Mikhail Bulgakov: Heart Of A Dog

Fantasizing about the future has been the spark behind many of the world’s greatest achievements and innovations. This sense of wonderment that every person has within them has been carried over into countless genres of literature, namely science fiction. As Hugo Gernsbeck put it, science fiction is a “charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision.” Mikhail Bulgakov certainly was not lacking in the visionary department when he put pen to paper and composed Heart of a Dog. He masterfully mixes playful satire and an element of “the fantastic” to create a work that explores the repercussions of wishful thinking gone awry, one that is surprisingly comparable to events in my own life. Midway through the book, Bulgakov is able to manipulate the reader’s emotions,
When I met her she was a beautiful and ambitious individual who shared many of the same values and opinions I did, sparking my hopes for the future. Obviously, that’s not to say it was a perfect match, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this. She went out more, I studied more. She was curt with people she disliked, I was more cordial. Minute differences in the way I handled situations irritated her, spurring petty arguments and damaging my relationships with my friends. Our relationship became burdensome and the energy I invested into it rewarded me with more negatives than positives. So, like the Professor and Bormenthal did, I “reversed the operation” and broke things off before my gilded vision of the future turned into something terrible. This comparison shouldn’t be taken as a direct one. Rather, the idea that the Professor found himself in over his head with Sharik is the same the one that I have experienced in my own life. Expectations rarely ever live up to their full potential and sometimes it is ok to call it quits, but the imagination that ignites those visions should never be allowed to dissipate within