Heart of a Dog (story). History of creation and literary fate of the work

The film “Heart of a Dog,” directed by Vladimir Bortko in 1988, is today considered one of the best films of Soviet cinema. The director not only brought Mikhail Bulgakov's story to the screen, but was also able to breathe the spirit of the times into his film. “Heart of a Dog” is a brilliant film based on a brilliant work. We invite you to find out the history of the creation of the film “Heart of a Dog”.

As you know, the story was never published in the USSR due to the satirical content of the story. It was published only during perestroika in 1987 in the magazine “Znamya”. And just a year later they made a film based on it. According to the director Vladimir Bortko The idea of ​​​​creating this picture was pushed by Sergei Mikaelyan, who at that time headed the television department of Lenfilm:

“Meeting me in the studio corridor that time, Mikaelyan handed me a magazine. I came home, started reading, got to the professor’s monologue and realized that I was going to film, and I even knew how. It should be a black and white movie..."

But later Bortko decided to use a Sepia filter for the camera to stylize it as a 1930s movie. Later he also used this technique in the films “The Idiot” and “The Master and Margarita”.

By the way, the film Vladimir Bortko- this is the second film adaptation of Bulgakov's story. The first film was shot in 1976 in Italy. It was directed by Alberto Lattuada, and the role of Professor Preobrazhensky was played by Max von Sydow.

Still from the film “Heart of a Dog” (1976)

Bortko decided not to stop only at the story and borrowed some elements from other works of Bulgakov. For example, Professor Persikov, whom Preobrazhensky invited to examine Sharik, was the main character of the story “Fatal Eggs.” And the janitor, who read two volumes of the Brockhaus and Efron dictionary, was taken from the story “Gem Life.” Also, the famous scene in which the newborns are named Rose and Clara is taken from the feuilleton “The Golden Correspondence of Ferapont Ferapontovich Kaportsev,” and the professor’s neighbors, evoking the spirit of the emperor, are from the story “The Spiritualistic Seance.”

Filming began immediately. Actors such as Leonid Bronevoy, Mikhail Ulyanov, Yuri Yakovlev, and Vladislav Strzhelchik auditioned for the role of Professor Preobrazhensky. But the role went to a man who had never even read - Evgeny Evstigneev. For him, this role became a real salvation, because then he had already been retired from the theater. The actor's son recalls:

“This film appeared in my father’s life at the right time and literally saved him. Dad was going through a difficult period when he was sent into retirement at the Moscow Art Theater. Having a hard time agreeing to work in “Heart of a Dog,” he then simply lived it. I don’t know what happened on the set, but he constantly talked about his role, played something, showed some scenes... At that moment, the picture became a support for him.”

As for the role of Sharikov, then Vladimir Bortko remembers it like this:

“There were eight candidates for the role of Sharikov, including my favorite actor and friend Nikolai Karachentsov. But Tolokonnikov, whom we discovered in Alma-Ata, completely killed me. At the test, he acted out a scene with vodka: “I wish that’s all!” He grunted and hacked so convincingly, the sip traveled so amazingly down his neck, his Adam’s apple twitched so predatorily that I confirmed him immediately.”

Bortko himself also starred in "Heart of a Dog", however, only in the episode. He was one of the onlookers in Obukhov Lane, refuting rumors about Martians.

There was even a casting for the role of the dog Sharik. It was performed by a mongrel named Karai, chosen from 20 applicants. This was his film debut, but the dog turned out to be quite talented and continued his film career in the films “Re-exam”, “Rock and Roll for the Princess”, “Forever 19” and “The Wedding March”.

Karai even had to be made up for the film, since he had smooth fur, and Bulgakov wrote that Sharik was shaggy. The film's make-up artist, Elena Kozlova, recalls:

“They used starch, but as soon as Karai ran out into the street, he immediately began to wallow in the snow and wash everything off himself. Then they thought of using gelatin, and it turned out to be more stable.”

Despite frequent misconceptions, almost all the songs were written specifically for the film by the bard Julius Kim. And the ditties sung by Sharikov (“... come, bourgeois, I’ll gouge out your little eye”), and the march of the Red Army soldiers (“The White Guard is completely defeated, but no one will defeat the Red Army!”) and the song “The Harsh Years Are Passing”, performed by the Shvonder Choir.

In 2009, a monument was even erected to the heroes of the film, Professor Preobrazhensky and Polygraph Sharikov, in Kharkov near the entrance to the Sharikoff restaurant.

