Genre: Science fiction, film adaptation
Screen adaptation of the story of the same name by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov.
...Russia, 20s of the twentieth century, devastation. Professor Preobrazhensky performs a brilliant operation to transplant a human pituitary gland into an ordinary mongrel... And a miracle occurs - the dog begins to take on the appearance of a human! But experience proves that it is better for a dog to remain a dog...
The film starred: Evgeny Evstigneev, Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Tolokonnikov, Nina Ruslanova, Olga Melikhova, Alexey Mironov, Roman Kartsev, Angelika Nevolina, Natalya Fomenko, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Ivan Ganzha
Director: Vladimir Bortko
Screenwriter: Natalia Bortko
Operator: Yuri Shaygardanov
Composer: Vladimir Dashkevich
Artist: Vladimir Svetozarov
The film premiered on November 20, 1988 (TV)

Movie Heart of a Dog was first shown on Central Television Soviet Union November 19, 1988. The story on which the film was based was written by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov in 1925, but since it was impossible to publish the book in the Soviet Union due to its pronounced satirical orientation, it was distributed in samizdat from the 30s.
The story was first published abroad in 1968, and in our country it was published only during perestroika. The publication of “Heart of a Dog” took place in the June 1987 issue of the magazine “Znamya”, and in November of the following year the premiere of the television version of the story took place.




Vladimir Bortko said that director Sergei Mikaelyan, who then headed the television department of Lenfilm, pushed him into the idea of ​​adapting Bulgakov’s work: “Having met me in the studio corridor that time, Mikaelyan handed me a magazine.
I came home, started reading, got to the professor’s monologue and realized that I was going to film and I even knew how. This should be a black and white movie...” Such venerable actors as Leonid Bronevoy, Mikhail Ulyanov, Yuri Yakovlev, Vladislav Strzhelchik fought for the right to play Professor Preobrazhensky, but Evgeny Evstigneev won.




Despite the fact that Evgeniy Aleksandrovich had not read the story “Heart of a Dog” before working on the film, he was so natural in the role of Philip Philipovich that this work became one of the best in his film career. The actor’s son, famous cameraman, director and producer Denis Evstigneev recalled: “This film appeared in my father’s life at the right time and literally saved him.
Dad was going through a difficult period when he was sent into retirement at the Moscow Art Theater. Having a hard time agreeing to work in “Heart of a Dog,” he then simply 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 a support for him.” Of the eight candidates for the role of Sharikov, among whom was Nikolai Karachentsov, Vladimir Bortko chose the actor of the Alma-Ata Russian Drama Theater Vladimir Tolokonnikov.




At the auditions, Tolokonnikov played the scene at dinner, when Sharikov pronounces his later famous phrase: “I wish that’s all!” The artist made a toast and drank so convincingly that the director no longer had any doubts about the candidacy for the role of Poligraf Poligrafovich: “Volodya killed me the very moment he took a sip of vodka.
He grunted so convincingly, his Adam’s apple twitched so predatorily that I approved him without hesitation.” Famous comedian Semyon Farada auditioned for the role of Shvonder along with Roman Kartsev. These and other wonderful actors who starred in both major and episodic roles - Nina Ruslanova, Boris Plotnikov, Olga Melikhova, Angelika Nevolina, Sergei Filippov, Valentina Kovel and others - managed to so vividly embody on the screen the images of the characters in the story that the film is still rightfully considered the best film adaptation of Bulgakov’s prose.




This success, of course, was facilitated by the directorial talent of Vladimir Bortko, and the high professionalism of cameraman Yuri Shaigardanov, and the skill of the set designers, costume designers and make-up artists who worked on the film, and musical numbers, created by composer Vladimir Dashkevich and poet Yuli Kim.
One of the undoubted successes of the film is Shvonder played by Roman Kartsev. Boris Plotnikov, Nina Ruslanova, and other artists performed beautifully in the film.
The reviews were diametrically opposed: from harsh criticism and rejection to complete delight. Time has shown who was right: “Heart of a Dog” is considered best film adaptations Bulgakov




