Description of Professor Preobrazhensky's story The Heart of a Dog. Characteristics and image of Professor Preobrazhensky in Bulgakov's story The Heart of a Dog essay
The plot of the story is amazing in its essence, such an experiment is impossible to imagine in reality, but the characters and events convey the life of Russia in the 1920s so realistically that it becomes creepy. Professor Preobrazhensky personifies the people of the educated part of Russia, known far beyond its borders.
Professor character
Preobrazhensky is a person who has a good fortune; he “doesn’t have a lot of money.” Where does the wealth come from? He is hardworking and attentive. The doctor studied the work of human organs from the inside, “picking out appendages from the brain” for 5 years. He studied the structure of the brain, “cut and delved” into the very essence. The smart luminary of medicine is lost only in front of human stupidity and arrogance. Nobody denies a doctor character. Even Sharik watches the professor with delight: “...oh, he’s biting them now...”. Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky knows about his shortcomings. He apologizes for his temper and lack of restraint. But the old man behaves this way only in exceptional cases - during operations. The surgeon knows the value of words, so he does everything he says, “...doesn’t talk into the wind.”
There are character traits that command respect from the reader. He is honest and law-abiding. The doctor wants to live to an old age “with clean hands.” A man is close to the people and far from a separate part of it. He loves to sing and is crazy about the opera Aida.
Character genius
The author admits that the professor is very smart. High-ranking officials and government officials turn to him for help. Sharikov’s friends do not like the European luminary; in turn, Preobrazhensky admits that he “does not like the proletariat.” He is a member of the All-Russian Surgical Society and worked at the department at a medical university. The scientist’s friend is another doctor, Dr. Bormenthal. He is the “first student of the school” of Preobrazhensky. The half-starved student was noticed by a professor and sheltered. The genius of the surgeon is frightening. He experiments on people and animals. " Dearest dog Only an extraordinary person, a cathedral archpriest, can turn it into such scum that it makes your hair stand on end.”
The characterization is based not only on the analysis of speech and medical works. Preobrazhensky is trying to teach the creature he created with his own hands, to explain the basic concepts of morality. His lessons can be considered teaching Sharikov a culture of behavior. It is the doctor's confidence that collapses. Culture and education cannot be imposed by force; a person must consciously develop. The revolution gave people everything at once. There was no need to pay for anything, everything was simply taken away. Such legalized theft of material and moral values flourished in the country. The professor's experiment created a terrible, but useless type.
Humor and sarcasm
Philip Philipovich is sarcastic about the representatives of the new emerging government. They all have the features of Sharikov, who he created from a homeless stray dog. He cannot take stupid, narrow-minded people seriously. Humor is mixed with sarcasm. The brilliant scientist understands what such “revolutionaries” can lead the country to. You can't just laugh here. The tears of the soul are felt in all the phrases the professor expressed in relation to them.
The stumbling block becomes the surgeon's apartment. He is trying to convey to the Shvonder housing complex that he not only lives in a 7-room apartment, but also works. The professor laughs about the need for 8 rooms for the library when he is required to vacate half of the apartment. The surgeon is advised to read the works of Karl Marx, he is surprised. Is the scientist-philosopher really interested in “the 2nd entrance of the Kalabukhov house on Prechistenka?” Preobrazhensky does not know how to talk to the crowd demanding that he be “densified.” He does not agree with the counter-revolutionary nature of his words; in the doctor’s opinion, they contain only common sense and life experience.
The professor's experience touches the essence of a person. dog's heart mixed with the thoughts of a criminal and a drunkard, he creates the image of a new species - the Sharikovs. It's amazing how quickly they adapt to their surroundings. Much faster than educated people, like the professor himself.
Writing an essay “Professor Preobrazhensky” using the proposed material will become somewhat easier. The problem raised in the story requires its own considerations.
Work test
The New Year of 1925 began successfully for Bulgakov. Almanac "Nedra", in which his "Diaboliad" and " Fatal eggs", ordered him a story. Two months later (March 7), at a meeting of writers “Nikitin Subbotniks”, he reads the first part of the new work, and a little later - the second. They will start talking about the story, the Moscow Art Theater will offer to stage it, stage the play on its stage. Everything is going just fine, if not for the denunciation. High party official Lev Kamenev imposes a fatal resolution and prohibits publication.
