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Eugenics, Rejuvenation, And Bulgakov's Journey Into The Heart Of Dogness, Yvonne Howell
Eugenics, Rejuvenation, And Bulgakov's Journey Into The Heart Of Dogness, Yvonne Howell
Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Faculty Publications
In this article, I propose a new reading of Heart of a Dog, one that takes seriously Professor Preobrazhenskii's claim that his real interest is "eugenics, the improvement of the human species." The Professor's eugenics project is not limited to a cosmetic, physical improvement of human subjects; it anticipates urging humankind toward a higher stage of intellectual and spiritual development as well. Therefore, when he mistakenly transforms a dog into a man instead of a more intelligent dog, he considers the experiment an abject failure because the new man "no longer has a dog's heart, but a human one, …