Bulgakov

This contraband Bulgakov, probably written around 1925, and never published in the Soviet Union, again exhibits the author's massive talents, at the peak in The Master and Margarita (1967). The Frankenstein myth is the dubious covert for a flamboyant social satire. Thunderously elegant Dr. Philipovich, dabbler in hormone transplants, fattens a starving street Arab of a dog. Sharik, for a momentous transplant of sundry human parts from a dead hoodlum. The creature's first word upon recovery is "delicatessen" spelled backwards; but although the joys of the palate remain constant. Sharik, in his new freedom, vibrates toward loud ties, heavy carousing and the exhilarating heights of local Party organizations. He becomes Comrade Sharikov a dangerous clod, whose penchant for cat-elimination might easily take on a new direction. Realizing his mistake, Dr. Philipovich reverses the operation, and Comrade Sharikov reverts to happy dogdom. Given the magnificent anachronism of Dr. Philipovich, an ego-coddling intellectual, it seems highly improbable that Bulgakov's view of the Revolution is as simplistic as translator Michael Glenny claims. There is, in the character of the doctor, too strong a streak of rueful self-satire, indicating that Bulgakov accepts the fact of the Revolution, but he feels it is wildly distorted by the colliding vagaries of human nature. Hilarity and humanity a fine madness. (Kirkus Reviews)