The Fatal Eggs

A 2001 Russian edition of The Fatal Eggs and Heart of a Dog
Author	Mikhail Bulgakov
Original title	Роковые яйца
Country	Russia
Language	Russian
Genre(s)	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Nedra journal
Released	1925
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	NA

The Fatal Eggs (Russian: Роковые яйца, IPA: [rɔkovyi jajʦa]) is a novella by Mikhail Bulgakov, a Soviet novelist and playwright whose most famous work is Master and Margarita. It was written in 1924 and first published in 1925. The book became quite popular, but was much criticised by some Soviet critics as a satire of the Russian Revolution and the leadership of Soviet Russia. Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov (Russian: Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков; May 15 [O.S. May 3] 1891, Kiev – March 10, 1940, Moscow) was a Russian novelist and playwright of the first half of the 20th century. ... Some notable science fiction novels, in alphabetical order by title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke 334 by Thomas M. Disch An Age by Brian Aldiss The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard... A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... A novella is a narrative work of prose fiction somewhat longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. ... Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov (Russian: Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков; May 15 [O.S. May 3] 1891, Kiev – March 10, 1940, Moscow) was a Russian novelist and playwright of the first half of the 20th century. ... Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union. ... The Master and Margarita book cover. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... Russian Revolution can refer to the following events in the history of Russia: Russian Revolution of 1905, a series of strikes and violent anti-government protests against Tsar Nicholas II. Russian Revolution of 1917, which included: February Revolution, resulting in the abdication of Nicholas II of Russia October Revolution, the... Soviet Russia is sometimes used as a somewhat sloppy synonym to the Soviet Union — although the term Soviet Russia sometimes refers to Bolshevist Russia from the October Revolution in 1917 to 1922 (Although Russian communists officially formed RSFSR in 1918). ...

Background

By 1924, Bulgakov was relatively well-known as a writer. He had published several short stories, including Dyavoliada, in some ways a pre-cursor to Master and Margarita, and started publishing his first novel, The White Guard. The Fatal Eggs was finished in early October of 1924^[1] and published in the Nedra journal in February 1925; a shortened edition was also published in May-June 1925 in the Krasnaya Panorama journal, under the title The Ray of Life (Russian: Луч жизни).^[1] Bulgakov also read the novel on several occasions to various social gatherings, where it met with favourable reception. The White Guard (Russian: Белая гвардия) is a novel by 20th century Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, famed for his critically-acclaimed later work The Master and Margarita. ...

Plot summary

The Fatal Eggs can be described as a science fiction novel. It's main protagonist is an ageing zoologist, Vladimir Ipat'evich Persikov, a specialist in reptiles. The narration begins in Moscow of 1928, which seems to have overcome the destructive effects of the Russian Civil War and is quite prosperous. After a long period of degradation research at the Zoological Institute has revived. After leaving his microscope for several hours, Persikov suddenly noticed that the microscope out of focus produced a ray of red light; amoeba left under that light showed an impossibly increased rate of binary fission, reproducing at enormous speeds and demonstrating unusual aggression. Later experiments with large cameras to produce a larger ray confirmed that the same increased speed of reproduction applied to other organisms, such as frogs, which evolved and produced a next generation within two days. Persikov's invention quickly becomes known to journalists, and eventually to foreign spies and to the GPU, the Soviet secret service. At the same time, the country is affected by an unknown disease in domesticated poultry, which results in a complete extinction of all chickens in the Soviet Russia, with the plague stopping at the borders of the country. An entrepreneur Aleksandr Semenovich Rokk (whose name is also a pun on the novel's name, "Rok" meaning Fate) receives an official permission to use Persikov's invention to attempt to restore the chicken populace to the pre-plague level. However, the eggs which are imported from outside the country are by a mistake not chicken eggs, but reptile eggs. As a result, Rokk breeds an enormous amount of large and overly aggressive snakes and crocodiles which start attacking people. In the panic that follows, Persikov is killed by a mob which blames him for the appearance of the snakes and his cameras are smashed. The Red Army attempts to hold the snakes back, but only the coming of an unusually cold winter puts a stop to the snake invasion. It is interesting to note that in an earlier draft the novel ends with the scene of Moscow's complete destruction by the snakes.^[2] Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Orders  Crocodilia - Crocodilians scary crocodiles. ... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2007)    - Density 10,469,000   9684. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... Combatants Red Army (Bolsheviks) White Army (Monarchists, SRs, Anti-Communists) Green Army (Peasants and Nationalists) Black Army (Anarchists) Commanders Leon Trotsky Mikhail Tukhachevsky Semyon Budyonny Lavr Kornilov, Alexander Kolchak, Anton Denikin, Pyotr Wrangel Alexander Antonov, Nikifor Grigoriev Nestor Makhno Strength 5,427,273 (peak) +1,000,000 Casualties 939,755... Robert Hookes microscope (1665) - an engineered device used to study living systems. ... Amoeba, amÅ“ba, or ameba is a genus of protozoa that moves by means of temporary projections called pseudopods, and is well-known as a representative unicellular organism. ... Binary fission Binary fission is the form of asexual reproduction in single-celled organisms by which one cell divides into two cells of the same size, used by most prokaryotes. ... For other uses, see Reproduction (disambiguation) Reproduction is the biological process by which new individual organisms are produced. ... Genera See text. ... A journalist is a person who practices journalism. ... Espionage (spying) is a practice of obtaining information about an organization or a society that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. ... Soviet poster of the 1920s: The GPU strikes on the head the counter-revolutionary saboteur State Political Directorate was the secret police of the RSFSR and USSR until 1934. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Alternate uses: Chicken (disambiguation) Binomial name Gallus gallus (Linnaeus, 1758) A chicken is a type of domesticated bird which is usually raised as a type of poultry. ... Destiny or fate refers to the inevitable course of events. ... EGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGSEGGS This page may meet Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Families Acrochordidae Aniliidae Anomalepididae Anomochilidae Atractaspididae Boidae Bolyeriidae Colubridae Cylindrophiidae Elapidae Hydrophiidae Leptotyphlopidae Loxocemidae Pythonidae Tropidophiidae Typhlopidae Uropeltidae Viperidae Xenopeltidae Snakes are cold blooded legless reptiles closely related to lizards, which share the order Squamata. ... Genera Crocodylus Osteolaemus Tomistoma A crocodile can be any of the 14 species of large, water-loving reptiles in the family Crocodylidae (sometimes classified instead as the subfamily Crocodylinae). ... The Workers and Peasants Red Army (Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия, Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya; RKKA or usually simply the Red Army) were the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and that in 1922 became the army of the Soviet Union. ... Winter is one of the four seasons of temperate zones. ...

