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Gladiator
Hugo Danner—a man with a strength unparalleled. A man to physically rival any human, any beast, any machine, and maybe even the gods themselves. But will the world accept his existence?
Hugo didn’t ask for this gift that his father, brilliant biologist Abednego Danner, bestowed upon him; a “gift” that promises a life of greatness. From being a baby that can launch himself from a second-story window unscathed, a boy that can leap canyons and hurl boulders, a football star that can beat an opposing team single-handed, a man capable of crushing an entire enemy platoon with his bare hands; surely such a person could steer the entire world to their whims.
But, does the world hold any post for a man of such strength? What good is immortal muscle when your own humanity, and the world itself, want to hold you back? Are there imperturbable forces that could stop a man who is capable of moving mountains from realizing his destiny?
First published in 1930, Philip Wylie’s Gladiator precedes Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster’s Superman by eight years and is part of a foundation of incredible stories featuring individuals with powers beyond human limits. Fans of superheroes will be astounded by this early rendition of very modern tales.
Hugo didn’t ask for this gift that his father, brilliant biologist Abednego Danner, bestowed upon him; a “gift” that promises a life of greatness. From being a baby that can launch himself from a second-story window unscathed, a boy that can leap canyons and hurl boulders, a football star that can beat an opposing team single-handed, a man capable of crushing an entire enemy platoon with his bare hands; surely such a person could steer the entire world to their whims.
But, does the world hold any post for a man of such strength? What good is immortal muscle when your own humanity, and the world itself, want to hold you back? Are there imperturbable forces that could stop a man who is capable of moving mountains from realizing his destiny?
First published in 1930, Philip Wylie’s Gladiator precedes Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster’s Superman by eight years and is part of a foundation of incredible stories featuring individuals with powers beyond human limits. Fans of superheroes will be astounded by this early rendition of very modern tales.
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First published January 1, 1930
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About the author
Philip Wylie
122 books54 followersBorn in Beverly, Massachusetts, Philip Gordon Wylie was the son of Presbyterian minister Edmund Melville Wylie and the former Edna Edwards, a novelist, who died when Philip was five years old. His family moved to Montclair, New Jersey and he later attended Princeton University from 1920–1923. He married Sally Ondek, and had one child, Karen, an author who became the inventor of animal "clicker" training. After a divorcing his first wife, Philip Wylie married Frederica Ballard who was born and raised in Rushford, New York; they are both buried in Rushford.
A writer of fiction and nonfiction, his output included hundreds of short stories, articles, serials, syndicated newspaper columns, novels, and works of social criticism. He also wrote screenplays while in Hollywood, was an editor for Farrar & Rinehart, served on the Dade County, Florida Defense Council, was a director of the Lerner Marine Laboratory, and at one time was an adviser to the chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee for Atomic Energy which led to the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission. Most of his major writings contain critical, though often philosophical, views on man and society as a result of his studies and interest in psychology, biology, ethnology, and physics. Over nine movies were made from novels or stories by Wylie. He sold the rights for two others that were never produced.
A writer of fiction and nonfiction, his output included hundreds of short stories, articles, serials, syndicated newspaper columns, novels, and works of social criticism. He also wrote screenplays while in Hollywood, was an editor for Farrar & Rinehart, served on the Dade County, Florida Defense Council, was a director of the Lerner Marine Laboratory, and at one time was an adviser to the chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee for Atomic Energy which led to the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission. Most of his major writings contain critical, though often philosophical, views on man and society as a result of his studies and interest in psychology, biology, ethnology, and physics. Over nine movies were made from novels or stories by Wylie. He sold the rights for two others that were never produced.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
January 26, 2011
I picked up Gladiator because I heard it was an inspiration for Doc Savage and Superman. That is an understandment.
Gladiator is the story of Hugo Danner. Hugo is the son of a scientist who injected him with a serum when he was still in the womb, giving him unbelievable strength. For example, Hugo kills a bully at school with his superhuman strength, branding him an outsider for the rest of his life.
Over the course of the book, Hugo goes from relationship to relationship, works in a circus, fights in a war, all the while looking for a place to belong. Hugo being an outsider reminded me a lot of the way The Hulk and the X-Men are treated. In fact, Hugo's story seems like the template for a lot of later superhero characters.
I'd recommend this to any comic book or Doc Savage fan interested in looking at the ancestor of their heroes.
Gladiator is the story of Hugo Danner. Hugo is the son of a scientist who injected him with a serum when he was still in the womb, giving him unbelievable strength. For example, Hugo kills a bully at school with his superhuman strength, branding him an outsider for the rest of his life.
