Dog's Heart: The Possibility of the "New Soviet Man" familiar with that same model citizen in the visual propaganda of the pre-war USSR. Through the lens of social science fiction, Bulgakov could be said to argue that any changes, progressive or regressive, that the communist regime might impart to the minds and bodies of the Russian people will come slowly and intermittently, and may well be accompanied by a unmanageable violence. This is in contrast to the official narrative of Soviet agitprop, which called for a rapid and fully controlled transformation of society. This narrative is particularly exemplified by pithy campaigns promoting literacy and depictions of Russian workers being physically and morally exalted to the point of hero worship. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Two aspects of Soviet citizenship that were crucial to the propagation and support of the communist way of life received particular attention in visual propaganda during the first decade of Stalinism: their impressionable voices and their hard-working bodies. From the perspective of 1925, when the ideology of these poster campaigns began to spread, Bulgakov can be seen as the creator of a prophetic satire on this growing cultural climate. The short life of the dog-man Sharikov may not correspond to an exact allegory of the actions of a man of his time, because his attitudes are not as archetypal as those of the consummate bourgeois Preobrazhensky or the enthusiastic socialist Shvonder. The intrigue, idleness, cat-hunting, and rioting he engages in for most of the book are largely apolitical. But the way Polygraf Polygrafovitch's form and characteristics develop undoubtedly reflects the way a "new Soviet man/woman" would commonly be depicted in state-published texts and visual arts. Over the course of the novel, Bulgakov holds up a dark mirror to the improved linguistic and physical abilities of the idealized Stalinist subject with his depiction of Sharikov's changing vulgar speech and his evolution into a part-bastard, part-criminal body. The novel's plot is carried forward primarily by the moment-to-moment transitions of Sharikov's behavior from doggieness to humanity. The surgery that begins Sharik's metamorphosis into Sharikov creates a tone of unpredictability that continues with the mismatched creature's each sudden acquisition of Russian phrases and human characteristics. In the fourth chapter, during the story of the operation, Professor Philip Philippovitch notes that the dog has "already died five times" in the hands of his assistant, only to be revived with adrenaline infusions. This cycle continues in the medical case study of the next chapter with an alternating prognosis of rejuvenation and worsening (54, 57). The dog's physical constitution stabilizes only when it shows its first sign of partial humanity, a conspicuously syllabic bark (57). From then on, the medical narrative proceeds roughly alternating from one diary entry to the next, focusing on the dog's surreal physical humanization ("lengthening of bones", through "dropped tail", to "body structure - entirely human", 58-65) or on his declaiming increasingly coherent but nevertheless disconcerting phrases (“tsurt-shif”, through “saloon”, up to “leave me alone,louse!" and “Hey, Little Apple,” 58-62). The erratic flow of events and the necromantic air in this tale tonally cement the "mistake" of the transfiguration of the grateful dog into a boorish, slogan-spewing poodle. The disquiet induced by the strange mode of this story, in which grotesque acts of transformation reveal the incongruous nature of a literal "new man" in Soviet Russia invites the reader to compare the nature of Sharikov's ingrained Soviet attitudes with those they may have learned or observed. The transformation scene draws a clear parallel between the "birth" of Sharikov and the popular creation of the "new Soviet man/woman": there is a double emphasis on language and physicality in the construction of both the positive archetype of the poster and the negative literary character. . In archives of propaganda posters printed between 1920 and 1932, one can find that a substantial number of those emphasizing ordinary citizens over party leaders show ordinary people's new enthusiasm for literacy (Fig. A , B and C) and/or their broader extraordinary physical vigor (Figs. A, C, D, E, F and H). These graphic representations of the country's new, more optimistic-looking individuals identify the Russian Stalinist definition of ideal people as those who continually strive toward physical and linguistic improvement. Likewise, Sharikov is inaugurated as a “real man” in NEP Russia through his growth to a new stature and adoption of verbal skills, however incongruous they may appear. The crucial difference between Bulgakov's and the poster artists' interpretation of a Soviet conforming person, beyond differing senses of whether this social transformation is positive for his peers, concerns the pace at which such a (r)evolutionary character develops. A hallmark of agitprop posters is a written command to proceed very quickly and without pause to achieve some state-mandated goal, whether it is something immediately achievable like joining a working group (Fig. H) or of something remotely ambitious like learning to read ( Fig. B) or providing an escape from impoverished suffering (Fig G). Following the extreme example of Alexei Stakhanov, who in the course of a single shift in 1935 was said to have transformed himself into the model coal miner, the implication is that a true Soviet citizen should be able to satisfy the party's demands for a new morality. , skills and goals at a glance (Fig. I). Instead, we see Polygraf Polygrafovitch's tortured journey from street creature to sanitation official and back, a journey whose progress we see in fits and starts as he sheds and acquires proletarian habits scene after scene. This story glibly suggests that the reality of new demands for upward mobility on the part of all its citizens was more likely to be fraught with upheaval than the narratives of Stakhanovism and rapid re-education could allow. In this way, Bulgakov's novel pokes holes in the official narrative of redefining individual morality and success, revealing a deeper truth about how society tended to (mal)function in the NEP zeitgeist through an absurd and grotesquely parodic extension of new national character. Quoted Please note: this is just one example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay Bulgakov, Mikhail and Mirra Ginsburg. Dog heart. New York: Grove, 1968. Print. Figure A. “Are you helping to eradicate illiteracy?” 1925. B. “Woman, learn to read and write!” 1923. C. 2016.. 2016.

