Bulgakov's Tale dog's heart", which has the subtitle "A Monstrous Story", was not published during the writer's lifetime. It was first published in 1968 ("Student". London. Nos. 9, 10; "Grani". Frankfurt. No. 69). It was published in the USSR in the magazine "Znamya" (No. 6) only in 1987. The manuscript bears the author's date: January-March 1925. The story was intended for the magazine "Nedra", where "The Diaboliad" and "Fatal Eggs" had previously been published.

The plot of "The Heart of a Dog", as well as the story "Fatal Eggs", goes back to the work of the great English science fiction writer Herbert Wells (1866-1946) - to the novel "The Island of Doctor Moreau". The book tells how a maniac professor in his laboratory on a desert island is creating unusual “hybrids”, surgically turning people into animals.

The title “Heart of a Dog” is taken from a tavern couplet in A. V. Laifert’s book “Balagans” (1922):

For the second pie -

Frog legs filling,

With onions and peppers

Yes, with a dog's heart.

The name can be correlated with the past life of Klim Chugunkin, who made his living playing the balalaika in taverns.

On March 7, 1925, the author read the first part of the story for the first time at the literary meeting of the Nikitin Subbotniks, and on March 21, the second part. M. Ya. Schneider was present at the meeting, who later wrote about his impressions: “This is the first literary work that dares to be itself. The time has come to realize the attitude towards what happened” (to the October Revolution of 1917). An OGPU agent present there reported to his superiors somewhat differently: “Such things read in the most brilliant literary circle are much more dangerous than the useless and harmless speeches of writers of the 101st grade at meetings of the All-Russian Union of Poets.<...>The whole thing is written in hostile tones, breathing endless contempt for the Soviet Union.<...>and denies all his achievements.<...>The second and last part of Bulgakov’s story “The Heart of a Dog” caused strong indignation among the two communist writers who were there and general delight among everyone else.<...>If similarly crudely disguised attacks (since all this “humanization” is only an emphatically noticeable, careless make-up) attacks appear on the book market of the USSR, then the White Guard abroad, exhausted no less than us from book hunger, and even more from the fruitless search for an original, biting plot , one can only envy the exceptional conditions for counter-revolutionary authors in our country.”

Of course, such statements by “competent” employees could not pass without leaving a trace, and the story was banned.

However, people experienced in literature accepted the story and praised it. Vikenty Veresaev wrote to the poet Maximilian Voloshin in April 1925: “I was very pleased to read your review of M. Bulgakov<...>His humorous works are pearls that promise him to be an artist of the first rank. But censorship cuts it mercilessly. Recently they stabbed to death the wonderful piece “Heart of a Dog,” and he is completely losing heart.” On May 7, 1926, as part of a campaign sanctioned by the Central Committee to combat “smenovekhovstvo,” Bulgakov’s apartment was searched and the manuscript of the writer’s diary and two copies of the typescript of “Heart of a Dog” were confiscated "Only more than three years later, what was confiscated during the search was returned to the author thanks to the assistance of Maxim Gorky.

“Heart of a Dog” was supposed to be staged at the Moscow Art Theater. On March 2, 1926, Bulgakov entered into an agreement with the theater, which, due to a censorship ban on the work, was terminated on April 19, 1927.

In "Heart of a Dog" there are characteristic signs of the time from December 1924 to March 1925. The epilogue of the story mentions the March fog, from which Sharik, who had regained his canine form, suffered from headaches. The program of Moscow circuses, which Preobrazhensky so carefully studies, checking whether there are any acts with the participation of cats (“Solomonovsky... has four of some kind... Ussems and the man of the dead center... Nikitin has... elephants and the limit of human dexterity "), exactly corresponds to the programs of the beginning of 1925. It was then that the aerialists “Four Ussems” and the tightrope walker Eton, whose act was called “Man at a Dead Point,” took part in a tour.

