Heart of a Dog is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov. It is a biting satire of the "New Soviet man". It was written in 1925 at the height of the NEP period, when Communism seemed to be weakening in the Soviet Union.
Its theme is "the [Communist] revolution's misguided attempt to radically transform mankind". It has elements of fantasy and science fiction, and wit and humour.
The book's publication was at first forbidden in the Soviet Union. It circulated in samizdat until it was officially released in the country in 1987. It is "one of novelist Mikhail Bulgakov's most beloved stories" featuring a stray dog "named Sharik, who takes human form" as a slovenly but self-important New Soviet Man. The dog's internal monologue at the start, grumbling at his life in the city, sets the scene for the novel.