SOURCE: "Laughter in the Dark," in The New York Review of Books, Vol. XI, No. 1, July 11, 1968, pp. 26-8.

Muchnic is a Russian-born American critic and author. In the following review, she offers a positive assessment of The Heart of a Dog, considering it not only a parable about the Russian revolution but also a denunciation of the concepts underlying the revolution.

The Heart of a Dog is a variation on [one] of Bulgakov's recurrent themes. In one of his best known, and most uncanny, tales, "The Fatal Eggs," a scientist's discovery of and experiment with a life-giving ray results in the hatching of monstrous reptiles that multiply in uncontrollable profusion and lay waste the land. In The Heart of a Dog, a renowned surgeon, Professor Preobrazhensky (the name suggests "transfiguration"), who specializes in rejuvenating men and women, tries something new. He operates on a stray dog, replacing its...