Dear Guys!
Today we will talk about the science fiction novel “The Head of Professor Dowell” by Alexander Belyaev.
Remember, the work“The Head of Professor Dowell” was first published as a story in the Moscow Rabochaya Gazeta in the summer of 1925.
“The Head of Professor Dowell” is the first science fiction work by A.R. Belyaeva. The plot of the story is the same as the novel, but much simpler. Miss Adams (Mademoiselle Laurent in the novel) ends up in the laboratory of Professor Kern, a great scientist who, however, did not stop at the crime: having revived the head of his teacher, Professor Dowell, he now makes this head work for himself. Miss Adams, having penetrated Kern's secret, immediately tries to expose him, but to no avail. Dowell's son saves her from an almost hopeless situation. Together they manage to bring the revelation to completion. Kern is defeated.
The story was interesting for its science fiction ideas, but not for the literary skill of the author. Therefore, twelve years later Belyaev reworked it into a novel. The novel first appeared on the pages of the Leningrad newspaper Smena, and then in the magazine Around the World. The novel was released as a separate edition in 1938.
Let's look at the title of the text.
- Who will we be talking about?
Look at the picture and predict the content.
Scientific research.
Read the first two lines on page 110 in your textbook.
- What names did you come across?
Marie Laurent, Professor Kern.
The work is clearly about science.
- Do you think Professor Dowell was involved in science?
- Was Professor Kern involved in science?
- What role do you think Marie Laurent should play?
- Have you ever seen a picture of Justice?
- Why a woman?
Dowell does science, Kern does science.
- What do you think Marie is doing?
She is a judge by chance. She evaluates both, their activities, from the point of view of the most important feeling.
- What do you think is stronger, logic or feeling?
- Which feeling can be called the strongest and most creative?
Of course, love.
- Formulate the topic of the lesson. If two professors do science differently and Marie Laurent evaluates them, what could be the topic of the lesson?
The price of scientific discovery.
From the first chapters of the novel it is known that Marie Laurent received a medical diploma, but could not find a job anywhere. She had to support herself and her old mother, and she needed income. Professor Kern's offer to work for him was in some universityPeni is a salvation for Marie.Marie agreed to work with Kern only if there was no crime in his affairs. In addition, her character, direct and honest, was also manifested in the phrase: “I would prefer death to such a resurrection,” said after Marie first saw the head of Professor Dowell.All of Marie's best traits - directness, honesty, independence of judgment - subsequently developed under the influence of Professor Dowell.
Read the chapters of the novel in the textbook on page 110 (Part II).
- How did the life of Professor Dowell's head change with the appearance of Marie Laurent in the laboratory?
- What especially struck Marie about the story of Professor Dowell and about himself?
- How does the character of Marie Laurent develop under the influence of Professor Dowell?
The life of Professor Dowell's head changes with the arrival of Marie: Dowell sees in front of him an intelligent, beautiful girl who sympathizes with him, and the very appearance of Marie brings some peace to his soul. Then he realizes that Marie has become seriously interested in the tragedy he experienced, that she has taken his story to heart. Marie took a risk for him: she disobeyed Kern and opened the tap. Dowell was given the opportunity to speak. Marie even wants to openly oppose Kern. In short, Dowell now has an ally and friend. Marie was struck first of all by the fact that Kern used the works of his teacher and appropriated his inventions. And when she learns about the cause of Dowell’s death, her indignation knows no bounds. Dowell is a great scientist, thinker, he endures his misfortune with dignity and courage, but how dare he be so submissive, patient, how dare he work for a “thief and murderer”! Marie condemns his humility, not yet understanding that science is more important to Dowell than anything else.
Marie's character develops under the influence of Professor Dowell and his story. The girl becomes more serious, begins to perceive other people’s pain more acutely, thinks more deeply about what the paths of development of science should be, and whether the end always justifies the means. She previously believed that crime was unacceptable, but now, when she sees the victim of such, her rejection of the crime turns into an angry protest. She is ready to actively intervene in the course of life around her and restore justice.
Marie sees that Douel can be a strong, courageous, principled person, he cannot be broken by torture, but he is unable to resist his interest in science, unable to see the wrong experience. Science and work are the most important things in life for him. For their sake, Dowell is ready to forget about everything. This is what Dowell teaches his young assistant. She shares her love with him, proving that for the sake of loved one You can sacrifice freedom and even life. Marie has the main thing - an inner sense of justice and love, which help her survive in the most critical situations.
