and beliefs about whether a person needs to intervene in the laws of evolution and what this can lead to. The topic touched upon by Bulgakov remains relevant in modern real life and will never cease to disturb the minds of all progressive humanity.

After publication, the story caused a lot of talk and ambiguous judgments, because it was distinguished by the vivid and memorable characters of the main characters, an extraordinary plot in which fiction was closely intertwined with reality, as well as overt, harsh criticism of Soviet power. This work was very popular among dissidents in the 60s, and after being republished in the 90s, it was generally recognized as prophetic. The story "Heart of a Dog" clearly shows the tragedy of the Russian people, which is divided into two warring camps (red and white) and in this confrontation only one should win. In his story, Bulgakov reveals to the readers the essence of the new victors - the proletarian revolutionaries, and shows that they cannot create anything good and worthy.

History of creation

This story is the final part of the previously written series of satirical stories by Mikhail Bulgakov of the 1920s, such as "The Devil" and "Fatal Eggs". Bulgakov began writing the story "Heart of a Dog" in January 1925 and finished it in March of the same year, originally it was intended for publication in the magazine "Nedra", but was not censored. And all such its contents were known to Moscow lovers of literature, because Bulgakov read it in March 1925 at the Nikitsky subbotnik (literary circle), later it was copied by hand (the so-called samizdat) and thus distributed to the masses. In the USSR, the story "Heart of a Dog" was first published in 1987 (6th issue of the magazine "Banner").

Analysis of the work

Story line

The story of the unsuccessful experiment of Professor Preobrazhensky, who decided to turn a homeless mongrel Sharik into a man, serves as the basis for the development of the plot in the story. To do this, he transplants the pituitary gland of the alcoholic, parasite and rowdy Klim Chugunkin, the operation is successful and an absolutely “new man” is born - Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov, who, according to the author's idea, is a collective image of the new Soviet proletarian. The "new man" is distinguished by a rude, arrogant and deceitful character, a boorish demeanor, a very unpleasant, repulsive appearance, and an intelligent and well-mannered professor often has conflicts with him. Sharikov, in order to register in the professor's apartment (to which he believes he has every right) enlists the support of a like-minded and ideological teacher, the chairman of the Shvonder House Committee, and even finds a job: he is engaged in catching stray cats. Carried to the extreme by all the antics of the newly-minted Polygraph Sharikov (the last straw was the denunciation of Preobrazhensky himself), the professor decides to return everything as it was, and turns Sharikov back into a dog.

main characters

The main characters of the story "Heart of a Dog" are typical representatives of the Moscow society of that time (thirties of the twentieth century).

One of the main characters in the center of the story is Professor Preobrazhensky, a famous scientist with a worldwide reputation, a respected person in society who adheres to democratic views. He deals with the issues of rejuvenating the human body through animal organ transplants, and seeks to help people, while not harming them. The professor is depicted as a solid and self-confident person who has a certain weight in society and is accustomed to living in luxury and prosperity (he has a large house with servants, among his clients are former nobles and representatives of the highest revolutionary leadership).

Being a cultured person and possessing an independent and critical mindset, Preobrazhensky openly opposes Soviet power, calling the Bolsheviks who have come to power as "hollows" and "idlers", he is firmly convinced that it is necessary to fight the devastation not by terror and violence, but by culture, and considers that the only way to communicate with living things is weasel.

Having conducted an experiment on a stray dog ​​Sharik and turned him into a man, and even tried to instill in him elementary cultural and moral skills, Professor Preobrazhensky suffers a complete fiasco. He admits that his "new man" turned out to be completely useless, does not serve up upbringing and learns only bad things (Sharikov's main conclusion after working through Soviet propaganda literature is to divide everything, and doing it by the method of robbery and violence). The scientist understands that it is impossible to interfere with the laws of nature, because such experiments do not lead to anything good.

A young assistant to the professor, Dr. Bormental, a very decent and devoted person to his teacher (the professor once took part in the fate of a beggar and hungry student, and he responds with devotion and gratitude). When Sharikov reached his limit, writing a denunciation of the professor and stealing a pistol, he wanted to use it, it was Bormental who showed firmness of spirit and toughness of character, deciding to turn him back into a dog, while the professor was still hesitating.