The film, which is considered a classic today, was not only received very coldly, but was criticized to smithereens.

“I opened the newspapers and was stunned. I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the quotes, but you can look up the archive and you’ll see that I’m close to the text... It said something like this: “No one has ever filmed such crap as “Heart of a Dog.” For this, the director should be cut off not only his hands, but also his legs and thrown from the bridge.” But I still survived (laughs). I felt like I did everything right. We were received favorably abroad: the film was awarded prizes in Italy, Poland, and Bulgaria. And two years after the release of “Heart of a Dog” on the screen, Evgeniy Evstigneev and I were awarded the State Prize.”

But more important than any bonus for Vladimir Bortko it was that his film gained immortality. And today you can often see it on television and it’s difficult to find a person who hasn’t watched it at least once, and quotes from the film have become classics.

The story “Heart of a Dog” was written by Bulgakov in 1925, but due to censorship it was not published during the writer’s lifetime. Although, she was known in literary circles of that time. Bulgakov read “The Heart of a Dog” for the first time at the Nikitsky Subbotniks in the same 1925. The reading took 2 evenings, and the work immediately received admiring reviews from those present.

They noted the courage of the author, the artistry and humor of the story. An agreement has already been concluded with the Moscow Art Theater to stage “Heart of a Dog” on stage. However, after the story was assessed by an OGPU agent who was secretly present at the meetings, it was banned from publication. The general public was able to read “Heart of a Dog” only in 1968. The story was first published in London and only in 1987 became available to residents of the USSR.

Historical background for writing the story

Why was “Heart of a Dog” so harshly criticized by the censors? The story describes the time immediately after the 1917 revolution. This is a sharply satirical work, ridiculing the class of “new people” that emerged after the overthrow of tsarism. The bad manners, rudeness, and narrow-mindedness of the ruling class, the proletariat, became the object of the writer’s denunciation and ridicule.

Bulgakov, like many enlightened people of that time, believed that creating a personality by force was a path to nowhere.

A summary of the chapters will help you better understand “Heart of a Dog.” Conventionally, the story can be divided into two parts: the first talks about the dog Sharik, and the second talks about Sharikov, a man created from a dog.

Chapter 1. Introduction

The Moscow life of the stray dog ​​Sharik is described. Let's give a brief summary. “The Heart of a Dog” begins with the dog talking about how his side was scalded with boiling water near the dining room: the cook poured hot water and it fell on the dog (the reader’s name is not yet revealed).

The animal reflects on its fate and says that although it experiences unbearable pain, its spirit is not broken.

Desperate, the dog decided to stay in the gateway to die, he was crying. And then he sees the “master,” the dog paid special attention to the stranger’s eyes. And then, just by appearance, he gives a very accurate portrait of this man: confident, “he won’t kick, but he himself is not afraid of anyone,” a man of mental work. In addition, the stranger smells of hospital and cigar.

The dog smelled the sausage in the man’s pocket and “crawled” after him. Oddly enough, the dog gets a treat and gets a name: Sharik. This is exactly how the stranger began to address him. The dog follows his new friend, who calls him. Finally, they reach the house of Philip Philipovich (we learn the stranger's name from the mouth of the doorman). Sharik's new acquaintance is very polite to the gatekeeper. The dog and Philip Philipovich enter the mezzanine.

Chapter 2. First day in a new apartment

In the second and third chapters, the action of the first part of the story “Heart of a Dog” develops.

The second chapter begins with Sharik's memories of his childhood, how he learned to read and distinguish colors by the names of stores. I remember his first unsuccessful experience, when instead of meat, having mixed it up, the then young dog tasted insulated wire.

The dog and his new acquaintance enter the apartment: Sharik immediately notices the wealth of Philip Philipovich’s house. They are met by a young lady who helps the gentleman take off his outerwear. Then Philip Philipovich notices Sharik’s wound and urgently asks the girl Zina to prepare the operating room. Sharik is against treatment, he dodges, tries to escape, commits a pogrom in the apartment. Zina and Philip Philipovich cannot cope, then another “male personality” comes to their aid. With the help of a “sickening liquid” the dog is pacified - he thinks he is dead.

After some time, Sharik comes to his senses. His sore side was treated and bandaged. The dog hears a conversation between two doctors, where Philip Philipovich knows that only with affection it is possible to change a living being, but in no case with terror, he emphasizes that this applies to animals and people (“red” and “white”) .

