Heart of a Dog

"Heart of a Dog," Mikhail Bulgakov's brilliant novella, written back in 1925 and nearly costing the author his freedom, requires no introduction until 1987, published only abroad and circulated in samizdat. The story of the sweet dog Sharik, parsed down to the last syllable and transformed, thanks to Professor Preobrazhensky's experiment, into the archetypal "red boor" Polygraph Sharikov, has enjoyed cult status among Russian-speaking readers for generations. The collection also includes "The Life of Monsieur de Moliere," a sad and brilliantly witty novelized biography of the great French playwright.