Bulgakov, Professor Preobrazhensky: a long journey to the homeland
“The Heart of a Dog” was first published abroad in 1968, almost simultaneously in two countries: Germany and England. She will return home only in 1987, will be published in the magazine “Znamya”, and before that will be distributed throughout the country in typewritten texts of samizdat. Within a year, viewers will see the two-part television series of the same name (premiere on November 19) directed by Vladimir Bortko. The film starred wonderful actors: Evgeny Evstigneev, Boris Plotnikov, Nina Ruslanova, Roman Kartsev.
Since then, for the majority of people inhabiting the post-Soviet space, Professor Preobrazhensky (“Heart of a Dog”), book, film and image have merged in Evgeniy Evstigneev. It is impossible to imagine Philip Philipovich differently; there is not enough imagination. Two personalities: literary hero and the actor is a single organic phenomenon, a fusion of literature and cinema.
First film adaptation: a different point of view from Italy
Italian cinema discovered Bulgakov in the 70s of the last century. Italians made films based on Bulgakov’s works “The Master and Margarita” and “Fatal Eggs”. Director Alberto Lattuada, a classic of Italian neorealism, enthusiastically took on the film adaptation of the story. Filmed in Belgrade. Main role played by the Swedish popular artist Max von Sydow. Bulgakov (Professor Preobrazhensky, as interpreted by the master of cinema, is an intellectual involved in the rise to power of madmen, intoxicated by the ideas of communism and fascism, might not have approved of such an interpretation of the image. The intelligentsia here is not a victim of the system - she is its ideologist, the creator of super-ideas that were picked up by the poorly educated the majority. His hands are dirty, the director shows the scientist's bloody medical gloves for a long time. He is greedy, obsessed with luxury, eats delicacies in front of the servants, thereby emphasizing the social gap between them. The film focuses on the episode of the burning of Engels' correspondence with Kautsky in an oven. Subsequently, the fascists will do the same with objectionable books. In a word, in the Italian interpretation, the image of Professor Preobrazhensky is extremely unsympathetic. The other is closer and dearer to us.
“You need to be able to eat...”
Preobrazhensky (professor) is a man of 60 years old, he wears a sharp beard and a fluffy mustache that make him look like French knights. Glasses with expensive frames shine on his face, and there is a “golden picket fence” in his mouth. At home he wears an azure robe and red shoes. On the street - a fur coat on a fox, sparkling with a spark. Under the outerwear there is a black suit made of English cloth, and on the stomach there is a gold chain. His voice flows through the apartment like a command trumpet. He is imperious, full of majestic dignity, imposing, leisurely, thoughtful.
Immediately a detail enters, small and detailed, which transforms Philip Philipovich from a heavy, living statue of an academic scientist into an elderly man with established, sweet, slightly funny habits. He hums endlessly, loves opera, smokes cigars, knows a lot about good alcohol and enjoys eating only healthy food. This is the wise rich life experience a person who loves sedate conversation and believes that “devastation is not in closets, but in heads.” His clear, clear thoughts, full of irony, amaze with their objectivity and consistency. Professor Preobrazhensky, the quotes he practically uses have long become popular.
Prototypes of Philip Philipovich
Philologists believe that there were several prototypes. Preobrazhensky (professor) is a kind of collective image of the luminaries of that time. The list is headed by the writer’s uncle, gynecologist Nikolai Pokrovsky. Firstly, the descriptions of the apartments are the same: the same luxurious and large, the same heavy, expensive furniture. Secondly, external similarity. The writer’s first wife recalled that she immediately recognized this anger, flaring nostrils, hot temper and singing arias.
The Frenchman and doctor Charles Brown-Séquard, having reached 70 years old, decided to rejuvenate himself and came up with a medicine from the testes of rabbits. In 1889 he gave a report at the Paris scientific society, declaring himself young and vigorous. The doctor's research became a sensation, but not for long. The increase in vitality was more of a psychological nature, since the doctor soon withered and died.
The experiment was also continued by a French scientist, originally from Russia, Samuil Volkov, who grafted tissue from monkey testicles into humans. A line of people lined up to see him, wanting to experience the joy of a second youth, but one of the rich patients died, and Volkov was called a charlatan. Researchers of Bulgakov's work are inclined to classify the scientists Bekhterev, Pavlov and other famous doctors and researchers of that time as prototypes.
Let's remember not the film, but the text. Preobrazhensky, a professor, receives patients, and a homeless dog Sharik watches over them. He is disgusted by the smell of perfume and cream long johns, decorated with hateful cat faces, of a strange-looking man. Then a giggling woman, unwilling to admit how old she is, babbles about a young lover, a card sharper. The dog's "fresh eye" takes these people out of their usual medical context. For a doctor they are just patients; for an animal they are something unpleasant and disgusting. The story rises eternal theme the moral responsibility of the scientist for the world and its destinies. Humanity has more than once witnessed how a scientific discovery turned against it, killed, maimed, and brought suffering.
