What is Professor Dowell’s Head about, and what inspired Alexander Belyaev to create this concept?

In the clandestine laboratories of Paris, Professor-surgeon Kern achieves the impossible, successfully reanimating human heads. But beneath this triumph of science lie sinister secrets. Marie Laurent, Kern’s assistant, stumbles upon a shocking truth: the professor’s success hinges on sinister experiments involving the reanimated head of his former mentor, the renowned Professor Dowell, who died under suspicious circumstances. Upon learning of Kern’s crimes, Marie herself becomes a prisoner in the ruthless doctor’s clutches, forced to work for her tormentor.

But the story doesn’t end with Professor Dowell’s head alone. Under his former mentor’s guidance, Kern conducts even bolder experiments, reanimating other heads and even bestowing one of them with a new body. However, former bar singer Briquette, now in possession of this new body, escapes in search of freedom. Her flight leads to a striking encounter with artist Armand Larey and his friend Arthur Dowell, the deceased professor’s son. From Briquette, they learn of the living head of Arthur’s father at Kern’s clinic, and this discovery sets in motion a chain of events that will forever alter their lives.

As Kern strives to solidify his fame with a public demonstration, Arthur and his friends, including the courageous Shaub, must infiltrate his domain and expose the horrifying truth before all evidence is destroyed. Can they save the innocent and restore justice in a world where the line between life and death, ethics and madness, is blurred?

Prepare for a captivating dive into a world of scientific discovery and moral dilemmas, where desperate heroes challenge a ruthless genius, and every step brings them closer to unraveling chilling secrets.

The novel “Professor Dowell’s Head” was published in 1925. Initially, the author released the plot as a short story but later expanded the work with additional storylines. Belyaev was not the originator of the idea of a head existing separately from the body. For example, in 1877, the writer Edward Page Mitchell published “The Man Without a Body.” Furthermore, this theme was explored in the novels “Doctor Lerne” by Maurice Renard and “The Bloody” by Gaston Leroux.

Alexander Romanovich Belyaev himself wrote that his science fiction novel contains many autobiographical elements. At the age of 35, the writer contracted tuberculosis of the spine. The terrible illness confined him to bed for a long time. Of the 6 years battling the disease, Belyaev spent 3 years in a plaster cast, unable to move or feel his body. His recovery came in 1922 and prompted the author to put his experiences and emotions onto paper. The writer endowed the protagonist with special character traits, nobility, and honor, and provided a detailed description of Dowell after Kern’s experiments.

Moreover, in literary criticism, it is believed that another source that prompted the Soviet classic to create this incredible story was Anatoly Lunacharsky’s account of Professor Alexei Kulyabko’s experimental methods. Lunacharsky described the events he witnessed at Tomsk University, where the scientist conducted an experiment on reanimating a severed dog’s head. After the novel’s release, Alexander Romanovich’s name became widely known in the world of science fiction, earning him the moniker “the Russian Jules Verne.”

Yulia Basharova,

2025, Ireland

Loved the story and want to own a copy?

If you enjoyed reading about the fascinating concept behind Professor Dowell’s Head, you have several options to continue your journey into Russian science fiction:

Continue Reading for Free: If you haven’t finished the full text yet, remember you can always read the full book online for free in our dedicated reading room!

Professor Dowell’s Head by Alexander Belyaev

For the best long-term reading experience, you can buy the paperback edition of this essential Russian classic novel.