The main idea of the work is the head of Professor Dowell

It looks rather vague and does not allow you to fully understand what the novel is about. And a brief summary does not dispel the "fog" over the content. To help those who doubt whether it is worth reading - a summary. "Professor Dowell's Head" is a book that leads to complex and useful reflections. Check it out!

First chapters, summary: Professor Dowell's head meets Marie Laurent

Seriously working-minded young woman Marie Laurent gets a job in the laboratory of a famous scientist - Professor Kern. On the very first day, a shock awaits the girl - in her workplace "lives" ... a human head, devoid of a body. She is the one to take care of her. Despite her beauty and relative youth, Marie decides to look into the work, especially since she really needs money.

As it soon turns out, Professor Dowell's head (a summary would be incomplete without this fact) not only understands everything, but also thinks clearly, and, as Marie finds out at her own peril and risk, she can speak. From that moment on, Miss Laurent realizes how rich she is with a body! As strange as it may seem, Marie and the professor's head were able to make friends.

The girl learns that even in her current state, Dowell works. And Kern presents all the results of his work as his developments. Dowell also shares with Marie suspicions that he deliberately did not help a colleague during an asthma attack, which allegedly caused the scientist to die. Laurent begins to dislike Kern.

Continued Summary: Professor Dowell's Head Gets "Friends"

Professor Kern decides to continue the successful experience of animating heads - the heads of the worker Tom and the actress Briquet "settled" in his laboratory. Such a "resurrection" for them is something completely incomprehensible. They want to live again the way they used to. This leads Kern to the idea that you can try to sew on the bodies. At the same time, he learns that Marie has been talking to Dowell's head for a long time. She has information that essentially makes Kern a criminal. The scientist blackmails Laurent with the fact that he will turn off the devices that ensure the vital activity of the head if the girl refuses to work further and tries to leave his house.

Amazing Achievements, Summary: Professor Dowell's Head Involved in Briquet's Revival

With the help of his vast experience in surgery and the most valuable advice of Dowell, Professor Kern sews Briquet's head to the body of the singer Angelica Guy, who died in a train crash. Experiment successful! But the active and restless Briquet runs away from Kern's house as soon as she is fully restored.

After escaping, Briquet leaves Paris with his friends and accidentally meets Armand Laret, who was in love with the deceased Angelica, and Arthur Dowell, the son of a professor who, as everyone thought, died.

Under pressure from Lara, the girl tells her friends the truth, and they decide to look into the situation. Meanwhile, Briquet has an inflamed wound on his leg, which Angelica had.

At this time, Marie Laurent finds herself in a mental hospital. There, at the direction of Kern, they methodically try to drive her crazy. But Arthur Dowell comes to her aid.

"Head of Professor Dowell": the content of the final chapters

Brika and her friends fail to heal the wound, the girl is getting worse. She goes to Kern, who tries to help her, but it's too late! He has to deprive Brike of the body again. He demonstrates his living head at a special meeting attended by Marie Laurent. She angrily exposes the professor. Representatives of the law come to his laboratory.

There they find the head of Professor Dowell, who is almost unrecognizable due to paraffin injections - Kern took care to hide the traces of his activities, but he did not succeed completely.

In his last moments, Dowell sees his son, who arrived at the house with the police, and tells the law enforcement officers that Marie knows everything about Kern's affairs. Everything is clear! Kern commits suicide.

Professor Dowell's Head is a thought-provoking masterpiece

It would seem that people have long dreamed of defeating death. But at what cost is this possible? Only the full text of the novel makes it possible to understand the whole global nature of this problem!

In the novel Professor Dowell's Head, operations to revive human heads are carried out by the hands of a brilliant surgeon, but at the same time a very greedy and conceited person, Professor Kern. The "resurrected" people did not become happy, grateful, and also full-fledged members of human society. So, for example, Professor Dowell himself dreams of death, but his obsession with the ideas of scientific discoveries make him continue his earthly existence. Kern himself, while preparing for the operation to fuse the revived head with the body of a “fresh” corpse, says the following words to his assistant: “Now is not the time to deal with ethical issues,” Kern answered dryly. “She will thank us later.” But no thanks came.

The greatest scientific experiments did not make any of the characters happy. Ethical issues are left out. The lack of attention and respect for the individual led to the unconditional end of all the work of both Professor Dowell and his assistant Kern.

