Heart of a Dog
by Mikhail Bulgakov (trans. by Mirra Ginsberg. New York: Grove Press, 1968).
In this book, a slightly mischievous – but still sweet – street mutt named Sharik begins transforming into a human after an experimental operation. The most interesting thing in the novella, stylistically, was how Bulgakov grants us direct access to Sharik’s thoughts when he’s in canine form, but denies them to us while he’s human. We’re only allowed to directly sympathize with the dog, not the dog turned man (dog turned extremely scandalous man), and the dog’s heart is shown to be purer than the man’s.
While reading it, I couldn’t help thinking that Sharik was some sort of allegory for the pre-Soviet average man. Sweet, good-natured and taken care of when in his rightful place, but when transformed into something he’s not, he becomes an unscrupulous cad. Not necessarily sentiments I agree with generally, yet within the story I’m convinced. The rest of the satire is obvious, but still cleverly done. Bulgakov has a knack for pointing out some of the more ridiculous aspects of Soviet society.
