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A Country Doctor's Notebook (Vintage Classics)
Brilliant stories that show the growth of a novelist's mind, and the raw material that fed the wild surrealism of Bulgakov's later fiction.
With the ink still wet on his diploma, the twenty-five-year-old Dr. Mikhail Bulgakov was flung into the depths of rural Russia which, in 1916-17, was still largely unaffected by such novelties as the motor car, the telephone or electric...more
With the ink still wet on his diploma, the twenty-five-year-old Dr. Mikhail Bulgakov was flung into the depths of rural Russia which, in 1916-17, was still largely unaffected by such novelties as the motor car, the telephone or electric...more
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
February 1st 2010
by Vintage Classics
(first published 1970)
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No one likes going to the doctor, even if the doctor is a hunk with the most fabulous cheekbones (like mine), or a hottie with the prettiest ass this side of the donkey sanctuary (like yours). When we look back at the history of medicine, we realise, although (in America) being sick costs money, at least we aren’t having leeches shoved down our pants, amputations sans anaesthesia, or teeth extractions done by nurses. Bulgakov’s short fictions are drawn from his time as a doctor in a provincial b...more
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مذكرات طبيب شاب
لو كان الأمر لي لوزعت هذا الكتاب على كل طبيب مستجد، بل على كل شاب يبدأ حياته العملية، حتى يزاوله خوف البدايات، وحيرة الأيام الأولى، التي وصفها بولغاكوف في هذا الكتاب بكل روعة، ودقة.
كتب بولغاكوف كتابه هذا بعد تجربته الشخصية، عندما تخرج طبيباً من جامعة كييف، فعين في سمولنسك في أقصى الشمال، ليعيش التجربة كاملة، وحيداً، بين تلك القرى الثلجية التي لا تعصف بها الرياح المتجمدة فقط، وإنما الجهل والخرافات، متسلحاً بكتبه الطبية، متخوفاً من استدعاء قادم، متخيلاً...more
لو كان الأمر لي لوزعت هذا الكتاب على كل طبيب مستجد، بل على كل شاب يبدأ حياته العملية، حتى يزاوله خوف البدايات، وحيرة الأيام الأولى، التي وصفها بولغاكوف في هذا الكتاب بكل روعة، ودقة.
كتب بولغاكوف كتابه هذا بعد تجربته الشخصية، عندما تخرج طبيباً من جامعة كييف، فعين في سمولنسك في أقصى الشمال، ليعيش التجربة كاملة، وحيداً، بين تلك القرى الثلجية التي لا تعصف بها الرياح المتجمدة فقط، وإنما الجهل والخرافات، متسلحاً بكتبه الطبية، متخوفاً من استدعاء قادم، متخيلاً...more
This book is unlike some of the other Russian literatures that are incredibly long and almost impossible to finish, but this book is just as intensive and nerve-wracking as the other stories. The writing is very concise, impactful and gives very detailed and emotional description of the young doctor's feelings and thoughts, and the situations in the novel are sometimes so bleak and discouraging that they're funny. This book didn't exactly make me laugh out loud, but there are moments where I'm...more
What a great little book. I read it through as a novel, but it could equally be dipped into as a series of short stories, as each short chapter is a little capsule of the experisnces of a young, newly qualified doctor with no practical experience, who finds himself thrown in at the deep end when he is assigned a post at a country hospital where he finds himself in charge. (scarey!)
It was funny (laugh out loud), sad, and miraculous. It made me thank all the lovely scientists and researc...more
It was funny (laugh out loud), sad, and miraculous. It made me thank all the lovely scientists and researc...more
The young Dr. House of revolutionary Russia, the extravagantly autobiographical hero of the novel faces wolves, blizzards, and a great deal of his own angst trying to treat a host of enigmatic peasants. Just like House, the episodes are centered around medical mysteries that, after some hand-writing, usually lead to a happy ending. Since the stories were not written to be cohesive, some bits get repeated, and there is no consistent timeline. Nevertheless, like a good episode of a TV Drama, one...more
I love "The Russians" and so I picked up this book at a remainder table. Also, I liked Bulgakov's "voice" in "The Master and Margarita" --- a book that I've read at least twice without ever really understanding it.
