Food and Humanism. Bulgakov's Dialogue with Tolstoj on Dogs' Food, Vegetarianism and Human Nature in ‘Sobač'e serdce’

A seemingly unexplainable reference to Tolstoj in the beginning of Bulgakov's novella ‘Sobach'e serdtse’ (‘Heart of a Dog’) allows us to suspect Bulgakov's argument with Tolstoi on the connection between humanism and one's diet. According to Tolstoi, the farther man is from dog in his eating habits, the more human he is. Bulgakov ironically tests this concept: the process of Sharik's (the dog's) transformation into a quasi-human starts with feeding him human food, which was inaccessible to most humans after the revolution. Throughout the novella, Sharik is both nourished by benevolent cooks and metaphorically cooked by evil cooks, but he never becomes truly human. This dialogue with Tolstoi serves as a catalyst for Bulgakov's evaluation of the prominent definitions of humanism – those posed by Darwin, Marx, and Aristotle.