Over the course of the book, Hugo goes from relationship to relationship, works in a circus, fights in a war, all the while looking for a place to belong. Hugo being an outsider reminded me a lot of the way The Hulk and the X-Men are treated. In fact, Hugo's story seems like the template for a lot of later superhero characters.
I'd recommend this to any comic book or Doc Savage fan interested in looking at the ancestor of their heroes.
October 23, 2014
A friend of mine reviewed this saying it was progenitor of Superman & Doc Savage. Dan's review is here:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I found it for free on Gutenberg.org
This is a story of angst, a coming of age story. An experiment, Hugo Danner is as strong as the Hulk & quite intelligent with only his conscience as a guide. As Dan mentions in his review, I can see the early seeds of almost every super hero in this book. It's the mother of them all. A must-read.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I found it for free on Gutenberg.org
This is a story of angst, a coming of age story. An experiment, Hugo Danner is as strong as the Hulk & quite intelligent with only his conscience as a guide. As Dan mentions in his review, I can see the early seeds of almost every super hero in this book. It's the mother of them all. A must-read.
July 31, 2022
In a recent review here on Goodreads, for J.D. Beresford's seminal 1911 classic "The Wonder," I mentioned that the novel was an early example of one of Radium Age sci-fi's favorite themes, that of the "superman" or "wunderkind." In that book, we had encountered a young British lad, Victor Stott, who was born with superhuman mental abilities that had made him an object of both fear and hatred among most of his fellows. Well, now I am here to share some thoughts on still another Radium Age wonder that tells the tale of a superman, but in this case our lead character's marvelous abilities are physical ones rather than mental, and brought about by artificial means rather than being a mere freak of nature. And it seems that this man of remarkable physical attributes is believed by some to have been an influence on the creation of the character Superman himself! Fittingly entitled "Gladiator," the book has revealed itself to this reader to be an absolutely marvelous and relevant entertainment, despite having been written almost a century ago.
"Gladiator" was first released in 1930 as a $2.50 hardcover by the American publisher Alfred A. Knopf, with a stunning illustration on its dust jacket by an artist only listed as Lowenchuno. Befitting its now-classic status, around a dozen other releases would follow; the one that I was fortunate enough to acquire is the 2004 edition from Bison Books. This was the fourth novel to be written by the Massachusetts-born author Philip Wylie, who was 28 years old when the book was released. Wylie would, by the time of his passing in 1971, at age 69, come out with no fewer than 27 novels, plus 16 books of short stories and six works of nonfiction. I have already written here of two of his best-known works, 1932's "When Worlds Collide" and 1933's "After Worlds Collide," both of them written in collaboration with Edwin Balmer, but "Gladiator," Wylie's first work of speculative science fiction, may be even better than those two great classics. The author would go on to pen novels and stories covering a wide range of subject matter--mysteries, thrillers, sci-fi--as well as newspaper articles and books dealing with various social issues, but today, I would venture to say, he is best remembered for his science fiction, and "Gladiator" is a perfect example of just why that is. Highly involving, beautifully written, exciting, tragic and ultimately moving, it is a tale that just might leave modern-day readers stunned by its manifold fine qualities.
"Gladiator," in essence, is the tale of Hugo Danner, who was born in the small (fictitious) town of Indian Creek, Colorado, sometime near the end of the 19th century. His father, Abednego Danner, was a henpecked biology professor who, before Hugo's birth, had invented a revolutionary serum employing "alkaline radicals"; a serum that might, theoretically, give a human being the proportionate strength of an ant or a grasshopper. Some tadpole eggs treated with the serum result in tadpoles powerful enough to break free of their glass aquarium; a pregnant cat that is similarly treated gives birth to a kitten strong enough to run through walls and become the murderous scourge of a neighbor's cattle! When Abednego’s shrewish and devout wife, Matilda, becomes pregnant (a development that does indeed startle the reader, considering the strained relationship between the two), the overzealous scientist gives her a drugged beverage to knock her out, and then inoculates his unconscious spouse with the serum unawares. (Just a wee bit unethical, no?) The result, nine months later, can be guessed. Hugo is born with such an unnatural strength that his crib has to be specially constructed of iron. At 6 years old, he comes close to killing a school bully in a fight, and, as events in his later life demonstrate, the strapping lad would eventually be able to jump 40 feet high, kick a 90-yard punt in a football game, and walk 40 mph while carrying a ton of supplies! He could hold his breath inordinately long underwater, and, perhaps most remarkable, had a skin so tough that it was practically impervious to bullets! While growing up, he is cautioned by his worried parents about using his abilities in front of others, and throughout his life, as we soon learn, Hugo's main concern will be just how he can put his remarkable gifts to the best use. Unfortunately, practically every time Hugo endeavors to do good for others, it only serves to bring grief to himself.