It should be noted that Belyaev speaks directly about ethical responsibility in the words of his hero, thereby convincing the reader that great scientific discoveries must be matched with ethical issues, otherwise nothing will work.

conclusions

In the second chapter of the course work, a comparative analysis of the behavior of the protagonist before and after the operation was carried out, as a result of which the following features were revealed:

b) Nevertheless, we notice that the deeper the consciousness reflects the world, the more diverse his 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 a laughingstock, which is what he wanted. Let it be contradictory, not always pleasant for others, but still a person.

In addition to the work Flowers for Algernon, the problem of humanism was considered 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 It's Hard to Be God and the novel Roadside Picnic, as well as the novel by Alexander Romanovich Belov "Professor Dowell's Head". 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) Derived her own universal definition of 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, her freedom and the right to happiness; considering the good of man as a criterion for evaluating social institutions, and the principles of equality, justice, humanity as the desired norm of relations between people.

2) I got acquainted with the statistics on people with disabilities in the world and found out that at the moment about 23% of people around the world have disabilities of varying severity, and more than half of them assess the quality of their life as unsatisfactory, consider their condition hopeless, 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 is and how dangerous their illness is);

b) fear (when people pretend not to notice disabled people because they are afraid of responsibility, they are afraid of physically or morally injuring, upsetting);

c) an aggressive/indifferent point of view (people with disabilities are put on a lower level relative to healthy people and therefore do not deserve their attention, they must live ‘in a separate world’).

4) Carried out a comparative analysis of the behavior of the main character before and after the operation, revealing the following features:

a) A man realizes that earlier in any company he was just a whipping boy, a clown, an easy target for constant mockery of others. And although he felt himself a part of society, in fact it was all the same alienation, only not realized by a mentally retarded person.

c) At the same time, the hero's communication skills remained at the level of the child's 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 detrimental as the sensual one-sidedness (when a person is stupid, but subtly understands the vicissitudes of interpersonal relations), but, nevertheless, it also leads to sad results and destruction of the personality.

5) In addition to the work “Flowers for Algernon”, I examined the problem of humanism in the most concise form in several other science fiction works of the twentieth century: the most famous works of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are the story “It's Hard to Be God” and the novel “Roadside Picnic”, as well as Alexander Romanovich Belov's novel "Professor Dowell's Head". As a result, I came to the following conclusions:

a) The Strugatsky brothers, considering the achievements of scientific and technological progress in their work, pay great attention to man and the relationship between man and society. Of particular importance is the problem of choice, primarily moral.

b) Belyaev, in the words of his hero, speaks directly about the ethical responsibility of scientists for their discoveries, thereby convincing the reader that great scientific achievements must be matched with ethical issues, otherwise there will be only harm from them, because in this work, " Professor Dowell's head", at the end of the book, none of the characters were happy.

Thus, I completed all the 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. Isherwood - M: Pedagogy, 1991.

2. Aleinik, T.A. Institutional barriers and strategies for social mobility of people with disabilities: diss. cand. social Sciences: 22.00.04 Text. / Aleinik Lidia Anatolyevna. Stavropol, 2008.

3. Dobrovolskaya, T.A. Disabled people: a discriminated minority / Т.А. Dobrovolskaya, N.B. Shabalina // Sociological research. 1992.

4. Dobrovolskaya, T.A. Social problems of disabled people / T.A. Dobrovolskaya, N.A. Demidov, N.B. Shabalina // Sociological research. 1988.

5. Dobrovolskaya, T.A. Socio-psychological features of the relationship between the disabled and healthy / T.A. Dobrovolskaya, N.B. Shabalina // Sociological research. 1993.

6. Dobrovolskaya T.A., Shabalina N.B. Disabled person and society: socio-psychological integration// Sociological research. 1991.

7. Dvoryanchikova, I.A. The family of a disabled person in the social structure of society / I.A. Dvoryanchikova // Dissertation for the degree of candidate of sociological sciences. Samara, 2003.

