God Head

by Leonard Cline

Lavished with praise at the time of its 1925 publication, Leonard Cline’s phantasmagoric God Head is being republished so a new generation of readers can marvel at its dark magic. Cline’s mesmerizing debut follows the journey of Paulus Kempf, a fugitive labor agitator who takes refuge with a colony of Finns on the remote shores of Lake Superior in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Kempf, a former surgeon, poet, writer, sculptor, and hyper-intellectual, is at first deeply impressed by the folklore and traditions of the quiet, gentle Finns, not to mention their generosity and hospitality. But he soon begins to play upon their superstitions and exploits their kindness through the power of his cunning and imagination, manipulating them into seeing him as a kind of a god.

As Cline’s novel hurtles toward its unforgettable climax, Kempf’s capacity for compassion or mercy swiftly falls to the wayside as he seduces his host’s wife and then murders the man in cold blood. Soon thereafter he carves a giant God Head into the side of a nearby mountainside, which the villagers look upon with awe and fear, held in the thrall of Kempf’s mysterious intimations of its malicious power. Having achieved complete domination over the Finns, Kempf ultimately tires of their gullibility and returns to civilization, his quest for self-mastery complete.

God Head’s descent into the dark void of the human heart will thrill modern readers who are sure to cherish this lost literary artifact from the shadow canon of American fiction.

168 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 1925

About the author

Leonard Lanson Cline was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, and journalist. His writings were published in a variety of magazines: he New Republic, The American Mercury, The Smart Set, The Nation and Scribner's Magazine. His journalist work was published in the Baltimore Sun, The New York World, The Chicago Daily News, The New York Herald Tribune, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In 1927, during a drunken quarrel, Cline shot his friend Wilfred Irwin, who died of his wounds several hours later. Cline was tried and sentenced to a year in prison for manslaughter. He was released after eight months for good behavior. Henry Luce gave Cline a job at Time when he got out of prison.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cline first published this in 1925, but the story largely takes place in 1913 or so, following the escapades of one Paulus Kempf one summer. Paulus starts the novel giving a speech to some striking miners in Upper Michigan when the cops come in and start busting heads. Paulus splits the scene, gets lost in the woods and nearly freezes to death, but is rescued by a Finnish family and carried back to their shack.

We learn quite a bit about Paulus, albeit in dribs and drabs. His first career was as a surgeon in NYC "cutting up man-meat," but he gave it up to pursue his artistic bent in Greenwich Village (his second career). His third career, that of labor agitator, seems to have come to an end as well, as he is know in Michigan now. In any case, he is in need of some rest and recuperation. The family that found him, Karl and Aino, both Finns, live alone, but Aino's parents live in another shack a few hundred yard away, along with Aino's nephew (her sister and brother in law died).

On the one hand, I really liked this novel. The kind Finns took care of Paulus and Cline does a fine job with their culture so to speak. Each of the three sections of the novel are named after Finnish folk legends, who Aino tells Paulus about. Karl, a devout commie, has his dreams on relocated to an island in Canada off Vancouver that will be run as a commune of workers. Aino, a kind soul, just wants to make Karl happy.

On the other hand, Paulus is a real shit and as the novel progressed, I really started to hate the guy. First, he disparages Karl's beliefs (and he a labor agitator!) and then starts a slow seduction Aino; he does not care for her, but wants to get in her pants for sure. He starts playing pranks on the old folks an more. When Karl leaves to go check out the fabled island, it just gets worse. The little nephew idolizes him (and yes, Paulus did save his life), but all he can think about is himself and his desires.

Loved the historical setting, the beautiful, almost poetic prose, but jeez is Paul and asshole. 3.5 stars, rounding down.

[Warren Fournier · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a fan of horror, weird fiction, and magical realism, but have not yet read Leonard Cline, put him on your short-list! His writing is like nothing I've ever experienced before. First published in 1925, "God Head" was his debut novel, but is genuinely one of the best examples of American English prose at its most lush, beautiful, and eerie.

One of the standout features is the setting for the story--the American Midwest, in Gogebic County of the northern peninsula of Michigan. Now, allow me to wax poetic about the Midwest for a moment. It will help you to understand this novel better.

