RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article T1 The Human Side of Science in the Novels of Alan Lightman A1 Wallhead Salway, Celia Margaret K1 Albert Einstein K1 sueños K1 razón/imaginación K1 mente/cuerpo K1 feminismo K1 ecología AB In his four novels —Einstein’s Dreams (1993), Good Benito (1995), The Diagnosis (2000)and Reunion (2003)— Alan Lightman creates an interplay between the two interests whichcome into contact and conflict in his own life: on the one hand, science, and on the other,humanistic and literary concerns. In his fiction, he portrays scientists like his version ofAlbert Einstein and the fictional Bennett, or Benito, who have to reconcile the vagaries ofhuman life with the certainties of mathematics and physics. Lightman shows how big ideasin science come as much from imaginative life as from calculations. This slant on the issuemay come in part from Lightman’s interest in the magic realist writers. Also, the reason/emotion paradigm is developed through a subtle feminist subplot as Lightman attempts toshow the different facets involved in the discussion. In the mind/body discussion, the bodyis the site of the struggle against symptoms of the impact of the modern world. Here,Lightman works in a Kafkaesque play on the theme of the individual versus society, alongwith an ecological message involving the need for balance and variety. PB Universidad de La Laguna. Servicio de Publicaciones SN 2530-8335 YR 2005 FD 2005 LK http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/18886 UL http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/18886 LA en DS Repositorio institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna RD 28-mar-2024