8. Kalinycheva, T. I. Disabled people in the mirror of public consciousness //Bulletin of charity. - 1995.

9. Kulikov, A.N. Humanism in the modern world./ A.N. Kulikov // Dis. cand. philosopher. Sciences. - 2012.

10. Raetskaya, I.E. Psychological and pedagogical conditions for the development of communication skills of people with disabilities by means of leisure theatrical activities. / I.E. Raetskaya // Dis. cand. psychol. Sciences. - 2005.

11. Chernichkina, V.A. Socio-psychological problems of disabled people and the main strategies for their resolution. / V.A. Chernichkina // Dis. cand. psychol. Sciences. - 2003.

12. Blackham H.J. humanism. - 2nd rev. ed. - N.Y., 1976. - 132 p.

Many of us tend to read not the work itself, but its summary. Professor Dowell's Head is definitely a book worth reading in its entirety. However, we will try to briefly summarize this adventure novel by the Russian writer Alexander Belyaev.

Acquaintance with Marie Lomarne

This girl is a young doctor, it is with her acquaintance that Belyaev begins his story. "Professor Dowell's head" at the beginning of the story sends us to Professor Kern's office. The girl has 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 fixed 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 so 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 to her much better than such a resurrection.

However, we continue to read the summary. Professor Dowell's head is the subject of Marie's labors. The duty of the girl is to monitor her condition. I must say that thanks to the resurrection, the head is able to hear, understand and even answer questions with facial expressions.

Communication with the head

Marie brings daily medical journals to her head, which they go through together. So Belyaev continues the story. Professor Dowell's head and the girl are talking to each other. Marie understands her by signs. One day the head asked her to turn off the tap that was connected to her throat. It was his Professor Kern who strictly forbade her to touch. Careless movement can lead to death of the head.

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 the head can talk!

Revival details

That's what Professor Dowell's head tells the girl. The book, of course, is able to convey this more emotionally than the summary.

Professor Kern was Dowell's assistant. He is definitely a talented surgeon. While they were working together, Dowell had an asthma attack. Waking up, the professor found that he was deprived of his body. Kern kept his brain to continue his research.

You will learn more horrifying details if you continue to read the summary. The head of Professor Dowell tells the astonished girl how he refused to cooperate with Kern, and he, wanting to get valuable information, passed an electric current through it and attached irritating reagents to 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. Here's what the summary is about.

Professor Dowell's head helps Kern make other animations as well. Two more heads appear. One of them - Tom Bush - is male, belonging to a worker who fell under a car. The other - Briquet - is female, the head of a bar singer.

These two are not accustomed to living an intellectual life, it is painful for them without a body. Marie turns on music and films for them, but they only get upset: everything reminds them of how they used to live. Briquet managed to convince Kern to give her another body.

Marie's arrest

Kern, having learned that Marie is talking with the professor's head, forbids her to leave the laboratory. The girl tries to protest, but Kern deprives the professor of air by turning off one of the taps. Now the laboratory becomes a real prison for Marie, writes Alexander Belyaev.

Briquet's new body

Kern finds a body for Briquet and kidnaps him from the scene of a train accident. The body is attached to the head of the singer. Briquet begins to sing: in the lower register, her voice sounds excellent. This graceful body, as it turned out, went to Brike from Angelica Guy, a famous Italian artist. An extraordinary grace is revealed in the singer's gestures.

Briquet is trying to win back his freedom. Her desire is to return home, however, Kern does not want to let her go.

This is just a brief recap. "Professor Dowell's Head", if you read this amazing work in full, will reveal many interesting episodes to you.

Briquet's flight

Realizing that it is hopeless to beg Kern, Briquet runs. She climbs down the bound sheets from the window. Briquet is on the run with his girlfriend and her husband, who was a safecracker, from potential police harassment. She doesn't tell her friends about the mystery surrounding her return.

Unexpected meeting

Continue reading Professor Dowell's Head. The heroes of this work: Briquet, Red Martha (her friend), the husband of her friend 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 resemblance 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 solve this secret by all means. Lare invites Briquet and his friends for a boat trip. On the yacht, Arman, left alone with Briquet, makes her tell everything. The young woman honestly answers all of Lara and Dowell's questions.

At the mention of the third head, located in the laboratory, Arthur understands that it is about his father. He takes out a photo and shows it to Briquet. She confirms that this is the same person.

Back to Paris

Young people, together with Briquet, go to Paris to find the professor's head. Armand Laret 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. The singer from the bar, having acquired a new beautiful body, not only transforms and looks younger, but also begins to think differently.

