Heart of a Dog
Encyclopedia
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.
, then a leading Party official. Bulgakov subsequently wrote a play based on the story in 1926 for the Moscow Art Theater. However, the play was cancelled after the manuscript and copies were confiscated by the secret police, or OGPU. Eventually, Maxim Gorky
intervened to get the manuscript returned.
The story has similarities with Dr. Faustus
, Frankenstein
, and The Island of Dr. Moreau. It was published in the Soviet Union
only in 1987, more than 60 years after its completion, but was made known to Russian readers via samizdat
. In 1968, it was published in English by Harvill Press, translated by Michael Glenny
. More recently, it has been reprinted by Grove Press
in paperback; ISBN 0-8021-5059-4.
The real life prototype for Professor Preobrazhensky was possibly Russo-French surgeon Serge Voronoff
who was famous for his experiments on implanting humans with animal's testicles and thyroid glands
, 1925.
While foraging for trash one winter day, a stray dog
is found by a cook and scalded with boiling water. Lying forlorn in a doorway, the dog awaits his end awash in thoughts of self-pity. To his surprise, successful surgeon Filip Filippovich Preobrazhensky arrives and offers the dog a piece of sausage. Overjoyed, the dog follows Filip back to his flat, where he is given the stock dog name, Sharik.
At the house, Sharik gets to know Dr. Preobrazhensky's household, which includes the medical student Bormental and two female servants. Despite the Professor's blatant anti-communism
, his frequent medical treatment of the CPSU leadership makes him untouchable. As a result, he refuses to decrease his seven room flat and treats the Bolsheviks on the housing committee, led by Shvonder, with unveiled contempt. Impressed by his new master, Sharik slips easily into the role of "a gentleman's dog."
After several days, one of the servants begins taking Sharik for walks through Moscow. Preening in his new collar, Sharik is unmoved by the taunts of a passing stray. After his health improves, the Professor at last reveals his real intentions in taking in Sharik. As the laboratory is prepped, he orders Sharik locked in the bathroom.
As a seething Sharik plots to again destroy the Professor's stuffed owl, the door opens and he is dragged by the scruff of the neck into the lab. There, he is sedated and an operation begins. As Bormental assists, the Professor trepans Sharik's skull and gives him a human pituitary gland
. Sharik's torso is also opened and he is given human testicles. Only repeated injections of adrenaline prevent the dog from dying on the operating table.
During the weeks after the operation, the household is stunned as Sharik begins transforming into an incredibly unkempt human. After building an alliance with Shvonder, the former canine is granted papers under the absurd name "Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov."
In the aftermath, the Professor and Bormental patiently attempt to teach Sharikov basic ettiquette. Instead, Sharikov mocks the idea of manners as relics of Tsarism. He insists that it is better to behave, as he puts it, "naturally." As a result, Sharikov curses in front of women, refuses to shave, and dresses like a complete slob.
Meawhile, Sharikov progressively turns the Professor's life into a living hell. One day, he accidentally turns on the spigot while chasing a cat. With the bathroom door locked, the entire apartment is flooded. Later, he is caught attempting to rape one of the female servants. Enraged, Bormental beats Sharikov up and forces him to apologize. Infuriated, Sharikov leaves the apartment and remains gone for several days.
Later, Bormental begs the Professor for permission to dose Sharikov with arsenic
, calling him a man with "the heart of a dog." The Professor is horrified and orders Bormental not to "slander the dog." He explains that the human body parts, which came from a drunken Proletarian, are responsible for all of Sharikov's defects. Bormental then suggests that they redo the operation, using the body of a genius. Again the Professor refuses, explaining that the operation was meant to improve the Human race
. Breaking with his former beliefs, the Professor admits that any peasant woman could give birth to a genius and that eugenics
are therefore a waste of time. In conclusion, the Professor refuses to permit Sharikov's murder or to undo the operation, which could easily kill him as well.
Soon after, Sharikov returns, explaining that he has been granted a job by the Soviet State. He now spends his work-day strangling vagrant cats, whose fur is used to imitate that of squirrels. Soon after Sharikov brings home a female co-worker, whom he introduces to the Professor as his new common law wife
.