The story begins with an image of Moscow, seen through the eyes of Sharik, a stray dog, no one needs, who “knows” life far from its best side. The picture of the city is realistic, even naturalistic: chic restaurants where “the standard dish is mushrooms and pican sauce,” and a canteen for “normal food for employees of the Central Council of the National Economy,” where they cook cabbage soup from “stinking corned beef.” “Comrades”, “gentlemen”, “proletarians” live here.

Everything shows an unsightly underside: devastation is all around, streets, houses, people are distorted in a terrible grimace. Houses, like people, live their own independent lives (Kalabukhov’s house). The ominous landscape is of considerable importance in the plot of the story: “The blizzard in the gateway roars for me to leave”, “the witch of the dry blizzard rattled the gates”, “the blizzard clapped a gun over my head.”

One of the main characters of the story - Professor Preobrazhensky - a world-famous scientist, doctor, clever man, absolutely confident that “the devastation is not in the closets, but in the heads,” reflects on what is happening like this: after all, the Kalabukhov house stood before the revolution, and no one he stole galoshes, and there were carpets in the front door, and the staircase was clean, covered in flowers, but other people came and “one fine day in April of the seventeenth year, all the galoshes disappeared<...>3 sticks, a coat and a samovar from the doorman,” and that’s when the devastation began.

The idea of ​​transforming the world is an old and noble one, supported and developed by the best minds in history, but it is an idea of ​​transformation, not destruction. From the very first pages of the story, the reader is immersed in an atmosphere of destruction, devastation, in a world where everything is built according to the law: “He who was nothing will become everything.” These “nobodies” live in the Kalabukhov house, and it is thanks to them that “devastation” comes. They don't do business, they sing. In this world, universal human norms and laws of behavior cease to apply.

The surname Preobrazhensky is not accidental. Philip Philipovich is not just a doctor, he is a “magician”, “wizard”, “sorcerer”, a transformer who is trying to find a way to “improve the human race”. But his experiment leads to unexpected results. The unfortunate dog Sharik becomes citizen Sharikov. The process of influencing the word that Shvonder carries begins. In his opinion, Sharikov is a “proletarian”, a “worker”, which the professor cannot understand. “Why are you a hard worker?” - he is amazed. And the logic of the “proletarians” is as follows: “Yes, it’s already known that he is not a NEPman.” Sharikov is unaware that everything that Professor Preobrazhensky has was acquired by his own labor; it does not bother him that he lives and feeds at the expense of the professor: after all, why work if you can take it away. As is known, Lenin’s slogan “Rob the loot!”, including what was acquired by intellectual labor, was one of the most popular during the days of the revolution. The noble idea of ​​“equality and brotherhood” has degenerated into primitive egalitarianism and outright robbery. Both Sharikov and Shvonder are artificially bred people, only in different ways. The operation to transplant the pituitary gland “humanized” the dog within a week, the “operation” to “humanize” Shvonder lasted longer, but the result is essentially the same. These “people” have only external human characteristics, which are insufficient for the definition of “human” to be applicable to them. Millions of Shvonders were taught: in order to become a “new man”, the master of life, you do not need to work hard or make any special efforts; it is enough that you are a “proletarian” - and therefore have the right to be the “master of life”. Sharikov’s conviction of his class superiority causes an outburst of indignation among Preobrazhensky and Bormental: “You stand at the lowest stage of development<...>In the presence of two people with a university education, you allow yourself to give some advice on a cosmic scale and cosmic stupidity about how to divide everything..."

