Product Description

An inspired work of science fiction and a biting political allegory, Bulgakov's The Fatal Eggs tells of a brilliant scientist whose experiments with life spiral terribly - and fatefully - out of control. Quite by chance, Professor Persikov discovers a new form of light ray whose effect, when directed at living cells, is to accelerate growth in primitive organisms. But when this ray is shone on the wrong batch of eggs, the Professor finds himself both the unwilling creator of giant hybrids, and the focus of a merciless press campaign. For it seems the propaganda machine has turned its gaze on him, distorting his nature in the very way his 'innocent' tampering created the monster snakes and crocodiles that now terrorise the neighbourhood.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #765565 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .35" h x 6.30" w x 7.48" l, .35 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 116 pages

Review
'No aficionado of the genre could fail to be enchanted by this so perfect example' --Doris Lessing

'At once a satire of Bolshevist scheming and a story of technological apocalypse... The Fatal Eggs can be appreciated for its subtle insights about the dangers of technology and ideology run amok. Yet it is also an exciting adventure that will please fans of Jules Verne or H.G. Wells.' --Event Magazine

'The Soviet Union is gone now, unlikely to return in the foreseeable future. The literature of its early years, however, is now enjoying a modest but definite revival in English translation...Soviet writers like Bulgakov reveal the social conflicts of their era and deserve to be heard today by anyone eager to learn about the hopes and fears created by an event then unprecedented in the world: the first socialist revolution.' --Socialist Action

From the Author
No afficionado of the genre could fail to be enchanted by this so perfect example’ – From the foreword by Doris Lessing

From the Inside Flap
Quite by chance, Professor Persikov discovers a new form of light ray whose effect, when directed at living cells, is to accelerate growth in organisms. But when this ray is shone on the wrong batch of eggs, the Professor finds himself both the unwilling creator of giant hybrids, and the focus of a merciless press campaign. For it seems the propaganda machine has turned its gaze on him, distorting his nature in the very way his ‘innocent’ tampering created the monster snakes and crocodiles that now terrorise the neighbourhood.

An inspired work of science fiction and a biting political allegory, The Fatal Eggs tells of a brilliant scientist whose experiments with life spiral terribly – and fatefully – out of control. Written in the early years of Stalin’s dictatorship, this remarkable futuristic tale proved so pertinent that, on its first publication, Bulgakov found himself labelled a counter-revolutionary by the literary press.