Starting my thoughts about Professor Preobrazhensky, the hero of the work “ dog's heart", I would like to dwell a little on some facts of the biography of the author - Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov (05/15/1891, Kyiv - 03/10/1940, Moscow), Russian writer, theater playwright and director. All this is in order to draw some parallels that will largely unite the author and his imaginary hero.

A little about the author's biography

Bulgakov was born into the family of an associate professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy, but he himself soon became a student at the medical faculty of Kyiv University. During World War I he worked as a front-line doctor. In the spring of 1918, he returned to Kyiv, where he practiced as a private venereologist. IN civil war 1919 Bulgakov is a military doctor of the Ukrainian Military Army, then of the Armed Forces of southern Russia, the Red Cross, the Volunteer Army, etc. Having fallen ill with typhus in 1920, he was treated in Vladikavkaz, and after that his writing talent awoke. He will write to his cousin that he has finally understood: his job is to write.

Prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky

You can really compare Bulgakov with the prototype of the main character; they have too much in common. However, it is generally accepted that Preobrazhensky (the professor) as an image was copied from his uncle Mikhail Afanasyevich, a famous Moscow doctor, gynecologist

In 1926, the OGPU conducted a search of the writer, and as a result, the manuscripts of “The Heart of a Dog” and the diary were confiscated.

This story was dangerous for the writer because it became a satire on the Soviet regime of the 20-30s. The newly created class of the proletariat is represented here by heroes like the Shvonders and Sharikovs, who are absolutely far from the values ​​of the destroyed tsarist Russia.

They are all opposed to Professor Preobrazhensky, whose quotes deserve special attention. This surgeon and scientist, a luminary of Russian science, appears for the first time at the moment when in the story the dog, the future Sharikov, dies in a city gateway - hungry and cold, with a burnt side. The professor appears at the most painful hours for the dog. The dog’s thoughts “voice” Preobrazhensky as a cultured gentleman, with an intelligent beard and mustache, like those of French knights.

Experiment

Professor Preobrazhensky's main business is to treat people, to look for new ways to achieve longevity and effective means of rejuvenation. Of course, like any scientist, he could not live without experiments. He picks up the dog, and at the same time a plan is born in the doctor’s head: he decides to perform an operation to transplant the pituitary gland. He does this experiment on a dog in the hope of finding an effective method for gaining a “second youth.” However, the consequences of the operation were unexpected.

Over the course of several weeks, the dog, which was given the nickname Sharik, becomes a human and receives documents bearing the name Sharikov. Professor Preobrazhensky and his assistant Bormental are trying to instill in him worthy and noble human manners. However, their “education” does not bring any visible results.

Transformation into a human

Preobrazhensky expresses his opinion to assistant Ivan Arnoldovich Bormental: it is necessary to understand the horror that Sharikov no longer has a dog’s heart, but a human one, and “the lousiest of all those existing in nature.”

Bulgakov created a parody of socialist revolution, described the clash of two classes, in which Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky is a professor and intellectual, and the working class is Sharikov and others like him.

The professor, like a real nobleman, accustomed to luxury, living in a 7-room apartment and every day eating various delicacies such as salmon, eels, turkey, roast beef, and washing it all down with cognac, vodka and wine, suddenly found himself in an unexpected situation. The unbridled and arrogant Sharikovs and Shvonders burst into his calm and proportionate aristocratic life.

House Committee

Shvonder is a separate example of the proletarian class; he and his company form the house committee in the house where Preobrazhensky, an experimental professor, lives. They, however, seriously began to fight him. But he is also not so simple, Professor Preobrazhensky’s monologue about the devastation in people’s heads suggests that the proletariat and its interests are simply hateful to him, and as long as he has the opportunity to devote himself to his favorite business (science), he will be indifferent to petty swindlers and swindlers like Shvondera.

But he enters into a serious struggle with his household member Sharikov. If Shvonder puts pressure purely outwardly, then you cannot so easily disown Sharikov, because it is he who is the product of his scientific activity and the product of an unsuccessful experiment. Sharikov brings such chaos and destruction into his house that in two weeks the professor experienced more stress than in all his years.

Image

However, the image of Professor Preobrazhensky is very curious. No, he is by no means the embodiment of virtue. He, just like any person, has his shortcomings, he is a rather selfish, narcissistic, vain, but a living and real person. Preobrazhensky became the image of a real intellectual, alone fighting the devastation brought by the Sharikov generation. Isn't this fact worthy of sympathy, respect and sympathy?

Time for revolution

The story “Heart of a Dog” shows the reality of the 20s of the twentieth century. Dirty streets are described, where signs are hung everywhere promising a bright future for people. An even more depressing mood is caused by bad, cold stormy weather and the homeless image of a dog, which, like most Soviet people of a new country under construction, literally survives and is in constant search of warmth and food.

