A version of this paper was read at the AAASS meeting in Washington in October, 1990. It is based upon a chapter from a study of the early Bulgakov.

1. M. O. Chudakova tells us that the work aroused the “most lively interest” in reviewers and editors. See “Arkhiv M. A. Bulgakova,” Zapiski Otdela rukopisei Vsesoiuznoi liiblioteki imeni Lenina, no. 37 (Moscow: 1976): 43. One contemporary critic went so far as to say that it created “a sensation in Moscow” ( Men'shoi, A., “Moskva v 1928-m godu,” Zhizn’ iskusstva 18 [5 May 1925]: 3)Google Scholar.

2. For the most complete summary of contemporary reviews, see V. V. Gudkova, “Povesti Mikhaila Bulgakova,” in Bulgakov, M. A., Sobranie sochinenii v 5-i tomakh (Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia literatura, 1989-90) II: 672–76Google Scholar. For the reactions of writers and editors, see Chudakova, “Arkhiv,” 42-43; idem, Zhizneopisanie Mikhaila Bulgakova (Moscow: Kniga, 1988), 232-34. See also Al'tshuler, A. M., “A. M. Gor'kii i problema stilevykh poiskov poslerevoliutsionnoi prozy i dramaturgii (A. M. Gor'kii o M. A. Bulgakove),” in M. Gor'kii i russkaia literatura. Uchenye zapiski Gor'kovskogo Cos. Universiteta “ 118 (1971): 158–66.Google Scholar

3. M. Lirov, for example, emphasized the political significance of the ray's color by italicizing it throughout his review, and then asked indignantly: “What is to be done with the allegory ‘The F'atal Foggs, ’ which, judging by its far from academic subject, seems to be intended exclusively for the White Guard press? How did it turn up on the pages of the Soviet Nedra?” (Pechat’ i revoliutsiia 5-6 [1925]: 519.)

4. See, for example, McLaughlin, Sigrid, “Structure and Meaning in Bulgakov's The Fatal Eggs, Russian Literature Trinuarterly 15 (1978): 275–77.Google Scholar

5. The scientific and religious levels of the novella have been discussed numerous times. For two of the many interpretations of the scientific theme, see Proffer, Ellendea, Bulgakov: Life and Work (Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1984), 109–14Google Scholar; and Colin Wright, A., Mikhail Bulgakov: Life and Interpretations (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978), 56 Google Scholar. For an examination of the metaphysical-religious symbolism, see McLaughlin, 274-77; Gasparov, Boris, “Novyi zavet v proizvedeniiakh M. A. Bulgakova,” Neue russische Literatur. Almanach 4-5 (1981-82): 163–64, 173Google Scholar, passim.

6. Bulgakov, M. A., “Rokovye iaitsa,” Sobranie sochinenii (Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis, 1983), III: 73 Google Scholar. Translation mine. Further page references to this edition will be included in the text. Further references to the Ardis edition of Bulgakov's collected works will henceforth be referred to in the notes as Sob. soch.

7. Paeans to the new construction appear in “Bog Remont” (Chap. 1 of “Stolitsa v bloknote” [21 December 1922]), “Chanson d'ete” (16 August 1923) and “Moskva 20-kh godov” (4 May 1924), while the housing crisis figures in “Moskovskie stseny” (6 May 1923), “Samogonnoe ozero” (29 July 1923) and “Moskva 20-kh godov.” All the Nakanune feuilletons are reprinted in Sob. soch. I: 259-417.

8. “Stolitsa v bloknote,” Sob. soch. I: 283-84.

9. L-v, Novyi mir, 6 (1925): 152.

10. Men'shoi, 3.

11. Men'shoi, 2. See also S. Osinskii's mention of the “feeling of a ‘new America'” created in the novella (Rabochii zhurnal 3 [1925]: 156. Quoted by Gudkova, 674).

12. Numerous critics have noted this, although they have seen only the parallels with bolshevism. See, for example, Wright, 56; McLaughlin, 276.

13. Bulgakov himself calls attention to his indebtedness to Food of the Gods by directly alluding to it in the novella (54). Many critics have discussed the relationship between the two works; see especially Rydel, Christine, “Bulgakov and H. G. Wells,” Russian Literature Triquarterly 15 (1978): 293–311 Google Scholar.

14. In an early review, I. Grossman-Roshchin sees a parallel in the novella between the laboratory experiment and the bolsheviks’ attempt to rationalize society from above. See “Stabilizatsiia intelligentskikh dush i problemy literatury,” Oktiabr’ 7 (11) (July 1925): 128.

15. This reply of the agent was actually crossed out in the author's typewritten manuscript, replaced there and in the printed version of 1925 by “it is impossible” (D'iavoliada (Moscow: Nedra, 1925], 72). The editor of the Ardis Sob.sock., assuming that the changes in the manuscript reflected the directives of the censors rather than the author's will, has restored the excisions (see E. Proffer, “Kommentarii,” Sob. soch. Ill: 213-14).

16. See. for example, Proffer, Bulgakov, 109-14; and Wright, 56.

17. The sexual puns have been pointed out by Wright, 57; and Proffer, Bulgakov, 115.

18. Bulgakov's intense interest in politics—especially in international affairs— has been established by the diary he kept from 1923 to 1925, a copy of which was recently unearthed in the KGB archives. The diary has been published in K. N. Kirilenko and G. S. Faiman, eds., “'la mogu byt’ odnim—pisatelem ‘” Teatr 2 (1990): 143-61. Selections also appeared in Kirilenko and Faiman, eds., “Pod piatoi: moi dnevnik,” Ogonek 51 (1989): 16-19. While the diary adds only peripheral additional support for the ensuing observations (which were largely formulated before its publication), it reveals that Bulgakov was deeply immersed in the political events of the time. In numerous instances it also confirms his awareness of specific events that I discuss in the course of my argument.

