January 2005
-- Lenz, Austria

Chesleyan Speculation and the Übermensch

An alert Chesleyan discovered a recent submission of a doctoral thesis at the University of Lenz in southern Austria – by Canadian expatriate Charquin Biscuit-Barrel – which hypothesizes that the Canadian creator of the Superman comic book, Joe Schuster, was indeed influenced by the works of Emily Chesley. The excerpts shown below are only those that directly or indirectly reference Emily:

Speculative Works of the Canadian Great Depression

Page 4: Created in 1933, Superman sprang out of Joe Schuster’s mind fully formed. Influenced by a Canadian contemporary – Emily Chesley – Schuster’s work draws from Chesley’s vast reservoir of futuristic poetry and short stories. Being of German extraction, and known for his love of Nietzsche’s work and blue tights, Schuster’s own “Superman” was a deliberately mirrored image of the Nietzschean “Übermensch.”

Page 21: Fuelled by a potent mixture of Nietzschean philosophy, Chesleyan speculative fiction, absinthe, and Yoo-Hoo, Schuster’s original comic strip seemed deranged for the times. And yet, this superhuman creation is inextricably linked to works that predated Schuster by up to 30 years and more most notably, Chesley’s The Friendly Void, Assassin 8, and Norseman! [1]

Page 58: At the urging of his colleague and peer Jerry Siegel, Schuster abandoned his original prototype of Superman as a strapping, blond-haired Nordic god in favour of a decidedly “Black Irish” look. That Schuster would do so decidedly links Emily Chesley to the Irish Diaspora in his mind, thus eschewing the Nordic influences prevalent in Chesley’s work.

Page 73: Siegel, always present to haul Schuster out of another one of his artistic nosedives, also convinced the latter to forgo his original title for the comic strip prototype, Deutschlander Übermensch Kickt Esel (German Superman Kicks Ass), for something a little less evocative of Hitler’s rise to power, which was well under way at that time.

Page 126: And one cannot readily dismiss Schuster’s growing addiction to absinthe during the creation of the first round of Superman comic books. We see absinthe again and again, symbolised by glowing green Kryptonite, Superman’s weakness. Indeed, Schuster’s original name for Kryptonite was “The Green Fairy,” but Siegel quickly dissuaded him of that notion, claiming that such a name was “a little fruity.” [2]

Page 155: In the character of Lois Lane, we are able to see Schuster’s growing infatuation with Emily, a desire that went unfulfilled, as Emily was at that time deeply enmeshed in a classic Italian love quadrangle comprised of poet laureate Gabriele D’Annunzio, fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, and Irish potato magnate Sir Randolph Richard Ruddock. Schuster’s sexual frustration manifested itself in Clark Kent’s inability to bed Lois Lane, herself a dark-haired Irish beauty of a writer, statuesque and intelligent, in fact, almost Chesleyan.

Page 159: Oh yes, Emily and Lois, two sides of the same coin they were. What fantasies Schuster imagined with such a paragon of female wit and libido one can only assume. But I, in the spirit of scholarly research, have assumed and fantasized plenty.

Page 183: I really wish that Emily were alive today. I’d quietly hold her hand and drink Zima with her. God, I’m so lonely.

Footnotes:

1) Indeed, Schuster has gone unaccredited for his inadvertent creation of the drink known as Yoo-Hoo. This accident occurred when Schuster left a carton of chocolate milk behind the radiator in his bedroom. Schuster mistakenly drank it one morning after the carton had lain there, forgotten, for more than eight weeks. [back]

2) Emily’s uncle Michael Flannigan was partially credited for the invention of the ‘absinthe spoon,’ (shown at right) the creation of which was inspired by a brief foray into producing fermented wormwood as a cure-all for constipation, consumption, and impetigo. [back]

Editor’s Note:

Sadly, Biscuit-Barrel was unsuccessful in his attempts to defend his thesis at Lenz. Witnesses assert that in the middle of his defence, irked at the multitude of pointless questions, Biscuit-Barrel jumped out of seat and screamed at the Dean of Arts, “This is total bullshit!” and subsequently stormed out of the building. The Emily Chesley Reading Circle, however, regards Biscuit-Barrel’s unauthenticated paper as invaluable research in understanding Emily’s inspiration to Canadian artists throughout the decades.

--"Scholarship" by The Brigadier