It is in this chaos that Preobrazhensky, one of the few intellectuals who survived a dangerous and difficult time, appears - an aristocratic professor. The character Sharikov, still in his dog body, assessed him in his own way: that he “eats abundantly and does not steal, will not kick, and he himself is not afraid of anyone, because he is always full.”

Two sides

The image of Preobrazhensky is like a ray of light, like an island of stability, satiety and well-being in the terrible reality of the post-war years. He's actually nice. But many do not like a person who, in general, everything is going well, but for whom it is not enough to have seven rooms - he wants another one, an eighth, to make a library in it.

However, the house committee began an intensified struggle against the professor and wanted to take his apartment away from him. In the end, the proletarians did not manage to harm the professor, and therefore the reader could not help but rejoice at this fact.

But this is only one side of the coin of Preobrazhensky’s life, and if you delve deeper into the essence of the matter, you can see a not very attractive picture. The wealth that he has main character Bulgakov, Professor Preobrazhensky, it must be said, did not suddenly fall on his head and was not inherited from rich relatives. He made his wealth himself. And now he serves people who have received power into their hands, because now it is their time to enjoy all the benefits.

One of Preobrazhensky’s clients voices very interesting things: “No matter how much I steal, everything goes to the female body, Abrau-Durso champagne and cancerous cervixes.” But the professor, despite all his high morality, intelligence and sensitivity, does not try to reason with his patient, re-educate him or express displeasure. He understands that he needs money to support his usual way of life without need: with all the necessary servants in the house, with a table filled with all sorts of dishes such as sausages not from Mosselprom or caviar spread on crispy fresh bread.

In the work, Professor Preobrazhensky uses a dog’s heart for his experiment. Not because of his love for animals, he picks up an exhausted dog to feed or warm him, but because, as it seems to him, a brilliant, but monstrous plan for him has arisen in his head. And further in the book this operation is described in detail, which only causes unpleasant emotions. As a result of the rejuvenation operation, the professor ends up with a “newborn” person in his hands. That is why it is not in vain that Bulgakov gives a telling surname and status to his hero - Preobrazhensky, a professor who implants the cerebellum of the repeat offender Klimka into the dog that came to him. This has borne fruit, such side effects The professor didn't expect it.

Professor Preobrazhensky's phrases contain thoughts about education, which, in his opinion, could make Sharikov a more or less acceptable member of social society. But Sharikov was not given a chance. Preobrazhensky had no children, and he did not know the basics of pedagogy. Perhaps that is why his experiment did not go in the right direction.

And few people pay attention to Sharikov’s words that he, like a poor animal, was seized, striped and now they are abhorring him, but he, by the way, did not give his permission for the operation and can sue. And, what is most interesting, no one notices the truth behind his words.

Teacher and educator

Preobrazhensky became the first literature teacher for Sharikov, although he understood that learning to speak does not mean becoming a full-fledged person. He wanted to make a highly developed personality out of the beast. After all, the professor himself in the book is a standard of education and high culture and a supporter of old, pre-revolutionary morals. He very clearly defined his position, speaking about the ensuing devastation and the inability of the proletariat to cope with it. The professor believes that people should first of all be taught the most basic culture; he is sure that using brute force, nothing can be achieved in the world. He realizes that he has created a being with dead soul, and finds the only way out: to do the opposite operation, since his educational methods did not work on Sharikov, because in a conversation with the maid Zina he noted: “You can’t fight anyone... You can influence a person and an animal only by suggestion.”

But the skills of demagoguery, as it turns out, are learned much easier and faster than the skills of creative activity. And Shvonder succeeds in raising Sharikov. He does not teach him grammar and mathematics, but begins immediately with the correspondence between Engels and Kautsky, as a result of which Sharikov, with his low level of development, despite the complexity of the topic, from which his “head was swollen,” came to the conclusion: “Take everything and share!” This idea of ​​social justice was understood best of all by the people's power and the newly minted citizen Sharikov.

Professor Preobrazhensky: “Devastation in our heads”

It should be noted that “Heart of a Dog” shows from all sides the absurdity and madness of the new structure of society that arose after 1917. Professor Preobrazhensky understood this well. The character's quotes about the devastation in their heads are unique. He says that if a doctor, instead of performing operations, starts singing in chorus, he will be ruined. If he begins to urinate past the toilet, and all his servants do this, then devastation will begin in the restroom. Consequently, the devastation is not in the closets, but in the heads.

