Mad Scientist stories
January 17, 2021 5:59 AM Subscribe
Recommend me Mad Scientist stories you have read. More details inside:
One outstanding example is William Sloane's The Edge of Running Water.
These stories may fall into different genres: Mystery, Detective, Strange Tales, (Cosmic) Horror but here is what I am looking for:
1) The narrator is an old friend of the scientist, or a detective/researcher or perhaps a young doctor or other first person who explores and uncovers all this or ends up playing a central role.
2) The "scientist" has de-camped to a house which sits on the edge of some remote village or perhaps even the center of the village but somehow sits apart.
3) The villagers are either frightened or distrustful of what is going on in the house.
4) The plot may go in different ways but it all somehow comes undone. The "scientist" most likely dies.
This may also sound a bit like Frankenstein but certainly the novel itself does not fit these tropes. So in that sense, I'd appreciate a name for this trope. It is certainly there in "The Island of Dr. Moreau" as well as referenced in more classic horror/gothic (e.g. Mexican Gothic) but those tales tend to lack the scientist/lone-genius pursuing something unnatural or powerful.
i do mean "scientist" in a broader sense though. Perhaps investigator is better but there is a usually lone individual in pursuit of some knowledge which could be also in texts/archaeology/physics/etc too.
One outstanding example is William Sloane's The Edge of Running Water.
These stories may fall into different genres: Mystery, Detective, Strange Tales, (Cosmic) Horror but here is what I am looking for:
1) The narrator is an old friend of the scientist, or a detective/researcher or perhaps a young doctor or other first person who explores and uncovers all this or ends up playing a central role.
2) The "scientist" has de-camped to a house which sits on the edge of some remote village or perhaps even the center of the village but somehow sits apart.
3) The villagers are either frightened or distrustful of what is going on in the house.
4) The plot may go in different ways but it all somehow comes undone. The "scientist" most likely dies.
This may also sound a bit like Frankenstein but certainly the novel itself does not fit these tropes. So in that sense, I'd appreciate a name for this trope. It is certainly there in "The Island of Dr. Moreau" as well as referenced in more classic horror/gothic (e.g. Mexican Gothic) but those tales tend to lack the scientist/lone-genius pursuing something unnatural or powerful.
i do mean "scientist" in a broader sense though. Perhaps investigator is better but there is a usually lone individual in pursuit of some knowledge which could be also in texts/archaeology/physics/etc too.
In the weird tales / cosmic horror vein is Lovecraft’s From Beyond.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 7:35 AM on January 17, 2021
posted by Parasite Unseen at 7:35 AM on January 17, 2021
This suggestion may be too stripped of genre trappings, but Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood has a lot of this, and so much more.
posted by Glomar response at 7:57 AM on January 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Glomar response at 7:57 AM on January 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
Short story: The Microcosmic God by Theodore Sturgeon.
posted by Rash at 9:14 AM on January 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Rash at 9:14 AM on January 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
I second The Microcosmic God, and add a counterpoint, were the scientist is more like a talented maker, on the run from the evil monopolists, The Battery of Hate by John W. Campbell.
posted by th3ph17 at 12:12 PM on January 17, 2021
posted by th3ph17 at 12:12 PM on January 17, 2021
Frankenstein, of course.
Knowledge: Frankenstein was the doctor, not the monster.
Wisdom: The doctor was the monster.
posted by LonnieK at 4:16 PM on January 17, 2021
Knowledge: Frankenstein was the doctor, not the monster.
Wisdom: The doctor was the monster.
posted by LonnieK at 4:16 PM on January 17, 2021
Jules Verne wrote a book sometimes titled Clipper of the Clouds but I first read it in the 'Classics Illustrated' form, of Robur the Conqueror. Verne wrote a sequel about Robur that more closely matches your four points, Master of the World. There's a 1961 Vincent Price film of the first story which uses the sequel's title.
posted by Rash at 2:25 PM on January 18, 2021
posted by Rash at 2:25 PM on January 18, 2021
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posted by justkevin at 6:27 AM on January 17, 2021 [2 favorites]