“What a reptile, and also a proletarian!”
The book begins with an amazing monologue from a homeless mongrel. The cook of the canteen for normal meals for employees of the Central Council of the National Economy (what is the name) poured boiling water on his left side. The street is cold and deserted, the wind is blowing. He would hide in the gateway and lick his wound, but the enemy, the janitor, “the most vile scum” of all proletarians, would definitely kill him. The sweet smell of fried onions and porridge spreads along the street. It's the firefighters having dinner. The dog gratefully remembers the lordly cook of the Tolstoy Counts, Vlas. Now there are no such people. The dog sees a typist running down the street. The wind flutters the skirt, underneath which is washed out underwear. She is wearing fildepers stockings, donated by her lover, for which the libertine will demand sophisticated love. There is no joy for the unfortunate person: they deducted from their meager salary, their lungs are in disarray, they don’t have enough for cinema, and for women it is the only consolation in life. The girl hides behind the door of the dining room, from which there is the smell of cabbage soup with rotten corned beef.
“The dog stood on its hind legs and performed some kind of prayer in front of Philip Philipovich.”
The dog is delighted with his savior to the point of violent canine exaltation. He is loyal and ready to endure even a collar. A world-famous scientist appears in the aura of his greatness. The tenants tremble before him; one call to an influential patron solves the problem of the threatening “compaction”. He talks extensively and wisely, like a person who deeply knows life. Professor Preobrazhensky will speak weightily and to the point about the devastation. We will remember. Professor Preobrazhensky, the quotes we repeat are a whole world, he delights with insight.
“There’s absolutely no point in learning to read when you can already smell meat a mile away.”
Everything will end with the transformation of Sharik into Poligraf Poligrafovich. This is no longer dear Sharik, but Klim Chugunkin, a heavy drunkard who plays the balalaika in taverns. An insolent, dark force will turn the well-established life of the house upside down: reception will become impossible, the flood will carry water onto the landing, Sharikov’s friends will steal galoshes and the owner’s personalized expensive cane from the hallway. The fruit of human hands is more terrible than Shvonder: the day will come and Sharikov will sweep him out of his way and destroy him. The danger is terrible because it grows from within; it is impossible to escape from it. The owner of the apartment himself is changing before our eyes. Bormenthal will notice how haggard he is, hunched over, smaller, grumbling like an old man. Preobrazhensky, professor and scientist, is deep in thought; it is ripening, expanding and depressing within him. black thought about murder. This is the price to pay for the purity of a scientific idea. And he utters the bitter famous words about the pointlessness of artificially fabricating Spinozas, when any woman can easily give birth to them, just as Madame Lomonosova gave birth to her famous one in Kholmogory. The brilliant experiment of Professor Preobrazhensky is meaningless.
“...He who is in no hurry succeeds everywhere. Of course, if I started jumping around meetings and singing like a nightingale all day long, instead of doing my own thing, I wouldn’t get anywhere…”
Professor Preobrazhensky is one of the main characters in Bulgakov's story "The Heart of a Dog".
This article presents quotation image and the characterization of Professor Preobrazhensky in the story “Heart of a Dog”, a description of the appearance and character of the hero in quotes.
Professor Preobrazhensky in the story "Heart of a Dog": image and characteristics
PROTOTYPES: As prototypes literary character Several real doctors are named Professor Preobrazhensky. These are, in particular, Bulgakov’s uncle - gynecologist Nikolai Pokrovsky, surgeon Sergei Voronov, doctor Alexei Zamkov, biologist Ilya Ivanov. In addition, a number of famous contemporaries of the author are named as prototypes - the scientist Bekhterev, the physiologist Pavlov and even the founder of the Soviet state Lenin. The opinion about Bekhterev, Pavlov and Lenin as prototypes of the main character is challenged by Bulgakov scholar A. N. Varlamov, elevating Professor Preobrazhensky’s typology to literary type Doctor Dmitry Startsev - Chekhov's Ionych, the character of the story of the same name. Literary critic Sergei Borovikov believes that Bulgakov put his own ideas into Preobrazhensky’s mouth: Philippiki prof. Preobrazhensky is the credo of Bulgakov himself, with seven rooms, with “Aida”, hot snacks with vodka, French wine after dinner, and so on. Alexey Varlamov agrees with him in the sense that Bulgakov himself suffered from the lack of normal housing and expressed this in Preobrazhensky’s claims to live and work in appropriate conditions.During an experiment, Professor Preobrazhensky turns the stray dog Sharik into a human being - citizen Sharikov. The events of the story take place in Moscow in 1924.