The film Heart of a Dog in 1989 was awarded the Golden Screen prize at the International Film Festival in Warsaw (Poland) and the Grand Prix at International festivals television films in Dushanbe (USSR) and Perugia (Italy). In 1990, the director of the film, Vladimir Bortko, and Evgeny Evstigneev, who played the role of Professor Preobrazhensky, became laureates of the State Prize of the RSFSR named after the Vasilyev brothers.
The filming took place in Leningrad, and the “role” of the streets of Moscow, where the action of the film takes place, was successfully “played” by the streets northern capital. Prechistenka, where Sharik’s fateful meeting with the professor took place, was Borovaya Street, Obukhov Lane, where the house in which Preobrazhensky lived is located, filmed on Mokhovaya, filming also took place on Preobrazhenskaya Square, on Ryleeva Street, in Degtyarny Lane and in other places cities on the Neva. The scenes in the cinematography were filmed in the Znamya cinema, and Yuri Mamin’s comedy “The Feast of Neptune” was shown on the screen to make the actors-spectators laugh in the frame.




“Heart of a Dog” was first filmed by Italian and German filmmakers in 1976.
In Italian the film is called “Cuore di cane” (“Heart of a Dog”), while the German version of the title is “Warum bellt Herr Bobikow?” - translated as “Why is Mr. Bobikov barking?” (the Germans changed the surname “Sharikov” to “Bobikov”). The film was directed by Alberto Lattuada and the role of Professor Preobrazhensky was played by Max von Sydow.




The film contains characters and scenes from other works of Bulgakov. Professor Persikov, whom Preobrazhensky invited to examine Sharik, is the hero of the story “ Fatal eggs”, and the circus soothsayer is a character in the story “Madmazel Jeanne”.
The story of a janitor who read two volumes of the Brockhaus and Efron dictionary is a quote from the story “Gem Life,” the episode with the “stars” of the twin sisters Clara and Rosa is taken from the feuilleton “The Golden Correspondence of Ferapont Ferapontovich Kaportsev,” and the scene with the professor’s neighbors engaged in table-turning is from the story “Spiritualistic Seance”.
Vladimir Bortko starred in the film in the cameo role of an onlooker in Obukhov Lane, refuting rumors about Martians.




From an interview with Vladimir Bortko (Capital Style magazine and Media International Group):
“The artistic director of the Lenfilm television association, the wonderful director Sergei Mikaelyan, gave me Bulgakov’s story to read, which I did not know until then. This is how “Heart of a Dog” appeared...
The first reviews of this film were devastating, the likes of which the world had never seen before. The day after “Heart of a Dog” was shown on TV, I opened the central newspapers.
The Soviet government responded vividly to the prime ministers, not to mention the democratic ones. So, I read: we’ve seen all sorts of crap, but we’ve never seen anything like this before, we should cut off our hands for this. And what devastating letters I received! But time passed, and he was given State Prize, a lot of prizes. It probably takes time to understand.”
The dog who played Sharik was found through the Leningrad Service Dog Breeding Club. Out of 20 applicants, he was chosen because he looked like a purebred mongrel.
I dreamed of a dog, but they didn’t allow me to buy one,” says Elena Nikiforova, the owner. One day I saw a couple of puppies in the garages. She left at first, but then came back for one of them. Moreover, I was going to take another one; I liked him better. But this one ran out... I gave him the name Karai.




Dog makeup
For the film, Karai had to be made up, because he had a smooth six, and Bulgakov wrote that Sharik was shaggy.
They used starch, but as soon as Karai ran out into the street, he immediately began to wallow in the snow and wash everything off himself, recalls make-up artist Elena Kozlova. “Then they thought of using gelatin, and it turned out to be more stable. On the set, Karai became everyone's favorite.
Most of all, he communicated with Evgeny Evstigneev, says the owner. When we arrived at the site, he immediately ran to greet him. Evgeniy Alexandrovich always answered him: “Hello, hello!” and patted him on the withers.

