|
Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov (Grove Press, $10.00) Considered by many to be the finest satire on Soviet Russia, Bulgakov's Heart of a Dog is funny regardless of the cultural context. The story is about a surgeon who works in the rejuvenation field. This involves animal organ transplants, operations on the sexual organs and other strange operations performed in the name of longevity. His clients are all upper party members and officials who enable the professor to keep his many roomed apartment so that he can continue his own research. When he finally gets a freshly killed man he transplants the man's pituitary gland and testes onto a stray dog, named Sharik, that he has found. As the results of the operation come out what was a good natured dog becomes an abominably rude, crude, louse of a human being named Poligraph Poligraphovich (taking his name from the state publishing firm Mospoligraph). He joins the party, the apartment commune and immediately turns against the professor. He takes on a job with the city ridding it of its cats. He gets involved in all kinds of mischief that continually threatens the way of life of the professor. Here is a young woman's response after the professor has explained why she cannot marry Poligraph: I'll poison myself… Every day it's corned beef in the cafeteria… and he threatens… he says he is a Red commander… you'll live with me, he says, in a luxurious home… advances every day… my psyche he says is very kind, it's only cats I hate…"It is small touches such as "it's only cats I hate" that make this book so wonderful. It is hard to read it and not smile or laugh out-loud.
|
|