The full name of the hero is Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky:
"...I wish you good health, Philip Philipovich..."
"...Are you kidding me, Professor Preobrazhensky?.."
Professor Preobrazhensky's age is 60 years:
"...I'm 60 years old, I can give you advice..."
Professor Preobrazhensky is a world-famous surgeon:
"...Philip Philipovich, you are a figure of world significance..."
"...if you weren't a European luminary..."
"..“It has no equal in Europe... By God!” Bormental thought vaguely...”
"...Prof. Preobrazhensky, you are a creator..."
Philip Preobrazhensky is an outstanding personality and great scientist:
"..“but the personality is outstanding...”
“...You are a great scientist, that’s what!” said Bormenthal...”
“...Do you really think that I produce them because of money? After all, I’m a scientist after all...”
Appearance of Professor Preobrazhensky:"... gentleman, with a French pointed beard and a gray, fluffy and dashing mustache, like those of French knights, but the smell from him flies through the snowstorm, like a hospital. And a cigar..."
"...straightened his fluffy mustache in front of the mirror on the wall..."
"...Kick me with your felt boots, I won't say a word..."
"...helped to remove the heavy fur coat on a black-brown fox with a bluish spark..."
"...After taking off his fur coat, he found himself in a black suit of English cloth, and on his stomach a gold chain sparkled joyfully and dimly..."
"...with eyes shining like the gold rims of his glasses, he watched this procedure..."
"...The nostrils of his hawk nose flared..."
"...His hawk nostrils flared..."
"...His trimmed gray hair was hidden under a white cap..."
"...Philip Philipovich spread his short fingers wide..."
"...Philip Philippovich's face became scary. He bared his porcelain and gold crowns..."
"...he laughed so hard that a golden picket fence sparkled in his mouth..."
“...a heavy thought tormented his learned forehead with licks...” (licks - receding hairlines)
"...Philip Philipovich was in his azure robe and red shoes..." (at home)
"...He came out in the well-known azure robe..."
"...kissed his fluffy, heavily smoky mustache..."
“...Preobrazhensky patted his steep neck, which was prone to paralysis...”
The professor is a wealthy man:
“...However, apparently he doesn’t have a lot of money anyway...”
Professor Preobrazhensky is a hardworking person:
"...Doors opened, faces changed, tools rattled in the closet, and Philip Philipovich worked tirelessly..."
“...After all, I sat for five years, picking out appendages from brains... You know what kind of work I did - it’s incomprehensible to my mind...”
Professor Preobrazhensky is an intelligent and confident person:
"...After this we had a meeting with Philip Philipovich. For the first time, I must confess, I saw this confident and amazing smart person confused..."
Professor Preobrazhensky is a lonely man:
“...In essence, I’m so lonely...”
"...The former imperious and energetic Philip Philipovich, full of dignity, appeared before the night guests..." Professor Preobrazhensky is a man of character:
"..“This guy,” the dog thought in delight, “is all like me. Oh, he’s going to bite them now, oh, he’s going to bite them. I don’t know yet – in what way, but he’s going to bite them like that...”
Professor Preobrazhensky is a hot-tempered person:
"...said Philip Philipovich, - my dear, I sometimes yell at you during operations. Forgive the old man's temper..."
Professor Preobrazhensky is a man of his word:
"...I never speak into the wind, you know that very well..."
The professor is an honest person. He doesn't leave his colleagues in trouble:
"...to abandon a colleague in the event of a catastrophe, but to jump out into the world, excuse me..."
Philip Preobrazhensky is a law-abiding citizen:
"...Never commit a crime, no matter who it is directed against. Live to old age with clean hands..."
Preobrazhensky knows important officials:
"...if you were not a European luminary, and they would not stand up for you in the most outrageous way<...>persons, whom I am sure we will explain later, you should be arrested..."
The Professor is a man of facts and observation:
"...Darling, you know me? Don't you? I am a man of facts, a man of observation. I am an enemy of unfounded hypotheses. And this is very well known not only in Russia, but also in Europe. If I say something, This means that there is a certain fact underlying it, from which I draw a conclusion..."
Philip Preobrazhensky is a sensible and experienced person:
"...there is none of this very counter-revolution in my words. They contain common sense and life experience..."
The professor does not like to fuss and rush:
“...The one who is in no hurry to get anywhere succeeds,” the owner edifyingly explained. “Of course, if I started jumping around meetings and singing like a nightingale all day long, instead of going about my direct business, I wouldn’t be anywhere.” ripe..."