Famous quotes by Professor Preobrazhensky

In general, the book “Heart of a Dog” is a real quotation book. The professor’s main and vivid expressions were described in the text above, but there are several more that also deserve the reader’s attention and will be interesting for various reflections.

“He who is not in a hurry succeeds everywhere.”

- “Why was the carpet removed from the main staircase? What, Karl Marx forbids carpets on the stairs?

- “Humanity itself takes care of this and, in an evolutionary order, every year persistently creates dozens of outstanding geniuses from the mass of all kinds of scum that adorn the globe.”

- “What is this destruction of yours? An old woman with a stick? A witch who knocked out all the windows and put out all the lamps?”

A person cannot live without a goal. Our whole life consists of the efforts we make to achieve this goal. But do we always go towards achieving it according to the right way? Albert Einstein said: “No goal is so high as to justify unworthy means to achieve it.” Often, in pursuit of a dream, we use unworthy means, and even if it is a good goal, sooner or later you begin to regret the paths you took to achieve it.

But sometimes it also happens that a high goal serves as a cover for true plans. In literature, such people are usually contrasted with honest and noble people.

Can a high goal justify base means? I believe that a person who truly wants to achieve it should offer appropriate efforts so that later there will be no torment and remorse. This is exactly what happened to the hero of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. Raskolnikov faces a difficult choice: throughout the entire narrative we see his attempts to justify, first of all to himself, the murder of the old woman. On the one hand, he is guided by the fact that many rulers sometimes overstepped their moral convictions on the way to great goals. He believes that by killing the pawnbroker, he will save more lives. But in fact, you cannot act for the good, using all kinds of, even criminal, methods. And the hero, in the end, realizes this: Raskolnikov does not feel any satisfaction from the fact that he tried to change this world and himself, he suffers, realizing what he went to for this.

The goal is determined by the means we use to achieve it. The goal may seem noble on the surface, but its consequences can be dire. Proof of this can be found in Mikhail Bulgakov’s story “The Heart of a Dog.” Professor Preobrazhensky has a high goal; he is an innovator. But what is the result of his activity? The author makes it clear that man should not interfere with nature. By disrupting the harmony, the professor gets a terrifying result. Yes, in the story the hero manages to return everything to its place, but in life this is not always possible. The efforts made can lead to irreversible consequences, that is, the use of the product turns out to be unjustified.

Everyone must set goals that he can achieve, and use only those means that are appropriate to the goals that are available to achieve them. But at the same time, we must not forget about morality and ethics and the society in which we live. The base means used transform a noble goal into something that violates the laws of human existence.

Bulgakov’s legendary work “The Heart of a Dog” is studied in literature lessons in the 9th grade. Its fantastic content reflects very real historical events. In “Heart of a Dog,” the planned analysis involves a detailed analysis of all artistic aspects of the work. It is this information that is presented in our article, including analysis of the work, criticism, issues, compositional structure and history of creation.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing- the story was written in 1925.

History of creation- the work is created quickly - in three months, sold in samizdat, but published in its homeland only in 1986 during the period of perestroika.

Subject– rejection of violent intervention in history, political changes in society, the theme of human nature, its nature.

Composition– a ring composition based on the image of the main character.

Genre- social and philosophical satirical story.

Direction– satire, fantasy (as a way of presenting literary text).

History of creation

Bulgakov's work was written in 1925. In just three months, a brilliant work was born, which subsequently gained a legendary future and national fame.

It was being prepared for publication in the Nedra magazine. After reading the text, the editor-in-chief naturally refused to publish such a book, which was openly hostile to the existing political system. In 1926, the author’s apartment was searched and the manuscript of “Heart of a Dog” was confiscated. In its original version, the book was called “Dog's Happiness. A monstrous story,” later it received a modern name, which is associated with lines from the book by A. V. Laifert.

The very idea of ​​the plot, according to researchers of Mikhail Bulgakov’s work, was borrowed by the author from the science fiction writer G. Wells. Bulgakov's plot becomes almost a covert parody of government circles and their policies. The writer twice read his story, for the first time at the literary meeting “Nikitin Subbotniks”.

After the next performance, the audience was delighted, with the exception of a few communist writers. During the author’s lifetime, his work was not published, largely due to its disgraced content, but there was another reason. “The Heart of a Dog” was first published abroad, which automatically “sentenced” the text to persecution in its homeland. Therefore, only in 1986, 60 years later, it appeared on the pages of Zvezda magazine. Despite his disfavor, Bulgakov hoped to publish the text during his lifetime; it was rewritten, copied, and passed on by friends and acquaintances of the writer, admiring the courage and originality of the images.