Remember what happened to A.R. Belyaev from 1916 to 1922. He lay encased in plaster, helpless and motionless. I couldn't move my arm or leg. His wife left him, and he would have disappeared if not for Margarita Konstantinovna, the future wife of the writer. Thus, Professor Dowell’s feelings are not fiction, they are largely suffered. Marie's figure is not accidental either.
So, we analyzed the episodes of the text “The Head of Professor Dowell” and answered the question what is the price of scientific discoveries.
Exercise.
- Pabout lesson materialsWrite a description of Marie in your literature notebook.
- Orally answer questions 3.7 located in the textbook on pages 122-123.
In the novel “The Head of Professor Dowell,” operations to revive human heads are carried out by the hands of a brilliant surgeon, but at the same time a very greedy and vain man, Professor Kern. The “resurrected” people did not become happy, grateful, or full-fledged members of human society. For example, Professor Dowell himself dreams of death, but his obsession with the ideas of scientific discoveries forces him to continue his earthly existence. Kern himself, during preparation for the operation to fuse the animated head with the body of a “fresh” corpse, utters the following words to his assistant: “Now is not the time to study ethical issues, - Kern answered dryly. “She will thank us herself later.” But there was no gratitude.
The greatest scientific experiments did not make any of the characters happy. Ethical issues remain aside. Lack of attention and respect for the individual led to the unconditional end of the entire work of both Professor Dowell and his assistant Kern.
It should be noted that Belyaev, in the words of his hero, directly speaks about ethical responsibility, thereby convincing the reader that the great scientific discoveries must be coupled with ethical issues, otherwise nothing will work.
conclusions
In the second chapter course work was held comparative analysis behavior of the protagonist before and after the operation, as a result of which the following features:
b) However, we notice that the deeper the consciousness reflects the world, the more diverse its emotional experience: after the operation, he finally began to be treated as a full-fledged member of society, a person, and not a toy for ridicule, which is what he sought. Albeit to a contradictory person, not always pleasant for others, but still a person.
In addition to the work “Flowers for Algernon,” the problem of humanism was examined in the most concise form in several other science fiction works of the twentieth century: the most famous works of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, the story “Hard to Be God” and the novel “Roadside Picnic,” as well as the novel by Alexander Romanovich Belov “The Head of Professor Dowell.” As a result, the following conclusions were formulated:
Conclusion
The global goal of my work was to understand the reasons and grounds for changes in the life of the mentally retarded protagonist and himself after the operation. To achieve this, I completed a number of tasks:
1) Developed my own universal definition humanism, which sounds like this: a historically changing system of worldview, the basis of which is the protection of the dignity and self-worth of the individual, his freedom and right to happiness; considering the good of man as the criterion for evaluation social institutions, and the principles of equality, justice, humanity are the desired norm of relations between people.
2) I got acquainted with the statistics regarding people with disabilities in the world and found out that at the moment about 23% of people around the world have disabilities varying degrees severity, and more than half of them assess the quality of their life as unsatisfactory and consider their condition hopeless and without prospects.
3) Identified the features of adaptation of people with disabilities in society - the presence of such social barriers as:
a) ignorance (how to behave in a society of people with disabilities, what their illness is and how dangerous it is);
b) fear (when people pretend not to notice people with disabilities because they are afraid of responsibility, afraid of physically or mentally hurting or upsetting them);
c) aggressive/indifferent point of view (people with disabilities are placed at an inferior level relative to healthy people and as a result do not deserve their attention, must live ‘in a separate world’).
4) Conducted a comparative analysis of the protagonist’s behavior before and after the operation, revealing the following features:
a) The man realizes that previously in any company he was just a whipping boy, a clown, an easy target for the constant mockery of others. And although he felt like a part of society, in fact it was still the same alienation, only not realized by a mentally retarded person.
b) However, we notice that the deeper the consciousness reflects the world, the more diverse its emotional experience: after the operation, he finally began to be treated as a full-fledged member of society, a person, and not a toy for ridicule, which is what he sought. Albeit to a contradictory person, not always pleasant for others, but still a person.
c) At the same time, the hero’s communication skills remained at the level of child development, which is why he suffers in his attempts to communicate with the opposite sex. As a result, we can conclude that the intellectual one-sidedness of human development is not as harmful as sensory one-sidedness (when a person is stupid, but subtly understands the vicissitudes interpersonal relationships), but, nevertheless, it also leads to sad results and destruction of personality.