However, a small wound that was on the foot of Angelica's body causes Briquet's leg to ache and swell.

Young people decide to show it to doctors. However, she is against it as she fears 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 the release of Marie.

Kern tries to save Briquet's leg, but his attempts are in vain. He again separates Briquet's head from the body.

During the demonstration, Marie Laurent denounces Kern, who committed the 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, where he is present with Marie and Armand. Young people see the end of the life of 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 "Professor Dowell's Head". Reviews of this book confirm that it occupies a worthy place in the hearts of many people. There are readers who were not only shocked by the author's intention, 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 worth rereading.

The way the author portrays the possibility of such experiments vividly 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 suffering severely from atrocities.

For the purposes of analysis, it is perfectly acceptable to disintegrate the unity of the book by artificially separating, for example, the fabric of science fiction from fiction. Sometimes this is given without any effort - the text helpfully breaks down into its constituent elements. This is a bad sign. But in Belyaev's text, its constituent elements are not just combined, but merged and in their unity acquire a new quality.

Sci-fi is one of the hardest genres. To make this or that scientific fact, scientific position the character of the book, or rather, the fate of the characters, is a difficulty that only a few can overcome. "Professor Dowell's Head" is a coherent and captivating narrative in which all the elements are merged together and hardly lend themselves to critical "splitting". This testifies to the culture of writing, to the undoubted talent of the author and, at the same time, to his great potential in the field of Soviet science fiction.

I'm talking about possibilities, because Belyaev's book, written about a decade ago and now republished, for all its merits, still bears a clear trace of the influence of Western entertainment fiction literature and can be considered neither the writer's success nor the achievement of Soviet science fiction. . Since the time when this book was written, the science-fiction poetics of A. Belyaev himself has undergone a radical change: this is eloquently evidenced by his article on Grebnev's Arktania, placed in No. 18–19 of the Children's Literature magazine. The discrepancy between the poetics of the sci-fi genre that determined the writing of Professor Dowell's Head and the politics declaratively set out in the article about Arctania is so striking that A. Belyaev's today's statements can be largely considered self-critical.

First of all, Belyaev's book is characterized by separation from social time and space. In the absence of any clear author's instructions, it is natural for the reader to look for signs in the text that allow one to establish the appropriate coordinates: where and when the fictional action takes place. In this case, the position of the reader is extremely difficult: by the will of the author, there are no reference points in the book, and events unfold in a completely abstract time and space, for something called either Paris or London. Only having suffered a complete collapse in his search, the reader finally comes to the conclusion that he was not on the right path: he should have looked not for social, but for literary coordinates.

The environment in which Belyaev's characters live and act is not chosen or created by the author. It is once and for all established by the tradition of Western fantasy fiction entertainment, knows no options and has nothing to do with any reality. This tradition demands - in the name of fantasy! - careful eradication from the text of any real details that could orient the reader. But not only in the name of fantasy: this kind of fiction is quite indifferent to the social theme and pursues only one single goal - entertainment. Using theatrical terminology, we can say that, according to the established canon, the reader is supposed to see this entertaining-fantastic performance not even in the scenery, but in “cloth”, moreover, always in black, hiding even the shadow of reality.

Here it is quite appropriate to quote A. Belyaev's statement from the mentioned article - a statement that will undoubtedly determine the theme of further works of Belyaev himself:

“The main plot of the novel Arctania is the fight against the class enemy. This theme should rightfully occupy a dominant place in Soviet science fiction. And the more novels we have on the topic of fighting the class enemy, the better.”

The judgment is fairly definite.

Here in a few words is the science fiction essence of Belyaev's work.

The young doctor Marie Laurent enters as an assistant in the laboratory of Professor Kern, a student of the late Professor Dowell, who became famous for his experiments in reviving the organs of the human body. Kern surrounds his work with the strictest secrecy: in addition to Laurent, the laboratory is served by only one Negro servant. Laurent's duties are reduced to caring for Professor Dowell's head, revived after death, having regained all its functions, with the exception of one - the voice. In the equipment that supports the life of the head, Professor Kern forbade his assistant to use one tap, the turn of which, as if, would instantly stop the life of the head. But Laurent, contrary to the prohibition of Kern, heeding the mimic instructions of the head, decided to turn the tap - and the head spoke. Laurent learns from his head about the monstrous crime of Kern: it was he who killed Dowell in order to use his revived brain for his own purposes. Dowell's head directs all of Kern's scientific work, it is to her that he owes his remarkable achievements: soon after Laurent entered the laboratory, Kern manages to recreate a living person by fusing the animated corpse of a woman who died in a train crash with the animated head of another woman, who, in the heat of a quarrel, has a lover shot through the heart...