The story "Heart of a Dog", the history of which is given in this article, is one of the most famous works Russian writer of the early 20th century Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov. A story written in the early years of its existence Soviet power, very accurately reflected the mood that reigned in the new society. So accurate that it was banned from printing until perestroika.

History of writing the work

The story "Heart of a Dog", the history of which dates back to 1925, was written by Bulgakov in short terms. Literally in three months. Naturally, like reasonable person he had little faith that such a work could be published. Therefore, it was distributed only in lists and was known only to his close friends and associates.

The story “The Heart of a Dog” first fell into the hands of the Soviet government in 1926. In the history of the creation of this mirror of early Soviet reality, the OGPU played a role, which discovered it during a search of the writer on May 7. The manuscript was confiscated. The history of the creation of "Heart of a Dog" has since been closely connected with the archives of the Soviet intelligence services. All discovered editions of the text are now available to researchers and literary critics. They can be found in Russian state library. They are kept in the manuscript department. If you carefully analyze them, then the history of the creation of Bulgakov’s “Heart of a Dog” will appear before your eyes.

The fate of the work in the West

It was impossible to officially read this work in the Soviet Union. In the USSR it was distributed exclusively in samizdat. Everyone knew the story of the creation of “Heart of a Dog”; many were so eager to read it that they sacrificed their sleep. After all, the manuscript was handed over for a short period of time (often only for one night); in the morning it had to be given to someone else.

Attempts to publish Bulgakov's work in the West were made more than once. The history of the creation of the story "Heart of a Dog" abroad began in 1967. But everything happened not without flaws. The text has been copied to a quick fix and careless. The writer's widow Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova was not aware of this at all. Otherwise, she could have checked the accuracy of the text of the story “Heart of a Dog.” The history of the creation of the work in Western publishing houses is such that they received a very inaccurate manuscript.

It was first officially published in 1968 in the German magazine Grani, which was based in Frankfurt. And also in the magazine "Student", which was published by Alec Flegon in London. In those days there were unspoken rules, according to which in the event of publication work of art abroad, its publication in its homeland automatically became impossible. This was the story of the creation of Bulgakov’s “Heart of a Dog.” After that it became simply unrealistic to appear in a Soviet publishing house.

First publication in homeland

Only thanks to perestroika and glasnost did many key works XX century. Including "Heart of a Dog". The history of creation and the fate of the story are such that the work was first published in its homeland in 1987. This happened on the pages of Zvezda magazine.

However, the basis was the same inaccurate copy from which the story was published abroad. Researchers would later estimate that it contained at least a thousand gross mistakes and distortions. However, it was in this form that “Heart of a Dog” was published until 1989. The history of creation can briefly fit into just a few pages. In reality, decades passed before the story reached the reader.

Original text

This annoying inaccuracy was corrected by the famous textual scholar and literary critic Lydia Yankovskaya.

In the two-volume edition of selected selections, she was the first to publish original text, which we still know today. This is how Bulgakov himself wrote it in “Heart of a Dog”. The history of the creation of the story, as we see, was not easy.

Plot of the story

The action of the work takes place in the capital in 1924. At the center of the story is the famous surgeon, luminary of science, Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky. His main research focuses on rejuvenation human body. In this he achieved unprecedented success. Almost the country's top officials sign up for consultations and operations with him.

In the course of further research, he decides on a daring experiment. Transplants a human pituitary gland into a dog. As an experimental animal, he chooses an ordinary yard dog, Sharik, who somehow accosted him on the street. The consequences were literally shocking. Later short time The ball began to turn into a real person. However, he acquired his character and consciousness not from a dog, but from the drunkard and rude man Klim Chugunkin, who owned the pituitary gland.

At first this story was spread only in scientific circles among professors, but soon leaked to the press. The whole city knew about her. Preobrazhensky’s colleagues express admiration, and Sharik is shown to doctors from all over the country. But Philip Philipovich is the first to understand how terrible the consequences of this operation will be.

Sharik's transformation

Meanwhile, Sharik, who has turned into a full-fledged person, begins to be influenced by negative influence communist activist named Shvonder. It inspires him that the proletarian who is oppressed by the bourgeois, in the person of Professor Preobrazhensky. That is, exactly what the October Revolution fought against is happening.