Subject

The writer raises problem the ideology and politics of Bolshevism, the lack of education of those who rose to power, the impossibility of forcibly changing the order of history. The results of the revolution are deplorable; it, like Professor Preobrazhensky’s operation, led to completely unexpected consequences and revealed the most terrible diseases of society.

Subject human nature, nature, characters are also touched upon by the author. It gives a translucent hint that a person feels too omnipotent, but is not able to control the fruits of his activities.

Briefly about issues works: a violent change in the social system and way of life will inevitably lead to disastrous results, the “experiment” will be unsuccessful.

Idea Bulgakov's story is quite transparent: any artificial intervention in nature, society, history, politics, and other areas will not lead to positive changes. The author adheres to healthy conservatism.

Main thought The story says the following: uneducated, immature “people” like the “Sharikovs” should not be given power, they are morally immature, such an experiment will result in a disaster for society and history. The conclusion about the author’s artistic goals from the perspective of the political system and politics of the 20-30s would be too narrow, so both ideas have the right to life.

Meaning of the name works is that not all people are born with normal, spiritually “healthy” hearts. There are people on earth who live the life of Sharikov, they have dog (bad, evil) hearts from birth.

Composition

The story has a circular composition, which can be traced by following the content of the work.

The story begins with a description of a dog, which soon becomes a man; ends where it began: Sharikov is operated on and again takes on the appearance of a contented animal.

The special features of the composition are diary entries Bormenthal about the results of the experiment, about the patient’s degeneration, about his achievements and degradation. Thus, the history of Sharikov’s “life” was documented by the professor’s assistant. A striking key point of the composition is Sharikov’s acquaintance with Shvonder, who has a decisive influence on the formation of the personality of the newly minted citizen.

In the center of the story are two main characters: Professor Preobrazhensky and Polygraph Sharikov, they are the ones who have a plot-shaping role. In the beginning of the work, an interesting technique is used by the author, when life is shown through the eyes of the dog Sharik, his “dog’s” thoughts about the weather, about people and his own life are a reflection of the little that is needed for a calm existence. The culmination of the story is the rebirth of Polygraph, his moral and spiritual decay, the highest manifestation of which was the plan to kill the professor. In the denouement, Bormetal and Philip Philipovich return the experimental subject to his original form, thereby correcting their mistake. This moment is very symbolic, as it defines what the story teaches: some things can be corrected if you admit your mistake.

Main characters

Genre

The genre “Heart of a Dog” is usually referred to as a story. It is essentially a social or political satire. The interweaving of sharp satire with philosophical reflections on the future after the revolution gives the right to call the work a socio-philosophical satirical story with elements of fantasy.

Work test

Rating Analysis

Average rating: 4.7. Total ratings received: 1746.

“Heart of a Dog” was written in early 1925. It was supposed to be published in the Nedra almanac, but censorship prohibited publication. The story was completed in March, and Bulgakov read it at the literary meeting of the Nikitsky Subbotniks. The Moscow public became interested in the work. It was distributed in samizdat. It was first published in London and Frankfurt in 1968, in the magazine “Znamya” No. 6 in 1987.

In the 20s Medical experiments on rejuvenating the human body were very popular. Bulgakov, as a doctor, was familiar with these natural science experiments. The prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky was Bulgakov’s uncle, N.M. Pokrovsky, a gynecologist. He lived on Prechistenka, where the events of the story unfold.

Genre features

The satirical story “Heart of a Dog” combines various genre elements. The plot of the story is reminiscent of fantastic adventure literature in the tradition of H. Wells. The subtitle of the story “A Monstrous Story” indicates the parodic flavor of the fantastic plot.

The science-adventure genre is an outer cover for satirical subtext and topical metaphor.

The story is close to dystopias due to its social satire. This is a warning about the consequences of a historical experiment that must be stopped, everything must be returned to normal.

Issues

The most important problem of the story is social: it is the comprehension of the events of the revolution, which made it possible for the Sharik and Shvonders to rule the world. Another problem is awareness of the limits of human capabilities. Preobrazhensky, imagining himself to be a god (he is literally worshiped by his family), goes against nature, turning a dog into a man. Realizing that “any woman can give birth to Spinoza at any time,” Preobrazhensky repents of his experiment, which saves his life. He understands the fallacy of eugenics - the science of improving the human race.

The problem of the danger of invasion into human nature and social processes is raised.

Plot and composition

The science-fiction plot describes how Professor Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky decides to experiment with transplanting the pituitary gland and ovaries of the “semi-proletarian” Klim Chugunkin into a dog. As a result of this experiment, the monstrous Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov appeared, the embodiment and quintessence of the victorious proletariat class. Sharikov's existence caused many problems for Philip Philipovich's family, and, in the end, endangered the normal life and freedom of the professor. Then Preobrazhensky decided on a reverse experiment, transplanting the dog’s pituitary gland into Sharikov.

