Mad scientists in H. G. Wells's early fiction

Název: Mad scientists in H. G. Wells's early fiction
Zdrojový dokument: Brno studies in English. 2023, roč. 49, č. 1, s. 163-178
Rozsah
163-178
  • ISSN
    0524-6881 (print)
    1805-0867 (online)
Type: Článek
Jazyk
Přístupová práva
otevřený přístup
 

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Abstrakt(y)
This article analyses six mad scientist characters from H. G. Wells's early fiction. The analysed mad scientists are as follows – the Bacteriologist from "The Stolen Bacillus", Hapley from "A Moth – Genus Novo", the Time Traveller from The Time Machine, Doctor Moreau from The Island of Doctor Moreau, Griffin from The Invisible Man, and Cavor from The First Men in the Moon. The article uses a broader definition of the mad scientist, one that includes not only evil scientific geniuses but also other, more benign characters, as long as they are eccentric enough to be considered mad. The said mad scientists are divided into three different categories, depending on whether they are evil, benign or neither of the two. The article shows that the analysed mad scientists reflect the early Wells's disbelief in the power of science to change the world for the better. It is also argued that Wells's varied body of mad scientists enriched and diversified the mad scientist trope in the history of the SF genre.
Reference
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[2] Bergonzi, Bernard (1961) The Early H. G. Wells: A Study of the Scientific Romances. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

[3] Haynes, Roslynn (2005) Mad scientists. In: Westfahl, Gary (ed.) The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Westport, Connecticut/London: Greenwood Press, 483–485.

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[5] Hitler, Adolf (1940) Mein Kampf (complete and unabridged, fully annotated). Editorial Sponsors: John Chamberlain et al. New York: Reynal and Hitchcock.

[6] Holt, Phillip (1992) H. G. Wells and the ring of Gyges. Science Fiction Studies 19 (2), 236–247. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4240153. Accessed on 31 August 2022.

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[9] Wells, Herbert George (1895) The Time Machine. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

[10] Wells, Herbert George (1896) The Island of Doctor Moreau. New York: Stone & Kimball.

[11] Wells, Herbert George (1897) The Invisible Man. Fontana/Collins.

[12] Wells, Herbert George (1901) The First Men in the Moon. London: George Newnes, Limited.

[13] Wells, Herbert George (1904a) The stolen bacillus. In: The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents. London: MacMillan and Co., Limited, 1–16.

[14] Wells, Herbert George (1904b) A moth – genus novo. In: The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents. London: MacMillan and Co., Limited, 232–256.

[15] Wells, Herbert George (1931) The New and Revised Outline of History Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind. New York: Garden City Publishing, Co., Inc.

[16] Петровић, Горан (2021) Еволуционизам као теоријска основа ране научно-фантастичне имагинације Х. Џ. Велса (необјављена докторска дисертација). Београд: Филолошки факултет. [Petrović, Goran (2021). Evolutionism as the Theoretical Basis of H. G. Wells's Early Science-Fiction Imagination (unpublished doctoral dissertation). Belgrade: Faculty of Philology].