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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 10, Spring 1946

Page 240

240
FANTASY COMMENTATOR

recent times. Robert Bloch's "Stuporman" utilizes a novel dream-sequence to approach the subject; not even the most novel twist imaginable, however, could triumph over the air of hackneyed pseudo-sophistication this short story affects. A more entertaining tale is "The Terrible Sense" of Thomas McClary. Here a deaf man is given, by an ingeneous surgical operation, the audio-nervous system of a bat. This successfully restores his hearing, but also initiates a change of his entire organism. Only accidental destruction of this acquired supernatural faculty prevents his almost-complete transformation into a bat from occurring.

(Since the publication of Wells' "New Accelerator" numerous tales have postulated methods of speeding up human faculties. The products of these experiments are not physical superman but simply accelerated normal humans, and will therefore receive no detailed description here. Examples of these are found in Coblentz's "Triple Geared," Gardner's "Year in a Day," Claudy's "Swift Beast," and "The Superman of Dr. Jukes" by George Weiss. Of late the "pulps" have added a new twist by making super athletes via this method. These super sportsmen, in all cases except the last named, boxers, include Tracy's "Super Athlete," Repp's "Gland Superman," Wellman's "Einstein Slugger," Gleason's "Super Accelerator" and "The Scientific Miler of Bowler U" by Donald Bern.

(Another bogus superman is created in "The Invincible Crime Buster" of Henry Gade, this time by surrounding a normal individual with an aura of impenetrable force. This type---of which innumerable examples have appeared--is also quite obviously beyond the pale of our discussion.)

III
The Mental Superman

In these higher types of supermen the objective variety makes appearance in the more advanced forms, but the lower forms remain subjective in most cases. The general plot is still nearly the same for the latter, but in the higher types its resolution assumes two distinct courses. For the majority the solution remains death, but an alternative one is suggested---victory for the superman with the world under his control. However, even with a twofold denoument possible the mortality rate for supermen runs very high.

The very statement that Hannibal Lepsius of The Isle of Lies is super-human is controversial, but enough facts support it to make consideration of the novel necessary. Here is the exception to the general rule that the lowest supermen are subjective, for Lepsius---although of the lowest order possible---is still partially objective in type. Throughout the entire period of adolescence he has been taught to believe in his great inferiority to mankind in general. Escaping from his island prison he finds the exact reverse to be true, that he is in fact superior. And so with supreme contempt for man he goes through life shaping political destinies from behind the scenes from a great palace on a solitary island where he reigns supreme. His machinations to overthrow completely the existing French government are finally halted by a vial of acid thrown into his eyes by a woman he had scorned.

Mental superman and abject physical weakling is Edmond Hall of The New Adam, who has the fortune of being born with a double mind. As all his abnormalities are not immediately apparent he is able to escape mass persecution, but from those close to him hate and persecution arrives with a double vengeance. A slave to the beauty of his wife, Hall succumbs to enervation in attempting to keep pace with the exacting demands of her passionate love. An end comes to his relatively uneventful life as he allows himself to be slain by his mate's rejected suitor. Considering the magnificent intellect Weinbaum has bestowed upon him the means leading to Hall's downfall seem rather illogical.

Van Vogt's "World of A" presents another multiple-minded being. However in this, his last superman novel to date, the author has attempted a story

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240 FANTASY COMMENTATOR recent times. Robert Bloch's "Stuporman" utilizes a novel dream-sequence to approach the subject; not even the most novel twist imaginable, however, could triumph over the air of hackneyed pseudo-sophistication this short story affects. A more entertaining tale is "The Terrible Sense" of Thomas McClary. Here a deaf man is given, by an ingeneous surgical operation, the audio-nervous system of a bat. This successfully restores his hearing, but also initiates a change of his entire organism. Only accidental destruction of this acquired supernatural faculty prevents his almost-complete transformation into a bat from occurring. (Since the publication of Wells' "New Accelerator" numerous tales have postulated methods of speeding up human faculties. The products of these experiments are not physical superman but simply accelerated normal humans, and will therefore receive no detailed description here. Examples of these are found in Coblentz's "Triple Geared," Gardner's "Year in a Day," Claudy's "Swift Beast," and "The Superman of Dr. Jukes" by George Weiss. Of late the "pulps" have added a new twist by making super athletes via this method. These super sportsmen, in all cases except the last named, boxers, include Tracy's "Super Athlete," Repp's "Gland Superman," Wellman's "Einstein Slugger," Gleason's "Super Accelerator" and "The Scientific Miler of Bowler U" by Donald Bern. (Another bogus superman is created in "The Invincible Crime Buster" of Henry Gade, this time by surrounding a normal individual with an aura of impenetrable force. This type---of which innumerable examples have appeared--is also quite obviously beyond the pale of our discussion.) III The Mental Superman In these higher types of supermen the objective variety makes appearance in the more advanced forms, but the lower forms remain subjective in most cases. The general plot is still nearly the same for the latter, but in the higher types its resolution assumes two distinct courses. For the majority the solution remains death, but an alternative one is suggested---victory for the superman with the world under his control. However, even with a twofold denoument possible the mortality rate for supermen runs very high. The very statement that Hannibal Lepsius of The Isle of Lies is super-human is controversial, but enough facts support it to make consideration of the novel necessary. Here is the exception to the general rule that the lowest supermen are subjective, for Lepsius---although of the lowest order possible---is still partially objective in type. Throughout the entire period of adolescence he has been taught to believe in his great inferiority to mankind in general. Escaping from his island prison he finds the exact reverse to be true, that he is in fact superior. And so with supreme contempt for man he goes through life shaping political destinies from behind the scenes from a great palace on a solitary island where he reigns supreme. His machinations to overthrow completely the existing French government are finally halted by a vial of acid thrown into his eyes by a woman he had scorned. Mental superman and abject physical weakling is Edmond Hall of The New Adam, who has the fortune of being born with a double mind. As all his abnormalities are not immediately apparent he is able to escape mass persecution, but from those close to him hate and persecution arrives with a double vengeance. A slave to the beauty of his wife, Hall succumbs to enervation in attempting to keep pace with the exacting demands of her passionate love. An end comes to his relatively uneventful life as he allows himself to be slain by his mate's rejected suitor. Considering the magnificent intellect Weinbaum has bestowed upon him the means leading to Hall's downfall seem rather illogical. Van Vogt's "World of A" presents another multiple-minded being. However in this, his last superman novel to date, the author has attempted a story