--- product_id: 8576057 title: "Heart of a Dog" price: "€ 2.62" currency: EUR in_stock: false reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.hr/products/8576057-heart-of-a-dog store_origin: HR region: Croatia --- # Heart of a Dog **Price:** € 2.62 **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Heart of a Dog - **How much does it cost?** € 2.62 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hr](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/8576057-heart-of-a-dog) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description I first read Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita on a balcony of the Hotel Metropole in Saigon on three summer evenings in 1971. The tropical air was heavy and full of the smells of cordite and motorcycle exhaust and rotting fish and wood-fire stoves, and the horizon flared ambiguously, perhaps from heat lightning, perhaps from bombs. Later each night, as was my custom, I would wander out into the steamy back alleys of the city, where no one ever seemed to sleep, and crouch in doorways with the people and listen to the stories of their culture and their ancestors and their ongoing lives. Bulgakov taught me to hear something in those stories that I had not yet clearly heard. One could call it, in terms that would soon thereafter gain wide currency, "magical realism". The deadpan mix of the fantastic and the realistic was at the heart of the Vietnamese mythos. It is at the heart of the present zeitgeist. And it was not invented by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as wonderful as his One Hundred Years of Solitude is. Garcia Marquez's landmark work of magical realism was predated by nearly three decades by Bulgakov's brilliant masterpiece of a novel. That summer in Saigon a vodka-swilling, talking black cat, a coven of beautiful naked witches, Pontius Pilate, and a whole cast of benighted writers of Stalinist Moscow and Satan himself all took up permanent residence in my creative unconscious. Their presence, perhaps more than anything else from the realm of literature, has helped shape the work I am most proud of. I'm often asked for a list of favorite authors. Here is my advice. Read Bulgakov. Look around you at the new century. He will show you things you need to see. Review: Open to many interpretations ... - Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) endured the difficult experience of having to live under the pressure of censorship, but has nonetheless left some interesting books that allow us to know what he thought about the process that has taking place in the newborn Soviet Russia. "Heart of a dog" is one of those books. It was written by Bulgakov in 1925, but it wasn`t published in Soviet Russia until 1987, due to the fact that it can easily be interpreted as a critical satire regarding the URSS. "Heart of a dog" is the story of a stray dog, Sharik, that hasn`t led an easy life. He lives in the streets of Moscow, and eats what he can, when he can. However, one day a doctor gives him food and takes him to his home. Sharik believes that his fate has changed, but he doesn`t know that the doctor has rather strange intentions... The doctor wants to perform an experiment on Sharik, in order to learn what would happen if some human organs were transplanted to a dog. The doctor performs the operation, implanting in Sharik the pituitary gland and the testicles of a dead criminal. Against all odds, Sharik survives the operation, and from that moment on begins an extraordinary transformation, that makes him more and more human. But what kind of human is he?. Sharik can talk, and asks everybody to call him first "Mr. Sharikov", and afterwards "Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov". He also walks like a human being, and somehow resembles one... But can he think, or does he merely repeat what he hears, specially Marx`s teachings?. Has the doctor`s experiment ruined a perfectly good dog, making him a perfectly despicable "human" being that threatens to denounce counterrevolutionaries and chases cats?. I don`t want to tell you more about this book: you really should read it yourself. It isn`t long, but it is quite interesting. What is more important, it is open to many interpretations, and you can always find your own. Some people believe that for Bulgakov Sharik represented the failure of those who try to create new beings (exactly what was supposedly being done at that time in the URSS, with the "soviet man"). Others highlight the glimpses of Soviet society that "Heart of a dog" allows us to have, and think that the aim of the author was to give the reader at least an idea of what it was like to live in the URSS at that time... These few possible interpretations don't exclude others, so read this book and find them!!. Obviously, I highly recommend "Heart of a dog"... Belen Alcat Review: A Russian Frankenstein - I arrived at this book because it is slyly alluded in Edward Ashton's **Mickey7** : there, he mentions a certain **Chugunkin process** as a hint that leads to Bulgakov's book. And the connection is far from fortuitous: this is a book about how science may overstep itself with far from desirable consequences. The strength of Bulgakov's style and narrative immediately grabbed me, as the book starts inside the mind of a stray dog's, **Sharik**. His difficult life on the streets immediately makes him a strong character, a victim who doesn't give up. The strength of this voice really impressed me: ironic, but sharp and inventive. I started reading this book in the Portuguese edition by Alex Zuchi, but I must confess I found it imprecise here and there and then felt necessary to revert to this General Press edition, which was okay. Then I found a PDF edition in Russian at archive.org, which I referred to cover the most obscure passages using the usual AI suspects. The surgery that eventually turns Sharik into **Polygraf Polygrafovich Sharikov** is very graphic and reminded me of **Frankenstein** in tone and spirit, although Mary Shelley's seriously gothic-romantic register vs Bulgakov's satire. Both books are solidly footed in Goethe's **Faust** tradition. Bulgakov references it explicitly, while Shelley grazes it with a reference to **Werther**. Here, as there, the scientific experiment gets out of the creator's control. Professor Philip Philipovich's speech of regret ("why we should set about manufacturing artificial Spinozas when any simple peasant woman can give birth to one at the drop of a hat?") is more conscious of his mistakes than Victor Frankenstein, who to the end can't really grasp the atrocity of his actions, even when he laments to Walton. But both scientists are clear on the need to put an end to their creatures. It is striking that however odd the experiments in the book may sound, there were doctors practicing them by the time Bulgakov wrote his book in 1924. By then, a certain **Serge Abrahamovitch Voronov** was getting rich transplanting monkey testicles onto men as an anti-aging therapy, just like Professor Philip Philipovich does in the book with monkey ovaries (with the lady he examines) or human pituitary glands and testicles (which he implants in Sharik.) Small details introduced in the first chapters--the girl with silk stockings, Professor Philip Philipovich's excited patient, Sharik's dream of a Newfoundland ancestry--are brought back to the plot cohesively. The book even has a soundtrack, in the songs Dr Philip sings all along : Tchaikovsky's **Don Juan's Serenade** and Verdi's **Aida**. All these details are delightful rewards to the reader. Sharik's arc is firmly built, and its tragic conclusion reminded me a lot that of **Charlie Gordon** in Daniel Keyes' **Flowers for Algernon**. Bulgakov had probably in mind all the vicissitudes of the bolshevik bureaucracy by the time of his writing, but his sardonic criticism to eugenics and dogmatic indoctrination extrapolates time boundaries--it is, sadly, rather applicable to modern Sharikovs, victims of pituitary gland transplants by social media. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #167,123 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #218 in British & Irish Humor & Satire #1,530 in Fiction Satire #8,867 in Literary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 807 Reviews | ## Images ![Heart of a Dog - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91K1NnxRDWL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Open to many interpretations ... *by B***L on August 27, 2004* Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) endured the difficult experience of having to live under the pressure of censorship, but has nonetheless left some interesting books that allow us to know what he thought about the process that has taking place in the newborn Soviet Russia. "Heart of a dog" is one of those books. It was written by Bulgakov in 1925, but it wasn`t published in Soviet Russia until 1987, due to the fact that it can easily be interpreted as a critical satire regarding the URSS. "Heart of a dog" is the story of a stray dog, Sharik, that hasn`t led an easy life. He lives in the streets of Moscow, and eats what he can, when he can. However, one day a doctor gives him food and takes him to his home. Sharik believes that his fate has changed, but he doesn`t know that the doctor has rather strange intentions... The doctor wants to perform an experiment on Sharik, in order to learn what would happen if some human organs were transplanted to a dog. The doctor performs the operation, implanting in Sharik the pituitary gland and the testicles of a dead criminal. Against all odds, Sharik survives the operation, and from that moment on begins an extraordinary transformation, that makes him more and more human. But what kind of human is he?. Sharik can talk, and asks everybody to call him first "Mr. Sharikov", and afterwards "Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov". He