With the appearance of Sharikov, devastation begins in the professor’s apartment, it takes on catastrophic proportions, and instead of doing business, operating, Preobrazhensky is forced to receive Shvonder, listen to threats, defend himself, write countless papers in order to legitimize the existence of Polygraph Poligrafovich. The life of the entire house is disrupted, “people are breaking in all day long” to watch the “talking dog.” People have no other business, but without their business there is no life.<...>This idea of ​​the author is very important. The Bolshevik revolutionaries are doing nothing but doing their own thing: they lead without knowing how to lead, they destroy what they did not create, they redo and rebuild everything. The Bolshevik experiment in creating the “new” is the central problem of the story. Professor Preobrazhensky does not like the Bolsheviks, but he also wants to “improve the human race” with his own surgical methods. And here is the conclusion made by the professor: Sharikov is violence against nature! “Please explain to me why it is necessary to artificially fabricate Spinoza, when any woman can easily give birth to him at any time. After all, Madame Lomonosov gave birth to this famous one of hers in Kholmogory!<...>My discovery, the devils would eat it,<...>costs exactly one penny...<...>In theory this is interesting.

Well, practically what? Who is in front of you now? - Preobrazhensky pointed towards the observation room where Sharikov was sleeping." What could have come out of Klim Chugunkin, a drunkard with three convictions, who died in a pub from a stab in the heart? The answer is simple - Klim Chugunkin. Another thing is scary: an "advanced" proletarian, for whom destined for a government position, he becomes a “cross between a criminal and a dog.” But Sharikov would go far, because people like him are ready to obey and subjugate. And the power of the proletariat is the basis of the proletarian ideology. You cannot change what has developed overnight. centuries. The collapse of such experiments is inevitable, because it is impossible to “humanize” something that has ceased to be human, having lost the spiritual and moral basis on which the relationship between society and the individual is built. That is why the experiment with the humanization of the dog failed in the same way as the tragic communist one.” experiment." Time has shown how right M. Bulgakov was in his insights.

smaller Year the story was written

: 1925 First publication

For the first time in the Soviet Union, the story Heart of a Dog was published in 1987 and since then has been republished many times.

As prototypes literary character Professor F.F. Preobrazhensky names several real doctors. This is Bulgakov’s uncle, gynecologist Nikolai Pokrovsky, surgeon Sergei Voronov. In addition, a number of famous contemporaries of the author are named as prototypes - the scientist Bekhterev, the physiologist Pavlov and the founder of the Soviet state Lenin.
We consider Mikhail Bulgakov's story The Heart of a Dog to be the second most important work after The Master and Margarita...

Professor of Medicine, outstanding surgeon, Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky, managed to achieve excellent results in human rejuvenation in 1924 in Moscow. He set out to continue medical research and decided on an unprecedented experiment - to perform an operation on a dog to transplant a human pituitary gland. A stray dog ​​named “Sharik”, whom the professor picked up on the street, was chosen as a test subject. The dog found himself in a spacious apartment, he was well fed and looked after. Sharik formed the idea that he was special... The donor organs that Sharik received during the operation belonged to Klim Chugunkin, a thief, rowdy and alcoholic, who died in a fight.

The experiment was a success; the results exceeded our wildest expectations. The dog's limbs stretched out, the dog lost its hair, the ability to pronounce sounds first, then words, and later full-fledged speech appeared... The dog began to resemble a person in appearance... Moscow was filled with rumors about miraculous transformations happening in the laboratory of Professor Preobrazhensky. But very soon the professor had to regret what he had done. Sharik inherited all the most unpleasant habits from Klim Chugunkin; he received not only physical, but also psychological humanization. Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov (he gave himself this name) discovered in himself a passion for terrible foul language, drunkenness, fornication, theft, vanity, tavern revelry and discussions about the proletarian idea. Sharikov gets a job as head of the department for cleaning the city from stray animals. He was helped in this by the chairman of the house committee, Shvonder, who hoped in this way, with the help of Sharikov, that Professor Preobrazhensky would survive from the large apartment.