Philip Philipovich orders Zina to feed the dog Krakow sausage, and he himself goes to receive visitors, from whose conversations it becomes clear that Philip Philipovich is a professor of medicine. He treats delicate problems of wealthy people who are afraid of publicity.

Sharik dozed off. He woke up only when four young men, all modestly dressed, entered the apartment. It is clear that the professor is not happy with them. It turns out that the young people are the new house management: Shvonder (chairman), Vyazemskaya, Pestrukhin and Sharovkin. They came to notify Philip Philipovich about the possible “densification” of his seven-room apartment. The professor makes a phone call to Pyotr Alexandrovich. From the conversation it follows that this is his very influential patient. Preobrazhensky says that due to the possible reduction of rooms, he will have nowhere to operate. Pyotr Aleksandrovich talks with Shvonder, after which the company of young people, disgraced, leaves.

Chapter 3. The professor’s well-fed life

Let's continue with the summary. “Heart of a Dog” - Chapter 3. It all starts with a rich dinner served to Philip Philipovich and Dr. Bormenthal, his assistant. Something falls from the table to Sharik.

During the afternoon rest, “mournful singing” is heard - a meeting of Bolshevik tenants has begun. Preobrazhensky says that, most likely, the new government will lead this beautiful house into desolation: theft is already evident. Shvonder wears Preobrazhensky's missing galoshes. During a conversation with Bormenthal, the professor utters one of the key phrases that reveals to the reader the story “Heart of a Dog” what the work is about: “Devastation is not in closets, but in heads.” Next, Philip Philipovich reflects on how the uneducated proletariat can accomplish the great things for which it positions itself. He says that nothing will change for the better as long as there is such a dominant class in society, engaged only in choral singing.

Sharik has been living in Preobrazhensky’s apartment for a week now: he eats plenty, the owner pampers him, feeding him during dinners, he is forgiven for his pranks (the torn owl in the professor’s office).

Sharik's favorite place in the house is the kitchen, the kingdom of Daria Petrovna, the cook. The dog considers Preobrazhensky a deity. The only thing that is unpleasant for him to watch is how Philip Philipovich delves into human brains in the evenings.

On that ill-fated day, Sharik was not himself. It happened on Tuesday, when the professor usually does not have an appointment. Philip Philipovich receives a strange phone call, and commotion begins in the house. The professor behaves unnaturally, he is clearly nervous. Gives instructions to close the door and not let anyone in. Sharik is locked in the bathroom - there he is tormented by bad premonitions.

A few hours later the dog is brought into a very bright room, where he recognizes the face of the “priest” as Philip Philipovich. The dog pays attention to the eyes of Bormental and Zina: false, filled with something bad. Sharik is given anesthesia and placed on the operating table.

Chapter 4. Operation

In the fourth chapter, M. Bulgakov puts the climax of the first part. “Heart of a Dog” here undergoes the first of its two semantic peaks - Sharik’s operation.

The dog lies on the operating table, Dr. Bormenthal trims the hair on his belly, and at this time the professor gives recommendations that all manipulations with the internal organs should take place instantly. Preobrazhensky sincerely feels sorry for the animal, but, according to the professor, he has no chance of survival.

After the head and belly of the “ill-fated dog” are shaved, the operation begins: after ripping open the belly, they exchange Sharik’s seminal glands for “some other ones.” Afterwards, the dog almost dies, but a faint life still glimmers in it. Philip Philipovich, penetrating into the depths of the brain, changed the “white lump”. Surprisingly, the dog showed a thread-like pulse. Tired Preobrazhensky does not believe that Sharik will survive.

Chapter 5. Bormenthal's Diary

The summary of the story “Heart of a Dog,” the fifth chapter, is a prologue to the second part of the story. From Dr. Bormenthal's diary we learn that the operation took place on December 23 (Christmas Eve). The gist of it is that Sharik was transplanted with the ovaries and pituitary gland of a 28-year-old man. The purpose of the operation: to trace the effect of the pituitary gland on the human body. Until December 28, periods of improvement alternate with critical moments.

The condition stabilizes on December 29, “suddenly.” Hair loss is noted, further changes occur every day:

• 12/30 barking changes, limbs stretch, and weight gains.
• 31.12 the syllables (“abyr”) are pronounced.
• 01.01 says “Abyrvalg”.
• 02.01 stands on his hind legs, swears.
• 06.01 the tail disappears, says “beer house”.
• 01/07 takes on a strange appearance, becoming like a man. Rumors begin to spread around the city.
• 01/08 they stated that replacing the pituitary gland did not lead to rejuvenation, but to humanization. Sharik is a short man, rude, swearing, calling everyone “bourgeois.” Preobrazhensky is furious.
• 12.01 Bormental assumes that the replacement of the pituitary gland has led to the revitalization of the brain, so Sharik whistles, speaks, swears and reads. The reader also learns that the person from whom the pituitary gland was taken is Klim Chugunkin, an asocial element, convicted three times.
• January 17 marked the complete humanization of Sharik.