Topic > Dog's Heart: The Possibility of the "New Soviet Man" familiar with that same model citizen in the visual propaganda of the pre-war USSR. Through the lens of social science fiction, Bulgakov could be said to argue that any changes, progressive or regressive, that the communist regime might impart to the minds and bodies of the Russian people will come slowly and intermittently, and may well be accompanied by a unmanageable violence. This is in contrast to the official narrative of Soviet agitprop, which called for a rapid and fully controlled transformation of society. This narrative is particularly exemplified by pithy campaigns promoting literacy and depictions of Russian workers being physically and morally exalted to the point of hero worship. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Two aspects of Soviet citizenship that were crucial to the propagation and support of the communist way of life received particular attention in visual propaganda during the first decade of Stalinism: their impressionable voices and their hard-working bodies. From the perspective of 1925, when the ideology of these poster campaigns began to spread, Bulgakov can be seen as the creator of a prophetic satire on this growing cultural climate. The short life of the dog-man Sharikov may not correspond to an exact allegory of the actions of a man of his time, because his attitudes are not as archetypal as those of the consummate bourgeois Preobrazhensky or the enthusiastic socialist Shvonder. The intrigue, idleness, cat-hunting, and rioting he engages in for most of the book are largely apolitical. But the way Polygraf Polygrafovitch's form and characteristics develop undoubtedly reflects the way a "new Soviet man/woman" would commonly be depicted in state-published texts and visual arts. Over the course of the novel, Bulgakov holds up a dark mirror to the improved linguistic and physical abilities of the idealized Stalinist subject with his depiction of Sharikov's changing vulgar speech and his evolution into a part-bastard, part-criminal body. The novel's plot is carried forward primarily by the moment-to-moment transitions of Sharikov's behavior from doggieness to humanity. The surgery that begins Sharik's metamorphosis into Sharikov creates a tone of unpredictability that continues with the mismatched creature's each sudden acquisition of Russian phrases and human characteristics. In the fourth chapter, during the story of the operation, Professor Philip Philippovitch notes that the dog has "already died five times" in the hands of his assistant, only to be revived with adrenaline infusions. This cycle continues in the medical case study of the next chapter with an alternating prognosis of rejuvenation and worsening (54, 57). The dog's physical constitution stabilizes only when it shows its first sign of partial humanity, a conspicuously syllabic bark (57). From then on, the medical narrative proceeds roughly alternating from one diary entry to the next, focusing on the dog's surreal physical humanization ("lengthening of bones", through "dropped tail", to "body structure - entirely human", 58-65) or on his declaiming increasingly coherent but nevertheless disconcerting phrases (“tsurt-shif”, through “saloon”, up to “leave me alone,louse!" and “Hey, Little Apple,” 58-62). The erratic flow of events and the necromantic air in this tale tonally cement the "mistake" of the transfiguration of the grateful dog into a boorish, slogan-spewing poodle. The disquiet induced by the strange mode of this story, in which grotesque acts of transformation reveal the incongruous nature of a literal "new man" in Soviet Russia invites the reader to compare the nature of Sharikov's ingrained Soviet attitudes with those they may have learned or observed. The transformation scene draws a clear parallel between the "birth" of Sharikov and the popular creation of the "new Soviet man/woman": there is a double emphasis on language and physicality in the construction of both the positive archetype of the poster and the negative literary character. . In archives of propaganda posters printed between 1920 and 1932, one can find that a substantial number of those emphasizing ordinary citizens over party leaders show ordinary people's new enthusiasm for literacy (Fig. A , B and C) and/or their broader extraordinary physical vigor (Figs. A, C, D, E, F and H). These graphic representations of the country's new, more optimistic-looking individuals identify the Russian Stalinist definition of ideal people as those who continually strive toward physical and linguistic improvement. Likewise, Sharikov is inaugurated as a “real man” in NEP Russia through his growth to a new stature and adoption of verbal skills, however incongruous they may appear. The crucial difference between Bulgakov's and the poster artists' interpretation of a Soviet conforming person, beyond differing senses of whether this social transformation is positive for his peers, concerns the pace at which such a (r)evolutionary character develops. A hallmark of agitprop posters is a written command to proceed very quickly and without pause to achieve some state-mandated goal, whether it is something immediately achievable like joining a working group (Fig. H) or of something remotely ambitious like learning to read ( Fig. B) or providing an escape from impoverished suffering (Fig G). Following the extreme example of Alexei Stakhanov, who in the course of a single shift in 1935 was said to have transformed himself into the model coal miner, the implication is that a true Soviet citizen should be able to satisfy the party's demands for a new morality. , skills and goals at a glance (Fig. I). Instead, we see Polygraf Polygrafovitch's tortured journey from street creature to sanitation official and back, a journey whose progress we see in fits and starts as he sheds and acquires proletarian habits scene after scene. This story glibly suggests that the reality of new demands for upward mobility on the part of all its citizens was more likely to be fraught with upheaval than the narratives of Stakhanovism and rapid re-education could allow. In this way, Bulgakov's novel pokes holes in the official narrative of redefining individual morality and success, revealing a deeper truth about how society tended to (mal)function in the NEP zeitgeist through an absurd and grotesquely parodic extension of new national character. Quoted Please note: this is just one example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay Bulgakov, Mikhail and Mirra Ginsburg. Dog heart. New York: Grove, 1968. Print. Figure A. “Are you helping to eradicate illiteracy?” 1925. B. “Woman, learn to read and write!” 1923. C. 2016.. 2016.