The scientist as God : a typological study of a literary motif, 1818 to the present / Sven Wagner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wagner, Sven.

Series:

Anglistische Forschungen ; Band 421.

Anglistische Forschungen ; Band 421

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Scientists.

Creation in literature.

Physical Description:

263 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Heidelberg, Neckar : Universitätsverlag Winter GmbH Heidelberg, [2012]

Summary:

This volume investigates a corpus of 30 narrative and dramatic Anglophonic texts in which the motif of scientist as God is both central and explicitly verbalized. The author's goal is to discover whether the themes he drew from close readings of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and H.G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau--primarily the combination of cautionary tragedy warning against the attempt to rival God through science and theological allegory criticizing God for playing God in an irresponsible manner (for acting like a mad scientist in other words)--is present in other works, such as Herman Melville's "The Bell-Tower," Kurt Vonnegut's "Fortitude," Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark," and George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Tragic representations of the motif

3. Combinations of tragedy and theological allegory

4. Combinations of tragedy and comedy/satire

5. A combination of tragedy, comedy, and theological allegory: Margaret Atwood's creation of a new type of Oryx and Crake

6. Comic/satiric representations of th motif

7. Concluding reflections.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [241]-258) and index.

ISBN:

9783825358556

3825358550

OCLC:

780073280