Chapter 6. Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov

In the 6th chapter, the reader first gets acquainted in absentia with the person who turned out after Preobrazhensky’s experiment - this is how Bulgakov introduces us to the story. “The Heart of a Dog,” a summary of which is presented in our article, in the sixth chapter experiences the development of the second part of the narrative.

It all starts with the rules that are written on paper by doctors. They say about maintaining good manners when in the house.

Finally, the created man appears before Philip Philipovich: he is “short in stature and unattractive in appearance,” dressed unkemptly, even comically. Their conversation turns into a quarrel. The man behaves arrogantly, speaks unflatteringly about the servants, refuses to observe the rules of decency, and notes of Bolshevism creep into his conversation.

The man asks Philip Philipovich to register him in the apartment, chooses his first name and patronymic (takes it from the calendar). From now on he is Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov. It is obvious to Preobrazhensky that the new manager of the house has a great influence on this person.

Shvonder in the professor's office. Sharikov is registered in the apartment (the ID is written by the professor under the dictation of the house committee). Shvonder considers himself a winner; he calls on Sharikov to register for military service. The polygraph refuses.

Left alone with Bormenthal afterwards, Preobrazhensky admits that he is very tired of this situation. They are interrupted by noise in the apartment. It turned out that a cat had run in, and Sharikov was still hunting for them. Having locked himself with the hated creature in the bathroom, he causes a flood in the apartment by breaking the tap. Because of this, the professor has to cancel appointments with patients.

After eliminating the flood, Preobrazhensky learns that he still needs to pay for the glass Sharikov broke. Polygraph's impudence reaches its limit: not only does he not apologize to the professor for the complete mess, but he also behaves impudently after learning that Preobrazhensky paid money for the glass.

Chapter 7. Attempts at education

Let's continue with the summary. “The Heart of a Dog” in the 7th chapter tells about the attempts of Doctor Bormental and the professor to instill decent manners in Sharikov.

The chapter begins with lunch. Sharikov is taught proper table manners and is denied drinks. However, he still drinks a glass of vodka. Philip Philipovich comes to the conclusion that Klim Chugunkin is visible more and more clearly.

Sharikov is offered to attend an evening performance at the theater. He refuses under the pretext that this is “one counter-revolution.” Sharikov chooses to go to the circus.

It's about reading. The polygraph admits that he is reading the correspondence between Engels and Kautsky, which Shvonder gave him. Sharikov even tries to reflect on what he read. He says that everything should be divided, including Preobrazhensky’s apartment. To this, the professor asks to pay his penalty for the flood caused the day before. After all, 39 patients were refused.

Philip Philipovich calls on Sharikov, instead of “giving advice on a cosmic scale and cosmic stupidity,” to listen and heed what people with a university education teach him.

After lunch, Ivan Arnoldovich and Sharikov leave for the circus, having first made sure that there are no cats in the program.

Left alone, Preobrazhensky reflects on his experiment. He almost decided to return Sharikov to his dog form by replacing the dog’s pituitary gland.

Chapter 8. “The New Man”

For six days after the flood incident, life went on as usual. However, after delivering the documents to Sharikov, he demands that Preobrazhensky give him a room. The professor notes that this is “Shvonder’s work.” In contrast to Sharikov’s words, Philip Philipovich says that he will leave him without food. This pacified Polygraph.

Late in the evening, after a clash with Sharikov, Preobrazhensky and Bormenthal talk for a long time in the office. We are talking about the latest antics of the man they created: how he showed up at the house with two drunken friends and accused Zina of theft.

Ivan Arnoldovich proposes to do the terrible thing: eliminate Sharikov. Preobrazhensky is strongly against it. He may get out of such a story due to his fame, but Bormental will definitely be arrested.

Further, Preobrazhensky admits that in his opinion the experiment was a failure, and not because they got a “new man” - Sharikov. Yes, he agrees that in terms of theory, experiment has no equal, but there is no practical value. And they ended up with a creature with a human heart “the lousiest of all.”