I thought there was no place in America more magical than my beloved hometown of New Orleans and the French-speaking bottomlands of Louisiana. But when circumstances brought me to the quad-state area of Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin-Michigan, I realized that different locales attract different magic. Each area has its own gods and monsters that steward the land. In Belleville, Illinois, I believe I encountered my first and only truly haunted house, a house I purchased in an enchanted neighborhood called "Witch's Hump," beneath which are forgotten mines and tunnels which once connected the Underground Railroad. Locals with "618" tattooed on their forearms had a reverence for the land there like I'd never seen before that bordered on pagan, but when I'd gaze upon the Cahokia mounds, or hop across the giant stone monoliths at the Garden of the Gods, or watch a majestic bald eagle land on the hood of my car atop the cliffs of the legendary piasaw bird, or felt my car being pushed uphill near haunted train tracks, I too became a believer. In Indiana, it doesn't take a skilled outdoorsman to find caves off every footpath, tempting the wanderer with chanting sussurations from underground waterfalls to explore the cool black depths within. Where I live, deer and foxes frolic plentifully in front of my house, while my backyard lagoon is guarded by one of the largest and oldest snapping turtles I've ever seen, who I've had to literally battle "mano a mano" for possession of my duck flock and who I affectionately call "Busco" after the local legends of the great Beast. The Indiana Dunes are as beautiful but as fickle as a kept mistress--those who do not respect their fragile beauty and go wandering off the trails risk getting sucked into sandy depths. Lake Michigan itself is alive. Through color she shares her moods--the bluest blue you've ever seen when she is in a pleasing disposition for play, brown when she is disturbed, and a cold gray when she is angry, and there are many ships at her bottom that remind us of the power of her rage.

"God Head" captures this same magic of the land, but in a manner far more profound than my feeble attempts in this review. It is set northwest of where I live, on the shores of Lake Superior where Finnish immigrants brought their own magic.

A middle-aged ex-surgeon and vagabond named Paul has been stirring up trouble among the Nordic miners, trying to get the workers to unite for better treatment from their greedy bosses. But this is in the days before the unions, and so enforcement officials treat him like a terrorist. On the run from the law, he escapes into the Michigan wilderness and almost dies of exposure until he is saved by a kindly family of Finns with socialist sympathies. Unfortunately, Paul is clearly suffering from mental illness (the text portrays him as likely having bipolar disorder, though this was not a recognized diagnosis at the time). He is unreasonably jealous of the husband, spiteful to the old folks, and is determined to sleep with the young wife, all of which leads to tragedy and murder.

I can't recommend this book enough for its vivid picture of a forgotten slice of life in a land many today consider "flyover country." It's a slow burn, but it's short and will completely absorb you in another world that coexists between the atoms of our technical facade, a world that was once much more familiar and respected and lived in by our forebears.

Full of dreadful beauty, "God Head" is truly a forgotten masterpiece of the early 20th Century. It is a grim and cynical examination of the atavism of industrialized culture, and is a precursor for the tone and themes in the noir subgenre.

Thanks to Northern Illinois University for bringing this book back to our attention. I know many readers will find it too strange and dark for their taste, but I can't help but encourage anyone to at least give it a try.

SCORE: 5 puukko knives out of 5

WORD OF THE DAY: Phobanthropy

[Andrew Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his brilliant review volume Late Reviews (available from Nodens Books http://www.nodensbooks.com) author and scholar Douglas A. Anderson has called this Leonard Cline’s first work ‘the single best forgotten novel that I have encountered’ and I so agree!! Cline masterfully weaves a modern tale of love and seduction around three key characters from the Finnish mythopoeic poem The Kalevala - the mixture of ancient lore with modern story told in a dramatic and highly engaging way is breathtaking and has made me want to explore more of Leonard Cline’s work such as The Dark Chamber. Highly recommend.,

[leire · Rating 3 out of 5]

“El dios de piedra” és una lectura que des del primer moment sabia que seria singular 🪨.

En aquesta història, un fugitiu de les autoritats es troba amb una família estretament vinculada amb el folklore finès 🇫🇮. De mica en mica s’anirà aprofitant d’aquesta circumstància, de la superstició i de la fe, i d’aquesta manera la història barrejarà tots aquests elements màgics.

Tot i que al principi no entenia molt bé per on aniria aquesta història, poc a poc li vaig agafar el ritme, ja que té capítols molts curtets, i a més, la narració d’en Leonard Cline, escriptor que no coneixia, m’ha fet gaudir molt d’aquesta novel·la.

Una de les coses que destaco són les reflexions que es deixen caure entre acció i acció, ja que he marcat bastant escenes. A més, el folklore i la màgia de Finlàndia m’han semblat d’allò més divertit, i ara en vull aprendre més 🩵.

Sens dubte, no serà l’últim llibre que llegeixi de l’editorial. Totes les seves històries tenen un toc màgic molt 🔝.

Coneixíeu aquesta història? 📔

[Kaj Roihio]

Vieras mies tuli taloon Amerikassa, mutta nyt vain roolit vaihdettiin. Paulus Kempf, kommunistiagitaattori, valehtelija, loinen ja kodinrikkoja on yksi kirjallisuuden karmeimpia päähenkilöitä. Hän tosiaankin puree ruokkivaa kättä ja ylimielisyyttään halveksii niitä jotka pelastivat hänen henkensä. Leonard Clinen Jumalan pää on osittain naturalistinen kuvaus pientilallisista Michiganissa, mutta epäluotettavan ja ristiriitaisen kertojansa johdosta myös huomattavan moderni. Kirja jää keskivaiheilla pahasti junnaamaan paikoilleen eikä tässä varsinaista repäisyä tapahdu milloinkaan. Käännöstyö on huonoa, en esimerkiksi oikein usko, että on olemassa sellaista kuin tuore vesi. Tämä oli silti kiinnostava lukukokemus jo siksikin, että tapahtumapaikkana on suomalaissiirtolaisten pikkukylä ja kalevalaiset tarinat herätetään henkilöiden välisissä keskusteluissa henkiin. Ei muuta kuin siniristilippu hulmuten torille, vaikka suomalaiset esitetäänkin jokseenkin edunvalvonnan tarpeessa oleviksi aikuislapsiksi.

