"Heart of a Dog" by Bulgakov, an artistic but anti-revolutionary novel: Ayatollah Khamenei

Mar 10, 2016
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"Heart of a Dog" is an anti-revolutionary novel which was written around 1925 or 1926 – that is to say, during the early years of the Russian Revolution. This novel has some elements of science fiction.

I read a novel called "Heart of a Dog" which is written by the Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov. This novel has some elements of science fiction, but it is not at all a modern work, rather it is a copy of earlier art. Even if we accept that it is not a copy of English, American, or French works, it is definitely a copy of the art of the era before the October Revolution. It is not the art of the current era. It is a short novel, but it is very artistic. It has been translated into Farsi and published in Iran. "Heart of a Dog" is an anti-revolutionary novel which was written around 1925 or 1926 – that is to say, during the early years of the Russian Revolution. The author of this novel protests against revolution and certain other things. He mocks them through the use of satire – just like some of the works that we have witnessed inside our own country. This novel is not at all part of Russian literature. It could have been propagated throughout the world; we cannot say that it was thwarted by the iron curtain of the Stalin era. That was not the case, so why did it not spread throughout the world? Why did it not become internationally prominent?

Statements at a meeting with a group of artists,November 25, 1991

Comments

Carl S

2020-06-06 06:55

It’s a good novel, but without a doubt Bulgakov was very bitter and cynical at the time given his experiences as a doctor on the losing side of the civil war. He finally addressed the subject of the revolution in ‘the white guard’, which is a painful, tragic, and honest work: his masterpiece, in my opinion.