The conversation is interrupted by Daria Petrovna, she brought Sharikov to the doctors. He pestered Zina. Bormental tries to kill him, Philip Philipovich stops the attempt.

Chapter 9. Climax and denouement

Chapter 9 is the culmination and denouement of the story. Let's continue with the summary. "Heart of a Dog" is coming to an end - this is the last chapter.

Everyone is concerned about Sharikov's disappearance. He left home, taking the documents. On the third day the Polygraph appears.

It turns out that, under the patronage of Shvonder, Sharikov received the position of head of the “food department for cleaning the city from stray animals.” Bormenthal forces Polygraph to apologize to Zina and Daria Petrovna.

Two days later, Sharikov brings a woman home, declaring that she will live with him and the wedding will soon take place. After a conversation with Preobrazhensky, she leaves, saying that Polygraph is a scoundrel. He threatens to fire the woman (she works as a typist in his department), but Bormenthal threatens, and Sharikov refuses his plans.

A few days later, Preobrazhensky learns from his patient that Sharikov had filed a denunciation against him.

Upon returning home, Polygraph is invited to the professor's procedural room. Preobrazhensky tells Sharikov to take his personal belongings and move out. Polygraph does not agree, he takes out a revolver. Bormenthal disarms Sharikov, strangles him and puts him on the couch. Having locked the doors and cut the lock, he returns to the operating room.

Chapter 10. Epilogue of the story

Ten days have passed since the incident. The criminal police, accompanied by Shvonder, appear at Preobrazhensky’s apartment. They intend to search and arrest the professor. The police believe that Sharikov was killed. Preobrazhensky says that there is no Sharikov, there is an operated dog named Sharik. Yes, he spoke, but that does not mean that the dog was a person.

Visitors see a dog with a scar on its forehead. He turns to a representative of the authorities, who loses consciousness. The visitors leave the apartment.

In the last scene we see Sharik lying in the professor’s office and reflecting on how lucky he was to meet such a person as Philip Philipovich.

"Dog's heart"- story by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov.

Story

The story was written in January-March 1925. During the search carried out by the OGPU on Bulgakov on May 7, 1926 (warrant 2287, case 45), the manuscript of the story was also confiscated from the writer. Three editions of the text have been preserved (all in the Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library): the chapter “Give the floor to a textual critic.”

In 1967, without the knowledge and against the will of the writer’s widow E. S. Bulgakova, the carelessly copied text of “Heart of a Dog” was transferred to the West: the chapter “My French Queen...” simultaneously to several publishing houses and in 1968 published in the magazine “Grani” (Frankfurt ) and in Alec Flegon's magazine The Student (London).

Plot

The story of the dog that turned into a man turned out to be the property of the tabloid press. Curious people begin to come to the professor's house. But Preobrazhensky himself is not happy with the outcome of the operation, since he understands that he can get out of Sharik.

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

Shvonder, being the chairman of the house committee, issues documents to Sharik in the name of Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov, arranging for him to work in the service for catching and destroying stray animals (in “cleaning”) and forces the professor to officially register Sharikov in his apartment. Sharikov quickly makes a career in the “cleaning” service, becoming the boss. Under the bad influence of Shvonder, having superficially read communist literature and feeling like the “master of the situation,” Sharikov begins to be rude to the professor, behave cheekily at home, steal things with money and pester the servants. In the end, it comes to the point that Sharikov writes a false denunciation against Professor and Doctor Bormental. It is only thanks to the doctor’s influential patient that this denunciation does not reach law enforcement agencies. Then Preobrazhensky and Bormenthal order Sharikov to get out of the apartment, to which he responds with a categorical refusal. The doctor and the professor, no longer able to endure the arrogant and impudent antics of Poligraf Poligrafovich and expecting only the situation to worsen, decide to perform the reverse operation and transplant a canine pituitary gland into Sharikov, after which he gradually begins to lose his human appearance and turns into a dog again...