The author of a science fiction work, of course, has the right to omit a number of links in the development of science, to anticipate its near and even distant prospects, but he must not burn "bridges" behind him: the reader has the right to demand that the author firmly know the way back.

A. Belyaev often violates this rule, and then his narrative, already withdrawn by him from the operation of social laws, loses its last scientific bonds: we have before us an ordinary entertaining fantasy. Here is a quote showing that the author burned the "bridges" and that the way back to scientific reality was firmly ordered to him:

“... but the main difficulty is still not in this,” says Kern. – The main thing is how to destroy the product of decay or infection in the body of a corpse, how to clean the blood vessels from clotted blood, fill them with fresh blood and make the “motor” of the body – the heart – start working ... And the spinal cord? The slightest touch causes the strongest reaction, often with the most severe consequences.

- And how do you propose to overcome all these difficulties?

Oh, that's my secret for now. When the experiment succeeds, I will publish the whole story of the resurrection from the dead.

But this is not only a secret from Laurent - it always remains a secret also for the reader: the author does not return to this anymore. Indeed, A. Belyaev, an experienced, cultured, gifted author, should not have resorted to such a naive technique that only undermines the reader's confidence. It is known that it is dangerous to abuse the reader's trust.

The fantasy of "The Head of Professor Dowell" is based on well-known experiments with the maintenance of life - outside the body - of individual tissues and organs. The immediate impetus for A. Belyaev was, apparently, the experiments of Dr. Bryukhanenko, who for a long time retained the most primitive functions of a dog's head separated from the body. From this it is clear that the author had to omit a considerable number of links in the development of science in order to produce his amazing character: the two-pronged Mademoiselle Briquet.

Such is the case with science fiction in Belyaev's novel, written ten years ago. And here is Belyaev’s statement today on the same topic in the mentioned article about Arktania:

... “Fantasy, science fiction, however, should not be torn off from the scientific soil. How is it with science? In this regard, the novel is not all right.

Perhaps the weakest point in scientific terms is the biological part, which is a sideline of the plot and scientific content. This is a question about the revival of frozen and generally dead people.

After citing Dr. Bryukhanenko’s judgment that science will soon be able to “resurrect” people who have died frozen and unreasonably dead, A. Belyaev adds:

“At one time, Dr. S. S. Bryukhanenko was severely criticized by scientists for this statement.”

This fair remark already has a clearly expressed self-critical character, because it refers to the very material that A. Belyaev operates in his book. But the bad thing is that, inspired by the statement of Dr. Bryukhanenko, the author went further than him.

And yet, in itself, the loss of links would be half the trouble if such a risky jump served a good purpose. And the good goal could consist either in informing the reader of a number of essential information from the given field of science and familiarization with its amazing real prospects; or - in the proof, or at least in the demonstration of any social idea; or, finally, in both, as is typical of the classics of science fiction.

A. Belyaev did not reach the first and did not aspire to the second.

The leap he made from scientific reality to science fiction is so abrupt that the only method of communication with the reader for him involuntarily becomes the bypassing of difficulties, which we have already demonstrated in the first quotation from the novel. The second quote already testifies to the complete exposure of the device. Here is how Kern performs the operation of attaching an animated head to a corpse in a crafty way:

“For all her hatred of Kern, Laurent could not help admiring him at that moment. He worked as an inspired artist. His dexterous sensitive fingers worked wonders.

The operation lasted an hour and fifty-five minutes.

“It’s over,” Kern finally said, straightening up, “from now on, Briquet has ceased to be a head without a body. It remains only to breathe life into it - to make the heart work, to excite blood circulation. But I can handle this alone. You can rest Mademoiselle Laurent."

But the reader also has to "rest" with Laurent...

“Kern called her back an hour later. He looked even more tired, but his face expressed deep self-satisfaction.

