The New Adam

By Stanley G. Weinbaum

THIS is a story of a superman. It details his origin, his search for happiness, his loves, and finally, his success or failure, of which you alone can judge. It is a story perhaps fantastic, but a story based, nevertheless, on possibilities.
A superman is not a man, not a creature of the species Homo Sapiens; this is the fallacy of Nietzsche, the fallacy of H. G. Wells. These, like others who deal with the matter, have believed that a man, a human being, raised to the nth degree, represents the superman. Nietzsche picked one set of qualities—those of fitness, potency, power—Wells chose another set, the contemplative, the serene, the intellectual. So probably, a Neanderthaler in his filthy cave, using his embryonic imagination, might have pictured his superman as a giant in strength and size, a mighty hunter, one whose meat-pot and belly is never empty. Certainly he never considered a race whose very thoughts were partly beyond his conception, and he saw nothing ironical in freezing to death upon a ledge of coal. As we are to the cave man, superman must be to us. His coming is surely a possibility; perhaps it is inevitable.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stanley G. Weinbaum
• Release date: Aug 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9788822827982

Stanley G. Weinbaum

Né dans le Kentucky en 1902, Stanley G. Weinbaum étudie le génie chimique à l'université du Wisconsin à Milwaukee, mais n'en sort pas diplômé, non plus que Charles A. Lindbergh, qu’il y côtoie. À la suite d'un pari, Weinbaum passe un examen à la place d'un ami et est découvert ; il refuse de réintégrer l'université en 1923. À Milwaukee, il participe aux réunions des Milwaukee Fictioneers, un groupe d'écrivains parmi lesquels Robert Bloch, Ralph Milne Farley, Raymond Palmer, qui fut plus tard rédacteur en chef d'Amazing. Sa carrière littéraire est courte, mais influente. La plupart de ses nouvelles sont publiées dans les années trente par Astounding, Wonder Stories Magazine, ou le fanzine Fantasy Magazine. Il écrit également plusieurs romans de science-fiction ou de fantastique : La Flamme Noire (publié en 1939), Le Nouvel Adam, et Le Cerveau Fou, ainsi que plusieurs romances dont une seule, The Lady Dances, fut jamais publiée. Il meurt d’un cancer du poumon le 14 décembre 1935, âgé de 33 ans.