The history of the creation of Bulgakov's novel Heart of a Dog. History of creation and literary fate of the work

Year of writing:

1925

Reading time:

Description of the work:

The widely known work Heart of a Dog was written by Mikhail Bulgakov in 1925. Three editions of the text have survived.

Mikhail Bulgakov brilliantly showed in his work a complete picture of the events that took place in those days not only in the country itself, but also in the minds of people. Class hostility, hatred and rudeness, lack of education and much more reigned. All these problems of society merged into one in the image of Sharikov. When he became a man, he wished, after all, to remain a dog.

Winter 1924/25 Moscow. Professor Filipp Filippovich Preobrazhensky discovered a way to rejuvenate the body by transplanting animal endocrine glands to people. In his seven-room apartment in a large building on Prechistenka, he receives patients. The house is being "compacted": the apartments of the former tenants are being moved in by new ones - "residential comrades". The chairman of the house committee, Shvonder, comes to Preobrazhensky with a demand to vacate two rooms in his apartment. However, the professor, having called one of his high-ranking patients by phone, receives armor for his apartment, and Shvonder leaves with nothing.

Professor Preobrazhensky and his assistant, Dr. Ivan Arnoldovich Bormental, are having lunch in the professor's dining room. From somewhere above, choral singing is heard - this is a general meeting of "residential comrades". The professor is outraged by what is happening in the house: a carpet was stolen from the main staircase, the front door was boarded up and now they go through the back door, all the galoshes have disappeared from the galoshes in the entrance at once. “Devastation,” notes Bormental, and receives in response: “If, instead of operating, I start singing in chorus in my apartment, I will have devastation!”

Professor Preobrazhensky picks up a mongrel dog on the street, sick and with frayed hair, brings him home, instructs the housekeeper Zina to feed him and take care of him. A week later, a clean and well-fed Sharik becomes an affectionate, charming and beautiful dog.

The professor performs an operation - he transplants the endocrine glands to Sharik of Klim Chugunkin, 25 years old, convicted three times for theft, playing the balalaika in taverns, who died from a stab. The experiment was a success - the dog does not die, but, on the contrary, gradually turns into a man: he gains height and weight, his hair falls out, he begins to speak. Three weeks later, this is already a man of small stature, unsympathetic appearance, who enthusiastically plays the balalaika, smokes and swears. After some time, he demands from Philip Philipovich that he register it, for which he needs a document, and he has already chosen his first and last name: Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov.

From the former life of a dog, Sharikov still has a hatred for cats. One day, chasing a cat that ran into the bathroom, Sharikov snaps the lock into the bathroom, accidentally turns off the water tap, and floods the entire apartment with water. The professor is forced to cancel the appointment. The janitor Fyodor, called to repair the tap, embarrassedly asks Filipp Filippovich to pay for Sharikov's broken window: he tried to hug the cook from the seventh apartment, the owner began to drive him. Sharikov, in response, began to throw stones at him.

Philip Philipovich, Bormental and Sharikov are having lunch; again and again, Bormental unsuccessfully teaches Sharikov good manners. To Philipp Filippovich's question about what Sharikov is reading now, he answers: "Engels' correspondence with Kautsky" - and adds that he does not agree with both, but in general "everything must be divided", otherwise "one of them sat down in seven rooms, and the other is looking for food in weed boxes. The indignant professor announces to Sharikov that he is at the lowest stage of development and nevertheless allows himself to give advice on a cosmic scale. The professor orders the harmful book to be thrown into the oven.

A week later, Sharikov presents the professor with a document, from which it follows that he, Sharikov, is a member of the housing association and he is entitled to a room in the professor's apartment. That same evening, in the professor's office, Sharikov appropriated two chervonets and returned at night, completely drunk, accompanied by two strangers who left only after calling the police, taking, however, with them a malachite ashtray, a cane and Philip Philipovich's beaver hat.

That same night, in his office, Professor Preobrazhensky talks with Bormental. Analyzing what is happening, the scientist despairs that he has received such scum from the cutest dog. And the whole horror is that he no longer has a canine, but a human heart, and the lousiest of all that exist in nature. He is sure that in front of them is Klim Chugunkin with all his thefts and convictions.

One day, having come home, Sharikov presents Philipp Filippovich with a certificate, from which it is clear that he, Sharikov, is the head of the subdepartment for cleaning the city of Moscow from stray animals (cats, etc.). A few days later, Sharikov brings home a young lady, with whom, according to him, he is going to sign and live in Preobrazhensky's apartment. The professor tells the young lady about Sharikov's past; she sobs, saying that he passed off the scar from the operation as a battle wound.