Instead of giving them their own room as Sharikov demands, the Professor takes the woman aside and explains that Sharikov is the product of a lab experiment gone horribly wrong. The woman, who had believed that Sharikov was a Red Army
veteran maimed during the Russian Civil War
, leaves the apartment in tears. Seething with hatred, Sharikov threatens to fire her. Again Bormental beats Sharikov up and makes him promise not to do anything of the sort.
The following day, a senior Party official arrives and informs the Professor that Sharikov has denounced him to the secret police, or CHEKA
. Explaining that nothing is going to happen to him due to the State's distrust of Sharikov, the Party official departs. When Sharikov returns, the Professor and Bormental order him to leave the flat permanently. Instead, Sharikov refuses and draws a revolver
. Enraged, the Professor and Bormental pounce upon him.
That night, an ominous silence reigns in the flat and the lights are left on for many hours after bedtime. Over the days that follow, the Professor and Bormental look far more relaxed than at any time before Sharikov's arrival. Eventually, the police arrive escorted by Shvonder.
Bearing a search warrant
, they demand to see Sharikov on pain of arresting the Professor and Bormental. Unintimidated, the Professor orders Bormental to summon Sharikov, who is slowly being transformed back into a dog. The Professor explains the change as a natural phenomenon, although it is obvious to the reader that in fact he and Bormental have simply performed the reverse operation. Followed by the now apoplectic Shvonder, the police depart.
In the aftermath, the fully canine
Sharik blissfully resumes his status as a gentleman's dog. However, he is soon terrified to see the Professor bringing home a human brain and removing the pituitary gland...
on the Communist attempts to create a New Soviet man
and as a criticism of eugenics
.
One commonly accepted interpretation is that Bulgakov was trying to show all the inconsistencies of the system in which Sharikov, a man with a dog's intelligence, could become an important part.
Sharik is seen as "a reincarnation of the repellent proletarian," and the professor represents a "hyperbolic vision of the bourgeois dream," according to J.A.E. Curtis.
Names figure prominently in the story. Preobrazhensky's name is derived from the Russian word for "transfiguration." "Sharik" is a common name for dogs in Russia, equivalent to "Spot."
The name and patronymic
"Poligraf Poligrafovich" translate roughly as "Rotogravure
, Son of Rotogravure" and echoes a tradition of nonsense double names in Russian literature
that goes back to Gogol's hero Akakii Akakievich in "The Overcoat
". The name is also a satire on new naming conventions in the early Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the name was chosen according to the old Russian tradition, of "consulting the calendar," with Poligraf's name day being March 4.
The name of the donor of the human implants, an alcoholic and bum, is Chugunkin ("chugun" is cast iron) which can be seen as parody on the name of Stalin ("stal'" is steel).
, The Murder of Comrade Sharik by William Bergsma
(1973), is based on the plot of the story.
The story was filmed in Italian in 1976 as "Cuore di cane
" and starred Max von Sydow
as Preobrazhensky.
A very popular 1988 Soviet movie, Sobachye Serdtse
, was made (in sepia) by Vladimir Bortko
. Major sequences in the movie were famously shot from an unusually low dog's point of view.
In 2007, Guerilla Opera staged the Premier of "Heart of a Dog", a new opera composed by Rudolf Rojahn
, directed by Sally Stunkel. In 2010, the second production was directed by Copeland Woodruff.
In 2010 Dutch National Opera staged the Premier of "A Dog's Heart", a new opera composed by Alexander Raskatov
, directed by Simon McBurney.
In March 2011, "Heart of a Dog" was staged at the University of Leeds, directed by James Ahearne and Matthew Beaumont.
laboratory, where they make them into protein for the workers". In the original Russian text (as well as in Vladimir Bortko film) Sharikov's reply is: "They will be made into fur collars on the coats, workers would buy them as squirrels". This is a mistake of the translator, who has apparently confused the word белок (belok, Russian genitive plural for белка (squirrel)) for a homographic белок (bel'ok, protein)http://www.trworkshop.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=37938, http://oryx-and-crake.livejournal.com/455457.html.
Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhaíl Afanásyevich Bulgákov was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.-Biography:Mikhail Bulgakov was born on...