Sharikov really likes the work, a company car comes to pick him up every day, the professor’s servants treat him with servility, and he does not feel obligated to Professor Preobrazhensky and Doctor Bormental, who are still trying to make a man out of Sharikov, instilling in him the basics of cultural life. He, like an angry dog, takes pleasure in killing stray cats, but according to Professor Preobrazhensky, “cats are temporary.” Sharikov brought a young girl to the professor’s apartment, whom he hired to work, from whom he hid his biography. The girl learns from the professor the truth about Sharikov's origins and refuses the advances of Poligraf Poligrafovich - and then he threatens to fire her. Doctor Bormenthal stands up for the girl...

After Sharikov’s numerous misadventures, Dr. Bormental, together with Professor Preobrazhensky, carry out a new operation, returning Sharikov to his original appearance. The dog does not remember anything of what he did in human form; he remains to live in the apartment of Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky.

Happy reading!

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 harsh 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.

Will help you better understand the “Heart of a Dog” summary by chapter. 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 to die in the gateway, 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 does phone call Peter 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 stomach, 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 weak 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, then changes occur every day:

• 12/30 barking changes, limbs stretch, and weight gains.
• 31.12 the syllables (“abyr”) are pronounced.
• 01.01 pronounces “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. The ball represents 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 while 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 develops 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 in the bathroom with the hated creature, 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 urges 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. It's about 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 succeeded “ new person" - 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 Bormental 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 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.

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 approved 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 common misconceptions, almost all the songs were written specifically for the film by bard Yuli Kim. And the ditties that Sharikov performed (“... come, bourgeois, I’ll gouge out your eye”), and the march of the Red Army soldiers (“ White Guard 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, written in 1925, recreates the writer’s contemporary reality - the Soviet reality of the early 1920s. However, the picture reproduced in the smallest detail (with an exact indication of the salary of the “typist of the IX category” - four and a half chervonets - and the mention that firefighters, “as you know, dine on porridge”) does not at all become a documentary portrait of the era. The combination of a fantastic assumption (the transformation of a dog into a human) with many specific details (up to chemical composition“Special Krakow” sausage), the interweaving of comic details of Sharik’s “humanization” with the tragic consequences of this experiment form a grotesque image of reality.

The main character of the story - Professor Preobrazhensky - bears a sacred surname, indicating his role as an omnipotent deity, a “priest” (as Sharik will perceive him), capable of transforming the world and man. Even the ordinary procedure of bandaging Sharik’s scalded side in Preobrazhensky’s house becomes comparable to death and resurrection (and involuntarily brings to mind the parable of the resurrection of Lazarus from the Gospel): “And then he finally fell over on his side and died. When he resurrected, he was slightly dizzy and slightly sick in his stomach, but it was as if his side was not there, his side was sweetly silent.”

However, the event, full of mystical significance, is presented in an aura of reducing, prosaic details. Sharik’s “transformation” is just the next stage in the professor’s scientific research, the main goal of which is human rejuvenation through transplantation of the gonads. In the narrative structure of The Heart of a Dog, the miraculous Transfiguration of the Lord becomes synonymous with an ordinary surgical operation.

The parodic and ironic transformation of the gospel motif is clearly manifested at the level of the stylistic organization of the text. Professor Preobrazhensky is an all-powerful “priest”, “magician” and “sorcerer”, however, these definitions fall into Bulgakov’s following context:

The man who entered bowed very respectfully and embarrassedly to Philip Philipich.

Hee hee! “You are a magician and sorcerer, professor,” he said, embarrassed.

“Take off your pants, my dear,” Philip Philipich commanded and stood up.

“Lord Jesus,” thought the dog, “that’s a fruit!”

The fruit had completely green hair growing on its head, and on the back of its head it had a rusty tobacco color...

In the vicinity of “hee-hee”, “pants” and the green-haired “fruit”, the Transfiguration turns into profanation, and the “priestly” secrets into a scientifically disguised fraud.