It is Shvonder who issues documents to the hero. Now he is not Sharik, but Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov. Gets a job in a service that traps and exterminates homeless animals. First of all, he is, of course, interested in cats.

Under the influence of Shvonder and communist propaganda literature, Sharikov begins to be rude to the professor. Requires you to register yourself. Ultimately, he writes a denunciation against the doctors who turned him from a dog into a man. It all ends in scandal. Preobrazhenisky, who is unable to endure this any longer, performs the reverse operation, returning Sharikov’s canine pituitary gland. Over time, he loses his human appearance and returns to an animal state.

Political satire

This work is shining example acute The most common interpretation is associated with the idea of ​​​​the awakening of proletarian consciousness as a result of victory October Revolution. Sharikov is an allegorical image of the classical lumpen proletariat, which, having unexpectedly received large number rights and freedoms, begins to show purely selfish interests.

At the end of the story, the fate of Sharikov's creators looks predetermined. In this, according to many researchers, Bulgakov predicted the coming mass repressions of the 30s. As a result, many loyal communists who achieved victory in the revolution suffered. As a result of the internal party struggle, some of them were shot, and some were exiled to camps.

The ending, invented by Bulgakov, seems artificial to many.

Sharikov is Stalin

There is another interpretation of this story. Some researchers believe that it was a sharp political satire on the country's leadership, which worked in the mid-20s.

Sharikov's prototype real life is Joseph Stalin. It is no coincidence that both have an “iron” surname. Remember that the original name of the person who received the dog’s pituitary gland was Klim Chugunkin. According to these literary scholars, the prototype was the leader of the revolution, Vladimir Lenin. And his assistant, Doctor Bormental, who is constantly in conflict with Sharikov, is Trotsky, real name which is Bronstein. Both Bormenthal and Bronstein are Jewish surnames.

There are prototypes for other characters as well. Preobrazhensky's assistant Zina is Zinoviev, Shvonder is Kamenev, and Daria is Dzerzhinsky.

Soviet censorship played an important role in the history of the creation of this work. The first edition of the story contained direct references to political characters of that time.

One of the copies of the manuscript fell into the hands of Kamenev, who imposed a strict ban on the publication of the story, calling it “a sharp pamphlet on modernity.” In samizdat, the work began to spread from person to person only in the 1930s. It gained fame throughout the country much later - during perestroika.

The film “Heart of a Dog,” directed by Vladimir Bortko in 1988, is today considered one of best paintings Soviet cinema. The director not only brought Mikhail Bulgakov's story 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 find out the history of the creation of the film “Heart of a Dog”.

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

“Meeting me in the studio corridor that time, Mikaelyan handed me a magazine. I came home, started reading, got to the professor’s monologue and realized that I was going to film, and I even knew how. It should be a black and white movie..."

But later Bortko decided to use a Sepia filter for the camera to stylize it as a 1930s movie. Later he also used this technique in the films “The Idiot” and “The Master and Margarita.”

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

Still from the film “Heart of a Dog” (1976)

Bortko decided not to stop only at the story and borrowed some elements from other works of Bulgakov. For example, Professor Persikov, whom Preobrazhensky invited to examine Sharik, was the main character of the story “Fatal Eggs.” And the janitor, who read two volumes of the Brockhaus and Efron dictionary, was taken from the story “Gem Life.” Also, the famous scene in which the newborns are named Rose and Clara is taken from the feuilleton “The Golden Correspondence of Ferapont Ferapontovich Kaportsev,” and the professor’s neighbors, evoking the spirit of the emperor, are from the story “The Spiritualistic Seance.”

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

“This film appeared in my father’s life at the right time and literally saved him. Dad was going through a difficult period when he was sent into retirement at the Moscow Art Theater. Having a hard time agreeing to work in “Heart of a Dog,” he then simply 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 a support for him.”