also walks like a human being, and somehow resembles one... But can he think, or does he merely repeat what he hears, specially Marx`s teachings?. Has the doctor`s experiment ruined a perfectly good dog, making him a perfectly despicable "human" being that threatens to denounce counterrevolutionaries and chases cats?. I don`t want to tell you more about this book: you really should read it yourself. It isn`t long, but it is quite interesting. What is more important, it is open to many interpretations, and you can always find your own. Some people believe that for Bulgakov Sharik represented the failure of those who try to create new beings (exactly what was supposedly being done at that time in the URSS, with the "soviet man"). Others highlight the glimpses of Soviet society that "Heart of a dog" allows us to have, and think that the aim of the author was to give the reader at least an idea of what it was like to live in the URSS at that time... These few possible interpretations don't exclude others, so read this book and find them!!. Obviously, I highly recommend "Heart of a dog"... Belen Alcat ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Russian Frankenstein *by R***S on September 6, 2025* I arrived at this book because it is slyly alluded in Edward Ashton's **Mickey7** : there, he mentions a certain **Chugunkin process** as a hint that leads to Bulgakov's book. And the connection is far from fortuitous: this is a book about how science may overstep itself with far from desirable consequences. The strength of Bulgakov's style and narrative immediately grabbed me, as the book starts inside the mind of a stray dog's, **Sharik**. His difficult life on the streets immediately makes him a strong character, a victim who doesn't give up. The strength of this voice really impressed me: ironic, but sharp and inventive. I started reading this book in the Portuguese edition by Alex Zuchi, but I must confess I found it imprecise here and there and then felt necessary to revert to this General Press edition, which was okay. Then I found a PDF edition in Russian at archive.org, which I referred to cover the most obscure passages using the usual AI suspects. The surgery that eventually turns Sharik into **Polygraf Polygrafovich Sharikov** is very graphic and reminded me of **Frankenstein** in tone and spirit, although Mary Shelley's seriously gothic-romantic register vs Bulgakov's satire. Both books are solidly footed in Goethe's **Faust** tradition. Bulgakov references it explicitly, while Shelley grazes it with a reference to **Werther**. Here, as there, the scientific experiment gets out of the creator's control. Professor Philip Philipovich's speech of regret ("why we should set about manufacturing artificial Spinozas when any simple peasant woman can give birth to one at the drop of a hat?") is more conscious of his mistakes than Victor Frankenstein, who to the end can't really grasp the atrocity of his actions, even when he laments to Walton. But both scientists are clear on the need to put an end to their creatures. It is striking that however odd the experiments in the book may sound, there were doctors practicing them by the time Bulgakov wrote his book in 1924. By then, a certain **Serge Abrahamovitch Voronov** was getting rich transplanting monkey testicles onto men as an anti-aging therapy, just like Professor Philip Philipovich does in the book with monkey ovaries (with the lady he examines) or human pituitary glands and testicles (which he implants in Sharik.) Small details introduced in the first chapters--the girl with silk stockings, Professor Philip Philipovich's excited patient, Sharik's dream of a Newfoundland ancestry--are brought back to the plot cohesively. The book even has a soundtrack, in the songs Dr Philip sings all along : Tchaikovsky's **Don Juan's Serenade** and Verdi's **Aida**. All these details are delightful rewards to the reader. Sharik's arc is firmly built, and its tragic conclusion reminded me a lot that of **Charlie Gordon** in Daniel Keyes' **Flowers for Algernon**. Bulgakov had probably in mind all the vicissitudes of the bolshevik bureaucracy by the time of his writing, but his sardonic criticism to eugenics and dogmatic indoctrination extrapolates time boundaries--it is, sadly, rather applicable to modern Sharikovs, victims of pituitary gland transplants by social media. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Bulgakov's novella is a must read. *by J***D on October 1, 2025* One of them most important modern writers in Russian history. If you've never read a book of novel, I would start here. It is one of my favorite books, and I would put it on the same level as Old Man and the Sea or The Hobbit --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.hr/products/8576057-heart-of-a-dog](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/8576057-heart-of-a-dog) --- *Product available on Desertcart Croatia* *Store origin: HR* *Last updated: 2026-05-16*