Heart of a dog (Hundeherz)

German translation by Thomas Reschke

"Just because somebody can talk does not mean he is a human."

On a street in Moscow, Professor Philip Philippovich Preobrazhensky finds the mangy, stray dog Bello and lures him back home with him. The doctor, who specialises in rejuvenation surgery, decides to conduct an experiment. He implants the testicles and pituitary gland of a recently deceased drunkard into the dog. Within a few weeks, the grateful and submissive dog gradually takes on human attributes, physically and mentally. He develops the characteristics of the proletarian inebriate and turns the bourgeois household of the professor completely upside down with his truculence and drinking. He steals money and is goaded on by the house committee to turn against the professor.

Bulgakov is one of the greatest satirists of Russian literature. His novella from 1925, whose whose themes are reminiscent of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and Goethe’s Faust, is an allegory of the Communist revolution and the naïve utopian belief that human nature could be improved by the new "Soviet Man". Under the influence of a Party official, Bulgakov’s publisher rejected the book, saying: "It is vitriolic attack on our contemporary society and will absolutely not be considered for publication...".