Describing on the positive side these two doctors, old and young, emphasizing their nobility and self-esteem, Bulgakov sees in their descriptions himself and his relatives, doctors, who would have done the same in many situations.

The people of the new era are the absolute opposites of these two positive heroes: the former dog Sharik himself, who became Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov, the chairman of the house committee Shvonder and other "tenants".

Shvonder is a typical example of a member of a new society who fully and completely supports Soviet power. Hating the professor as a class enemy of the revolution and planning to get a part of the professor's living space, he uses Sharikov for this, telling him about the rights to the apartment, making him documents and pushing him to write a denunciation of Preobrazhensky. Himself, being a narrow-minded and uneducated person, Shvonder gives in and extinguishes in conversations with the professor, and from this he hates him even more and makes every effort to annoy him as much as possible.

Sharikov, a donor for whom a bright average representative of the Soviet thirties of the last century, an alcoholic without a definite job, a three-time convicted lumpen proletariat Klim Chugunkin, twenty-five years old, became a bright average representative of the Soviet thirties of the last century, is distinguished by a foolish and arrogant character. Like all ordinary people, he wants to break out into people, but he does not want to learn anything or put any effort into it. He likes to be an ignorant slob, fight, curse, spit on the floor and constantly run into scandals. However, without learning anything good, he absorbs the bad like a sponge: he quickly learns to write denunciations, finds work to his liking - to kill cats, the eternal enemies of the canine race. Moreover, showing how ruthlessly he deals with stray cats, the author makes it clear that Sharikov will do the same with any person who has become between him and his goal.

The gradually growing aggression, arrogance and impunity of Sharikov is specially shown by the author in order for the reader to understand how this “Sharikovism” emerging in the 20s of the last century, as a new social phenomenon of the post-revolutionary time, is terrible and dangerous. Such Sharikovs, who are met all the time in Soviet society, especially those in power, pose a real threat to society, especially to intelligent, intelligent and cultured people, whom they hate fiercely and try to destroy them in every possible way. Which, incidentally, happened later, when during the Stalinist repressions the flower of the Russian intelligentsia and the military elite was destroyed, as Bulgakov predicted.

Features of compositional construction

In the story "Heart of a Dog" several literary genres are connected at once, in accordance with the storyline plots it can be attributed to a fantastic adventure in the image and likeness of "Dr. Moreau's Island" by H.G. Wells, which also describes an experiment to breed a human-animal hybrid. From this side, the story can be attributed to the actively developing genre of science fiction at that time, the outstanding representatives of which were Alexei Tolstoy and Alexander Belyaev. However, under the surface layer of science-adventure fiction, in fact, it turns out to be a sharp satirical parody, allegorically showing all the monstrosity and inconsistency of that large-scale experiment called "socialism", which the Soviet government carried out on the territory of Russia, trying to create a "new man" born from revolutionary explosion and implantation of Marxist ideology. What will come of this is just very clearly demonstrated by Bulgakov in his story.

The composition of the story consists of such traditional parts as the plot - the professor sees a homeless dog and decides to bring him home, the culmination (here several moments can be distinguished at once) - the operation, the visit of the Domkom members to the professor, the Sharikovs' denunciation of Preobrazhensky, his threats with the use of weapons, the professor's decision to turn Sharikov back into a dog, the denouement is to conduct a reverse operation, Shvonder's visit to the professor with the police, the final part is to establish peace and tranquility in the professor's apartment: the scientist goes about his business, the dog Sharik is quite happy with his dog's life.

Despite all the fantasticness and improbability of the events described in the story, the author's use of various methods of grotesque and allegory, this work, thanks to the use of descriptions of specific signs of that time (city landscapes, various locations, life and appearance of characters), is distinguished by a unique believability.

The events taking place in the story are described on the eve of Christmas, and it is not for nothing that the professor is called Preobrazhensky, and his experiment is a real “anti-Christmas”, a kind of “anti-creation”. In a story based on allegory and fantastic fiction, the author wanted to show not only the importance of the scientist's responsibility for his experiment, but also the inability to see the consequences of his actions, the huge difference between the natural development of evolution and revolutionary intervention in the course of life. The story shows a clear author's vision of the changes that took place in Russia after the revolution and the beginning of the construction of a new socialist system, all these changes for Bulgakov were nothing more than an experiment on people, large-scale, dangerous and having catastrophic consequences.