The next day, one of the professor's high-ranking patients brings him a denunciation written against him by Sharikov, which mentions both Engels thrown into the oven and the professor's "counter-revolutionary speeches". Philipp Philippovich suggests Sharikov to pack his things and get out of the apartment immediately. In response to this, Sharikov shows the professor a shish with one hand, and with the other he takes a revolver out of his pocket ... A few minutes later, the pale Bormental cuts the bell wire, locks the front door and the back door and hides with the professor in the examination room.

Ten days later, an investigator appears in the apartment with a search warrant and the arrest of Professor Preobrazhensky and Dr. Bormental on charges of murdering the head of the purification subdepartment Sharikov P.P. “Which Sharikov? the professor asks. “Ah, the dog I operated on!” And he introduces a strange-looking dog to the visitors: in some places bald, in some places with spots of growing hair, he goes out on his hind legs, then gets up on all fours, then again rises on his hind legs and sits in a chair. The investigator collapses.

Two months pass. In the evenings, the dog naps peacefully on the carpet in the professor's office, and life in the apartment goes on as usual.

You have read the summary of the story Heart of a Dog. We invite you to visit the Summary section, where you can familiarize yourself with other statements by famous authors.

At the end of 1988, the TV movie premiered Heart of a Dog by Vladimir Bortko based on the story of the same name Mikhail Bulgakov . Since then, the popularity of this two-part masterpiece has only grown, it has consistently entered the tops of Soviet / Russian films.
The expressions of Professor Preobrazhensky came into use: “The devastation is not in the closets, but in the heads”, “Give me a piece of paper so that it is armor”, “Do not read Soviet newspapers in the morning!” The common sense of the scientist was opposed to the revolutionary absurdity, which was embodied on the screen by Shvonder and Sharikov, whose phrases also became winged: “Abyrvalg”, “This is some kind of shame, professor”, “Cats were strangled, strangled”, “Take everything away and share”, “ Get in line, you sons of bitches, get in line."

The story was written Mikhail Bulgakov in 1925. It was supposed to be published in the Nedra almanac, but Lenin's ally, Politburo member Lev Kamenev banned it, drawing a negative resolution: “This is a sharp pamphlet on modernity. Under no circumstances should it be printed. And for the first time the story was published in 1968 abroad - in Germany and England.
The first film adaptation was also abroad: director Alberto Lattuada staged the Italian-German film "Heart of a Dog" (Italian "Cuore di cane", German "Warum bellt Herr Bobikow?" - "Why does Mr. Bobikov bark?") in 1976. The film reflected the disappointment in the flower revolutions of the hippies of the late 60s: shvonders and balls embodied the destroyers of the revolutionary illusions of the students.
A well-known Swedish actor, twice nominated for an Oscar, starred in the role of Preobrazhensky Max von Sydow, and one of the episodic roles was played by the future porn star Cicciolina.
The publication in the USSR of "Heart of a Dog" happened in the magazine "Znamya" only in 1987, 62 years after it was written. Director Sergei Mikaelyan gave this magazine to Vladimir Bortko to read at Lenfilm. “I knew other famous works by Bulgakov, the same Master and Margarita, but I didn’t read The Heart of a Dog,” Vladimir Vladimirovich told us. The professor's monologue instantly captured Bortko, he decided to shoot. Despite its sharpness, there were no censorship problems with this picture - perestroika thundered in the yard. Unlike the painting by Bortko"Blonde around the corner" with Andrei Mironov , which lay on the shelf for two years - until 1984. By the way, this picture brought the first fame to the director.

For the right to include the role of Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky in his filmography, the battle of the titans unfolded. Tried Leonid Armor, Mikhail Ulyanov, Yuri Yakovlev, Vladislav Strzhelchik . But Evgeny Evstigneev won. “He, like me, did not read Heart of a Dog,” recalls the director. “And he asked his relatives if he should act in film. They unanimously answered:“ Yes!
“This film appeared in my father's life at the right time and literally saved him,” says Denis Evstigneev. - Dad was going through a difficult period when he was sent to retire at the Moscow Art Theater. It was difficult for him to agree to work in "The Heart of a Dog", then he just 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 his support."
“The actor did everything right, except that Professor Preobrazhensky's gait resembled Professor Pleishner,” says Vladimir Bortko. - I told him about it. "And what should it be?" - the question followed. I answer: "Like D.I. Mendeleev."