As for the role of Sharikov, then Vladimir Bortko remembers it like this:

“There were eight candidates for the role of Sharikov, including my favorite actor and friend Nikolai Karachentsov. But Tolokonnikov, whom we discovered in Alma-Ata, completely killed me. At the test, he acted out a scene with vodka: “I wish that’s all!” He grunted and hacked so convincingly, the sip traveled so amazingly down his neck, his Adam’s apple twitched so predatorily that I confirmed him immediately.”

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

There was even a casting for the role of the dog Sharik. It was performed by a mongrel named Karai, chosen from 20 applicants. This was his film debut, but the dog turned out to be quite talented and continued his film career in the films “Re-exam”, “Rock and Roll for the Princess”, “Forever 19” and “The Wedding March”.

Karai even had to be made up for the film, since he had smooth fur, and Bulgakov wrote that Sharik was shaggy. The film's make-up artist, Elena Kozlova, recalls:

“They used starch, but as soon as Karai ran out into the street, he immediately began to wallow in the snow and wash everything off himself. Then they thought of using gelatin, and it turned out to be more stable.”

Despite frequent misconceptions, almost all the songs were written specifically for the film by the bard Julius Kim. And the ditties that Sharikov sang (“... come, bourgeois, I’ll gouge out your little eye”), and the march of the Red Army soldiers (“ White Guard completely defeated, but no one will defeat the Red Army!”) and the song “The Harsh Years Are Passing”, performed by the Shvonder Choir.

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

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

“I opened the newspapers and was stunned. I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the quotes, but you can look up the archive and you’ll see that I’m close to the text... It said something like this: “No one has ever filmed such crap as “Heart of a Dog.” For this, the director should be cut off not only his hands, but also his legs and thrown from the bridge.” But I still survived (laughs). I felt like I did everything right. We were received favorably abroad: the film was awarded prizes in Italy, Poland, and Bulgaria. And two years after the release of “Heart of a Dog,” Evgeny Evstigneev and I were awarded the State Prize.”

But more important than any bonus for Vladimir Bortko it was that his film gained immortality. And today you can often see it on television and it’s difficult to find a person who hasn’t watched it at least once, and quotes from the film have become classics.

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Year the story was written: 1925

First publication: in the magazines “Grani” (Frankfurt) and “Student” (London) in 1968 almost simultaneously.

For the first time in the Soviet Union, the story Heart of a Dog was published in 1987 and has been republished many times since then.

As prototypes literary character Professor F.F. Preobrazhensky names several real doctors. This is Bulgakov’s uncle, gynecologist Nikolai Pokrovsky, surgeon Sergei Voronov. In addition, a number of prototypes are called famous contemporaries author - scientist Bekhterev, physiologist Pavlov and founder of the Soviet state Lenin.
We consider Mikhail Bulgakov's story The Heart of a Dog to be the second most important work after The Master and Margarita...

Professor of Medicine, outstanding surgeon, Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky, managed to achieve excellent results in human rejuvenation in 1924 in Moscow. He intended to continue medical research and an unprecedented experiment was decided - to perform an operation on a dog to transplant a human pituitary gland. A stray dog ​​named “Sharik”, whom the professor picked up on the street, was chosen as a test subject. The dog found himself in a spacious apartment, he was well fed and looked after. Sharik formed the idea that he was special... The donor organs that Sharik received during the operation belonged to Klim Chugunkin, a thief, rowdy and alcoholic, who died in a fight.

The experiment was a success; the results exceeded our wildest expectations. The dog's limbs stretched out, the dog lost its hair, the ability to pronounce sounds first, then words, and later full-fledged speech appeared... The dog began to resemble a person in appearance... Moscow was filled with rumors about miraculous transformations happening in the laboratory of Professor Preobrazhensky. But very soon the professor had to regret what he had done. Sharik inherited all the most unpleasant habits from Klim Chugunkin; he received not only physical, but also psychological humanization. Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov (he gave himself this name) discovered in himself a passion for terrible foul language, drunkenness, fornication, theft, vanity, tavern revelry and discussions about the proletarian idea. Sharikov gets a job as head of the department for cleaning the city from stray animals. He was helped in this by the chairman of the house committee, Shvonder, who hoped in this way, with the help of Sharikov, that Professor Preobrazhensky would survive from the large apartment.