5) In addition to the work “Flowers for Algernon,” I briefly examined the problem of humanism in several other science fiction works of the twentieth century: the most famous works of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, the story “Hard to Be God” and the novel “Roadside Picnic,” as well as novel by Alexander Romanovich Belov “The Head of Professor Dowell”. As a result, I came to the following conclusions:
a) The Strugatsky brothers, considering the achievements in their work scientific and technological progress, pay great attention to man and the relationship between man and society. The problem of choice, especially moral, turns out to be particularly important.
b) Belyaev, in the words of his hero, directly speaks about the ethical responsibility of scientists for their discoveries, thereby convincing the reader that great scientific achievements must be coupled with ethical issues, otherwise they will only cause harm, because in this work, “The Head of Professor Dowell”, at the end of the book, none of the characters were happy.
Thus, I completed all the assigned tasks step by step, resorting to such methods of scientific research as analysis, synthesis, qualification, analogy and others. The main goal of my course work was successfully achieved.
List of used literature
1. Aisherwood, M.M. Full life of a disabled person [Text] / M.M. Aisherwood - M: Pedagogy, 1991.
2. Aleynik, T.A. Institutional barriers and strategies for social mobility of people with disabilities: dissertation. Ph.D. social Sciences: 22.00.04 Text. / Aleynik Lidiya Anatolyevna. Stavropol, 2008.
3. Dobrovolskaya, T.A. Disabled people: a discriminated minority / T.A. Dobrovolskaya, N.B. Shabalina // Sociological research. 1992.
4. Dobrovolskaya, T.A. Social problems disabled people / T.A. Dobrovolskaya, N.A Demidov, N.B. Shabalina // Sociological studies. 1988.
5. Dobrovolskaya, T.A. Social and psychological features of relationships between disabled people and healthy people / T.A. Dobrovolskaya, N.B. Shabalina // Sociological studies. 1993.
6. Dobrovolskaya T.A., Shabalina N.B. Disabled person and society: socio-psychological integration // Sociological research. 1991.
7. Dvoryanchikova, I.A. Family of a disabled person in social structure society / I.A. Dvoryanchikova // Dissertation for the degree of candidate of sociological sciences. Samara, 2003.
8. Kalinicheva, T. I. Disabled people in the mirror of public consciousness // Bulletin of Charity. - 1995.
9. Kulikov, A.N. Humanism in modern world./ A.N. Kulikov // Dis. Ph.D. philosopher. Sci. - 2012.
10. Raetskaya, I.E. Psychological and pedagogical conditions for the development of communication skills of people with disabilities means of leisure theatrical activities. / I.E. Raetskaya // Dis. Ph.D. psychol. Sci. - 2005.
11. Chernichkina, V.A. Social and psychological problems of disabled people and the main strategies for resolving them. / V.A. Chernichkina // Dis. Ph.D. psychol. Sci. - 2003.
12. Blackham H.J. Humanism. - 2nd rev. ed. - N.Y., 1976. – 132 p.
Many of us strive to read not the work itself, but precisely its summary. The Head of Professor Dowell is definitely a book worth reading in its entirety. However, we will try to briefly present this adventure novel by the Russian writer Alexander Belyaev.
Meet Marie Lohmarn
This girl is a young doctor, and it is with meeting her that Belyaev begins his story. “The Head of Professor Dowell” at the beginning of the story takes us to Professor Kern’s office. The girl will have to work with him. The office makes a gloomy impression on her. However, once in the laboratory, the girl sees a terrible picture: a human head is mounted on a glass board, to which many tubes are connected. The face of the head reminds her of the famous Professor Dowell, a scientist-surgeon who died not long ago.
Resurrection
From Kern, the girl learns that this is really the head of this scientist, who managed to resurrect her. The girl is in shock; death seems much better to her than such a resurrection.
However, we continue to read the summary. The head of Professor Dowell is the object of Marie's labors. The girl's duty is to monitor her condition. It must be said that thanks to resurrection, the head is able to hear, understand and even answer questions with facial expressions.