The stories in this book are a series of medical case histories. The background to them is the author's experience as a doctor performing some type of mandatory service in tsarist Russia at a remote country clinic. The case histories are qui...more
The stories in this book are a series of medical case histories. The background to them is the author's experience as a doctor performing some type of mandatory service in tsarist Russia at a remote country clinic. The case histories are qui...more
A collection of linked short stories inspired by Bulgakov's youthful experience as a doctor in a remote region of Russia. Newly graduated but expected to run a small country hospital on his own, the narrator learns very quickly how to perform amputations, deliver babies, treat syphilis, etc. As the book progresses, the incidents get darker. There is addiction and assassination... Bulgakov practised medicine in a time and place when the normal contents of a travelling doctor's bag were: morphine,...more
A set of two short stories, about medical life in the early days of the Soviet Union.
The first - actually a collection of even shorter stories, collected together - details the collision of a young doctor, fresh out of medical school, and the crushing responsibilities of being a physician - as well as being in the middle of nowhere, where electricity and drugs are still strange and mysterious things. Funny and tragic in equal measure. Frank in its honesty, and likely semi-autobiograp...more
The first - actually a collection of even shorter stories, collected together - details the collision of a young doctor, fresh out of medical school, and the crushing responsibilities of being a physician - as well as being in the middle of nowhere, where electricity and drugs are still strange and mysterious things. Funny and tragic in equal measure. Frank in its honesty, and likely semi-autobiograp...more
A collection of short stories concerning a newly graduated medic's baptism of fire in the icy depths of the Russian countryside. Deeply human and humorous, this little gem stares at suffering straight in the face - and deals with it.
I watched the film roughly based on this awhile ago... the book is much more lighthearted. Bulgakov is bitter and funny but humane and lovely and it's incredibly impressive that he managed to show this in such short stories.
Exceptional collection of semi-fictional vignettes charting the author's first posting (in rural Russia) after qualifying from medical school in Kiev. Gripping, resonant and tight prose.
Apart from one or two gorey details (amputations don't bother me, but the abscess inside the eyelid definitely did), this was actually a very enjoyable read. Watching the young Bulgakov evolve from an inexperienced, newly graduated doctor is interesting.
Récits prenants, où l'ironie n'est pas en reste, de l'expérience d'un tout jeune médecin moscovite muté dans un petit hôpital de la campagne profonde.
Have you ever wanted to know what it's like to manually turn a baby around in the womb for the first time? Read on, dear reader, read on...
Very interesting story. Includes one of the best early descriptions of addiction.
Incredibly funny, sometimes very sad and a little ironic. I enjoyed every single story!
I love Russian lit, and Bulgakov is fantastic. A great collection of stories.
What a young doctors feels like at the beginning of his career
One of my all time favorites, he's just such genuine story teller.
Gennadyi
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
russian lit fans, bulgakov fans, autobiography fans
a collection of autobiographical stories from M. A. Bulgakov (best known for "Master and Margarita" and "Heart of a Dog") written about his tenure in a country clinic, well written and poignant.
especially memorable are his reflections on a syphilis epidemic and a very revealing essay about the author's falling into a morphine addiction.
a serious read.
especially memorable are his reflections on a syphilis epidemic and a very revealing essay about the author's falling into a morphine addiction.
a serious read.
რა კარგია რომ ექიმი არ ვარ და პირიქით.
I couldn't stop laughing while I was reading it in the Main Library at Uni, It just reminds me of the times I had in my clinical visists to hospitals when I was still undergraduate.
This book made me laugh from the bottom of my heart.
This book made me laugh from the bottom of my heart.
I couldn't stop laughing while I was reading it in the Main Library at Uni, It just reminds me of the times I had in my clinical visists to hospitals when I was still undergraduate.
This book made me laugh from the bottom of my heart.
This book made me laugh from the bottom of my heart.
UNF MIKHAIL, YOU ARE SO BITTER AND FUNNY AND SEXY. WHY ARE YOU NOT MINE.
Loved it. Very Russian. Plus lots of old-timey medicine like camphor injections and syphilis outbreaks.
жестьконечно!
One of my favorites
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Михаил Булгаков
Bulgakov was the first of six children in the family of a theology professor. His family belonged to the intellectual elite of Kiev. Bulgakov and his brothers took part in the demonstration commemorating the death of Leo Tolstoy. Bulgakov later graduated with honors from the Medical School of Kiev University in 1915. He married his classmate Tatiana Lappa, who became his...more
More about Mikhail Bulgakov...
Bulgakov was the first of six children in the family of a theology professor. His family belonged to the intellectual elite of Kiev. Bulgakov and his brothers took part in the demonstration commemorating the death of Leo Tolstoy. Bulgakov later graduated with honors from the Medical School of Kiev University in 1915. He married his classmate Tatiana Lappa, who became his...more
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