According to the professor himself, he does not like violence towards people and animals:
“...You can’t tear anyone down,” Philip Philipovich worried, “remember this once and for all. You can influence a person and an animal only by suggestion...”
Professor Preobrazhensky does not like the proletariat (hired workers):
“..–You are a hater of the proletariat!” the woman said proudly.
“Yes, I don’t like the proletariat,” Philip Philipovich agreed sadly..."
It is known that the professor loves the opera “Aida” by Verdi:
"...today in the big one - “Aida”. I haven’t heard it for a long time. I love it... Remember? Duet... tari-ra-rim..."
Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky loves to sing songs:
(for example, “From Seville to Grenada” and “To the banks of the sacred Nile”)
“...looked at it, squinted and sang: “To the sacred banks of the Nile...”
"...Humming as usual, he asked: “What are we going to do now?” And he himself answered literally like this: “Moscow seamstress, yes... From Seville to Grenada...”
The professor is a tenacious scientist. He is always researching something:
"...Hands in slippery gloves important person immersed it in a vessel, took out the brains - a stubborn man, persistent, always achieving something, cutting, examining, squinting and singing..."
Today we will consider the criminal case against Professor Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky from Mikhail Bulgakov’s story “The Heart of a Dog”. All quotes are taken from the literary source.
Why does a famous doctor, a “world luminary,” a professor operate at home and not in a clinic? Probably for the same reason that his clients pay a lot of money so that no one knows about their operation. Essentially, it is an underground clinic for business clients, criminals and prohibited experiments. All transactions are paid in cash.
His rates were 10 rubles per visit, while the typist's salary at that time was 45 rubles per month. That is, ordinary patients with serious illnesses could not make an appointment with a leading doctor.
Covering up a crime
At the same time, Preobrazhensky himself is involved in covering up the crimes of his clients. In particular, he performs a clandestine abortion in his apartment on a seduced 14-year-old girl, fulfilling the order of a pedophile and without reporting his crime to law enforcement agencies.
- I'm too famous in Moscow, professor. What should I do?
“Gentlemen,” Philip Philipovich shouted indignantly, “you can’t do this.” You need to restrain yourself. How old is she?
- Fourteen, professor... You understand, publicity will ruin me. One of these days I should get an overseas business trip.
- But I’m not a lawyer, my dear... Well, wait two years and marry her.
- I'm married, professor.
- Oh, gentlemen, gentlemen!
Stealing a corpse
To conduct prohibited experiments with human organs, he organizes the theft of a corpse from the morgue.
Animal abuse. Violation of personal rights
Preobrazhensky performs an experiment on a dog in almost complete confidence that the dog will die. The matter is aggravated by the fact that by the time the experiment began, Sharik was not a laboratory animal or even a yard dog, but Preobrazhensky’s pet.
Thus, the experiment was carried out on an animal unsuitable for this purpose in unsuitable conditions (not a laboratory or a hospital); in addition, the operation was not formalized.
Prosecutor: “Preobrazhensky lives by fixing gigolos and whores”
Human history and, especially, literature knows cases when a person’s abilities and talents came into blatant contradiction with his moral qualities. One of the striking examples of this kind is Professor Preobrazhensky.
Preobrazhensky lives by repairing gigolos and whores, and inserting monkey ovaries into elderly revelers. Sorry for being direct, but you can’t erase a word from a song. He does not disdain clandestine abortions for minor victims of debauchery, but more on that below.
In his apartment, Preobrazhensky is engaged in illegal private medical practice, which, in case of harm to human health, falls under Art. 235 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Illegal private medical practice.”
These types of activities are considered illegal if they are carried out by persons who do not have a license for the specified type of activity. It is quite obvious that, in principle, a license cannot be issued to perform complex operations, including on the brain, at home.
In his illegal medical activities, the professor actively goes beyond not only morality, but also the criminal code - for example, he performs a clandestine abortion on a 14-year-old (!) girl, who is brought to him by an adult married libertine, who, according to him, occupies a certain position in society. (Article 123 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Illegal abortion”)
As already mentioned, in the difficult post-war times, Preobrazhensky maintained a high standard of living, living in an eight-room apartment. Quiet living is the result of a bribe to a high-ranking official, which Preobrazhensky does not even hide, demanding intercession and patronage from his “roof” when representatives of the authorities local government legally come to him to check his living conditions.
By the way, it is no secret that truly outstanding scientists, as a rule, were very modest in everyday life.
