They were mad, of course. Or evil. Or godless, amoral, arrogant,
impersonal, and inhuman. At best, they were well intentioned but
blind to the dangers of forces they barely controlled. They were
Faust and Frankenstein, Jekyll and Moreau, Caligari and
Strangelove-the scientists of film and fiction, cultural archetypes
that reflected ancient fears of tampering with the unknown or
unleashing the little-understood powers of nature. In From Madman
to Crime Fighter, Roslynn D. Haynes analyzes stereotypical
characters-including the mad scientist, the cold-blooded pursuer of
knowledge, the intrepid pathbreaker, and the bumbling fool-that,
from medieval times to the present day, have been used to depict
the scientist in Western literature and film. She also describes
more realistically drawn scientists, characters who are conscious
of their public responsibility to expose dangers from pollution and
climate change yet fearful of being accused of lacking evidence.
Drawing on examples from Britain, America, Germany, France, Russia,
and elsewhere, Haynes explores the persistent folklore of mad
doctors of science and its relation to popular fears of a
depersonalized, male-dominated, and socially irresponsible pursuit
of knowledge for its own sake. She concludes that today's public
response to science and scientists-much of it negative-is best
understood by recognizing the importance of such cultural
archetypes and their significance as myth. From Madman to Crime
Fighter is the most comprehensive study of the image of the
scientist in Western literature and film.
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