One of the witnesses of Evstigneev's work on the set - Natalya Fomenko, an actress of the Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg, who played the role of the head of the cult department Vyazemskaya, the one who urged the professor to buy newspapers in favor of the starving children of Germany, recalled: “It was no secret to anyone that a difficult state of mind Evstigneev at that time. Sometimes he took his diplomatik and retired to the room, announcing: "I'll go and teach the text!" By the end of the day, the propsmen were already hiding this diplomatik with cognac ... "Despite such a "non-working" state, the actor, according to Fomenko-Vyazemskaya, held close-ups perfectly. Sometimes slurred speech betrayed him, but these trifles Evstigneev with The director corrected the dubbing.

The audience, after the premiere of Heart of a Dog, rushed to read the story, but did not find many jokes and scenes. The fact is that Vladimir Bortko and his wife Natalya wrote the script not only based on the story - they made extracts from the stories and feuilletons of the writer.
A mad janitor, whom the librarian, in order to get off, advised to read volumes of the encyclopedia - from the feuilleton "Gemstone Life", the prophetess in the circus - from the story "Madmazel Zhanna" ("Fool, make a smart face!"), Calling spirits - from "Spiritual session", and the "stars" of Clara and Rosa, which were conducted by Shvonder, from the feuilleton "Golden Correspondences of Ferapont Ferapontovich Kaportsev". These skits and witticisms not only added brilliance to the picture.
“Using Bulgakov's stories,” the director shared a secret with us, “we expanded the boundaries of the apartment where the story takes place. Now there was a street, a circus.” By the way, Peter “played” Moscow streets, since the shooting took place at Lenfilm.

Stars of the first magnitude auditioned for the role of Preobrazhensky: Leonid Bronevoi, Mikhail Ulyanov, Yuri Yakovlev and Vladislav Strzhelchik. Yevgeny Evstigneev won the “tender”, and this role came in handy for him. After the division of the Moscow Art Theater between Tatyana Doronina and Oleg Efremov, Evstigneev stayed with the latter. But he asked the director, since he had recently suffered a heart attack, not to give him new roles, but only to play out the old ones. Efremov took this as a betrayal and rashly slashed: "So go retire ..." Yevstigneev was in shock. It was in this state that he appeared at the screen test. So he himself at that time experienced sensitive blows of fate, which also fell to the lot of Preobrazhensky. “All the actors played wonderfully during the auditions, but Evstigneev was more accurate,” recalls Bortko. The artist's son, Denis Evstigneev, remarked: “The film literally saved my father. He constantly talked about his role, played something, showed scenes. The picture became a support for him in that difficult period. Many noted the penetration of Evstigneev's manner in this role, which he later called his favorite. As for Dr. Bormenthal, the director immediately saw him in Boris Plotnikov, then an actor in the Moscow Theater of Satire. “I immediately approved Plotnikov,” Bortko tells us. “And he was very pleased with them.” Plotnikov was afraid to play with the eminent artist, but Evstigneev said: “We are equal with you, colleague” - and timidity passed.

More than a dozen applicants auditioned for the role of Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov. Among them was Nikolai Karachentsov, who organically voiced the Gascon dog in the cartoon Dog in Boots, based on The Three Musketeers (1981). “Karachentsov talentedly portrayed a dog, but his acting role is a hero-lover, and I needed a dog and an alcoholic in one image,” says Bortko. Vladimir Tolokonnikov was selected according to the acting photo base, which was at all major studios - he served in the Almaty Russian Theater. Lermontov (as we learned, he still works there, and after Heart of a Dog, one of his most striking roles was in the film Hottabych in 2006, where he played an old genie). At the screen test, Tolokonnikov made a toast so colorfully: “I wish that everything!” That the director had no doubts. “Volodya killed me the moment he took a sip,” says the director. - Of course, it was not vodka, but water. But he drank very convincingly. The role of Sharik was played by a mongrel named Karay. He was chosen from several applicants - members of the dog club "Druzhok". “He was the smartest dog,” says the director. - He didn't speak French. He did everything from the first take. Karay subsequently became a "movie star", starring in the films "Wedding March", "Reexamination", "Rock and Roll for a Princess" and "Forever 19".