Since, it seems, Preobrazhensky treats all God's creatures with equal contempt, his experiments are completely inhumane - for example, he transforms a dog into a human using the corpse of a deceased alcoholic - well, so as not to ask the consent of relatives. The corpse is obtained illegally. Article 244 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Desecration of the bodies of the dead” (fine) and Article 245 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Cruelty to animals” (imprisonment for up to 2 years), in the opinion of the prosecution, are ideal here.
But as a result of experiments, a person is obtained. A person is real, alive and with all rights. Naturally, Preobrazhensky continues to treat him like a dog, and even worse, since the person begins to feel like a human and wants to arrange basic things - get documents, get a job, register in a living space, get married, etc. In general, from a legal point of view, he behaves completely adequately. At the same time, he reminds Preobrazhensky, who was playing with the Lord God, that “he did not give consent to the operation, neither did my relatives.”
All this makes Preobrazhensky furious - some kind of cattle and rights to download?! Therefore, Preobrazhensky and another member of the organized group, his assistant citizen Bormental, transform him back into a dog.
Bottom line
Under Article 123 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Illegal abortion”, I ask you to impose a penalty in the form of a fine of 40,000 rubles (half of the maximum sanction).
According to Article 244 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Desecration of the bodies of the dead” as part of an organized group - impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 1 year.
According to Article 245 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Cruelty to animals”, as part of an organized group - impose a penalty in the form of a fine in the amount of 60,000 rubles (half of the maximum sanction).
According to Article 111 Part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Intentional infliction of grievous harm to health”, resulting in mental disorder based on ideological hatred or enmity, as part of an organized group - a sentence of 6 years in prison.
When assigning a punishment, take into account the advanced age of the defendant, lack of criminal record, positive characteristics, however, take into account the exceptional audacity, cynicism and demonstrative nature of the crime, and therefore assign a general punishment in the form of actual imprisonment by partial addition of punishments in the form of 6 years 6 months imprisonment.
Defense: “All of Preobrazhensky’s accusations directly contradict the law”
Without exception, all the numerous charges brought against my client are completely unfounded. They are not supported by evidence and directly contradict the requirements of the law, establishing both general grounds for criminal liability and specific elements of crimes. Below are brief justifications for this statement in relation to each accusation.
Allegations of “corruption and blackmail”
Preobrazhensky is neither an official nor the head of any organization, and cannot be the subject of these crimes. He is not charged with actions that could constitute part of any of them, as well as giving a bribe (Article 291). The actions accused of Preobrazhensky as “corruption and blackmail” are a legitimate defense of one’s rights against the arbitrariness of officials.
Charge of concealing a crime
Concealment of especially serious crimes is criminally punishable (Article 316 of the Criminal Code). Sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl (Part 1 of Article 134 of the Criminal Code) is a crime of moderate gravity, and then only if she has not reached puberty. There is no evidence that she has not reached puberty; on the contrary, the state of pregnancy indicates that she has reached puberty.
There is also no evidence that Preobrazhensky performed the abortion precisely for the purpose of concealing the fact of sexual intercourse with a minor, and not for another purpose (for example, to avoid the negative consequences of pregnancy for her life and health).
Charge of "stealing a corpse"
Pure fiction. Firstly, a corpse cannot in any way be the subject of theft, and secondly, there are no signs of theft - the secret theft of someone else's property (Article 158 of the Criminal Code).
Animal cruelty charge
Preobrazhensky picked up a homeless man on the street sick dog, doomed to death, went out and fed him, the dog sincerely loved him for this. This fact is admitted by the prosecution. After this, Preobrazhensky gave the dog a chance to become a human, at the same time making him a world celebrity. What kind of cruel treatment of an animal can we talk about here, even if this animal never became a human?! All mandatory elements of this crime are missing (Article 245 of the Criminal Code): death or injury of an animal, motive (hooligan or selfish) and method (sadistic or in the presence of minors) of its commission.
Charges of "murder or excess of self-defense"
Murder is causing the death of a person (Article 105 of the Criminal Code). The prosecution has not proven that Sharikov/Sharik was (became) a person. “Speaking does not mean being human.” Parrots, for example, also talk. The mere transplantation of a human organ into an animal is also not proof of its transformation into a human. Consequently, there is no object of attack, and thus the very possibility of being charged with murder is excluded. In addition, whoever Sharikov/Sharik was, he was not deprived of his life.
The case indisputably established: “The ball still exists, and no one definitely killed him. ...The nightmare-looking dog with a purple scar on his forehead rose again to his hind legs and, smiling, sat down in a chair.”