[Bradley Scott]

Leonard Cline, born in Bay City, educated in Ann Arbor, and trained in the real life hurly burly of Detroit and other big-city newspapers, was one of the strangest and stormiest of Michigan writers. His work, besides newspaper journalism, included two books of poetry, three novels in wildly different genres, and a variety of fiction published in magazines ranging from the most highbrow of literary journals to the most lowbrow of the “pulps”. He was a protege of prominent editors like H.L. Mencken and Henry Luce, and praised by H.P. Lovecraft in the latter’s Supernatural Horror in Literature.

He was also, at the age of 34, a convicted killer who had shot a friend in a drunken quarrel, and dead of heart failure at the age of 35.

God Head, his first novel, was published in 1925 and highly praised by critics, one of whom described it as “the most tempestuous novel of many seasons.”

We first meet our protagonist and narrator, a labor organizer named Paulus Kempf, fleeing in terror from mob violence in the mining town of Ironwood, Michigan. Cline's prose is very unusual, almost like a ritual incantation or the driving rythym of medieval alliterative poetry:

Phantasmal night. Terrors and shapes pursued me, loomed suddenly before me, menaced me with upraised fists; stealthy footfalls I imagined crackling in the brush on all sides of me. And across the black sky moved slow columns of ghastly bluish light, monstrous fingers they were that pointed along the hills and the roads and poked into every coign [sic] and hiding-place. They were searchlights set up at the various mines and on top the shafts, sweeping the highways in search of suspicious travelers ... sweeping the hills in search of me.

His nightmarish flight ends in exhausted, starving, shivering, hallucinating stupor deep in the forest, from which he awakes, with some surprise, to peaceful refuge with a small Finnish family at their isolated farmstead on the shore of Lake Superior.

As he recuperates, Paulus slowly gets to know his rescuers. Karl, the towering man-mountain who carried him unconscious out of the woods, proves to be a stolidly steadfast sympathizer with his own political views. But Paulus himself is drawn to Karl's wife, Aino, an intelligent, spirited young woman of "lusty peasant beauty".

While he slowly recovers from his ordeal, she tells him stories from the Kalevala, a cycle of mythic tales from Finnish culture. At first Paulus identifies with Kullervo, the tragic hero whose efforts, no matter how heroic or well-intentioned, always end in disaster. But as his attraction to Aino grows, she relates the tales of Lemminkainen, the amoral trickster who always wins, always escapes, always triumphs, though at terrible cost to everyone around him. And Paulus begins to adopt, more and more, the persona of just such a trickster… a change that will wreak havoc on him and others.

The conclusion is startling and thought-provoking. It prompted me to wonder whether Paulus is influenced by the tales of the Kalevala, by his own thoughts and wishes, or even whether he is in some sense possessed by a supernatural agency. God Head is a powerful, well written, intriguing meditation on the power that myth can exercise over the human mind.

[Aro · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ehkä käännöksestä puuttuu jokin sellainen ominaisuus, joka on saanut ihmiset ylistämään tätä.

Näpeilleen saanut hulivilikaupunkilaismies pakenee erämaahan, pelastetaan kuuden ihmisen "kylään", jossa hän alkaa lähes pakkomielteisesti himoita isäntänsä vaimoa. Kun isäntä on poissa ja yksinkertaisten, alempirotuisten suomalaissiirtolaisten eksoottisuus hiipuu miehen silmissä, hän alkaa pelotella vanhaa pariskuntaa ja näiden renkiä - ihan vain koska voi - käyttäytymällä kuin mielipuoli ja käyttämällä hyväkseen vanhemman sukupolven taikauskoisuutta.

Eipä kovin kummoinen tarina, kun tällaisia itseriittoisia persläpiä, jotka ovat valmiita käyttämään tilaisuutta hyväkseen, on maailma pullollaan. Kalevalaisten arkkityyppien tarinat (Kullervo, Lemminkäinen ja Väinämöinen) lähinnä pohjustavat kunkin osan tapahtumia ja teemoittavat päähenkilön navankaivuuta.

I like my horror actually horrible - not just despicable.

[Raphi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing is gorgeous, and the slow but definite character progression was enjoyable. One complaint is that the writing was almost too decorative at certain scenes, which made it a little boring from time to time.

[G.T. Anders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark, stirring, ethereal... though at times reading like a first novel, which it was (I believe).