, is a biting satire of the New Soviet man
New Soviet man
The New Soviet man or New Soviet person , as postulated by the ideologists of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was an archetype of a person with certain qualities that were said to be emerging as dominant among all citizens of the Soviet Union, irrespective of the country's cultural,...
written in 1925 at the height of the NEP
New Economic Policy
The New Economic Policy was an economic policy proposed by Vladimir Lenin, who called it state capitalism. Allowing some private ventures, the NEP allowed small animal businesses or smoke shops, for instance, to reopen for private profit while the state continued to control banks, foreign trade,...
period, when Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
appeared to be weakening in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
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
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, but circulated in samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
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
New Soviet man
The New Soviet man or New Soviet person , as postulated by the ideologists of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was an archetype of a person with certain qualities that were said to be emerging as dominant among all citizens of the Soviet Union, irrespective of the country's cultural,...
.
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.
Background
The book was rejected for publication in 1925, due in part to the influence of Lev KamenevLev Kamenev
Lev Borisovich Kamenev , born Rozenfeld , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. He was briefly head of state of the new republic in 1917, and from 1923-24 the acting Premier in the last year of Lenin's life....
, then a leading Party official. Bulgakov subsequently wrote a play based on the story in 1926 for the Moscow Art Theater. However, the play was cancelled after the manuscript and copies were confiscated by the secret police, or OGPU. Eventually, Maxim Gorky
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...
intervened to get the manuscript returned.
The story has similarities with Dr. Faustus
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge...
, Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
, and The Island of Dr. Moreau. It was published in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
only in 1987, more than 60 years after its completion, but was made known to Russian readers via samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
. In 1968, it was published in English by Harvill Press, translated by Michael Glenny
Michael Glenny
Michael Valentine Glenny was a British lecturer in Russian studies and a noted translator of Russian literature into English...
. More recently, it has been reprinted by Grove Press
Grove Press
Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United States. The Atlantic Monthly Press, under the aegis of its...
in paperback; ISBN 0-8021-5059-4.
The real life prototype for Professor Preobrazhensky was possibly Russo-French surgeon Serge Voronoff
Serge Voronoff
Serge Abrahamovitch Voronoff was a French surgeon of Russian extraction who gained fame for his technique of grafting monkey testicle tissue on to the testicles of men for purportedly therapeutic purposes while working in France in the 1920s and 1930s. The technique brought him a great deal of...
who was famous for his experiments on implanting humans with animal's testicles and thyroid glands
Plot
MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, 1925.
While foraging for trash one winter day, a stray dog
Stray dog
Stray dog or stray dogs may refer to:Dogs:* Any sort of feral dog such as free-ranging urban dogs or canines without owners running lose in rural areas or around villages or small communities* Pariah dog, a specific type of feral dog...
is found by a cook and scalded with boiling water. Lying forlorn in a doorway, the dog awaits his end awash in thoughts of self-pity. To his surprise, successful surgeon Filip Filippovich Preobrazhensky arrives and offers the dog a piece of sausage. Overjoyed, the dog follows Filip back to his flat, where he is given the stock dog name, Sharik.
At the house, Sharik gets to know Dr. Preobrazhensky's household, which includes the medical student Bormental and two female servants. Despite the Professor's blatant anti-communism
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
, his frequent medical treatment of the CPSU leadership makes him untouchable. As a result, he refuses to decrease his seven room flat and treats the Bolsheviks on the housing committee, led by Shvonder, with unveiled contempt. Impressed by his new master, Sharik slips easily into the role of "a gentleman's dog."
After several days, one of the servants begins taking Sharik for walks through Moscow. Preening in his new collar, Sharik is unmoved by the taunts of a passing stray. After his health improves, the Professor at last reveals his real intentions in taking in Sharik. As the laboratory is prepped, he orders Sharik locked in the bathroom.
As a seething Sharik plots to again destroy the Professor's stuffed owl, the door opens and he is dragged by the scruff of the neck into the lab. There, he is sedated and an operation begins. As Bormental assists, the Professor trepans Sharik's skull and gives him a human pituitary gland
Pituitary gland
In vertebrate anatomy the pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland about the size of a pea and weighing 0.5 g , in humans. It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, and rests in a small, bony cavity covered by a dural fold...
. Sharik's torso is also opened and he is given human testicles. Only repeated injections of adrenaline prevent the dog from dying on the operating table.
During the weeks after the operation, the household is stunned as Sharik begins transforming into an incredibly unkempt human. After building an alliance with Shvonder, the former canine is granted papers under the absurd name "Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov."