As for Bormental’s actions, they were aimed at protecting Sharikov from an attack armed with a revolver, at repelling his aggressive criminal actions: violent harassment of Zina, causing bodily harm to Bormental.
He was undoubtedly in a state of necessary defense. His actions corresponded to the nature and danger of the attack; the limits of necessary defense were not exceeded. The fact that the defender has the opportunity to call for help or contact law enforcement agencies does not exclude the state of necessary defense and does not detract from the right to his own active actions to repel an attack.
The subsequent (after repelling the armed attack of Sharikov/Sharik) surgical actions of Preobrazhensky and Bormental were not “excess of self-defense,” as the prosecution falsely claims, and, of course, not an attempted murder, but a continuation of a scientific experiment.
There is no evidence that Preobrazhensky's claim that Sharik/Sharikov never became human is false. It has not been refuted in any way, and all doubts must be interpreted exclusively in favor of the accused (Article 14 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).
Bottom line
Unproven guilt means proven innocence. An accusation, and especially a conviction, cannot be based on assumptions and unclear formulations. That's what justice stands for. There is only one possible conclusion from all that has been said: my client is subject to complete acquittal of all charges brought against him and full rehabilitation.
Sentence to Professor Philip Preobrazhensky
The verdict is read out by Dmitry Nechevin, Doctor of Law, Professor of Moscow State Law University.
Having considered the criminal case against Preobrazhensky, having heard the prosecution and defense, as well as the evidence presented in the case under consideration, the court makes the following decision.
At first, I just wanted to mention the “Kalabukhov House,” but somewhere inside there grew an irrepressible desire to try to dig up more information about this house, since the image of Professor Preobrazhensky from the “story “Heart of a Dog”” called for his “revival” and a more detailed story...
Professor Preobrazhensky awakened in me an amazing feeling of understanding of integrity, harmony and his active confident life position, with simultaneous grace, tough tact and a great ability to control this world, remaining in a state of acceptance, love, subtle irony and imaginary theatrical puzzlement. Professor Preobrazhensky easily built his relationship with the new post-revolutionary government, with its callous everyday side effects manifested in the person of Shvonder and his other “comrades.” Therefore, we will focus on the history of the “Kalabukhov House”, Mikhail Bulgakov’s stay in this house and Professor Preobrazhensky as a person. In general, there will be a little of everything...
It is generally accepted that the main prototype of Professor Preobrazhensky’s home was the apartment building 24/1 on the corner of Prechistenka and Obukhov Lane, built according to the design of the architect S.F. Kulagin in 1904 on a plot owned by E.S. Pavlovskaya. The house is a five-story massive structure with rusticated cladding on the first floor. On the facade facing Obukhov (from 1922 - Chisty) lane, there are two high windows connecting the second and third floors. Several windows along the façade on Prechistenka are decorated with porticoes with half-columns.
02.
We are on Chisty Lane, which starts from Prichistenka. "Kalabukhovsky House" on the left.
At the beginning of the 20th century, two of Bulgakov’s maternal uncles lived in this house - doctors Nikolai Mikhailovich and Mikhail Mikhailovich Pokrovsky. The first of them became the main prototype of Phillip Filippovich Preobrazhensky. In the Moscow address and reference books of the pre-revolutionary and first post-revolutionary years, the same address of the brothers is listed differently: “Pokrovsky N.M. - women's diseases - Obukhov lane, 1, apartment 12" and "Pokrovsky M.M. - sexually transmitted diseases - Prechistenka, 24, apartment 12.”
03.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Pokrovsky is the prototype of Professor Philip Filippovich Preobrazhensky.
In this photo, he is, naturally, much younger than his Bulgakov character.
04.
Apartment 12, where the Pokrovskys lived, was the first Moscow refuge of Bulgakov, who in 1916 came to Moscow for a week with his wife from the village of Nikolskoye, Smolensk province. Pointing out that the description of Professor Preobrazhensky’s seven-room apartment coincides in detail with Pokrovsky’s apartment, B.V. Sokolov makes the observation that “in the address of the prototype, the street names are associated with the Christian tradition, and his surname (in honor of the Feast of the Intercession) corresponds to the character’s surname associated with the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.” Moscow local historian and Bulgakov expert B.S. Myagkov points out that Pokrovsky’s apartment originally had five rooms, but after the arrival of his nieces in 1920, one of the large rooms was partitioned off, resulting in seven rooms. Pokrovsky's nieces, Alexandra Andreevna and Oksana Mitrofanovna, lived in this apartment until the end of the 1970s.
05.
"Kalabukhovsky house". Prechistenka, 24/1.