“Take a pulse,” he suggested to Laurent.

Of course, Laurent felt her pulse, but the secret of the “resurrection” was still not given to her to know, just as the reader is not given to know.

I by no means think that the author in this case was obliged to know - and reveal to the reader - the secret of reanimating corpses; but I believe that he was obliged to tell the reader in a concrete form about the prospects of science in this area and, in a hypothetical form, trace the path from the "revival" of a dog's head to the "resurrection" of a corpse; then the reader probably would not have to be content with the meager stock of information about the section of physiology that deals with the revitalization of tissues and organs, which he receives from Belyaev's book.

So, the first goal was not achieved.

To the second goal - to prove or at least demonstrate any social idea - the author, as said, did not strive. And how could he set such a task for himself if there is not a single shred of living social fabric in his book?

In the second half of the book, the author already breaks all relations with science and plunges into pure fiction. Science has done its job - science can go. And here the reader has a fair suspicion that that small fraction of scientific truth that was taught to him in the first half of the book had only an auxiliary meaning: to create a peculiar, fantastic situation that could shock his nervous system with the spectacle of Mademoiselle Briquet, endowed with the body of an “aristocrat” and plebeian head. A science lab has suddenly turned into a freak show, a science fiction novel into entertaining fiction.

Dear Guys!

Today we will talk about the science fiction novel by Alexander Belyaev "Professor Dowell's Head".

Remember the work"Professor Dowell's Head" was first published as a short story in the Moscow Rabochaya Gazeta in the summer of 1925.

Professor Dowell's Head is the first science fiction work by A.R. Belyaev. The plot of the story is the same as the novel, but much simpler. Miss Adams (in the novel - Mademoiselle Laurent) finds herself 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 the secret of Kern, immediately tries to expose him, but to no avail. From an almost hopeless situation, her son Dowell saves her. Together they manage to bring the revelation to an end. 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 published as a separate edition in 1938.

Let's look at the title of the text.

Who will be discussed?

Look at the picture, 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.

Speech in the work will go clearly about science.

Do you think Professor Dowell was involved in science?
Did Professor Kern do science?
What role do you think Marie Laurent plays?

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 of the feelings can be called both the strongest and the most creative?

Of course, love.

Formulate the topic of the lesson. If two professors do science in different ways, and Marie Laurent evaluates them, what could be the topic of the lesson?

The price of a scientific discovery.

From the first chapters of the novel, it is known that Marie Laurent received a medical degree, but could not find work 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 waypenny salvation for Marie.Marie agreed to work with Kern only if there was no crime in his cases. 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 Professor Dowell's head.All the best features of Marie - 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 has the life of Professor Dowell's head changed since the arrival of Marie Laurent in the laboratory?
What particularly struck Marie in the history of Professor Dowell and in 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 advent of Marie: Dowell sees a smart, beautiful, sympathetic girl in front of him, and one appearance of Marie brings some peace to his soul. He then realizes that Marie has taken a serious interest in the tragedy he endured, that she has taken his story to heart. Marie took a risk for him: she disobeyed Kern and opened the faucet. Dowell was able to speak. Marie even wants to openly speak out against Kern. In a word, Dowell had an ally and a friend. Marie was struck first of all by the fact that Kern uses the works of his teacher, appropriates his inventions. And when she finds out about the cause of Dowell's death, her indignation knows no bounds. Dowell is a great scientist, a thinker, he bears 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 realizing that science is more important to Dowell than anything in the world.

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 sharply, thinks more deeply about what the ways of science development should be, whether the end always justifies the means. She previously believed that the 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 her life and restore justice.

Marie sees that Dowell can be a strong, courageous, principled person, he cannot be broken by torture, but he is unable to resist interest in science, unable to see an incorrectly set experiment. Science, work - for him the most important thing in life. 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 a 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, chained in plaster, was helpless and motionless. Couldn't move an arm or a leg. His wife left him, and he would have disappeared if not for Margarita Konstatinovna, the future wife of the writer. Thus, Professor Dowell's feelings are not fiction, they are largely suffered through suffering. The figure of Marie is not accidental either.

So, we analyzed the episodes of the text "Professor Dowell's Head", answered the question, what is the price of scientific discoveries.

Exercise.