Richard Hooker, “MASH: A Novel of Three Army Doctors”, 1968 was a satirical, Medicine fiction novel. The science is Medicine, and humor is the weapon of choice in this “war story” satire. Three United States Army doctors in a MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) are the principal characters. The setting is the “Korean Civil War” (1950-1953) of the “Cold War” communism or capitalism dichotomy. The protagonist is Captain Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” an Army surgeon of superlative skills. The other two surgeons are: Captain Frank Burns; and, Captain John Francis Xavier McIntyre (called “Trapper”). “Hawkeye” and “Trapper” are “practical joking” clowns; and, “foil” character Captain Frank Burns is the target of there jokes.
The comedy pair of historical persons: Benjamin Franklin (“Hawkeye”) and Francis Xavier (“Trapper”) is absurdly, satirical of Surgical Medicine. Benjamin Franklin and Francis Xavier operating on soldiers in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is the satire novel “MASH’. Richard Hooker, “MASH: A Novel of Three Army Doctors’, 1968 was a sequel of novels until 1983. “MASH” was adapted to film 1n 1970; and, “MASH” from (1972-1983) was a television show. Surgical medicine in fiction is either “humor” or “horror”. Other sciences in Science Fiction do present the writer with an either or choice.