Sharikov really likes the work, a company car comes to pick him up every day, the professor’s servants treat him with servility, and he does not feel obligated to Professor Preobrazhensky and Dr. Bormental, who are still trying to make a man out of Sharikov, instilling in him the basics cultural life. He's like angry dog, takes pleasure in killing stray cats, but according to Professor Preobrazhensky, “cats are temporary.” Sharikov brought a young girl to the professor’s apartment, whom he hired to work, from whom he hid his biography. The girl learns from the professor the truth about Sharikov's origins and refuses the advances of Poligraf Poligrafovich - and then he threatens to fire her. Doctor Bormenthal stands up for the girl...

After Sharikov’s numerous misadventures, Doctor Bormental, together with Professor Preobrazhensky, conduct new operation, returning Sharikov to his original appearance. The dog does not remember anything of what he did in human form, he remains to live in the apartment of Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky.

Happy reading!

Bulgakov wrote the story “Heart of a Dog” in 1925. At this time, ideas of improving the human race with the help of advanced scientific achievements were very popular. Bulgakov's hero, world-famous professor Preobrazhensky, in an attempt to unravel the secret eternal youth accidentally makes a discovery that allows him to surgically transform an animal into a human. However, an experiment to transplant a human pituitary gland into a dog gives a completely unexpected result.

To get acquainted with the most important details of the work, we suggest reading summary Bulgakov's story “The Heart of a Dog” chapter by chapter online on our website.

Main characters

Ball- a stray dog. To some extent a philosopher, not stupid in everyday life, observant and even learned to read signs.

Polygraph Poligrafovich Sharikov– A ball after an operation to implant a human pituitary gland into the brain, taken from the drunkard and rowdy Klim Chugunkin, who died in a tavern fight.

Professor Philip Preobrazhensky- a medical genius, an elderly intellectual of the old school, extremely dissatisfied with the offensive new era and who hates her hero, a proletarian, for his lack of education and unfounded ambitions.

Ivan Arnoldovich Bormental- a young doctor, a student of Preobrazhensky, who deifies his teacher and shares his beliefs.

Shvonder- Chairman of the house committee at Preobrazhensky’s place of residence, the bearer and disseminator of the communist ideas so disliked by the professor. He is trying to educate Sharikov in the spirit of these ideas.

Other characters

Zina- Preobrazhensky’s maid, a young impressionable girl. Combines housework duties with nursing duties.

Daria Petrovna- Preobrazhensky's cook, a middle-aged woman.

Young lady typist- Sharikov’s subordinate and failed wife.

Chapter one

The stray dog ​​Sharik freezes to death in a Moscow gateway. Suffering from pain in his side, on which the evil cook splashed boiling water, he ironically and philosophically describes his unhappy life, Moscow life and types of people, of which, in his opinion, the most vile are janitors and doormen. A certain gentleman in a fur coat appears in the dog’s field of vision and feeds him cheap sausage. Sharik faithfully follows him, along the way wondering who his benefactor is, since even the doorman in a rich house, the terror of stray dogs, talks to him obsequiously.

From a conversation with the doorman, the gentleman in a fur coat learns that “tenants have been moved into the third apartment,” and he perceives the news with horror, although his personal living space will not be affected by the upcoming “densification.”

Chapter two

Having been brought to a rich, warm apartment, Sharik, who decided to make a scandal out of fear, is euthanized with chloroform and treated. After this, the dog, no longer bothered by his side, watches with curiosity as he sees patients. There is an elderly womanizer and an elderly rich lady in love with a handsome young gambler. And everyone wants one thing - rejuvenation. Preobrazhensky is ready to help them - for good money.
In the evening, the professor is visited by members of the house committee, led by Shvonder - they want Preobrazhensky to give away two of his seven rooms in order to “compact”. The professor calls one of his influential patients with a complaint about the arbitrariness and invites him, if so, to undergo surgery with Shvonder, and he himself will leave for Sochi. As they leave, members of the house committee accuse Preobrazhensky of hating the proletariat.