However, the “speaking” surname of the protagonist of the story does not exhaust the spectrum of sacred meanings. Professor Preobrazhensky's apartment is located on Prechistenka - thereby, with the help of a toponym, the image of the Most Pure Mother of God is introduced into the associative semantic series. Thanks to Sharikov, a “flood” will occur in the same apartment - a parody version of the local “great flood” (in pursuit of the cat, the former dog turned out the faucet in the bathroom). The first word uttered by Sharik after turning into a human - “abyrvalg” - is a store sign “Glavryba” read from right to left and, in a retrospective analysis of biblical allusions, can serve as an ironic allusion to the laws of Semitic writing. Equally ironic and parodic is the combination in the narrative of a quote from an opera aria (Professor Preobrazhensky hums the same fragment from Verdi’s opera “Aida” - “To the sacred banks of the Nile...”) and a notice on the door: “I forbid eating sunflower seeds in the apartment.” . F. Preobrazhensky." (Besides, theme song culture and priestly power is interrupted with the appearance of Sharikov by the motifs of the songs “Oh, Apple” and “The Moon is Shining”, which came from the world of “proletarian ruin”, which Preobrazhensky is trying to resist.) Thus, the constant juxtaposition of evangelical and, more broadly, mythological allusions and comic details real life casts a grotesque reflection on the picture consecrated by priestly service and introduces sharply satirical tones into it.

Gospel motifs find direct expression in the arrangement of characters. The miraculous transformations performed by Professor Preobrazhensky are recorded by his student, Doctor Bormental, who appears in the story as an “evangelist” (the same role will be played by Matthew Levi under Yeshua in the novel “The Master and Margarita”). Features of the figure of the “evangelist” in Bulgakov’s works - in a contradictory combination of sincere devotion to the teacher and his complete misunderstanding.

Dr. Bormenthal's notes are filled with sincere admiration for the teacher's discovery; Sharik’s documentary “case history” is continually interrupted by the enthusiastic exclamations of the “chronicler”: “The amazing experience of Professor Preobrazhensky revealed one of the secrets human brain! From now on, the mysterious function of the pituitary gland - the cerebral appendage - is explained!.. The surgeon's scalpel brought to life a new human unit. Prof. Preobrazhensky, you are a creator!! (Blot)". (Let us pay attention to another stylistic glitch in the narrative - the significant juxtaposition of the “creator” and the blot).

However, the faithful student-"evangelist" actually acts as an unreliable narrator - a storyteller who inadequately interprets the words and actions of the teacher, creating a distorted picture of what is happening. His explanations and comments conflict with the “correct” interpretation - supported by the authority of a participant in the event or the author himself. So, for example, Sharik’s amazing ability to read from right to left in Bormental’s diary receives the following explanation: “Sharik read! I read it!!!... I read it from the end. And I even know where the solution to this riddle is: in the dog’s optic chiasm!” However, the true reason, as the reader remembers from the very beginning of the story, was much more prosaic and lay in something completely different: for Sharik “to run up to the store... it was more convenient from the tail of the word “fish”, because at the beginning of the word there was a policeman.” The ominous tone of Professor Preobrazhensky when his student tries to start a conversation about Sharik’s future and his transformation into a “very high mental personality” remains without any intelligible comment: “Something strange is happening to Philip... The old man has come up with something.”

Professor Preobrazhensky still remains an omnipotent deity in the eyes of his student - while the “magician” and “sorcerer” turned out to be powerless in the face of the chaos brought into his life by the accomplished miracle. Professor Preobrazhensky represents that type of Bulgakov hero who will then pass through the entire work of the writer: endowed with powerful creative (transformative) power, he can be weak and vulnerable at the same time. Bulgakov's hero is always forced to confront the world around him - hostile, aggressive, absurd. In “Heart of a Dog” this world is personified in the person of Shvonder and the members of the house committee. The “devotees” of the new faith are presented in a sharply grotesque light. One of the members of the house committee - “a peach-colored young man in a leather jacket” - bears the surname Vyazemskaya (let us pay attention to the literary origin of the surname and the emphasized change in the usual grammatical gender), turns out to be a woman, but Bulgakov’s description invariably restores the grotesque context of identifying the identity: “This is indescribable! - exclaimed the young man, who turned out to be a woman”; “I, as the head of the cultural department of the house... - Head,” Philip Philipovich corrected her.”