It is known that Evgeny Evstigneev “for courage” liked to drink 50 grams of cognac before going on stage or before filming. Tolokonnikov said that due to theatrical troubles, Evgeny Aleksandrovich began to bring more and more alcohol to the shooting. And shared with Tolokonnikov. A phrase from the film “Do not offer beer to Sharikov!” turned into off-screen: “But why not pour Sharikov?” Vladimir Bortko told us about the conflict with Evstigneev on this basis: “Evgeny Alexandrovich decided that there would be no filming today. And he drank very well. There was a hard conversation. But after that, there were no such conflicts with him. Evstigneev did not drink alcohol on the site anymore.

The songs “Harsh years are passing away”, “Chatushki Sharikov” by the bard Yuliy Kim (“Bumbarash”) to the music of Vladimir Dashkevich (“Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson”) are also remembered in the film.
“In Bulgakov’s book it says: “They sing,” says Bortko. - But what? I ordered songs for Dashkevich and Kim. They wrote wonderfully. But then I realized that when Sharikov dances, he needs ditties. As Esenin had in his poem, they were like this: "The steamboat is sailing past the pier - we will feed the fish with the communists." And again I called Kim, and a day later he dictated to me on the phone: “Oh, apple, you are my ripe, but the young lady is coming, the skin is white, The skin is white, the fur coat is valuable, If you give something, you will be whole,” etc.

• The well-known bard Yuli Kim also had a hand in creating the film: the ditties performed by Sharikov ("... come, bourgeois, I'll gouge out your eye") - his merit.


• One of the central and memorable scenes of the film, where Sharikov performs a ditty to the balalaika in front of a large audience of scientists, and Professor Preobrazhensky faints, is not in the literary source


• After the film, the already famous actors became even more popular. Vladimir Tolokonnikov once remarked: “Now in interviews they constantly ask me about Sharikov ... while this film is being watched, and I live!”


• To convey the flavor of that time on the screen, Vladimir Bortko used a sepia filter for the camera to simulate a black and white image. The reception turned out to be successful, and the director successfully used it in other films similar in time to The Idiot and The Master and Margarita.


• Actor Semyon Farada auditioned for the role of Shvonder.


• The footage in the film, which allegedly presents a documentary chronicle with the participation of a tram, was filmed by the director in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) (Degtyarny per., 7)


• In the literary source, Shvonder is a young man who has recently arrived in Moscow from the provinces. Actor Roman Kartsev was 48-49 years old at the time of filming.


• In the frame where Bormental catches Sharikov, he breaks the glass in the buffet. Indeed, during the filming of this scene, Vladimir Tolokonnikov severely cut his leg.


• In the film, Professor Preobrazhensky invites colleagues to examine Sharikov. He introduced one of them as Professor Persikov. In fact, Professor Persikov is a character in another story by Mikhail Bulgakov, Fatal Eggs.


• Sergei Filippov, who for health reasons could not attend the dubbing, is voiced by another person in the film. A professional imitator did it with brilliance - the voice cannot be distinguished.


• Actress Anzhelika Nevolina, who played secretary Vasnetsova, is the adopted daughter of actor Alexander Demyanenko (Shurik's Adventures).


• The film was advised by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Head of the Diabetology Clinic of the Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the Ministry of Health of the Ukrainian SSR (Kyiv) A.S. Efimov.

The film "Heart of a Dog", filmed by Vladimir Bortko in 1988, is today considered one of the best pictures of Soviet cinema. The director not only brought the story of Mikhail Bulgakov 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 learn the history of the creation of the film "Heart of a Dog".

As you know, it was never published in the USSR because of the satirical content of the story. It was published only during perestroika in 1987 in the Znamya magazine. And just a year later, a film was made on it. According to the director Vladimir Bortko Sergey Mikaelyan, who at that time headed the television department of Lenfilm, pushed him to the idea of ​​​​creating this picture:

“Having met me in the corridor of the studio that time, Mikaelyan held out a magazine. I came home, started reading, got to the professor's monologue and realized that I would shoot, and I even know how. This should be a black and white movie…”

But later Bortko decided to use a Sepia filter for the camera to stylize it like a movie of the 30s. Later, he also used this technique in the films The Idiot and The Master and Margarita.

By the way, the movie Vladimir Bortko- This is the second film adaptation of Bulgakov's story. The first film was filmed in 1976 in Italy. It was directed by Alberto Lattuada, and the role of Professor Preobrazhensky was played by Max von Sydow.

