Bulgakov: A Dog's Heart

De: Mikhail Bulgakov

Narrado por: Roy McMillan

When a respected surgeon decides to transplant human body parts into a stray dog, he creates a monster - drunken, profligate, aggressive and selfish. It seems the worst aspects of the donor have been transplanted as well. As his previously well-regulated home descends into riotous chaos, the doctor realises he will have to try to reverse the operation; but the dog isn't so keen....

Wild, uproarious and deliriously comic, Bulgakov's short novel is at once a comment on the problems of 1920s Russia and a lasting satire on human nature.

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2010 Naxos Audiobooks

Science fiction/fantasy/ marked political themes

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes Excellent story and rendition of same

What was one of the most memorable moments of Bulgakov: A Dog's Heart?

The transformation of the dog Furball into a man

Any additional comments?

German literature gave us Kafka's The Metamorphosis, English lit gave us Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Russian literature gave us this superb, but lesser known tale. The plot lines all have transformation in them, man turns into bug, man discovers and is overtaken by his evil side, grateful, nice dog turns into mean,ungrateful man. The deeper themes are noteworthy as well, respectfully family relations and isolation; good vs evil; and marked political themes.
All these stories are short and deserve our attention. Longer novels of the genre include Frankenstein , man-vs nature and society isolating man themes; Dracula with its sexual subtext; and Island of Dr. Moreau with its political and religious themes.

Good stuff!

Yes, Audible, I did rather enjoy this book. The voice work is wonderful! Such dynamic range of vocal work. Only the doctors were hard to establish.

I love dogs so that primarily why I purchased this. While it is about a dog, it is really an interesting listen for other aspects. Not something I'd recommend to everyone but definitely something I'm glad I listened to.

Great whacky book

I read this book first and it was good but listening to it was way better!

A fine piece of art!

A fine piece of art - delivers a serious (satirical) message about the state of the Russian Revolution circa 1925 as well as being an excellent, entertaining free-standing story. Would suggest reading a history of the novel prior to reading to help put it in context - without knowing the date of publication, subsequent manuscript seizure by the Soviet secret police, and prevention of publication until 1968, the novel may seem less meaningful.

As well as being a wonderful satire of the Russian Revolution, this story is also another take on the Prometheus mythology, and can be seen to be related to the Faustus story.

Performance is wonderful - just to hear his rendition of the dog howl is worth the price of admission.

Well worth the read.

Mike

Strangeness

It is such a strange story, but I loved this book! It was so interesting. I did struggle with the Russian names. I couldn't always remember who was who.