The Supermale [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

One often takes French proto-surrealist literature with a grain (or spoonful) of salt, perhaps due to the hollow stigma which Breton and others rendered the word 'surrealism.' This novel by the maniac Jarry was a helpful reminder that he and Apollinaire and a few others were really getting at something compelling. Jarry's Supermale is an hyperbolic monster of masculinity, riding 10000 miles on a bicycle at the speed of a locomotive to proclaim his desire for a certain woman, with which woman he proceeds, in order to prove a point, to copulate a total of 82 times in 24 hours. However, Andre Marceuil is clearly a self-portrait; descriptions of him read uncannily closely to Jarry's own physiognomy. Marceuil is a man intent on living his art, without pretentions or assistance. The sex that occupies the latter 40 pages of this rather short novel (80 pages total) is surprisingly sensitive and crazy, especially during a launch into a poetic hymn to Helen of Troy. Altogether a touching and inspirational nugget of strange virtuosity. Read it and regain your faith in the true surrealism. (if you have lost it.)

Our protagonist Andre Marcueil had grand ideas...so grand that his "Everyday ordinariness became extraordinary."

Andre firmly believes that human capacity has no limits. He believed it so fervently that he would risk his life in a ten-thousand mile race with a steam locomotive at speeds greater than 300 miles per hour with no rest and no sustenance, save the cubes of perpetual motion food, then to copulate with the same woman 82 times in twenty-four hours, and to recharge an electric chair designed to produce love.

Braggadocio? Maybe, or maybe his futuristic ideas held something of substance, something an ordinary mind could not possibly grasp hold of. Andrew Marcueil - Hercules, Frankenstein, or Supermale?

The fusion of man and machine is not that uncommon a theme, but Jarry takes our protagonist one step further into the surreal, envisioning a better human race, where the age old philosophies of man are not only limited but are pointless idiocies. The self-inflicted trials and tribulations our protagonist endures in this story are beyond reason and ultimately absurd. But for all the absurdity, it is the story of a man's search for himself - a better self. 1920, a time of great change in the world, the dawn of the modern age, Jarry brings into question how humans can take the manifestations of their minds and thrust them into reality, and yet, with all the trinkets and machines our genius minds invent, none of them seem to better us as people.

Above all, discretely woven into this tale is a love story, a heart wrenching sad love story. And what of love? Could someone as cruel and heartless as our protagonist actually love? Love being something beyond infinite and ungraspable - a shadow. "The act of love is of no importance, since if can be performed indefinitely." For our protagonist, love is an absurdity...a sentiment...not quite and act...more of an enfeebled sensation. In order find love, one must understand God. Would Andre ever understand...could he understand? Could he see God in himself, even though his egotistical mania filled him with the belief that he actually was God. Even Jarry himself had his doubts: "If nothing is sacred and everything is absurd and meaningless, the logical conclusion is self-annihilation." Jarry was not far from the truth, even then. Love is not a means to an end - it is the end in itself, for without it, no matter how many contraptions we strap to our backs, we will perish. We are the only machines that have the capacity to generate love, and in that lies the truth: The human capacity for love is limitless.

Jarry's prose is eloquent and refined...a delicate balance of theorem and conjecture without the loss of poetry. Surrealist and Sci-Fi fans alike will be pleased with the implications of this story.

I was so grateful to finally find Alfred Jarry's last novel "The Supermale" back in print in English! Less famous than his just-as-obnoxious and just-as-hilarious dramatic work UBO ROI, this phallic obsessed dark little tale is chock full of obscenities, mechanized eroticism, and touches of compassion for a world sorely lacking in true love.