Communication with the head
Marie brings medical journals to her head every day, which they look through together. This is how Belyaev continues the story. Professor Dowell's head and the girl communicate with each other. Marie understands her by signs. One day, her head asked her to turn off the tap connected to her throat. It was this that Professor Kern strictly forbade her to touch. Careless movement can lead to head death.
talking head
However, the professor's head explains to Marie that this will not happen. This is how Alexander Belyaev continues his story. The girl is worried, but fulfills Dowell’s request. What happens next shocks Marie: it turns out that the head can talk!
Revival details
This is what Professor Dowell's head tells the girl. The book, of course, is able to convey this more emotionally than a summary.
Professor Kern was Dowell's assistant. He is certainly a talented surgeon. While they were working together, Dowell suffered an asthma attack. When he woke up, the professor discovered that he was deprived of his body. Kern saved his brain to continue his research.
You will find out more terrifying details if you continue reading the summary. The head of Professor Dowell tells the astonished girl how he refused to cooperate with Kern, and he, wanting to obtain valuable information, passed through her electricity and added irritating reagents to the nutrient solutions.
New "revivals"
Nevertheless, Dowell was forced to agree to work with Kern when he saw that he, while conducting experiments, made mistakes that could ruin the fruits of their joint work. This is what the summary is about.
Professor Dowell's head helps Kern make other animations. Two more heads appear. One of them - Tom Bush - is male, belonging to a worker who was hit by a car. The other - Briquet - is female, the head of a singer from a bar.
These two are not used to living an intellectual life; it is painful for them to be without a body. Marie plays music and movies for them, but they only get upset: everything reminds them of how they lived before. Briquet managed to convince Kern to give her another body.
Marie's arrest
Kern, having learned that Marie is talking to the professor’s head, forbids her to leave the laboratory. The girl tries to protest, but Kern deprives the professor of air from his head by turning off one of the taps. Now the laboratory is becoming a real prison for Marie, as Alexander Belyaev writes.
Briquet's new body
Kern finds a body for Briquet and kidnaps him from the scene of a train accident. The body is grafted onto the singer's head. Briquet begins to sing: her voice sounds excellent in the lower register. This graceful body, as it turned out, was inherited by Briquet from Angelica Guy, a famous Italian artist. The singer's gestures reveal extraordinary grace.
Briquet is trying to win his freedom. Her desire is to return home, but Kern does not want to let her go.
It's just brief retelling. “The Head of Professor Dowell,” if you read this amazing work in its entirety, will reveal to you many interesting episodes.
Briquet's flight
Realizing that it is hopeless to beg Kern, Briquet runs. She climbs down from the window along the tied sheets. Briquet is on the run with his girlfriend and her husband, who was a safecracker, from possible police persecution. She does not tell her friends about the secret surrounding her return.
Unexpected meeting
Let's continue reading the book "The Head of Professor Dowell." The heroes of this work: Briquet, Red Martha (her friend), her friend's husband Jean - go to the Mediterranean Sea. There they unexpectedly meet the artist Armand Lare and Arthur Dowell, the son of that same professor.
Armand Lare mourns for Angelique Guy, because he was not just a fan of this girl’s talent, but also her friend. His sharp gaze was able to catch the striking similarity of the figure of an unfamiliar woman with the body of the singer. He also notices that Briquet has the same gestures, the same mole on his shoulder.
Armand Lare and the son of Professor Dowell decide to reveal this secret. Lare invites Briquet and his friends on a boat trip. On the yacht, Armand, left alone with Briquet, forces her to tell her everything. The young woman honestly answers all of Lara and Dowell's questions.
At the mention of the third head in the laboratory, Arthur realizes that we are talking about his father. He takes out the photo and shows it to Brika. She confirms that this is the same person.
Back to Paris
The young people, together with Briquet, go to Paris to find the professor's head. Armand Lare feels sympathy for the young woman, but does not understand what attracts him to her: Briquet herself or the body of the late singer.
Briquet realizes that her life has changed dramatically. A singer from a bar, having acquired a beautiful new body, not only transforms and becomes younger in appearance, but also begins to think differently.
However, a small wound that was on the foot of Angelique's body leads to Briquet's leg starting to hurt and swell.
The young people decide to show her to the doctors. However, she is against it because she is afraid that her story will become known.
Briquet secretly goes to Kern's laboratory.
Arthur Dowell learns that Marie Laurent is in a mental hospital. Friends with great efforts achieve Marie's release.