Chapter Three

Over lunch, Preobrazhensky rants about food culture and the proletariat, recommending not reading Soviet newspapers before lunch to avoid digestive problems. He is sincerely perplexed and indignant at how it is possible to stand up for the rights of workers all over the world and steal galoshes at the same time. Hearing a meeting of fellow tenants singing revolutionary songs behind the wall, the professor comes to the conclusion: “If, instead of operating every evening, I start singing in chorus in my apartment, I will be in ruins. If, entering the restroom, I start, excuse the expression, urinating past the toilet and Zina and Daria Petrovna do the same, devastation will begin in the restroom. Consequently, the devastation is not in the closets, but in the heads. This means that when these baritones shout “beat the destruction!” - I laugh. I swear to you, I find it funny! This means that each of them must hit himself in the back of the head! .

There is also talk about Sharik’s future, and the intrigue has not yet been revealed, but the pathologists familiar to Bormental promised to immediately inform him about the appearance of a “suitable corpse”, and for now the dog will be observed.

They buy Sharik a status collar, he eats deliciously, and his side is finally healing. The dog is playing pranks, but when the indignant Zina offers to tear him out, the professor strictly forbids this: “You can’t tear anyone up, you can only influence a person and an animal through suggestion.”

Only Sharik took root in the apartment - suddenly after phone call Running around begins, the professor demands lunch earlier. Sharik, deprived of food, is locked in the bathroom, after which he is dragged into the examination room and given anesthesia.

Chapter Four

Preobrazhensky and Bormental operate on Sharik. He is implanted with testes and a pituitary gland taken from a fresh human corpse. This should, according to doctors, open new horizons in their research into the mechanism of rejuvenation.

The professor, not without sadness, assumes that the dog will definitely not survive after such an operation, just like those animals that came before him.

Chapter Five

Dr. Bormenthal's diary is a history of Sharik's illness, which describes the changes occurring in the operated dog, which still survived. His hair falls out, the shape of his skull changes, his barking becomes like a human voice, and his bones grow quickly. He utters strange words - it turns out that street dog I learned to read signs, but I read some from the end. The young doctor makes an enthusiastic conclusion - changing the pituitary gland does not give rejuvenation, but complete humanization - and emotionally calls his teacher a genius. However, the professor himself gloomily sits over the medical history of the man whose pituitary gland was transplanted to Sharik.

Chapter Six

Doctors are trying to nurture their creation, instill the necessary skills, and educate. Sharik's taste in clothes, his speech and habits unnerve the intelligent Preobrazhensky. There are posters hanging around the apartment prohibiting swearing, spitting, throwing cigarette butts, and gnawing seeds. Sharik himself has a passive-aggressive attitude towards education: “They grabbed the animal, slashed its head with a knife, and now they abhor it.” After talking with the house committee, the former dog confidently uses clerical terms and demands to issue him an identity card. He chooses the name “Poligraf Poligrafovich” for himself, and takes the “hereditary” surname - Sharikov.

The professor expresses a desire to buy any room in the house and evict Poligraf Poligrafovich there, but Shvonder gloatingly refuses him, recalling their ideological conflict. Soon a communal disaster occurs in the professor's apartment: Sharikov chased the cat and caused a flood in the bathroom.

Chapter Seven

Sharikov drinks vodka at dinner, like an experienced alcoholic. Looking at this, the professor sighs incomprehensibly: “Nothing can be done - Klim.” In the evening, Sharikov wants to go to the circus, but when Preobrazhensky offers him a more cultural entertainment - the theater, he refuses, because this is “one counter-revolution.” The professor is going to give Sharikov something to read, at least Robinson, but he is already reading the correspondence between Engels and Kautsky, given to him by Shvonder. True, he manages to understand little - except perhaps “take everything and divide it.” Hearing this, the professor invites him to “share” the lost profit from the fact that on the day of the flood the appointment of patients was disrupted - to pay 130 rubles “for the faucet and for the cat,” and orders Zina to burn the book.