The inexplicable metamorphoses occurring with representatives of the new government may, however, be fraught with danger. As soon as Sharik turned into Polygraph Sharikov and became involved with the powers that be - “accepted the position” of the head of the subdepartment for clearing Moscow of stray animals, his stay in Preobrazhensky’s apartment became a mortal threat both for the professor himself (on whom a denunciation had already been written), and for all the inhabitants of his house. The grotesque transformations to which responsible Soviet officials are subject in Bulgakov’s world (and in Bulgakov’s works of the 1930s these metamorphoses will become truly fantastic) give the new government and its representatives an infernal-demonic character, making them not so much a social or political force, but a metaphysical force, which Bulgakov’s hero is forced to resist.

In “Heart of a Dog” another important feature of Bulgakov’s poetics is clearly manifested - separation artistic space into two (ideally impenetrable to each other) subspaces. One of them is Preobrazhensky’s apartment on Prechistenka, a “dog paradise” in Sharik’s terminology and an ideal (even idyllic) space for a professor. The most important components of this space are comfort, harmony, spirituality, and “divine warmth.” Sharik’s arrival in this space was accompanied by the fact that “the darkness clicked and turned into a dazzling day, and it sparkled, shone and turned white from all sides.” Of the “topographical” features of this space, two main ones should be highlighted: externally it is strictly limited, localized and is simply an apartment; internally it is spacious, huge and, moreover, capable of limitless expansion (to a large extent - due to the huge mirrors).

The second space is external - open, aggressive, hostile. Its initial signs are blizzard, wind, street mud; its permanent inhabitants are “a scoundrel in a dirty cap” (“a thief with a copper face”, “a greedy creature”), a cook from the canteen, and “the most vile scum” of all proletarians - a janitor. External space appears - as opposed to internal space - as a world of absurdity and chaos. Shvonder and his “retinue” come from this world to conquer part of the professor’s “personal” space and compact his seven-room apartment by “expropriating” the examination room. These two spaces are separated from each other only by the door of the apartment - and therefore Professor Preobrazhensky’s only desire is to receive “such a piece of paper, in the presence of which neither Shvonder nor anyone else could even approach the door of my apartment. The final piece of paper... Armor." Sealing, complete isolation is the only way to protect your own, “true” space from the invasion of someone else’s, “imaginary” one. (Note that the side of the door that faces outward also finds itself in the grip of an absurd reality. Ball, trying to read the door sign with the name of the professor, is horrified to discover that the continuation of the three guessed letters - p-r-o - can become “l” , and then the inscription will turn into the hated word “proletarian.” Only the presence of “pot-bellied two-sided rubbish” - the saving letter “f” - turns the almost beginning nightmare into the beautiful reality of a luxurious apartment on Prechistenka).

The coexistence of two opposing spaces in art world Bulgakov also determines the structure of the end-to-end, invariant Bulgakov plot: the destruction of the internal, ideal space - and the hero’s attempts to restore the lost paradise. In “The Heart of a Dog,” the destruction of a harmonious existence is accompanied by a parody flood, obsessive visits from “werewolves” from the world of art - Vyazemskaya (a member of the house committee) and Vasnetsova (Sharikov’s fiancée), and absurd projects for remodeling the professor’s apartment. Restoring the destroyed harmony - even at the cost of crime (“The crime matured and fell like a stone...") is the only goal of Professor Preobrazhensky and the main vector of the plot. Thus, the story rethinks the traditional complex of guilt of the intelligentsia before the people. Preobrazhensky and Bormenthal defend their “right to rights” in the new world - although they are not relieved of responsibility for the experiment on human nature.