Kern tries to save Briquet's leg, but his attempts are in vain. He again separates Briquet's head from his body.
During the demonstration, Marie Laurent exposes Kern, who committed murder and appropriated someone else's discovery. To hide his crime, Kern changes the appearance of Dowell's head.
Arthur asks the police to search Kern, during which he is present along with Marie and Armand. The young people see the end of life for Professor Dowell's head. Kern's interrogation is being prepared. Kern goes to the office, from where a shot is soon heard.
We have just finished presenting the brilliant work of Alexander Belyaev “The Head of Professor Dowell”. Reviews of this book confirm that it occupies a worthy place in the souls of many people. There are readers who were not only shocked by the author’s intentions, but are also ready to return to the work again and again. Even people who are not particularly fond of science fiction literature consider this book to be one that is worth re-reading.
How vividly the author depicts the possibility of such experiments makes one shudder. After all, if such experiments become possible, a person will be absolutely powerless before science, and if this knowledge ends up in the hands of people like Kern, then we risk severely suffering from atrocities.
THE NOVEL “THE HEAD OF PROFESSOR DOWELL”, 1925, is 90 years old.
Read the book!!!
Alexander Romanovich Belyaev (March 4, 1884 - January 6, 1942) - Russian science fiction writer, one of the founders of Soviet science fiction literature. Author of more than 70 science fiction works, including 13 novels. For his significant contribution to Russian science fiction and visionary ideas, Belyaev is called the “Russian Jules Verne.”
“The Head of Professor Dowell” is a science fiction novel, one of the writer’s most famous works.
The first version in the form of a story was published in Rabochaya Gazeta in 1925. The novel was first published that same year in the World Pathfinder magazine.
Summary
France. Paris. Professor surgeon Kern secretly conducts successful work to revive the human head. Marie Laurent, who became an assistant at his private clinic, accidentally learns that Kern owes his success in research to the head of his former supervisor and famous professor Dowell, who died under suspicious circumstances, which he revived. Kern hides the existence of the animated head and forces it to work for himself.
Under the guidance of Dowell's head, Kern carries out a number of successful operations - reviving other heads dead people, and also gives one of them a new body. The former singer in the Briquet bar, who received the new body of the artist Angelique, who died in a train accident, escapes from Kern to start new life. On the Riviera, in the company of her friends - Jean and his wife Martha - she encounters the artist Armand Laret, who unexpectedly recognizes the body of his missing friend Angelique with the head of another woman. Moreover, Armand and his friend Arthur Dowell are amazed when they learn from Briquet that she saw the living head of Arthur's father in the Kern clinic.
At this time, Kern discovers that Marie Laurent is communicating with the head of Professor Dowell and knows about the crimes he has committed. Fearing discovery, Kern places Marie in Dr. Ravino's psychiatric hospital. This “hospital” is intended to get rid of unwanted people, whom Ravino, using savage methods, turns into real crazy people.
Arthur Dowell and his friends go to Paris, where, with the help of another artist, Schaub, they stage an armed raid on the hospital and rescue Marie from there. At this time, Kern, forcing events, organizes a public display of his revitalization works. Marie and her friends come to the show and make an expose. Despite the spoiled triumph, Kern still manages to get out. A police search at Kern's clinic turns up nothing. Trying to find his father, Arthur Dowell demands a second search from the police. As a result, Marie Laurent finds the dying professor in the disfigured head, in which no one could recognize Douel. He dies in front of his son, but manages to help the final exposure of Kern. Not wanting to be in the dock, he commits suicide.
Quotes from the book
“... here on earth, let it be known to you, naive creature, vice and only vice triumphs! And virtue... Virtue stands with its hand outstretched, begging vice for pennies..."
Beautiful woman- a woman doubly. This means that he has doubly female shortcomings.
If virtue cannot triumph, then at least vice must be punished.
Truthfulness is a bad object for irony.
Data
It is believed that Belyaev owes the basis of the plot of the novel to the experiments of S. S. Bryukhonenko (Russian Soviet physiologist, doctor medical sciences, created the world's first artificial blood circulation machine) to revive the body after physical death. However, Bryukhonenko presented the results of the experiment only several years after the novel was published.