In the aftermath, the Professor and Bormental patiently attempt to teach Sharikov basic ettiquette. Instead, Sharikov mocks the idea of manners as relics of Tsarism. He insists that it is better to behave, as he puts it, "naturally." As a result, Sharikov curses in front of women, refuses to shave, and dresses like a complete slob.
Meawhile, Sharikov progressively turns the Professor's life into a living hell. One day, he accidentally turns on the spigot while chasing a cat. With the bathroom door locked, the entire apartment is flooded. Later, he is caught attempting to rape one of the female servants. Enraged, Bormental beats Sharikov up and forces him to apologize. Infuriated, Sharikov leaves the apartment and remains gone for several days.
Later, Bormental begs the Professor for permission to dose Sharikov with arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
, calling him a man with "the heart of a dog." The Professor is horrified and orders Bormental not to "slander the dog." He explains that the human body parts, which came from a drunken Proletarian, are responsible for all of Sharikov's defects. Bormental then suggests that they redo the operation, using the body of a genius. Again the Professor refuses, explaining that the operation was meant to improve the Human race
Human Race
Human Race refers to the Human species.Human race may also refer to:*The Human Race, 79th episode of YuYu Hakusho* Human Race Theatre Company of Dayton Ohio* Human Race Machine, a computer graphics device...
. Breaking with his former beliefs, the Professor admits that any peasant woman could give birth to a genius and that eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
are therefore a waste of time. In conclusion, the Professor refuses to permit Sharikov's murder or to undo the operation, which could easily kill him as well.
Soon after, Sharikov returns, explaining that he has been granted a job by the Soviet State. He now spends his work-day strangling vagrant cats, whose fur is used to imitate that of squirrels. Soon after Sharikov brings home a female co-worker, whom he introduces to the Professor as his new common law wife
Common Law Wife
"Common Law Wife" is a song by the funk band Parliament. Recorded in 1972, it was released as a bonus track on the 2003 reissue of the album Chocolate City...
.
Instead of giving them their own room as Sharikov demands, the Professor takes the woman aside and explains that Sharikov is the product of a lab experiment gone horribly wrong. The woman, who had believed that Sharikov was a Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
veteran maimed during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, leaves the apartment in tears. Seething with hatred, Sharikov threatens to fire her. Again Bormental beats Sharikov up and makes him promise not to do anything of the sort.
The following day, a senior Party official arrives and informs the Professor that Sharikov has denounced him to the secret police, or CHEKA
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
. Explaining that nothing is going to happen to him due to the State's distrust of Sharikov, the Party official departs. When Sharikov returns, the Professor and Bormental order him to leave the flat permanently. Instead, Sharikov refuses and draws a revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
. Enraged, the Professor and Bormental pounce upon him.
That night, an ominous silence reigns in the flat and the lights are left on for many hours after bedtime. Over the days that follow, the Professor and Bormental look far more relaxed than at any time before Sharikov's arrival. Eventually, the police arrive escorted by Shvonder.
Bearing a search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
, they demand to see Sharikov on pain of arresting the Professor and Bormental. Unintimidated, the Professor orders Bormental to summon Sharikov, who is slowly being transformed back into a dog. The Professor explains the change as a natural phenomenon, although it is obvious to the reader that in fact he and Bormental have simply performed the reverse operation. Followed by the now apoplectic Shvonder, the police depart.
In the aftermath, the fully canine
Canine
Canine may refer to:* Domestic dog* Animals belonging to the family Canidae, or the sub-family Caninae* Canine tooth* Ralph Canine, American soldier and government administrator* A character in Glenn Martin, DDS...
Sharik blissfully resumes his status as a gentleman's dog. However, he is soon terrified to see the Professor bringing home a human brain and removing the pituitary gland...
Themes
The novel has been interpreted both as a satireSatire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
on the Communist attempts to create a New Soviet man
New Soviet man
The New Soviet man or New Soviet person , as postulated by the ideologists of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was an archetype of a person with certain qualities that were said to be emerging as dominant among all citizens of the Soviet Union, irrespective of the country's cultural,...
and as a criticism of eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
.
One commonly accepted interpretation is that Bulgakov was trying to show all the inconsistencies of the system in which Sharikov, a man with a dog's intelligence, could become an important part.