The ending of the story is open: this time Preobrazhensky was able to prove to the new proletarian authorities that he was not involved in the “murder” of Poligraf Poligrafovich, but how long will his far from peaceful life last?

The story consists of 9 parts and an epilogue. The first part is written on behalf of the dog Sharik, who suffers from the cold and a wound on his scalded side in the harsh St. Petersburg winter. In the second part, the dog becomes an observer of everything that happens in Preobrazhensky’s apartment: the reception of patients in the “obscene apartment”, the professor’s opposition to the new house management headed by Shvonder, the fearless admission of Philip Philipovich that he does not love the proletariat. For the dog, Preobrazhensky turns into a semblance of a deity.

The third part tells about the ordinary life of Philip Philipovich: breakfast, conversations about politics and devastation. This part is polyphonic, it contains the voices of both the professor, and the “chopped one” (Bormental’s assistant from the point of view of Sharik who pulled him), and Sharik himself, talking about his lucky ticket and about Preobrazhensky as a magician from a dog’s fairy tale.

In the fourth part, Sharik meets the rest of the inhabitants of the house: the cook Daria and the servant Zina, whom the men treat very gallantly, and Sharik mentally calls Zina Zinka, and quarrels with Daria Petrovna, she calls him a homeless pickpocket and threatens him with a poker. In the middle of the fourth part, Sharik's narrative is interrupted because he undergoes surgery.

The operation is described in detail, Philip Philipovich is terrible, he is called a robber, like a murderer who cuts, snatches, destroys. At the end of the operation, he is compared to a well-fed vampire. This is the author’s point of view, it is a continuation of Sharik’s thoughts.

The fifth, central and climactic chapter is the diary of Dr. Bormenthal. It begins in a strictly scientific style, which gradually turns into a colloquial style, with emotionally charged words. The case history ends with Bormenthal’s conclusion that “we have a new organism before us, and we need to observe it first.”

The next chapters 6-9 are history short life Sharikova. He experiences the world by destroying it and living the probable fate of the murdered Klim Chugunkin. Already in Chapter 7, the professor has the idea of ​​​​deciding on a new operation. Sharikov's behavior becomes unbearable: hooliganism, drunkenness, theft, harassment of women. The last straw was Shvonder’s denunciation from Sharikov’s words against all the inhabitants of the apartment.

The epilogue, describing the events 10 days after Bormental's fight with Sharikov, shows Sharikov almost turning into a dog again. The next episode is the reasoning of the dog Sharik in March (about 2 months have passed) about how lucky he was.

Metaphorical subtext

At the professor's speaking surname. He transforms the dog into a “new person”. This happens between December 23 and January 7, between Catholic and Orthodox Christmas. It turns out that the transformation occurs in some kind of temporary void between the same date in different styles. A polygrapher (who writes a lot) is the embodiment of the devil, a “massive” person.

Apartment on Prechistenka (from the definition of the Mother of God) of 7 rooms (7 days of creation). She is the embodiment of divine order amidst the surrounding chaos and devastation. A star looks out of the apartment window from the darkness (chaos), observing the monstrous transformation. The professor is called a deity and a priest. He officiates.

Heroes of the story

Professor Preobrazhensky– scientist, a figure of world significance. At the same time, he is a successful doctor. But his merits do not prevent the new government from frightening the professor with a seal, registering Sharikov and threatening to arrest him. The professor has an inappropriate background - his father is a cathedral archpriest.

Preobrazhensky is quick-tempered, but kind. He sheltered Bormenthal at the department when he was a half-starved student. He noble man, is not going to leave a colleague in the event of a disaster.

Doctor Ivan Arnoldovich Bormental- son of a forensic investigator from Vilna. He is the first student of the Preobrazhensky school, loving his teacher and devoted to him.

Ball appears as a completely rational, reasoning creature. He even jokes: “A collar is like a briefcase.” But Sharik is the very creature in whose mind the crazy idea of ​​rising “from rags to riches” appears: “I am a master’s dog, an intelligent creature.” However, he hardly sins against the truth. Unlike Sharikov, he is grateful to Preobrazhensky. And the professor operates with a firm hand, mercilessly kills Sharik, and having killed, he regrets: “It’s a pity for the dog, he was affectionate, but cunning.”

U Sharikova nothing remains of Sharik except hatred of cats and love of the kitchen. His portrait was first described in detail by Bormenthal in his diary: he is a short man with a small head. Subsequently, the reader learns that the hero’s appearance is unattractive, his hair is coarse, his forehead is low, his face is unshaven.