Frame from the film Heart of a Dog (1976)

Bortko decided not to dwell only on the story and borrowed some elements from other Bulgakov's works. For example, Professor Persikov, whom Preobrazhensky invited to examine Sharik, was the main character in the story "Fatal Eggs". And the janitor, who read two volumes of the Brockhaus and Efron dictionary, is taken from the story "Gemstone Life". Also, the well-known scene in which the newborns are named Rosa and Clara is taken from the feuilleton “Golden Correspondences of Ferapont Ferapontovich Kaportsev”, and the professor’s neighbors, evoking the spirit of the emperor, are from the story “Séance”.

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 never even read - Evgeny Evstigneev. For him, this role was a real salvation, because then he was already retired in the theater. The actor's son recalls:

“This film came into my father's life at the right time and literally saved him. Dad was going through a difficult period when he was retired at the Moscow Art Theater. Difficulty agreeing to work in the "Heart of a Dog", he then just lived it. I don’t know what was 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 applicants for the role of Sharikov, including my favorite actor and friend Nikolai Karachentsov. But Tolokonnikov, discovered by us in Alma-Ata, killed me completely. At the test, he acted out a scene with vodka: “I wish that everything!” He grunted so convincingly, hacked, the throat traveled so surprisingly along his neck, the Adam's apple twitched so predatory that I approved it immediately.

Bortko himself also starred in "Dog Heart", however, only in the episode. He was one of the onlookers in Obukhov lane, refuting the rumors about the Martians.

Even the role of the dog Sharik was casting. It was performed by a mongrel named Karay, selected from 20 applicants. It was his film debut, but the dog turned out to be quite talented and continued his film career in the films "Reexamination", "Rock and Roll for a Princess", "Forever 19" and "Wedding March".

Karay even had to make up for the film, as he had a smooth coat, and Bulgakov wrote that Sharik was shaggy. The make-up artist of the painting, Elena Kozlova, recalls:

“They used starch, but as soon as Karay ran out into the street, he immediately began to wallow in the snow and washed everything off himself. Then they guessed to use gelatin, and it turned out to be more resistant.

Despite frequent misconceptions, almost all the songs were written specifically for the film by bard Julius Kim. And the ditties performed by Sharikov (“... come, bourgeois, I’ll gouge out your eye”), and the march of the Red Army (“The White Guard is utterly defeated, and no one will break the Red Army!”) And the song “Harsh years are leaving”, which was performed by the Shvonder choir.

In 2009, the heroes of the film, Professor Preobrazhensky and Polygraph Sharikov, were even erected a monument in Kharkov near the entrance to the Sharikoff restaurant.

The film, which today is considered a classic, was received not only very coldly, but criticized to the nines.

“I opened the newspapers and was stunned. I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the quotes, but you can open the archive, and you will see that I am close to the text ... It was written something like this: “No one has ever filmed such crap as Heart of a Dog. For this, the director needs to cut off not only his hands, but also his legs and throw him off the bridge. But I still survived (laughs). I felt that I did everything right. Abroad, we were received favorably: the film was awarded prizes in Italy, Poland, and Bulgaria. And two years after the release of "The Heart of a Dog" on the screen, Evgeny Evstigneev and I were awarded the State Prize.

But more important than any award for Vladimir Bortko was that his film received immortality. And today it can often be found on television and it is difficult to find a person who has not watched at least once, and quotes from the film have become classics.

Bulgakov's legendary work "Heart of a Dog" is studied at literature lessons in grade 9. Its fantastic content reflects very real historical events. In The Heart of a Dog, analysis according to plan involves a detailed analysis of all the artistic aspects of the work. It is this information that is presented in our article, including the analysis of the work, criticism, problems, 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, diverges in samizdat, however, it was published at home 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- socio-philosophical satirical story.

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

History of creation

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

It was being prepared for publication in the Nedra magazine. After reading the text, the editor-in-chief, of course, refused to publish such a book openly hostile to the existing political system. In 1926, the author's apartment was searched and the manuscript of The Heart of a Dog was confiscated. The original title of the book was “Dog's Happiness. A monstrous story, ”later it received a modern name, which is associated with lines from the book of 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 an almost veiled parody of government circles and their policies. The writer twice read his story, for the first time - at the literary meeting "Nikitinsky Subbotniks". After the next performance, the audience was delighted, with the exception of a few communist writers. During the life of the author, his work was not published, largely due to the disgraced content, but there was another reason. “Heart of a Dog” was first published abroad, which automatically “sentenced” the text to persecution at home. Therefore, only in 1986, 60 years later, it appeared on the pages of the Zvezda magazine. Despite the disgrace, Bulgakov hoped to publish the text during his lifetime, it was rewritten, copied, passed on by the writer's friends and acquaintances, admiring the boldness and originality of the images.