Sharik is seen as "a reincarnation of the repellent proletarian," and the professor represents a "hyperbolic vision of the bourgeois dream," according to J.A.E. Curtis.
The name and patronymic
Patronymic
A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage.In many areas patronyms...
"Poligraf Poligrafovich" translate roughly as "Rotogravure
Rotogravure
Rotogravure is a type of intaglio printing process; that is, it involves engraving the image onto an image carrier...
, Son of Rotogravure" and echoes a tradition of nonsense double names in Russian literature
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
that goes back to Gogol's hero Akakii Akakievich in "The Overcoat
The Overcoat
"The Overcoat" is the title of a short story by Ukrainian-born Russian author Nikolai Gogol, published in 1842. The story and its author have had great influence on Russian literature, thus spawning Fyodor Dostoyevsky's famous quote: "We all come out from Gogol's 'Overcoat'." The story has been...
". The name is also a satire on new naming conventions in the early Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the name was chosen according to the old Russian tradition, of "consulting the calendar," with Poligraf's name day being March 4.
The name of the donor of the human implants, an alcoholic and bum, is Chugunkin ("chugun" is cast iron) which can be seen as parody on the name of Stalin ("stal'" is steel).
In popular culture
A comic operaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, The Murder of Comrade Sharik by William Bergsma
William Bergsma
-Biography:After studying piano with his mother, a former opera singer, and then the viola, Bergsma moved on to study composition; his most significant teachers were Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers. Bergsma attended Stanford University for two years before moving on to the Eastman School of...
(1973), is based on the plot of the story.
The story was filmed in Italian in 1976 as "Cuore di cane
Cuore di cane
Cuore di cane is a 1976 joint Italian-German film directed by Alberto Lattuada based on a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov adapted by Mario Gallo. Screenplay by Alberto Lattuada with Viveca Melander. Composer - Piero Piccioni, editor - Sergio Montanari. Cinematography by Lamberto Caimi. Production...
" and starred Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...
as Preobrazhensky.
A very popular 1988 Soviet movie, Sobachye Serdtse
Sobachye Serdtse
Heart of a Dog is a black-and-white 1988 Soviet television film directed by Vladimir Bortko. It is based on Mikhail Bulgakov's novel Heart of a Dog.-Plot:The film is set in Moscow not long after the October Revolution...
, was made (in sepia) by Vladimir Bortko
Vladimir Bortko
Vladimir Vladimirovich Bortko , born on May 7, 1946 in Moscow, is a Russian film director, screenwriter and producer.-Biography:...
. Major sequences in the movie were famously shot from an unusually low dog's point of view.
In 2007, Guerilla Opera staged the Premier of "Heart of a Dog", a new opera composed by Rudolf Rojahn
Rudolf Rojahn
Rudolf Rojahn is a Boston-based composer of classical music.Rojahn was awarded the Roger Sessions Award for composition upon graduation from Boston Conservatory with a Master of Music in Composition in 2004. His music has been featured at The Boston Conservatory's New Music Week. He has been the...
, directed by Sally Stunkel. In 2010, the second production was directed by Copeland Woodruff.
In 2010 Dutch National Opera staged the Premier of "A Dog's Heart", a new opera composed by Alexander Raskatov
Alexander Raskatov
Alexander Mikhailovich Raskatov is a Russian composer.-Life:Alexander Raskatov, a son of a leading journalist of the magazine Krokodil, studied composition under Albert Leman at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he was composer in residence at Stetson University and 1998 in Lockenhaus...
, directed by Simon McBurney.
In March 2011, "Heart of a Dog" was staged at the University of Leeds, directed by James Ahearne and Matthew Beaumont.
Trivia
In Michael Glenny's English translation, when Preobrazhensky asks Sharikov what do he and his co-workers do with the dead cats, he replies: "They go to alaboratory, where they make them into protein for the workers". In the original Russian text (as well as in Vladimir Bortko film) Sharikov's reply is: "They will be made into fur collars on the coats, workers would buy them as squirrels". This is a mistake of the translator, who has apparently confused the word белок (belok, Russian genitive plural for белка (squirrel)) for a homographic белок (bel'ok, protein)http://www.trworkshop.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=37938, http://oryx-and-crake.livejournal.com/455457.html.