Bulgakov was sent to a country hospital like Muryovo (without an internship) after graduating with a degree in medicine from Kiev University in 1916. He spent 18 months in this difficult, isolated practice, before returning to Kiev to specialize in venereal diseases. Subsequently, he moved to the Caucasus and gave up medical practice to pursue a career in writing. These stories were written in the mid-1920's and published separately between 1925 and 1927. According to Michael Glenny, the translator of this 1975 collection, Bulgakov intended to publish them together in a book to be called "The Notes of a Young Doctor," but he never did so. (He died in 1940.)

Glenny comments on the stories' evocation of "an almost mythic conflict between enlightenment and unreason." He also reflects on the difference in style between these straightforward tales and the fantasy and satire of his famous novels (The Master and Margarita and The Heart of a Dog), which were written during the same period. These medical tales do have a lot in common with William Carlos Williams's "doctor stories," both in terms of the doctoring theme as well as the ignorance-knowledge theme. Mostly, however, they present a gripping portrait of a young doctor mastering his profession.