Characters

Data

• The prototype of the “Kalabukhov House”, in which the main events of the story unfold, was the apartment house of the architect S. F. Kulagin (house number 24 on Prechistenka Street), built with his money in 1904.
• Throughout the entire story, Professor Preobrazhensky constantly hums “From Seville to Grenada... In the quiet twilight of the nights.” This line is from Tchaikovsky’s romance “Don Juan’s Serenade”, the verses of which are taken from A.K. Tolstoy’s poem “Don Juan”. Perhaps in this way Bulgakov played up the professor’s occupation: the character in Tolstoy’s poem was known for his sexual adventures, and the professor restores sexual youth to his faded patients.
• The professor carries out the operation on Sharik in the period from December 24 to January 6 - from Catholic to Orthodox Christmas Eve. Sharik's transformation takes place on January 7, Christmas Day.
• There is an opinion that Sharikov can be perceived as a bearer of a demonic principle. This can be seen in his appearance: the hair on his head is “coarse, like bushes in an uprooted field,” like the devil’s. In one of the episodes, Sharikov shows Professor Preobrazhensky a shish, and one of the meanings of the word shish is the hairs standing on end on the devil’s head: 642.
• Perhaps the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky for the author was his uncle, his mother’s brother, Nikolai Mikhailovich Pokrovsky, a gynecologist. His apartment coincides in detail with the description of Philip Philipovich's apartment, and, in addition, he had a dog. This hypothesis is also confirmed by Bulgakov's first wife, T. N. Lappa, in her memoirs. The prototypes of Professor Preobrazhensky's patients were the writer's acquaintances and famous public figures of that time: 642-644. But there are other hypotheses (more about them are described in the article by Philip Filippovich Preobrazhensky).
• The house committees that Professor Preobrazhensky complained about, and one of which was headed by Shvonder, really worked very poorly after the revolution. As an example, we can cite the order to the residents of the Kremlin dated October 14, 1918: “[...] house committees do not at all fulfill the duties assigned to them by law: the dirt in the courtyards and squares, in the houses, on the stairs, in the corridors and apartments is appalling. Garbage from apartments is not removed for weeks; it sits on the stairs, spreading infection. The stairs are not only not washed, but also not swept. Manure, garbage, and the corpses of dead cats and dogs lie in the yards for weeks. Stray cats roam everywhere, being constant carriers of infection. There is a “Spanish” disease in the city, which has reached the Kremlin and has already caused deaths...”
• Abyrvalg - the second word spoken by Sharik after transforming from a dog into a human - is the word “Glavryba” pronounced in reverse order - the Main Directorate of Fisheries and the State Fishing Industry under the People's Commissariat of Food, which in 1922-1924 was the main economic body in charge of fishing grounds RSFSR. The first similarly constructed word was “abyr” (from “fish”). Sharik pronounced this word in reverse order, because, being a dog, he learned to read using the “Glavryba” sign, to the left of which there was always a policeman, which is why Sharik approached the sign from the right side and read from right to left.
• The rock group "Agatha Christie" recorded the song "Heart of a Dog", the text of which is Sharik's monologue.

The story as a political satire

The most common political interpretation of the story relates it to the very idea of ​​the “Russian revolution”, the “awakening” of the social consciousness of the proletariat. Sharikov is traditionally perceived as an allegorical image of the lumpen proletariat, who unexpectedly received a large number of rights and freedoms, but quickly discovered selfish interests and the ability to betray and destroy both their own kind (a former homeless dog climbs the social ladder, destroying other homeless animals) and those who endowed them with these rights. It should be noted that Klim Chugunkin earned money by playing music in taverns and was a criminal. The ending of the story looks artificial, without third-party intervention (deus ex machina) the fate of Sharikov’s creators looks predetermined. It is believed that in the story Bulgakov predicted the mass repressions of the 1930s.

A number of Bulgakov scholars believe that “Heart of a Dog” is a political satire on the government of the mid-1920s, and each of the characters has a prototype among the political elite of the country at that time. In particular, the prototype of Sharikov-Chugunkin is Stalin (both have an “iron” second surname), professor Preobrazhensky - Lenin (who transformed the country), Doctor Bormental, who is constantly in conflict with Sharikov - Trotsky (Bronstein), Shvonder - Kamenev, assistant Zina - Zinoviev, Daria - Dzerzhinsky and so on.

Censorship

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

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

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

Bulgakov hoped to publish “Heart of a Dog” in the almanac “Nedra”, but it was recommended that the story not even be given to Glavlit for reading. Nikolai Angarsky, who liked the work, managed to pass it on to Lev Kamenev, but he declared that “under no circumstances should this poignant pamphlet on modernity be printed.” In 1926, during a search 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.

Film adaptations

The story by Mikhail Bulgakov was written in 1925, but due to the sharp satire and the writer’s existing difficulties with the authorities, it was not possible to publish it. For almost thirty years it was distributed only through samizdat, and officially saw the light in 1968 - it was published in Russian-language magazines in Frankfurt and London.