Having sent Sharikov, accompanied by Bormental, to the circus, Preobrazhensky looks for a long time at the preserved pituitary gland of the dog Sharik and says: “By God, I think I’ll make up my mind.”

Chapter Eight

A new scandal - Sharikov, waving documents, claims living space in the professor’s apartment. He promises to shoot Shvonder and, in exchange for eviction, threatens Polygraph with deprivation of food. Sharikov quiets down, but not for long - he stole two ducats from the professor’s office, and tried to blame the theft on Zina, got drunk and brought drinking buddies into the house, after whose expulsion Preobrazhensky lost his malachite ashtray, beaver hat and favorite cane.

Over cognac, Bormental confesses his love and respect to Preobrazhensky and offers to personally feed Sharikov arsenic. The professor objects - he, a world-famous scientist, will be able to avoid responsibility for murder, but the young doctor is unlikely to. He sadly admits his scientific mistake: “I sat for five years, picking out appendages from brains... And now, the question arises - why? So that one day sweetest dog turn into such scum that your hair stands on end. […] Two criminal records, alcoholism, “divide everything”, a hat and two ducats are missing, a boor and a pig... In a word, the pituitary gland is a closed chamber that defines humanity this person. Given!” Meanwhile, the pituitary gland for Sharikov was taken from a certain Klim Chugunkin, a repeat offender, alcoholic and rowdy, who played the balalaika in taverns and was stabbed to death in a drunken brawl. Doctors gloomily imagine what kind of nightmare, given such “heredity,” Sharikov could get out of under the influence of Shvonder.

At night, Daria Petrovna kicks the drunken Polygraph out of the kitchen, Bormenthal promises to make a scandal with him in the morning, but Sharikov disappears, and upon returning, he reports that he has got a job as the head of a department for clearing Moscow of stray animals.

A young lady typist appears in the apartment, whom Sharikov introduces as his bride. They open her eyes to Polygraph’s lies - he is not the commander of the Red Army at all and was not wounded in battles with the whites, as he claimed in a conversation with the girl. The exposed Sharikov threatens the typist with layoffs, Bormental takes the girl under protection and promises to shoot Sharikov.

Chapter Nine

His former patient comes to the professor - influential man V military uniform. From his story, Preobrazhensky learns that Sharikov wrote a denunciation against him and Bormental - they allegedly made death threats against Poligraf and Shvonder, made counter-revolutionary speeches, illegally stored weapons, etc. After this, Sharikov is categorically asked to get out of the apartment, but he first becomes stubborn, then becomes impudent, and in the end even pulls out a pistol. The doctors subdue him, disarm him and sedate him with chloroform, after which a ban on anyone entering or leaving the apartment sounds and some activity begins in the examination room.

Chapter Ten (Epilogue)

The police come to the professor’s apartment on a tip from Shvonder. They have a search warrant and, based on the results, an arrest on charges of murdering Sharikov.

However, Preobrazhensky is calm - he says that his laboratory creature suddenly and inexplicably degraded from a human back into a dog, and shows the police and the investigator a strange creature in which the features of Poligraf Poligrafovich are still recognizable.

The dog Sharik, who had his canine pituitary gland returned through a second operation, remains to live and blissfully live in the professor’s apartment, never understanding why he was “slashed all over his head.”

Conclusion

In the story “Heart of a Dog” Bulgakov, in addition to philosophical motive punishment for interfering with nature, outlined his characteristic themes, stigmatizing ignorance, cruelty, abuse of power and stupidity. The carriers of these shortcomings for him are the new “masters of life” who want to change the world, but do not have the wisdom and humanism necessary for this. The main idea of ​​the work is “the devastation is not in the closets, but in the heads.”

Brief retelling“The Heart of a Dog” chapter by chapter is not enough to fully appreciate the artistic merits of this work, so we recommend that you take the time and read this short story fully. We also advise you to familiarize yourself with the two-part film of the same name by Vladimir Bortko from 1988, which is quite close to the literary original.

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