Trivia: Physicians in Fiction

This powerful play pits one man against the tyranny of the majority. Doctor Stockmann lives in a coastal town which has just built a bathing complex to attract tourism. When the doctor discovers that the water supply for the baths is contaminated and publicizes his findings, he and his family are almost driven out of the town they are attempting to save.

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"Elementary, my dear Watson!" Dr. Watson was the friend and confidante of Sherlock Holmes, and narrated the famous detective's cases through four novels and 56 short stories. Dr. Watson also appears beside Sherlock Holmes in numerous stage, film, radio, and television adaptations.

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First published in Sweden in 1905, Doctor Glas tells the story of a 19th century physician in a moral quandary. Smitten with the wife of a corrupt Reverend, Glas agrees to free her from her husband's unwanted sexual attentions and even contemplates murder.

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Doc Savage (aka Clark Savage, Jr. and "The Man of Bronze") appeared in 181 issues of The Doc Savage Magazine and a 1975 movie. Doc Savage was not only a physician and surgeon, but also an inventor, researcher, musician, and explorer with near superhuman abilities. Together with his companions, the "Fabulous Five," Doc Savage fought crime and saved the world on a regular basis. His main office was located on the top floor of the Empire State Building. Occasionally he'd retreat to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic, where he would emerge even smarter and stronger.

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Doctor Zhivago is set against the 1917 Russian Revolution, and tells the story of a man torn between two women. The manuscript had to be smuggled out of the Soviet Union before it could be published, and helped Pasternak win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958. Doctor Zhivago was made into an Oscar winning movie in 1965, and has also spawned a 2002 British miniseries, a 2006 Russian miniseries, and several musical adaptations.

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Psychiatrist, "surgeon," serial killer, and cannibal, Hannibal Lecter is one of the most infamous figures to grace the big screen. But before Anthony Hopkins' Oscar-winning performance, Hannibal first appeared in a series of four novels that follow him from childhood to incarceration and beyond. All four novels have been adapted into major films.

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The story follows the life and career of Dr. Hullah, an unorthodox Canadian physician whose story explores the nature of friendship, faith, and the human condition.

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Real-life physician Dr. Lam put his medical expertise to good use in his debut collection of short stories. The book follows four fictional doctors through medical school, operating rooms, and the SARS epidemic, and won the prestigious 2006 Giller Prize.

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