In the USSR, the opportunity arose to publish the story only in 1987 - it was published in the pages of the Znamya magazine, and the very next year Vladimir Bortko presented the audience with a film adaptation of the work.
The film by Vladimir Bortko became the second film adaptation of “Heart of a Dog”. The first film based on the story by Mikhail Bulgakov was shot by Italian and German filmmakers in 1976. The Italians kept the original title, and the film was released in German under the title “Why does Mr. Bobikov bark?” - Sharikov was renamed in this film, and in general the emphasis was largely shifted. Professor Preobrazhensky was played by the famous actor Max von Sydow, and Bobikov was played by the aspiring Italian comedian Coki Ponzoni.






Leonid Bronevoy, Mikhail Ulyanov, Yuri Yakovlev and Vladislav Strzhelchik auditioned for the role of Professor Preobrazhensky, but Evgeny Evstigneev came out with the best image. According to the director, everyone was wonderful, but Evstigneev’s professor turned out to be not only brilliant, but also the most soulful. To consult the actors, one of the leaders of the Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the USSR Ministry of Health was invited to the set.


The search for the performer for the role of Sharikov took a very long time. The director was not completely satisfied with any of the main eight candidates, among whom were Nikolai Karachentsov and Alexei Zharkov, but then they brought him a photograph of the actor of the Almaty Russian Drama Theater Vladimir Tolokonnikov. The actor’s last name didn’t mean anything to anyone, but he was invited to audition, where he brilliantly played the dinner scene in the professor’s house and was approved. It is interesting that at the same time he received the role of Sharikov in his theater production.


Vladimir Bortko “brought” characters from other Bulgakov works into the film. Professor Persikov examining Sharik is the hero of the story “Fatal Eggs”, a soothsayer from the circus is a character in the story “Madmazel Jeanne”, the table-turning scene is taken from the story “Spiritualistic Seance”, the episode about the twin sisters Clara and Rosa is from the feuilleton “The Golden Correspondence of Ferapont Ferapontovich” Kaportseva".


The dog Sharik was played by the police dog Karai, who was chosen among twenty applicants. In order to give the well-groomed dog a stray look, the fur was coated with gelatin and a burn was drawn on its side. “Heart of a Dog” was the dog’s debut, but Karai turned out to be a talented actor and appeared on screen more than once.


After the premiere, the director was attacked by critics. He recalls that the newspapers did not mince words: “It said something like this: “No one has ever filmed such crap as “Heart of a Dog.” For this, the director should be cut off not only his hands, but also his legs and thrown from the bridge.” But I still survived." Contrary to the critics, two years after the release of the film, Vladimir Bortko and Evgeniy Evstigneev were awarded the State Prize... By the way, Vladimir Bortko starred in an episode of the film - he plays a passerby in Obukhovsky Lane, refuting rumors about Martians.

Mikhail Bulgakov's story “The Heart of a Dog,” written in 1925 in Moscow, is a filigree example of sharp satirical fiction of that time. In it, the author reflected his ideas and beliefs about whether a person needs to interfere with 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 its publication, the story caused a lot of speculation and controversial judgments, because it was distinguished by the bright and memorable characters of the main characters, an extraordinary plot in which fantasy was closely intertwined with reality, as well as an undisguised, sharp criticism of Soviet power. This work was very popular among dissidents in the 60s, and after its reissue in the 90s it was generally recognized as prophetic. In the story “Heart of a Dog,” the tragedy of the Russian people is clearly visible, which is divided into two warring camps (red and white) and in this confrontation only one must win. In his story, Bulgakov reveals to readers the essence of the new victors - proletarian revolutionaries, and shows that they cannot create anything good and worthy.

History of creation

This story is the final part of a previously written cycle of satirical stories by Mikhail Bulgakov of the 20s, such as “The Diaboliad” and “Fatal Eggs”. Bulgakov began writing the story “Heart of a Dog” in January 1925 and finished it in March of the same year; it was originally intended for publication in the Nedra magazine, but was not censored. And all of its contents were known to Moscow literature lovers, 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 Znamya magazine).

Analysis of the work

Story line

The basis for the development of the plot in the story is the story of the unsuccessful experiment of Professor Preobrazhensky, who decided to turn the homeless mongrel Sharik into a human. To do this, he transplants the pituitary gland of an alcoholic, parasite and rowdy Klim Chugunkin, the operation is successful and a completely “new man” is born - Poligraph 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 manner of behavior, a very unpleasant, repulsive appearance, and the 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 himself a job: he catches stray cats. Driven 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 Moscow society of that time (the thirties of the twentieth century).