His jacket and striped trousers are torn and dirty, a poisonous heavenly tie and patent leather boots with white leggings complete the costume. Sharikov is dressed in accordance with his own concepts of chic. Like Klim Chugunkin, whose pituitary gland was transplanted to him, Sharikov plays the balalaika professionally. From Klim he got his love for vodka.

Sharikov chooses his first and patronymic according to the calendar, and takes the “hereditary” surname.

The main character trait of Sharikov is arrogance and ingratitude. He behaves like a savage, and about normal behavior he says: “You torture yourself, like under the tsarist regime.”

Sharikov receives a “proletarian education” from Shvonder. Bormenthal calls Sharikov a man with a dog’s heart, but Preobrazhensky corrects him: Sharikov has a human heart, but the worst possible person.

Sharikov even makes a career in his own sense: he takes the position of head of the department for cleaning Moscow from stray animals and is going to sign with the typist.

Stylistic features

The story is full of aphorisms expressed by different characters: “Don’t read Soviet newspapers before lunch,” “Devastation is not in the closets, but in the heads,” “You can’t hurt anyone!” You can influence a person or an animal only by suggestion” (Preobrazhensky), “Happiness is not in galoshes”, “And what is will? So, smoke, mirage, fiction, nonsense of these ill-fated democrats..." (Sharik), "The document is the most important thing in the world" (Shvonder), "I am not a master, the gentlemen are all in Paris" (Sharikov).

For Professor Preobrazhensky, there are certain symbols of normal life, which in themselves do not ensure this life, but testify to it: a shoe rack in the front door, carpets on the stairs, steam heating, electricity.

Society of the 20s is characterized in the story with the help of irony, parody, and grotesque.

The action of M. Bulgakov's brilliant phantasmagoria takes place in the 20s in Soviet Russia, at the very height of the construction of socialism. The famous Moscow professor Filipp Filippovich Preobrazhensky decides to experiment on transplanting the seminal glands and pituitary gland of the deceased homeless man, drunkard and hooligan Klim Chugunkin to a cute dog Sharik, found on the street. Humanization occurred, but the experiment, alas, failed. Instead of a kind dog, an ugly, stupid and aggressive Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov is born, who inherited only bad traits from his “donor”. But this did not prevent him from adapting well to socialist reality and even becoming the head of the department for clearing Moscow of stray animals. Sharikov turns the life of Professor Preobrazhensky and the inhabitants of his apartment into a real hell. Incited by the chairman of the house committee, Shvonder, he writes denunciations against his “creator,” demands to be allocated living space, and even threatens him with a revolver. The professor has no choice but to recognize the experiment as a failure and return Sharikov to his original state.

Michael Bulgakov

dog's heart

1

Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Oh, look at me, I'm dying! The blizzard in the gateway howls at me, and I howl with it. I'm lost, I'm lost! A scoundrel in a dirty cap, a cook in the canteen for normal meals for employees of the Central Council of the National Economy, splashed boiling water and scalded my left side. What a reptile, and also a proletarian! My God, how painful it is! It was eaten to the bones by boiling water. Now I’m howling, howling, howling, but can you howl help?

How did I bother him? How? Will I really eat the Council of the National Economy if I rummage through the trash? Greedy creature. Just take a look at his face: he’s wider across himself! Thief with a copper face. Ah, people, people! At noon the cap treated me to boiling water, and now it’s dark, about four o’clock in the afternoon, judging by the smell of onions from the Prechistensky fire brigade. Firemen eat porridge for dinner, as you know. But this is the last thing, like mushrooms. Familiar dogs from Prechistenka, however, told me that on Neglinny in the Bar restaurant they eat the usual dish - mushrooms pican sauce for three rubles seventy-five kopecks per serving. This is not an acquired taste - it’s like licking a galosh... Oooh...

My side hurts unbearably, and the distance of my career is visible to me quite clearly: tomorrow ulcers will appear, and, one wonders, how will I treat them? In the summer you can go to Sokolniki, there is a special very good grass there, and, besides, you will get drunk on free sausage heads, the citizens will throw greasy paper on them, you will get drunk. And if it weren’t for some grimza that sings on the circle in the moonlight - “dear Aida” - so that the heart sinks, it would be great. Now where will you go? Did they hit you with a boot? They beat me. Did you get hit in the ribs with a brick? There is enough food. I have experienced everything, I am at peace with my fate, and if I cry now, it is only from physical pain and hunger, because my spirit has not yet died out... The tenacious spirit of a dog.

