Heart of a Dog , a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, is a biting satire of the New Soviet man written in 1925 at the height of the NEP period, when Communism appeared to be weakening in the Soviet Union. It's generally interpreted as an allegory of the Communist revolution and "the revolution's misguided attempt to radically transform mankind." Its publication was initially prohibited in the Soviet Union, but circulated in samizdat until it was officially released in the country in 1987. It is "one of novelist Mikhail Bulgakov's most beloved stories" featuring a stray dog "named Sharik who takes... human form," as a slovenly and narcissistic incarnation of the New Soviet Man. The novel has become a cultural phenomenon in Russia, known and discussed by people "from schoolchildren to politicians." It has become a subject of critical argument, was filmed in both Russian and Italian-language versions, and adapted in English as a play and an opera. The book was rejected for publication in 1925, due in part to the influence of Lev Kamenev, then a leading Party official.
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| Author: | Mikhail Bulgakov |
| Genre: | Science Fiction, Speculative fiction |
| Year published: | 1925 |
| Number of editions: | 6 |