The lobby of the “Kalabukhov house” with a marble main staircase and the mezzanine, where Preobrazhensky’s “luxury apartment” was located, were borrowed by Bulgakov from the nearby building 13/7, building 1 at the intersection of Prechistenka and Lopukhinsky Lane.
06.
Apartment house Y.A. Recca was built in 1912 according to the design of architects G.A. Gelrich and N.G. Lazarev. Before the revolution, two apartments on the last, sixth floor of the house were occupied by Faberge Alexander, the son of the founder of the famous jewelry company, the director and artist of its Moscow branch. After the revolution, the house was “densified.” Faberge ended up in exile, and Bulgakov’s acquaintances, artists from the “Jack of Diamonds” group, settled in apartments 11 and 12 that belonged to him. Bulgakov loved to visit them. Some of the interiors of Professor Preobrazhensky’s apartment were borrowed by Bulgakov from their home.
07.
Apartment house Y.A. Recca. Prechistenka, 13/7.
Along with the mezzanine, which is absent in house 24, other realities that belonged to house 13 were borrowed for the Kalabukhov house - the glass front door, at which a doorman was on duty with a “band with gold braid”, gray marble steps in the lobby, carpet on the stairs, oak hanger, “galosh rack”. House 13 also corresponds to the number of apartments on the stairs of the Kalabukhovsky building: “Notice, there are 12 apartments here...” says Professor Bormenthal. In a building of 24 apartments there were only eight...
08.
"Kalabukhovsky house". Prechistenka, 24/1.
As we remember, Professor Preobrazhensky in 1924 lives and works in Moscow in the so-called “Kalabukhov House” at st. Prechistenka, 24, in a seven-room apartment. His housekeeper Zina and cook Daria Petrovna live with him, as well as his temporary assistant, Doctor Ivan Arnoldovich Bormental. Part of the apartment is used by the professor as a personal surgical clinic...
Preobrazhensky achieved excellent results in practical rejuvenation. He is completely devoted to his work, but, unlike Bulgakov’s other hero, Professor Persikov (the story “Fatal Eggs”), he thinks and talks a lot about the Soviet reality around him, to which Preobrazhensky is very critical. An elderly, intelligent person who knows the value of work and experience is outraged by the manners of Soviet nominees without education and culture. “Yes, I don’t like the proletariat,” he responds to the reproach for his reluctance to support the initiatives of the Bolsheviks...
On behalf of street dog Bulgakov gives the following description of his hero:
“...- This one eats abundantly and does not steal, this one will not kick, but he himself is not afraid of anyone, and he is not afraid because he is always full...”.
09.
Professor Preobrazhensky, by the way, is very nice and close to me in spirit...
My favorite episode from the film “Heart of a Dog” directed by Vladimir Bortko, when the new house management, headed by its chairman, Shvonder, comes to his apartment to “compact the professor”:
You live alone in seven rooms...
... “I live and work alone in seven rooms,” answered Philip Philipovich, “and I would like to have an eighth.” I need it for my library..."...
I would like to invite you,” here the woman pulled out several bright and snow-wet magazines from her bosom, “to take several magazines in favor of the children of Germany. About fifty dollars a piece.
No, I won’t take it,” Philip Philipovich answered briefly, glancing sideways at the magazines.
Complete amazement was expressed on the faces of the (“comrades”), and the woman became covered with a cranberry coating.
In 2014, the house of Professor Preobrazhensky was included in the list of objects that are planned to be marked on the literary map of Moscow.
11.
To be fair, it is worth noting that in the film version of “Heart of a Dog,” filmed in Leningrad, the role of “Kalabukhovsky” was played by house 27-29 on Mokhovaya Street - the former apartment building of the Rossiya insurance company, built in the French Renaissance style according to the design of the architect L.N. . Benoit in late XIX- the beginning of the twentieth century.
The Ostozhenka and Prechistenka area has always attracted me with its unique spirit of Old Moscow and some kind of immense peace. I can endlessly walk in these places, trying to capture its unique atmosphere. It’s great that the House of Professor Preobrazhensky actually exists in Moscow and has survived, almost without the emasculated new “restorations”. In contrast to the three unpreserved places of residence of Bulgakov in the Prechistenka area, the “Kolabukhov house” recalls the Master and is, in fact, a monument to Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov on Prechistenka.
Sources:
Myagkov B. S. Bulgakovskaya Moscow. M.: Moscow worker, 1993.
Sokolov B. “Heart of a Dog”, part 4. Bulgakov Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. M.: Lokid. Myth, 2000.
Wikipedia
Vladimir d'Ar, 2016
