A Young Doctor's Notebook
A Young Doctor's Notebook, also known as A Country Doctor's Notebook (Russian: «Записки юного врача» Zapiski yonogo vracha, literally, "A Young Doctor's Notes"), is a short story collection by the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov. The stories were written in the 1920s and inspired by Bulgakov's experiences as a newly graduated young doctor in 1916-18, practicing in a small village hospital in Smolensk Governorate in revolutionary Russia. The stories initially appeared in Russian medical journals of the period and were later compiled by scholars into book form.
The first English translation was done by Michael Glenny and was published by Harvill Press in 1975. A more recent translation (2011) has been done by Hugh Aplin under the Oneworld Classics imprint. The title of the Aplin translation is A Young Doctor's Notebook. The French translation was done by Paul Lequesne in 1994.
Stories
The list of stories in the Michael Glenny translation is as follows (in order):
- "The Embroidered Towel"
- "The Steel Windpipe"
- "Black as Egypt's Night"
- "Baptism by Rotation"
- "The Speckled Rash"
- "The Blizzard"
- "The Vanishing Eye"
- "Morphine"
- "The Murderer"
The Hugh Aplin translation also includes the short story "Morphine" but does not include "The Murderer"
Adaptations
- In 2008, a Russian film adaptation, titled Morphine, was released.
- In 2012, the book was turned into a television miniseries with the same title and broadcast by Sky Arts as a part of the anthology series strand, Playhouse Presents.[1] The role of the narrator/doctor is played by Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe, both fans of Bulgakov's works. The show also features Adam Godley (as the feldsher Demyan Lukich), Vicki Pepperdine, Rosie Cavaliero and Paul Popplewell.