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  1. #1
    Extraordinary Member kjn's Avatar
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    Default Vladimir Nabokov writing Superman

    One of the most famous novelists of the 20th century was Vladimir Nabokov, perhaps most well-known for Lolita.

    But back in 1942, newly immigrated to the USA, he wrote a poem about Superman and his relation with Lois Lane—possibly because his nine-year-old son was a Superman fan. It was discovered recently and published by the Times Literary Supplement: “The Man of Tomorrow’s Lament”. The article and poem is paywalled, but here is an extract from it:

    “But even if that blast of love should spare
    her fragile frame – what children would she bear?
    What monstrous babe, knocking the surgeon down,
    would waddle out into the awestruck town?
    When two years old he’d break the strongest chairs,
    fall through the floor and terrorize the stairs;
    at four, he’d dive into a well; at five,
    explore a roaring furnace – and survive;
    at eight, he’d ruin the longest railway line
    by playing trains with real ones; and at nine,
    release all my old enemies from jail,
    and then I’d try to break his head – and fail.”
    «Speaking generally, it is because of the desire of the tragic poets for the marvellous that so varied and inconsistent an account of Medea has been given out» (Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History [4.56.1])

  2. #2
    The Man Who Cannot Die manwhohaseverything's Avatar
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    Wow!he actually used an imageries from the old books.
    "People’s Dreams... Have No Ends"

  3. #3
    Extraordinary Member superduperman's Avatar
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    That's kind of bleak. Not necessarily inaccurate, but bleak!
    Assassinate Putin!

  4. #4
    Astonishing Member Johnny Thunders!'s Avatar
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    Did he say this to Silent Bob. I swear I’ve seen this in a movie.

  5. #5
    Extraordinary Member kjn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by manwhohaseverything View Post
    Wow!he actually used an imageries from the old books.
    One article about the poem (it has made a splash with reporting in both Guardian and Rolling Stone) pointed out that it directly uses some of Lois Lane's dialogue from a then-recent issue of Superman.

    Quote Originally Posted by superduperman View Post
    That's kind of bleak. Not necessarily inaccurate, but bleak!
    It's also interesting that Nabokov found up a theme that later Larry Niven picked up nearly thirty years later, with Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex, but they went in entirely different directions with it from a stylistic and emotional level.
    «Speaking generally, it is because of the desire of the tragic poets for the marvellous that so varied and inconsistent an account of Medea has been given out» (Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History [4.56.1])

  6. #6
    Astonishing Member The Frog Bros's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Johnny Thunders! View Post
    Did he say this to Silent Bob. I swear I’ve seen this in a movie.
    Ha, sounds like something that would have been included in a director's cut of Mallrats (is there such thing as the Kevin Smith cut? ha). Brodie and TS definitely discussed the theory behind Clark and Lois having a kid
    “Look, you can’t put the Superman #77s with the #200s. They haven’t even discovered Red Kryptonite yet. And you can’t put the #98s with the #300s, Lori Lemaris hasn’t even been introduced.” — Sam
    “Where the hell are you from? Krypton?” — Edgar Frog

  7. #7
    The Man Who Cannot Die manwhohaseverything's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kjn View Post
    One article about the poem (it has made a splash with reporting in both Guardian and Rolling Stone) pointed out that it directly uses some of Lois Lane's dialogue from a then-recent issue of Superman.
    I knew it,superman#16 and I have to believe superman#17 is also a factor as well as Siegel's original origin for superman.
    "People’s Dreams... Have No Ends"

  8. #8
    Invincible Member Vordan's Avatar
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    Hilarious this predates Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex I believe. Interesting characterization of Superman there, it basically prefigured the more somber and reflective Superman that would come about in the Bronze Age and basically be a key part of the modern character as well.
    For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/

  9. #9
    Extraordinary Member kjn's Avatar
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    If I were the editor of Superman I'd be all over this. Get in touch with the Nabokov estate and get a good artist to make a special one-shot issue or mini. Poetry and comics can work very well together.
    «Speaking generally, it is because of the desire of the tragic poets for the marvellous that so varied and inconsistent an account of Medea has been given out» (Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History [4.56.1])

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by kjn View Post
    If I were the editor of Superman I'd be all over this. Get in touch with the Nabokov estate and get a good artist to make a special one-shot issue or mini. Poetry and comics can work very well together.
    Except...its the polar opposite of the current attitude to the Superman franchise and brand, which is of Lois and Clark in a pretty stable and loving marriage, with a child who was born with seemingly no issues and is destined to be the next Superman

