The story "Heart of a Dog", the history of which is given in this article, is one of the most famous works of the Russian writer of the early 20th century, Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov. The story, written in the first years of the existence of Soviet power, very accurately reflected the mood that prevailed in the new society. So precisely that it was forbidden to print until perestroika.
History of writing a work
The story "Heart of a Dog", the history of which originates in 1925, was written by Bulgakov in a short time. Literally in three months. Naturally, as an intelligent man, he had little faith in the fact that such a work could be printed. Therefore, it differed only in the lists and was known only to his close friends and associates.
In the hands of the Soviet government for the first time fell in 1926, the story "Dog Heart". In the history of the creation of this mirror of early Soviet reality, it played the role of the OGPU, which discovered it during a search of the writer on May 7. The manuscript was seized. The history of the creation of the “Dog Heart” has since been closely linked to the archives of the Soviet special services. All found editions of the text are now available to researchers and literary critics. They can be found in the Russian State Library. They are stored in the manuscript department. If you carefully analyze them, then the story of the creation of “Dog’s Heart” by Bulgakov will be confronted with your own eyes.
The fate of the work in the West
Officially reading this work in the Soviet Union was unrealistic. In the USSR, it was distributed exclusively in samizdat. Everyone knew the history of the creation of "Dog Heart", many were so eager to read it that they sacrificed their sleep. After all, the manuscript was handed over for a short period of time (often only for one night), in the morning it had to be given to someone else.
Attempts to print Bulgakov’s work in the West have been made repeatedly. The story of the creation of the story "Dog Heart" abroad began in 1967. But everything happened not without a flaw. The text was copied in haste and carelessly. The widow of the writer Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova was generally not aware of this. Otherwise, she could check the accuracy of the text of the story "Dog Heart". The history of the creation of the work in Western publishing houses is such that a very inaccurate manuscript fell into them.
It was first officially published in 1968 in the German magazine Grani, which was based in Frankfurt. And also in the magazine "Student", which was published by Alec Flegon in London. In those days, there were unwritten rules, according to which, in the case of publication of a work of art abroad, its publication at home automatically became impossible. Such was the story of the creation of "Dog Heart" by Bulgakov. To appear in the Soviet publishing house after that became simply unrealistic.
First publication in the homeland
Only thanks to perestroika and publicity, many key works of the 20th century became available to the Russian reader. Including Dog’s Heart. The history of creation and the fate of the story are such that in the homeland the work was first published in 1987. This happened on the pages of the magazine "Star".
However, the basis was still the same inaccurate copy with which the story was printed abroad. Later, researchers estimate that it contained at least a thousand gross errors and distortions. However, it was in this form that until 1989 the "Dog Heart" was printed. The story of creation can briefly fit in just a few pages. In fact, decades passed before the story reached the reader.
Original text
This annoying inaccuracy was corrected by a well-known researcher of Bulgakov’s creativity, a textologist and literary critic Lidia Yankovskaya.
In the two-volume edition of Bulgakov's selected works, she was the first to print the original text that we know today. This is what Bulgakov himself wrote in Dog's Heart. The story of the creation of the story, as we see, was not easy.
Story plot
The work takes place in the capital in 1924. In the center of the story is the famous surgeon, the luminary of science Philip Filippovich Preobrazhensky. His main studies are devoted to the rejuvenation of the human body. In this he achieved unprecedented success. Almost the first persons of the country are recorded for consultations and operations.
In the course of further research, he decides to a daring experiment. A human pituitary gland is transplanted to a dog. As an experimental animal, he chooses the ordinary yard dog Sharik, who somehow nailed to him on the street. The consequences were literally shocking. After a short time, the Ball began to turn into a real person. However, he acquired character and consciousness not from the dog, but from the drunkard and rude Klim Chugunkin, who owned the pituitary gland.
At first, this story was spread only among academics among professors, but soon leaked to the press. The whole city found out about her. Preobrazhensky’s colleagues express admiration, and Sharik is shown to doctors from all over the country. But Filipp Filippovich was the first to realize how terrible the consequences of this operation would be.
Ball Transformation
Meanwhile, Sharik, who has turned into a full-fledged person, begins to be negatively affected by a communist activist by the name of Shvonder. He is inspired from him that the proletarian, whom the bourgeois oppresses, in the person of Professor Preobrazhensky. That is, exactly what happens is what the October Revolution fought against.
It is Schwonder who issues the hero documents. Now he is not Sharik, but Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov. She arranges to work in the service for trapping and destroying stray animals. First of all, he is, of course, interested in cats.
Under the influence of Schwonder and communist propaganda literature, Sharikov begins to be rude to the professor. It requires you to register yourself. Ultimately, he writes a denunciation to the doctors who turned him from a dog to a man. It all ends with a scandal. Preobrazhensky, who is unable to tolerate this further, does the opposite operation, returning Sharikov the dog pituitary gland. He eventually loses his human appearance and returns to the animal state.
Political satire
This work is a vivid example of acute political satire. The most common interpretation is connected with the idea of ​​awakening proletarian consciousness as a result of the victory of the October Revolution. Sharikov is an allegorical image of the classical lumpen proletariat, which, having received an unexpectedly large number of rights and freedoms, begins to show purely selfish interests.
In the finale of the story, the fate of the creators of Sharikov looks predetermined. In this, according to many researchers, Bulgakov predicted the impending mass repression of the 30s. As a result, many faithful communists who won a victory in the revolution suffered them. As a result of the internal party struggle, some of them were shot, and some were exiled to the camps.
The final, invented by Bulgakov, seems artificial to many.
Sharikov is Stalin
There is another interpretation of this story. Some researchers believe that she was an acute political satire on the country's leadership, which worked in the mid-20s.
The prototype of Sharikov in real life is Joseph Stalin. It is no coincidence that both have an "iron" surname. Recall that the original name of the person to whom the dog’s pituitary gland was transplanted is Klim Chugunkin. According to these literary scholars, the prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky was the leader of the revolution Vladimir Lenin. And his assistant, Dr. Bormental, who constantly conflicts with Sharikov, is Trotsky, whose real name is Bronstein. Both Bormental and Bronstein are Jewish surnames.
There are prototypes for other characters. The assistant to Preobrazhensky Zin is Zinoviev, Shvonder is Kamenev, and Daria is Dzerzhinsky.
Soviet censorship
An important role in the history of the creation of this work was played by Soviet censorship. The first edition of the story contained direct references to political characters of that time.
Bulgakov deep down hoped to publish it. And even carried in the almanac "Nedra". But from there they decided not to send her for proofreading to Glavlit, which was supposed to approve the contents of the journal. So unreliable she seemed to the editors.
One copy of the manuscript fell into the hands of Kamenev, who imposed a strict ban on the publication of the story, calling it "a sharp pamphlet on the present." In samizdat, the work began to spread around only from the 30s. Well-known throughout the country gained much later - during the restructuring