But my body is broken, beaten, people have abused it enough. After all, the main thing is that when he hit it with boiling water, it was eaten under the fur, and, therefore, there is no protection for the left side. I can very easily get pneumonia, and if I get it, I, citizens, will die of hunger. With pneumonia, one is supposed to lie on the front door under the stairs, but who, instead of me, a lying single dog, will run through the trash bins in search of food? It will grab my lung, I will crawl on my stomach, I will become weak, and any specialist will beat me to death with a stick. And the wipers with plaques will grab me by the legs and throw me onto the cart...

Janitors are the most vile scum of all proletarians. Human cleaning is the lowest category. The cook is different. For example, the late Vlas from Prechistenka. How many lives he saved! Because the most important thing during illness is to intercept the bite. And so, it happened, the old dogs say, Vlas would wave a bone, and on it there would be an eighth of meat on it. God bless him for being a real person, the lordly cook of Count Tolstoy, and not from the Council for Normal Nutrition. What they do there in a normal diet is incomprehensible to a dog! After all, they, the bastards, cook cabbage soup from stinking corned beef, and those poor fellows don’t know anything! They run, eat, lap!

Some typist receives four and a half chervonets for the ninth grade, well, however, her lover will give her fildepers stockings. Why, how much abuse does she have to endure for this phildepers! The typist will come running, because you can’t go to the “Bar” for four and a half chervonets! She doesn’t even have enough for cinema, and cinema is the only consolation in life for women. It trembles, winces, and bursts. Just think - forty kopecks from two dishes, and both of these dishes are not worth five kopecks, because the manager of the farm stole the remaining twenty-five kopecks. Does she really need such a table? The top of her right lung is not in order, and she has a woman’s disease, she was deducted from the service, she was fed rotten meat in the canteen, there she is, there she is!! Runs into the gateway in lover's stockings. Her feet are cold, there is a draft in her stomach, because the fur on her is like mine, and she wears cold pants, like a lace appearance. Rubbish for a lover. Put her on some flannel and try it. He will shout:

How ungraceful you are! I'm tired of my Matryona, I'm tired of flannel pants, now my time has come. I am now the chairman, and no matter how much I steal - everything, everything on the female body, on cancerous cervixes, on Abrau-Durso! Because I was hungry enough when I was young, that’s enough for me, and there is no afterlife.

I feel sorry for her, I feel sorry for her. But I feel even more sorry for myself. I’m not saying this out of selfishness, oh no, but because we really are in unequal conditions. At least the house is warm for her, but for me, for me! Where will I go? Beaten, scalded, spat upon, where will I go? Ooooh!..

Whoop, whoop, whoop! Sharik, oh Sharik! Why are you whining, poor thing? A? Who offended you?.. Uh...

The witch - a dry snowstorm rattled the gates and hit the young lady on the ear with a broom. She fluffed up her skirt to her knees, exposed her cream stockings and a narrow strip of poorly washed lace underwear, strangled her words and covered up the dog.

My God... what a weather... wow... and my stomach hurts. This is corned beef, this is corned beef! And when will this all end?

Bowing her head, the young lady rushed into the attack, broke through the gate, and on the street she began to twist, tear, throw, then she was screwed with a snow screw, and she disappeared.

But the dog remained in the gateway and, suffering from a disfigured side, pressed himself against the cold massive wall, suffocated and firmly decided that he would not go anywhere else from here, and would die here, in the gateway. Despair overwhelmed him. His soul was so bitter and painful, so lonely and scary, that small dog tears, like pimples, crawled out of his eyes and immediately dried up. The damaged side stuck out in matted, frozen lumps, and between them were red, ominous spots of varnish. How senseless, stupid, and cruel the cooks are! “Sharik” she called him! What the hell is Sharik? Sharik means round, well-fed, stupid, eats oatmeal, the son of noble parents, but he is shaggy, lanky and ragged, a lean little guy, a homeless dog. However, thanks to her for her kind words.

The door across the street to a brightly lit store slammed and a citizen emerged. It is a citizen, not a comrade, and even more accurately, a master. Closer - clearer - sir. Do you think I judge by my coat? Nonsense. Nowadays, many proletarians wear coats. True, the collars are not the same, there is nothing to say about that, but from a distance it can still be confused. But by the eyes - you can’t confuse them either up close or from afar! Oh, eyes are a significant thing! Like a barometer. You can see everything - who has a great dryness in their soul, who can poke the toe of a boot in the ribs for no reason, and who is afraid of everyone. It’s the last lackey who feels good when he’s tugging on the ankle. If you're afraid, get it! If you're afraid, that means you're standing... Rrrrr... wow-wow.

The gentleman confidently crossed the street in the blizzard and moved into the gateway. Yes, yes, this one can see everything. This rotten corned beef won’t eat, and if it is served to him somewhere, he will raise such a scandal and write in the newspapers - I, Philip Philipovich, have been fed!