The very idea where the head (brain) lives without a body, supported in a scientific way, was not fundamentally new for literature - Edward Page Mitchell’s feuilleton “The Man Without a Body” (1877), Maurice Renard’s novel “Doctor Lern” (“New Beast”) ( 1908) and Gaston Leroux’s novel “Bloody” (1923) addressed this issue. It is unknown whether Belyaev himself was familiar with these works.
Both the biography and the work of Belyaev, after several decades of Soviet “canonization” (and rather poor coverage), became the subject of conflicting judgments. Thus, the famous Russian critic and historian of science fiction Vsevolod Revich gave Belyaev’s work a sharply negative assessment. He reproached the author for the weak elaboration of fantastic elements and opportunistic ruthlessness towards “class enemies” and “sadism” towards the heroes on whom physiological experiments were carried out.
Shortly before the war, the writer underwent another operation, so he refused the offer to evacuate when the war began. The city of Pushkin, where he lived in last years A. Belyaev with his family was occupied. In January 1942, the writer died of hunger. He was buried in a mass grave along with other residents of the city. The burial place of Alexander Belyaev is not known for certain. The memorial stele at the Kazan cemetery in the city of Pushkin was installed only on the supposed grave.
In 1990, the section of scientific, artistic and science fiction literature of the Leningrad writers' organization of the Union of Writers of the USSR established literary prize named after Alexander Belyaev, awarded for scientific, artistic and science fiction works. In the same year, the prize was awarded to Arkady and Boris Strugatsky for the science fiction novel “The Doomed City.”
Film adaptations of the novel
In 1984, based on the novel, the film “The Testament of Professor Dowell”, directed by Leonid Menaker, was shot.
"Professor Dowell's Head"- a science fiction novel by Russian Soviet science fiction writer Alexander Belyaev, one of the most famous works of the writer. The first version in the form of a story was published in Rabochaya Gazeta in 1925. The novel was first published that same year in the World Pathfinder magazine. Belyaev, who was completely immobilized during periods of exacerbation of the disease, called it an autobiographical story: he wanted to tell “what a head without a body can experience.”
Encyclopedic YouTube
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In 1923-1928, Alexander Belyaev lived in Moscow and worked as a legal adviser at the People's Commissariat for Postal Service. During the Moscow period of his work, he wrote the story (later the novel) “The Head of Professor Dowell”, the novels “The Island of Lost Ships”, “The Last Man from Atlantis”, “Amphibian Man”, “Struggle in the Air” and a series of short stories.
The work “The Head of Professor Dowell” was first published in 1925 (1 (story): “Working Newspaper” (M.), 1925, June 16-21, June 24-26; “World Pathfinder", 1925, No. 3-4. 2 (novel), newspaper "Smena" (L.), 1937, 1-6, 8-9, 11, 14-18, 24, 28 February, 1, 3-6, 9-11 March; "Around light", 1937, No. 6-10; departmental ed. - Leningrad, "Soviet writer", 1938)
Plot
France. Paris. Professor-surgeon Kern is secretly carrying out successful work to revive the human head. Marie Laurent, who became an assistant at his private clinic, accidentally learns that Kern owes his success in research to the head of his former supervisor and famous professor Dowell, who died under suspicious circumstances, which he revived. Kern hides the existence of the animated head and forces it to work for himself.
Under the guidance of Dowell's head, Kern carries out a number of successful operations - he revives other heads of dead people, and also gives one of them a new body. The former singer at the Briquet bar, who received the new body of the artist Angelique, who died in a train accident, escapes from Kern to start a new life. On the Riviera, in the company of her friends - Jean and his wife Martha - she encounters the artist Armand Laret, who unexpectedly recognizes the body of his missing friend Angelique with the head of another woman. Moreover, Armand and his friend Arthur Dowell are amazed when they learn from Briquet that she saw the living head of Arthur's father in the Kern clinic.
At this time, Kern discovers that Marie Laurent is communicating with the head of Professor Dowell and knows about the crimes he has committed. Fearing discovery, Kern places Marie in Dr. Ravino's psychiatric hospital. This “hospital” is intended to get rid of unwanted people, whom Ravino, using savage methods, turns into real crazy people.