19. Noted by Miagkov, B. S. and Sokolov, B. V., “Kommentarii,” in Bulgakov, Mikhail, Chasha zhizni (Moscow: Sovetskaia Rossiia, 1988), 573 Google Scholar.

20. “Bagrovyi ostrov,” Sob. soch. I: 396. The story was originally published in Nakanune on 20 April 1924.

21. See Carr, Edward Hallett, A History of Soviet Russia: The Interregnum, 1923-1924 (New York: Macmillan, 1954), 154, 165–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22. “'la mogu byt’ odnim—pisatelem, '” 145.

23. “Benefis lorda Kerzona,” Sob. soch. I: 314-17. Originally published in Nakanune, 19 May 1923.

24. Carr, , Interregnum, 171 Google Scholar.

25. Ibid., 243-53. For the contradictory nature of Soviet foreign policy at the time, see 214.

26. Carr, E. H., A History of Soviet Russia: Socialism in One Country (New York: Macmillan, 1958), I: 190–91Google Scholar.

27. Ibid., 190.

28. Trotsky, Leon, “Science in the Task of Socialist Construction,” trans. Manning, Frank and Saunders, George, in Problems of Everyday Life and Other Writings on Culture and Science (New York: Monad Press, 1973), 199.Google Scholar Originally published in Pravda, 24 November 1923.

29. Trotsky made this clear in a speech of May 1924. See Ipatiett, V. N., The Life of a Chemist, trans. Mrs.Haensel, V. & Lusher, Ralph H. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1946), 396–97Google Scholar.Dobrokhim is mentioned in “The Fatal Kggs” (89). According to the notes in the Soviet Sobranie sochinenii (II: 700), Trotsky wrote an entire book on Dobrokhim: Zadachi Dobrokhima (Kharkov, 1924).

30. “la mogu byt’ odnim—pisatelem,” 150. Mention of Lenin's death appears in the 22 January entry (150).

31. For a detailed description of the complex party battles of 1923-24 to which 1 can hardly do justice here, see Carr, , Interregnum, Part 3 (257–366)Google Scholar. See also Ulam, Adam B., A History of Soviet Russia (New York: Praeger, 1976), 63–64 Google Scholar.

32. Alia Kubareva, in an otherwise misguided article, makes some interesting observations on the significance of Trotsky both in the characterization of Shpolianskii and in “The Fatal F.ggs” ( “Mikhail Bulgakov i ego kritiki,” Molodaia gvardiia 5 [1988]: 250–51Google Scholar).

33. Bulgakov, Mikhail, Belaia gvardiia, in Romany (Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia literatura, 1973), 257 Google Scholar.

34. The fact that the letters r, o and k are found in “Trotsky” may also indicate a connection between the two.

35. Literature and Revolution, trans. Strunsky, Rose (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor Paperbacks, 1960), 252.Google Scholar

36. Ibid., 254-55.

37. Ibid., 225.

38. Quoted in Rosenberg, William G., ed., Bolshevik Visions: First Phase of the Cultural Revolution in Soviet Russia (Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1984), 366.Google Scholar

39. Problems of Everyday Life, 33, 35. Originally published in Pravda, 12 July 1923.

40. In a diary entry of 26 December 1924 (several months after the completion of “The Fatal Eggs “), Bulgakov quotes from a lampoon by George Bernard Shaw: “. . . quit even discussing revolution—it's cinema” ( “la mogu byt’ odnim—pisatelem,” 155).

41. “la mogu byt’ odnim—pisatelem,” 149.

42. See Carr, , Socialism in One Country I: 196–98Google Scholar.

43. “la mogu byt’ odnim—pisatelem,” 154.

44. This allusion is noted by Wright, 56.

45. For a detailed description of the involvement of the Russian communists in the German revolution, see Carr, Interregnum, 201-42.

46. “la mogu byt’ odnim—pisatelem,” 146.

47. Ibid., 147.

48. Ibid.

49. Ibid., 151.

50. Lunts, Lev, “Pochemu my Serapionovy Brat'ia,” in Rodina i drugie proizvedeniia (Jerusalem: Seriia Pamiat', 1981), 282.Google Scholar

51. This was noted by some of Bulgakov's more astute contemporaries. Thus, in a review of “The Diaboliad,” Zamyatin wrote of Bulgakov's creation of “fantasy rooted in everyday life” ( Zamiatin, Evgenii, “O segodniashnem i o sovremennom,” in Lilsa [New York: Chekhov Press, 1955], 51. 217 Google Scholar); P. Zaitsev recalled that writers present at Bulgakov's reading of “The Fatal Eggs” “highly valued the author's rare gift—a joining of the real and the fantastic” (Chudakova, 7.hizneopisanie, 232); Iu. Potekhin, among those present at a reading of “Heart of a Dog,” observed that Bulgakov's “fantasy is organically fused with sharp realistic [bytovoi] grotesque” (Ibid., 246).

52. Chudakova, , Zhizneopisanie, 252 Google Scholar.