Here he is getting closer and closer. This one eats a lot and doesn't steal. This one will not kick, but he himself is not afraid of anyone, and he is not afraid because he is always well-fed. He is a gentleman of mental labor, with a cultured pointed beard and a gray, fluffy and dashing mustache, like those of French knights, but the smell from him flies through the blizzard - hospital and cigar.

What the hell, one might ask, brought him to the Tsentrokhoz cooperative? Here he is nearby... What is he looking for? Oooh... What could he buy in a crappy store, isn't Okhotny Ryad enough for him? What's happened?! Kol-ba-su. Sir, if you had seen what this sausage is made from, you would not have come near the store. Give it to me!

The dog gathered the rest of his strength and crawled madly out of the gateway onto the sidewalk. The blizzard flapped the gun overhead, throwing up the huge letters of the linen poster “Is rejuvenation possible?”

Naturally, perhaps. The smell rejuvenated me, lifted me from my belly, and with burning waves it filled my empty stomach for two days, a smell that conquered the hospital, the heavenly smell of chopped mare with garlic and pepper. I feel, I know, he has sausage in the right pocket of his fur coat. He's above me. Oh my lord! Look at me. I'm dying. Our soul is a slave, a vile lot!

The dog crawled like a snake on its belly, shedding tears. Pay attention to the chef's work. But you won’t give it for anything. Oh, I know rich people very well. But in essence, why do you need it? What do you need a rotten horse for? Nowhere else will you get such poison as in Mosselprom. And you had breakfast today, you are a figure of world significance, thanks to the male sex glands... Oooh... Why in the world is this being done? Apparently, it’s still too early to die, but is despair truly a sin? To lick his hands, there is nothing else left to do.

The mysterious gentleman leaned towards the dog, flashed his golden eye rims and pulled out a white oblong package from his right pocket. Without taking off his brown gloves, he unwound the paper, which was immediately taken over by the blizzard, and broke off a piece of sausage called “Cracow Special.” And to the dog this piece! Oh, selfless person. Woohoo!

“Fuck-fuck,” the gentleman whistled and added in a stern voice: “Take it!” Sharik, Sharik!

"Ball" again! Baptized! Yes, call it what you want. For such an exceptional act of yours...

The dog instantly tore off the peel, bit into the Krakow one with a sob and devoured it in no time. At the same time, he choked on sausage and snow to the point of tears, because from greed he almost swallowed the string. Again, again, I lick your hand. I kiss my pants, my benefactor!

It will be for now,” the gentleman spoke so abruptly, as if he was commanding. He leaned over to Sharikov, looked inquisitively into his eyes and unexpectedly ran his gloved hand intimately and affectionately over Sharikov’s stomach.

“Yeah,” he said meaningfully, “there’s no collar, well, that’s great, it’s you that I need.” Follow me,” he snapped his fingers, “fuck-fuck!”

Should I follow you? To the ends of the earth, kick me in the snout with your felt boots, I won’t utter a word.

Lanterns were shining all over Prechistenka. His side hurt unbearably, but Sharik at times forgot about it, absorbed in one thought, how not to lose the wonderful vision in the fur coat in the commotion and somehow express his love and devotion to him. And seven times along Prechistenka to Obukhov Lane he expressed it. He kissed his shoe, near Dead Lane, while clearing the way, with a wild howl he frightened some lady so much that she sat down on a curbstone, howled twice to maintain self-pity.

Some kind of bastard, made to look like a Siberian, a stray cat emerged from behind a drainpipe and, despite the blizzard, smelled the Krakow one. The dog Sharik couldn’t stand the thought that the rich eccentric who picks up wounded dogs in the gateway would, of course, take this thief with him, and he would have to share the Mosselprom product. Therefore, he clanged his teeth at the cat so much that with a hiss similar to the hiss of a leaky hose, he climbed up the pipe to the second floor.

Frrr... wow... out! Mosselprom can't get enough of all the trash hanging around Prechistenka!

The gentleman appreciated the devotion and, right at the fire brigade, at the window from which the pleasant grumbling of a French horn could be heard, he rewarded the dog with a second piece, a smaller one, worth five spools. Eh, weirdo. He's the one luring me. Don't worry, I won't go anywhere myself. I will follow you wherever you order.

Fuck-fuck-fuck, here!

To Obukhov? Do me a favor. We know this lane very well.

Fuck-fuck!

Here? With pleasure... Eh, no! Allow me. No! There's a doorman here. And there is nothing worse than this in the world. Many times more dangerous than a janitor. Absolutely hateful breed. Nasty cats. Flayer in braid!

Don't be afraid, go!