"The Head of Professor Dowell" by Alexander Belyaev, summary Automatic translate

This 1937 science fiction novel explores the reanimation of severed human heads. The work reveals the tragedy of a mind isolated from the physical world and sternly warns of the criminal ambitions of unscrupulous scientists willing to transgress moral standards for the sake of glory. The book is striking in its detailed descriptions of surgical procedures and its profound psychological insight into the suffering of people forcibly deprived of their own bodies.

In 1984, director Leonid Menaker based the work on the successful film "The Testament of Professor Dowell," which became a true blockbuster at the Soviet box office. The adaptation drew widespread attention to the ethical issues surrounding surgery.

Working with Professor Kern

Young doctor Marie Laurent is hired as an assistant in the murky Parisian laboratory of the renowned Professor Kern. The scientist categorically demands absolute silence from the girl about the goings-on in the house and threatens severe consequences for breaking the agreement. In the secret laboratory, Marie unexpectedly discovers a living human head, connected to complex machines, tubes, and glass cylinders. Laurent instantly recognizes it as his idol, the great surgeon Dowell. The head communicates with Marie exclusively through facial expressions, as the cruel Kern has strictly forbidden her from opening the special air valve connected to the throat, which supplies air to the vocal cords.

A sympathetic Marie breaks the strict prohibition and opens the airway. The head begins to speak in a hoarse, cracked whisper. A shocking truth is revealed: Kern had been Dowell’s assistant for many years. During a severe asthma attack, he deliberately failed to provide his mentor with proper medical care, awaiting clinical death, and then secretly revived his head so he could steal brilliant ideas with impunity. Kern cruelly tortures Dowell’s head with strong electric currents and irritating chemical solutions, forcing him to supervise complex experiments, and shamelessly publishes all successful results under his own name.

New heads

Soon, Kern brings two completely fresh corpses to the lab: Tom Busch, a farm worker killed by a car, and a bar singer named Briquet, accidentally shot. The talented surgeon confidently and successfully reanimates their heads. Thomas and Briquet find their disembodied existence unbearably difficult and constantly complain of melancholy. Thomas desperately misses the hard physical labor and his fiancée, Marie, left behind in the village. Briquet fervently dreams of beautiful clothes, dancing, and boisterous entertainment. She is capricious, demands cosmetics, and persistently begs Kern to sew her a new female body.

The surgeon eagerly agrees to this unprecedented medical experiment, eager to achieve international fame. He maintains a 24-hour shift at the city morgue and, after a major passenger train derailment, secretly steals the body of renowned Italian actress Angelica Gay. Kern masterfully reattaches Briquet’s head to the deceased actress’s graceful body, carefully suturing the blood vessels and spinal cord. The young woman recovers surprisingly quickly, regains full mobility, and passionately dreams of a triumphant return to Parisian high society. Kern, however, is determined to keep his unruly patient confined until his official scientific demonstration.

Captive and fugitive

An indignant Laurent breaks the moral tension and directly accuses Kern of the vile murder of Dowell and the shameless theft of his scientific papers. The enraged surgeon forces Marie to write a reassuring letter to her ailing mother and securely locks the rebellious assistant in his large house, turning her into a virtual prisoner. Meanwhile, Briquet, seizing the opportunity, deftly escapes through a window, bound with sheets. She quickly reunites with her former cabaret friends, Jean and the red-haired Marthe, and hurries off with them to the sunny Mediterranean coast.

At a fashionable resort, the carefree Briquet is accidentally spotted by the talented artist Armand Laré. He was the closest friend of the tragically deceased Angélique Guy and unmistakably recognizes her unique body by the birthmark on her shoulder and her characteristic automatic gestures. Laré cunningly lures the girl into the cabin of a rented yacht and, under threat, forces the frightened Briquet to reveal the truth. This horrific fact is discovered by the artist’s companion, the young biologist Arthur Dowell, the son of the deceased scientist. Arthur immediately realizes that his beloved father’s head is in humiliating captivity at the hands of the surgeon, and the loyal friends urgently head to Paris to investigate.

Hospital Ravino

Arthur Dowell easily locates Marie Laurent’s mother and learns that the wily Kern has locked the rebellious girl away in Dr. Ravinot’s private psychiatric hospital, located in the suburb of Sceaux. This sinister institution is renowned for skillfully driving perfectly healthy people to the brink of madness through sophisticated psychological torture, at enormous expense. Arthur boldly infiltrates the high stone walls, disguised as a violent patient. During a walk in the park, he finds Marie, exhausted by constant psychological pressure, and quietly arranges for her to escape at night.

Late at night, Arthur selflessly helps a girl climb over the high wall of a guarded park, where she is safely rescued by Lare and his athletic friend, Schaub. Dowell himself is brutally seized by the arriving orderlies and vicious dogs. An enraged Ravino tightly binds his captive in a straitjacket and mercilessly releases suffocating chlorine gas into the isolation cell. Lare and Schaub quickly change into police uniforms, storm the clinic, and force Ravino at gunpoint to open the death chamber. Arthur is miraculously saved from certain death.

Retribution

Having fled from her new friends, Briquet suffers severely from an inflammation of her foot. Utterly distrustful of outside doctors and fearing exposure, she secretly returns to Kern’s house. Gangrene rapidly sets in, and the frustrated surgeon mercilessly amputates her leg above the knee. The infection mercilessly spreads, and Kern is forced to once again separate the healthy head from the hopelessly dying body. Meanwhile, from unbearable melancholy and careless handling of the aircraft, the head of the naive worker Tom is forever lost. Kern contemptuously throws it onto the glacier.

The long-awaited day of the triumphant scientific demonstration arrives. Kern confidently delivers a report on his great discovery before the world’s leading lights, proudly displaying Briquet’s living head. Marie Laurent suddenly rushes out from the packed hall onto the stage. She screams desperately at the entire audience, loudly exposing Kern’s theft and murder. Incredible panic ensues, and the surgeon quickly declares Marie insane, but his well-prepared triumph is completely thwarted.

The next day, Arthur Dowell, Laré, Laurent, and experienced police officers, armed with a legal warrant, arrive at Kern’s house to conduct an official search. The cunning surgeon preemptively disfigures Dowell’s head with paraffin and places dark glasses on it, unsuccessfully attempting to pass it off as someone else’s. However, the observant Marie Laurent unmistakably recognizes her beloved professor and opens the life-saving air vent. Dowell directly confirms Kern’s horrific crimes, bids a touching farewell to his son, and dies forever. A deafening revolver shot rings out from the locked office of the exposed surgeon.