Subject

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

Subject human nature, nature, characters are also affected by the author. It gives a semi-transparent hint that the person feels too powerful, but unable to control the fruits of their actions.

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 a healthy conservatism.

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

The meaning of the name works is that not all people have normal, spiritually “healthy” hearts from birth. 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 that soon becomes a man; ends where it began: Sharikov is operated on and again takes on the appearance of a contented animal.

A feature of the composition is Bormenthal's diary entries about the results of the experiment, about the patient's rebirth, about his achievements and degradation. Thus, the history of Sharikov's "life" was documented by the professor's assistant. A striking key moment of the composition is Sharikov's acquaintance with Shvonder, who has a decisive influence on the formation of the personality of a newly-made citizen.

There are two main characters in the center of the story: Professor Preobrazhensky and Polygraph Sharikov, they play a plot-forming role. In the plot of the work, the author’s technique is interesting, when life is shown through the eyes of the dog Sharik, his “dog-like” 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 the 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 its original form, thereby correcting their mistake. This moment is very symbolic, as it determines 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. In fact, it is 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.

The story, written in 1925, recreates the contemporary reality of the writer - 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 gold pieces - and the mention that firemen, "as you know, dine with porridge") does not at all become a documentary portrait of the era. The connection of a fantastic assumption (the transformation of a dog into a man) with many specific details (up to the chemical composition of the "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 protagonist 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 on his side and died. When he resurrected, he was slightly dizzy and a little sick in his stomach, but it was as if there was no side, the side was sweetly silent.

However, the event, full of mystical significance, is presented in a halo of degrading, prosaic details. Sharik's "transfiguration" is just another stage in the professor's scientific research, the main goal of which is to rejuvenate a person by transplanting the gonads. In the narrative structure of Heart of a Dog, the miraculous Transfiguration of the Lord becomes synonymous with an ordinary surgical operation.

The parodic-ironic transformation of the gospel motif is also clearly manifested at the level of the stylistic organization of the text. Professor Preobrazhensky is an omnipotent "priest", "magician" and "sorcerer", however, these definitions fall into the following context for Bulgakov:

The newcomer bowed very respectfully and embarrassedly to Philip Philipich.

Hee hee! You are a magician and a sorcerer, Professor, - he said embarrassedly.

Take off your pants, my dear," Philip Philipovich commanded and got up.

“Lord Jesus,” thought the dog, “this is fruit!”

On the head of the fruit grew completely green hair, and on the back of the head they shone with a rusty tobacco color ...

In the neighborhood with "hee-hee", "pants" and green-haired "fruit", the Transformation turns into a profanity, and "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. The apartment of Professor Preobrazhensky is located on Prechistenka - thus, with the help of a toponym, the image of the Most Pure Mother of God is introduced into the associative semantic series. Through the fault of Sharikov, a “flood” will occur in the same apartment - a parody version of the local “great flood” (in pursuit of a cat, the former dog turned off the tap in the bathroom). The first word uttered by Sharik after turning into a person - “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 sings the same fragment from Verdi's opera "Aida" - "To the sacred banks of the Nile ...") and an announcement on the door: "I forbid eating seeds in the apartment . F.Preobrazhensky. (In addition, the musical theme of culture and priestly power is interrupted with the appearance of Sharikov by the motives of the songs “Oh, apple” and “The moon is shining”, which came from the world of “proletarian devastation”, which Preobrazhensky is trying to resist.) Thus, the constant neighborhood of the gospel and - wider - mythological allusions and comic details of real life throws 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, Dr. Bormental, who plays the role of an “evangelist” in the story (Levi Matvey will play the same role with Yeshua in the novel “The Master and Margarita”). A feature 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 full of sincere admiration for the teacher's discovery; Sharik's documentary "case history" is continually interrupted by enthusiastic exclamations of the "chronicler": "Professor Preobrazhensky's amazing experience revealed one of the mysteries of the 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's pay attention to another stylistic failure in the narrative - a significant neighborhood of the "creator" and the blot).

