Some pioneering transplants in early 20th century Russian science fiction: Bulgakov, Tolstoy, Belyayev

Abstract

In this article, the author turns his attention to two specific literary motifs from Russian science fiction literature of the early 1920s: surgically obtained rejuvenation and pioneering transplantation between animal and human organs, in particular brain transplantation. These elements are present in important, mostly contemporary literary works by Mikhail Bulgakov (Heart of a Dog), Aleksey Tolstoy (The Blue Cities), and Alexander Belyayev (Hoity-Toity). By means of a contrastive analysis of these literary motifs in the works of these writers and a reconstruction of the Russian and Soviet 1920s scientific context that generated them, when medicine made enormous strides, the author will attempt to find a connection between these works and thus determine the existence of a common pattern that justifies the similarities in the thematic and stylistic approach of their authors.