One of the main characters at the center of the story is Professor Preobrazhensky, a world-famous scientist, 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 strives to help people without causing them any harm. The professor is depicted as a respectable and self-confident person, having a certain weight in society and 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 mind, Preobrazhensky openly opposes Soviet power, calling the Bolsheviks who came to power “idlers” and “idlers”; he is firmly convinced that it is necessary to fight devastation not with terror and violence, but with culture, and believes that the only way to communicate with living beings is through affection.

Having conducted an experiment on the stray dog ​​Sharik and turned him into a human, and even tried to instill in him basic cultural and moral skills, Professor Preobrazhensky undergoes a complete fiasco. He admits that his “new man” turned out to be completely useless, does not lend himself to education and learns only bad things (Sharikov’s main conclusion after studying Soviet propaganda literature is that everything needs to be divided, and doing this by the method of robbery and violence). The scientist understands that one cannot interfere with the laws of nature, because such experiments do not lead to anything good.

The professor's young assistant, Dr. Bormenthal, is a very decent and devoted person to his teacher (the professor at one time took part in the fate of a poor and hungry student, and he responded with devotion and gratitude). When Sharikov reached the limit, having written a denunciation of the professor and stole a pistol, he wanted to use it, it was Bormental who showed fortitude and toughness of character, deciding to turn him back into a dog, while the professor was still hesitating.

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

The absolute opposites of these two positive heroes are people of modern times: 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 the new society who fully and completely supports Soviet power. Hating the professor as a class enemy of the revolution and planning to get part of the professor’s living space, he uses Sharikov for this, telling him about the rights to the apartment, giving him documents and pushing him to write a denunciation against Preobrazhensky. Himself, being a narrow-minded and uneducated person, Shvonder gives in and hesitates in conversations with the professor, and this makes him hate him even more and makes every effort to annoy him as much as possible.

Sharikov, whose donor was a bright average representative of the Soviet thirties of the last century, an alcoholic without a specific job, three times convicted lumpen-proletariat Klim Chugunkin, twenty-five years old, is distinguished by his absurd and arrogant character. Like all ordinary people, he wants to become one of the people, but he doesn’t want to learn anything or put any effort into it. He likes to be an ignorant slob, fight, swear, 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 a job he “likes” - killing cats, the eternal enemies of the canine race. Moreover, by showing how mercilessly he deals with stray cats, the author makes it clear that Sharikov will do the same with any person who comes between him and his goal.

The gradually increasing aggression, impudence and impunity of Sharikov are specially shown by the author so that the reader understands how terrible and dangerous this “Sharikovism”, emerging in the 20s of the last century, as a new social phenomenon of the post-revolutionary time, is. Such Sharikovs, found all over the 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 in every possible way. Which, by the way, happened later, when during Stalin’s repressions the color of the Russian intelligentsia and military elite was destroyed, as Bulgakov predicted.

Features of compositional construction

The story “The Heart of a Dog” combines several literary genres; in accordance with the plot of the storyline, it can be classified as a fantastic adventure in the image and likeness of “The Island of Dr. Moreau” by H.G. Wells, which also describes an experiment on breeding a human-animal hybrid. From this side, the story can be attributed to the science fiction genre that was actively developing at that time, the prominent representatives of which were Alexei Tolstoy and Alexander Belyaev. However, under the surface layer of science-adventure fiction, in fact, there turns out to be a sharp satirical parody, allegorically showing the monstrosity and failure of that large-scale experiment called “socialism”, which was carried out by the Soviet government on the territory of Russia, trying to use terror and violence to create a “new man”, born from revolutionary explosion and propagation of Marxist ideology. Bulgakov very clearly demonstrated what will come of this in his story.

The composition of the story consists of such traditional parts as the beginning - the professor sees a stray dog ​​and decides to bring him home, the climax (several points can be highlighted here) - the operation, the visit of the house committee members to the professor, Sharikov writing a denunciation against Preobrazhensky, his threats with the use of weapons, the professor's decision to turn Sharikov back into a dog, the denouement - the reverse operation, Shvonder's visit to the professor with the police, the final part - the establishment of 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 fantastic and incredible nature of the events described in the story, the author’s use of various techniques of grotesque and allegory, this work, thanks to the use of descriptions of specific signs of that time (city landscapes, various locales, life and appearance of the characters), is distinguished by its unique verisimilitude.

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 the author's clear 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.