  11. #11
    The Man Who Cannot Die manwhohaseverything's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bat39 View Post
    Except...its the polar opposite of the current attitude to the Superman franchise and brand, which is of Lois and Clark in a pretty stable and loving marriage, with a child who was born with seemingly no issues and is destined to be the next Superman
    Just show this as a struggle and tribulations of the miracle child Jon was.drop the bleak endings or change it.This is very much goldenage superman kinda imagery .
    Last edited by manwhohaseverything; 03-09-2021 at 12:46 AM.
    "People’s Dreams... Have No Ends"

  12. #12
    A Wearied Madness Vakanai's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bat39 View Post
    Except...its the polar opposite of the current attitude to the Superman franchise and brand, which is of Lois and Clark in a pretty stable and loving marriage, with a child who was born with seemingly no issues and is destined to be the next Superman
    Doesn't matter for a one off one shot out of continuity to take advantage of a recent discovery of a work from a famous dead novelist.

  13. #13
    The Man Who Cannot Die manwhohaseverything's Avatar
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    I think Jon having the ambiguity whether the kid is something stabilises society or destroys would be better.It's like the iron giant and goldenage superman.You can be either be a gun or superman.I am so done with these guys making it out like Clark is at best a totalitarian when he goes berserk.
    "People’s Dreams... Have No Ends"

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vakanai View Post
    Doesn't matter for a one off one shot out of continuity to take advantage of a recent discovery of a work from a famous dead novelist.
    Oh, don't get me wrong. I think its a great idea! I just don't see DC actually going ahead with it...

    Quote Originally Posted by manwhohaseverything View Post
    I think Jon having the ambiguity whether the kid is something stabilises society or destroys would be better.It's like the iron giant and goldenage superman.You can be either be a gun or superman.I am so done with these guys making it out like Clark is at best a totalitarian when he goes berserk.
    Could be an interesting Elseworlds (well, I suppose we now have to say Black Label) take on the Golden Age Superman. They could set it in the 50's and show us the impact this kid has on the world...even with his limited power-set.

  15. #15
    Extraordinary Member kjn's Avatar
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    The full poem, posted over on Best American Poetry

    The Man of To-morrow’s Lament

    I have to wear these glasses – otherwise,
    when I caress her with my super-eyes,
    her lungs and liver are too plainly seen
    throbbing, like deep-sea creatures, in between
    dim bones. Oh, I am sick of loitering here,
    a banished trunk (like my namesake in “Lear”),
    but when I switch to tights, still less I prize
    my splendid torso, my tremendous thighs,
    the dark-blue forelock on my narrow brow,
    the heavy jaw; for I shall tell you now
    my fatal limitation … not the pact
    between the worlds of Fantasy and Fact
    which makes me shun such an attractive spot
    as Berchtesgaden, say; and also not
    that little business of my draft; but worse:
    a tragic misadjustment and a curse.

    I’m young and bursting with prodigious sap,
    and I’m in love like any healthy chap –
    and I must throttle my dynamic heart
    for marriage would be murder on my part,
    an earthquake, wrecking on the night of nights
    a woman’s life, some palmtrees, all the lights,
    the big hotel, a smaller one next door
    and half a dozen army trucks – or more.

    But even if that blast of love should spare
    her fragile frame – what children would she bear?
    What monstrous babe, knocking the surgeon down,
    would waddle out into the awestruck town?
    When two years old he’d break the strongest chairs,
    fall through the floor and terrorize the stairs;
    at four, he’d dive into a well; at five,
    explore a roaring furnace – and survive;
    at eight, he’d ruin the longest railway line
    by playing trains with real ones; and at nine,
    release all my old enemies from jail,
    and then I’d try to break his head – and fail.

    So this is why, no matter where I fly,
    red-cloaked, blue-hosed, across the yellow sky,
    I feel no thrill in chasing thugs and thieves –
    and gloomily broad-shouldered Kent retrieves
    his coat and trousers from the garbage can
    and tucks away the cloak of Superman;
    and when she sighs – somewhere in Central Park
    where my immense bronze statue looms – “Oh, Clark …
    Isn’t he wonderful!?!”, I stare ahead
    and long to be a normal guy instead.

    Vladimir Nabokov
    June 1942

    Looking at it, it would be a bit tricky to make a comic out of. Not in terms of length—we are talking about 23–46 frames, or four to twelve pages, but in bringing the imagery to life without making it into some form of self-parody.
    «Speaking generally, it is because of the desire of the tragic poets for the marvellous that so varied and inconsistent an account of Medea has been given out» (Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History [4.56.1])

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