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Before Superman

By Joshua Glenn

Before Superman Contemporary literature

Before Superman

By Joshua Glenn

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Description
The weird and wonderful stories of the ancestors of today’s comic-book and cinematic superheroes. Superhumans—humans who have evolved into creatures stronger, smarter, and more gifted than we have any reason to be—first showed up in science-fictional narratives during the genre’s emergent Radium Age. Originally published between 1902 and 1928, the stories and excerpts anthologized in this volume by Joshua Glenn feature the likes of Marie Corelli’s Young Diana, who, having been rendered super-alluring via a rejuvenation experiment, seeks revenge on a sexist society; Francis Stevens's Thomas Dunbar, one of the first lab-created superhumans; Zoo and Yva, superwomen who contemplate the extermination of us mere mortals, thanks to George Bernard Shaw and H. Rider Haggard; and Alfred Jarry’s André Marcueil, a scientist who develops a super-sexual capacity. Hugo Gernsback gives us Ralph 124C 41+, a benevolent super-genius inventor who dwells atop a New York skyscraper. M. P. Shiel tells the story of Hannibal Lepsius, a homeschooled prodigy turned amoral tech bro; and Karel Čapek gives us Rudy Marek, an inventor who, having developed superpowers, wonders whether civilization will survive his latest invention. Thea von Harbou’s genius scientist, Rotwang, is even less conscientious in his scheming; as is Arthur Conan Doyle’s ever-irascible Professor Challenger, here in one of his final outings. Finally, Jean de La Hire’s Nyctalope, a popular French superpowered crimefighter character, makes an appearance; and so does Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan of the Apes . . . though reduced to miniature size.
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Edition:
1
Number of Pages:
252
Release Date:
2025-08-19
Publication Date:
2025-08-19
Publisher:
The MIT Press
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
0262553074
ISBN13:
9780262553070
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
[email protected]
Weight:
244 g
Height:
132 cm
Width:
199 cm
Thickness:
18 cm
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