Leather-bound book "The Heart of a Dog" by Bulgakov M., French binding

The contents of this gift edition:

• A dog's heart
• Moonshine Lake
• Khan's Fire
• I killed
• The drunken steam train
• The Water of Life
• He's a lousy guy
• The World Champion

"The Heart of a Dog" is a 1925 novel by Mikhail Bulgakov. A sharp satire on Bolshevism, it was written at the height of the NEP period, when communism in the USSR, at first glance, began to lose ground.

It's a complicated thing, difficult to publish even now. But it must be said about her that Bulgakov defended his view of the intelligentsia, its rights, its duties, and the fact that the intelligentsia is the flower of society. For me, Professor Bulgakova, despite all his old-fashioned habits, is a positive figure, a Pavlovian type figure. Such a person can come to socialism and will come if he sees that socialism gives scope for work in science.

— Konstantin Simonov, letter from L. M. Yanovskaya on July 22, 1967

What is Sharikov? According to Bulgakov, this is an ugly symbol of the scale, which— alas, is inevitable! — it appears on the surface in the era of great social upheavals. These are people who, in search of the best food, are ready to stand under any banner. Their danger to the revolution is "more terrible than Wrangel," because it is not so noticeable, and its consequences for society are more destructive than any intervention.

— Roman Emilievich Arbitman (Russian novelist, science fiction writer, literary critic, teacher).