Dreams and Nightmares

This book studies the treatment of science and technology from ancient myths to current works, demonstrating the importance of science to human civilization as evidenced in literature. Works studied include the Bible, Greek mythology, tales from the Middle Ages (including those about the Golem and Dr. Faustus), Gulliver’s Travels, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and works by Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, George Orwell, Bertrand Russell, and Aldous Huxley, among others.

Mordecai Roshwald is professor emeritus of social science and humanities at the University of Minnesota. He has held visiting appointments at universities in Israel, United Kingdom, Canada and Taiwan and lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is also the author of the noted dystopian science fiction novel Level 7 (1959).

Mordecai Roshwald. Series Editors Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 227
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3694-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2036-7
Imprint: McFarland
Series: Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy

Introduction      1

1. The Bible      5

2. Greek Mythology      20

3. The Middle Ages      35

4. Age of Reason      45

5. Science and Human Nature      57

6. The Machine Prophet      73

7. Evolution: Natural and Designed      93

8. Mind Control      112

9. The Menace of the Machine      139

10. The Threat of Paradise      161

11. The Suicide of Civilization      187

Conclusion      209

Chapter Notes      211

Bibliography      217

Index      219