Analysis and critical reception

A number on influences on the novel can be detected. One of the sources behind The Fatal Eggs was H. G. Wells's 1904 novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth, where two scientists discover a way to accelerate growth — which at first results in a plight of gigantic chickens, and eventually in an all-out war between people affected by growth and those who are not. The novel is in fact referenced in the text of the novel in a conversation between Persikov and his assistant.^[2] It has also been noted that the death of the snakes from cold weather though they successfully resisted the military force is reminiscent of the death of aliens from a simple virus in The War of the Worlds. Other influences may include rumours of "a giant reptile [in the Crimea], to capture which a regiment of Red Guards was deployed".^[2] Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau. ... Year 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth is a novel written by H. G. Wells. ... The War of the Worlds (1898), by H. G. Wells, is an early science fiction novella which describes an invasion of England by aliens from Mars. ... Motto: Процветание в единстве - Prosperity in unity Anthem: Нивы и горы твои волшебны, Родина - Your fields and mounts are wonderful, Motherland Capital Simferopol Largest cities Simferopol, Eupatoria, Kerch, Theodosia, Yalta Official language Ukrainian. ...

Many Soviet critics saw the events of The Fatal Eggs as a critique of Soviet Russia. Indeed, there is a case to be made for Professor Persikov's identification with Vladimir Il'ich Lenin (note the similarity in names), as both of them can be said to have unleashed destruction on Russia, and there seem to be similarities between them both in appearance and character.^[2][3] Chicken plague and the sanitary cordons that foreign countries established against it were seen as a parody of the ideas of internationalism and the policy of Antanta against it.^[2] Although Bulgakov was not repressed, from 1925 he was questioned by the GPU several times and was never allowed to leave the Soviet Union (possibly as a result of his negative image which was at least partly due to the publication of The Fatal Eggs.^[4] Although there were positive responses, upon the whole the novel was viewed as dangerous and anti-Soviet.^[4] Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин  listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a... International Socialism redirects here. ... Entente, meaning a diplomatic understanding, may refer to a number of agreements: The Entente Cordiale, 1904 between France and the United Kingdom. ...

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

A film adaptation directed by Sergei Lomkin was released in 1996. Cast included Oleg Yankovsky. 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Oleg I. Yankovsky Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky (Russian: ; b. ...

Footnotes

References

• (English) The Fateful Eggs, translated by Kathleen Gook-Horujy at Lib.ru.
• (Russian) The original text at Lib.ru.
• (Russian) The Fatal Eggs article in Bulgakov Encyclopedia at www.bulgakov.ru
• 1996 film profile at IMDB.com.