Arthur Dowell and his friends go to Paris, where, with the help of another artist, Schaub, they stage an armed raid on the hospital and rescue Marie from there. At this time, Kern, forcing events, organizes a public display of his revitalization works. Marie and her friends come to the show and make an expose. Despite the spoiled triumph, Kern still manages to get out. A police search at Kern's clinic turns up nothing. Trying to find his father, Arthur Dowell demands a second search from the police. As a result, Marie Laurent finds the dying professor in the disfigured head, in which no one could recognize Douel. He dies in front of his son, but manages to help the final exposure of Kern. Not wanting to be in the dock, he commits suicide.
Characters
People
- Kern- professor, surgeon-villain
- Marie Laurent- doctor, Kern's assistant
- John- Negro servant
- Angelica Guy- deceased singer whose body was used by Kern
- Red Martha- Briquet's friend
- Jean- Martha's husband
- Madame Laurent- Marie's mother
- Armand Lare- artist
- Arthur Dowell- son of Professor Dowell
- Schaub- artist from Australia, friend of Lara
- Ravino- criminal doctor, owner of a psychiatric hospital
Heads
- Dowell- professor, scientist-surgeon
- Tom Bush- a dead construction worker whose head was revived by Kern
- Briquet- a dead bar singer whose head was revived by Kern
Criticism
In 1939, critic and prose writer Ya. S. Rykachev reviewed the novel “The Head of Professor Dowell” on the pages of the magazine “Children’s Literature”. Having called the novel an integral and fascinating narrative and noting the culture of writing and the undoubted talent of the author, Rykachev nevertheless harshly criticized Belyaev’s work, considering it a failure of the writer and defining the book as an “annoying anachronism.” The critic expressed the opinion that the novel is distinguished not only by the absence of any social idea, but by weakness from the point of view of scientific thought, expressed in the inability of the author either to convey significant scientific information or to acquaint the reader with the real prospects of science. In his review, Rykachev made the assumption that Belyaev was based on the experiments of Dr. Bryukhonenko, who managed to preserve the vital activity of a dog’s head, separated from the body.
On the pages of the same magazine, Belyaev replied that the novel was written even before the experiments of S. S. Bryukhonenko. Belyaev noted that the novel is partly autobiographical - the idea came to the writer when his legs were paralyzed and he was bedridden for 3 years, actually feeling like a “head without a body.” By the time the book was written, the idea of a head (brain) living without a body, supported in a scientific manner, was not fundamentally new to literature - Edward Page Mitchell’s feuilleton “The Man Without a Body” (1877), Gustav Meyrink’s story “Exhibit,” Maurice Renard’s novel “ Doctor Lern" ("The New Beast") (1908), Gaston Leroux's novel "The Bloody Doll" (1923), the short story by the German writer Karl Grunert "The Head of Mr. Steil" ( Mr. Vivacius Style) - touched on this issue. Belyaev himself named Charles Brown-Séquard as the inspiration for his book.
Regarding the social theme, Belyaev expressed confidence that it is much easier to create an entertaining and poignant plot in a book on the theme of class struggle than in a work describing a future classless society. The writer emphasized that showing such a society and its scientific, technical, cultural, everyday prospects is no less important than the class struggle.
While the Soviet critic Rykachev gave the novel a low rating, saying that the novel bears “a clear trace of the influence of Western entertainment and fantasy literature,” the English science fiction writer H.G. Wells, during a meeting with Belyaev in 1934 in Leningrad, expressed the opposite opinion: “I am pleased , Mr. Belyaev, I read your wonderful novels “The Head of Professor Dowell” and “Amphibian Man”. ABOUT! They compare very favorably with Western books. I’m even a little jealous of their success.”
Film adaptations
Notes
Literature
- B. V. Lyapunov. Alexander Belyaev. - Critical-biographical essay. - M.: “Soviet writer”, 1967. - 27 p.
- Y. S. Rykachev.“The Head of Professor Dowell” by A. Belyaev // “Children’s Literature”: magazine. - 1939. - No. 1. - pp. 50-53.
- A. R. Belyaev. About my works // “Children’s Literature”: magazine. - 1939. - No. 5. - pp. 23-25.
Links
- Alexander Belyaev. Head of Professor Dowell (text of the novel on the website Lib.Ru).
- Svetlana Belyaeva “The star twinkles outside the window...” (Alexander Romanovich Belyaev Novels. Novels. Stories / Library of World Literature. M., Eksmo, 2008.)
- Illustrations by Alexander Dovgal for the 1957 edition of the novel “The Head of Professor Dowell.”
Novels Stories