However, a faithful student-“evangelist” actually acts as an unreliable narrator - a narrator who inadequately interprets the words and actions of the teacher, creating a distorted picture of what is happening. His explanations and comments are in conflict with the "correct" interpretation - supported by the authority of the participant in the event or the author himself. So, for example, the amazing ability of Sharik to read from right to left in Bormental's diary receives the following explanation: “Sharik read! I read it!!! ... It was from the end that I read it. And I even know where the solution to this riddle is: in the optic chiasm of a dog!” However, the real reason, as the reader remembers from the very beginning of the story, was much more prosaic and lay in a completely different way: “it was more convenient to run up to Sharik’s store 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" generally remains without a clear comment: "Something strange is happening with Philip ... The old man has thought of something."

Professor Preobrazhensky still remains an omnipotent deity in the eyes of his student - while the "magician" and "sorcerer" turned out to be powerless before the chaos brought into his life by a miracle. Professor Preobrazhensky is the type of Bulgakov's hero who will then pass through all the writer's work: endowed with powerful creative (transforming) power, he can be both 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 members of the house committee. The "ascetics" of the new faith are presented in sharply grotesque coverage. One of the members of the House Committee - “a peach youth 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, however, in Bulgakov’s description, the grotesque context of identifying oneself is invariably restored: “It is indescribable! - exclaimed a young man who turned out to be a woman "; “I, as the head of the cult department at home ... - Head, - Philipp Philippovich corrected her.”

The inexplicable metamorphoses taking place with the representatives of the new government may, however, be fraught with danger. As soon as Sharik turned into Polygraph Sharikov and became involved in the powers that be - "to take the position" of the head of the subdepartment for cleaning Moscow from stray animals, his stay in Preobrazhensky's apartment became a mortal threat both for the professor himself (who had already been denounced), 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, make them not so much a social or political as a metaphysical force, which Bulgakov's hero is forced to resist.

Another most important feature of Bulgakov's poetics is clearly manifested in Heart of a Dog - the division of the artistic space into two (ideally impenetrable to each other) subspaces. One of them is Preobrazhensky's apartment on Prechistenka, a "dog's 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, "divine warmth". The arrival of Sharik in this space was accompanied by the fact that "the darkness clicked and turned into a dazzling day, and from all sides it sparkled, shone and turned white." Of the "topographic" features of this space, two main ones should be distinguished: externally it is strictly limited, localized and is just an apartment, internally - spacious, huge and, moreover, capable of unlimited expansion (to a large extent - due to the multiple reflections in each other huge mirrors).

The second space is external - open, aggressive, hostile. His initial signs are a blizzard, wind, street dirt; its permanent inhabitants are “a scoundrel in a dirty cap” (“a thief with a copper muzzle”, “greedy creature”), a cook from the dining room, and “the most vile scum” of all proletarians - the janitor. The outer space appears - as opposed to the inner one - as a world of absurdity and chaos. Shvonder and his "entourage" come from this world - to win back a part of the professor's "personal" space and densify his seven-room apartment by "expropriating" the observation room. Only the door of the apartment separates these two spaces from each other - and therefore the only desire of Professor Preobrazhensky is to receive “such a piece of paper, in the presence of which neither Shvonder nor anyone else could even come to the door of my apartment. The final piece of paper... Armor. Sealing, complete isolation is the only way to protect your "true" space from the intrusion of someone else's, "imaginary". (Note that the outward side of the door is also in the grip of an absurd reality. The ball, trying to read the door plate with the name of the professor, is horrified to find 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 the “pot-bellied two-sided rubbish” - the saving letter “f” - turns the nightmare that had just begun into a beautiful reality of a luxurious apartment on Prechistenka).

The coexistence of two opposing spaces in Bulgakov's artistic world also determines the structure of the cross-cutting, invariant Bulgakov plot: the destruction of the inner, 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 parodic flood, obsessive visits by "werewolves" from the art world - Vyazemskaya (member of the house committee) and Vasnetsova (Sharikov's bride), absurd projects for redevelopment of the professor's apartment. Restoration of the destroyed harmony - even at the cost of a crime (“The crime has ripened and fallen like a stone ...”) - is the only goal of Professor Preobrazhensky and the main vector of the plot. Thus, the story rethinks the traditional guilt complex of the intelligentsia before the people. Preobrazhensky and Bormental defend their "right to rights" in the new world - although they are not relieved of responsibility for the experiment on human nature.