A Dog's Heart
Sharik is a hapless stray dog, baffled observer of human kind and vitriolic haterofcats. He is plucked from the streets of communistMoscow by Preobrazhensky, a medical professor, and subjected to a bizarre, human-gland-transplanting experiment. When Sharik begins to transform in weird and unexpected ways, his creator's virtuoso scientific confidence turns rapidly to wonderment, and then to horrified soul-searching. Bulgakov's hilarious science fiction is an angry satire of the, Utopian communist dream gone spectacularly awry, in which sinister forces lurk everywhere. Written in 1925 but immediately banned by the early Soviet government, the novella captures, in a unique style that alternates lucid realism with pulse-raising drama, the atmosphere of its rapidly changing times.
Andrew Bromfield's vibrant new translation is accompanied by an introduction by James Meek, which places the work in the context of the Russian class struggles of the era and considers the vision, progressive style and lasting relevance of an author who was isolated and suppressed in his own lifetime. This edition also contains notes and a chronology.
Клим Григорьевич Чугункин, 25 лет. Холост. Беспартийный, сочувствующий. Судился три раза и оправдан: в первый раз благодаря недостатку улик, второй раз - происхождение спасло, в третий - условно каторга на 15 лет. Кражи. Профессия - игра на балалайке в трактире.
Маленького роста, плохо сложен, печень расширена (алкоголь). Причина смерти: удар ножом в сердце в пивной "Стоп-сигнал" у Преображенской заставы.
Klim Grigorevich Chugunkin, 25 let. Kholost. Bespartijnyj, sochuvstvujuschij. Sudilsja tri raza i opravdan: v pervyj raz blagodarja nedostatku ulik, vtoroj raz - proiskhozhdenie spaslo, v tretij - uslovno katorga na 15 let. Krazhi. Professija - igra na balalajke v traktire.
Malenkogo rosta, plokho slozhen, pechen rasshirena (alkogol). Prichina smerti: udar nozhom v serdtse v pivnoj "Stop-signal" u Preobrazhenskoj zastavy.
