My 3 year old had a party at school today. The theme was 'Mad Scientists'. The kids dressed in lab coats and thick glasses, did science type experiences, and then ate gummy worm cupcakes. While eating dinner tonight with a couple of guys in the school of science, they wondered when the "Mad Historian Party" was going to be. While I am not conceptionally opposed to the idea of a mad historian party it is hard to imagine what would go on a such a party. Moreover, historians have never captured the imagination of novelists or movie-makers the same way as scientists - Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll, Dr. Strangelove, Dr. No, and David Banner - all scientists with a streak of madness, I can't think of any historians who have played the same role.
Even to come up with a list of real-life mad historians is a bit of stretch.
Marx?
Foucault?
Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh?
It still sounds like a bad party idea.
No comments:
Post a Comment