Over the course of "Gladiator," we witness the many episodes in Hugo's checkered career. Thus, we see him become one of the most popular men at his college, only to bring about a calamitous tragedy on the football field. To make some money between terms, Hugo lowers himself to do a strongman act on the Coney Island boardwalk. Later, he becomes a ship hand, a pearl diver in the South Seas, and, in the book's longest section, a French Foreign Legion volunteer in the WW1 trenches. After the Armistice is signed, a disillusioned Hugo, broke and desperate for work, becomes a steel factory employee, a bank clerk, a farmhand, a political influencer in D.C., a dabbler in radical politics, and finally, an assistant on an archeological expedition in the Yucatan. Along the way, he has relationships with four very different women: Anna Blake, his childhood sweetheart; Iris, the socialite cousin of his college buddy; a harlot named Charlotte, with whom he shacks up for a happy summer in Coney Island; and Roseanne Cane, the unhappy wife of his farmer employer. All four of these relationships, unfortunately, go sour, and poor Hugo finds that his remarkable abilities are in no wise a guarantee of fulfillment or happiness....
Now, as to the question of whether "Gladiator" was or was not an influence on writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster when they teamed up to create Superman (whose first appearance was in "Action Comics" #1, in the spring of 1938), that answer has long been unproved and inconclusive. Sure, there are some similarities between Hugo and Supes: the super strength (although Superman is of course incalculably stronger), their childhood passed in rural settings, their bulletproof skin, and the fact that both men erect fortresses of solitude for themselves. (Hugo’s was constructed out of boulders in the Colorado forest when he was just a boy.) And the 10-year-old Hugo does at one point tell his father "...I can jump higher'n a house. I can run faster'n a train. I can pull up big trees an’ push 'em over...." But that's pretty much where it ends. Rather, I can see how "Gladiator" might have been an influence on the Doc Savage character, who would soon make his initial appearance in the "Doc Savage Magazine"'s March 1933 issue. Doc, like Hugo, was at least an Earthling, whose mind and body had been trained from birth by a team of scientists to achieve incredible things. It is Clark Savage, the Man of Bronze, with his so-called Fortress of Solitude in the North Pole, who I've always considered a direct influence on the creation of Clark Kent, the Man of Steel. Hugo surely seems to have more in common with Doc than with the flying, X-ray-vision-using, practically invincible alien from the planet Krypton. Unfortunately, Siegel and Shuster never did acknowledge either character as an influence on their most famous creation, so we will probably never know for sure. (I might add here that Wylie's 1932 novel, "The Savage Gentleman," supposedly has so many similarities with the later Doc Savage as to negate any possibility of coincidence.)
For the rest of it, "Gladiator" finds Wylie exhibiting a love affair with the English language, and his book really does feel as if it were aspiring to be placed in the pantheon of Great American Novels. Wylie's patent love of language is akin to the great Mark Helprin's today; this is one sci-fi novel that can truly be deemed great literature, as well. So many beautifully written passages practically cry out to be underlined or highlighted. Take, for example, this throwaway description of the ocean off the coast of Panama, as Hugo gazes at it:
"...The sea. Blue, green, restless, ghost-ridden, driven into empty quarters by devils riding the wind, secretive, mysterious, making a last gigantic, primeval stand against the conquest of man, hemming and isolating the world, beautiful, horrible, dead god of ten thousand voices, universal incubator, universal grave...."
The book truly is a stunning sci-fi debut, both in terms of subject matter and presentation. And the book is, surprisingly, sexually frank for its time; not for nothing did the 1949 Avon paperback edition of "Gladiator" sport the blurb "The Lusty Life of an Uninhibited Superman." And as if this weren’t enough, Wylie's work here also operates as an extremely effective antiwar novel, featuring scenes of unflinching carnage on the battlefield. At bottom, though, "Gladiator" comes off as something of a genuine tragedy, and if Hugo's motto isn’t "No good deed goes unpunished," it might as well be. The reader feels the plight of this supremely powerful man who only means to do well...if he can only figure out how best to apply his astounding physical strengths. And we sympathize with Hugo when the understandable urge sometimes strikes him to run amok. Wylie's novel, as do the best of these superman affairs, is also a telling commentary on how society often misunderstands and distrusts--even abhors--its physically and/or mentally gifted, and how these exceptional outcasts must ultimately learn to cope...or perish.
In a book filled with any number of emotionally charged or flat-out exciting sequences, several manage to stand out, including Mrs. Danner's discovery of what her husband had done to her, leading to a highly dramatic and physical confrontation; Hugo's bout in the ring with an enormous Swedish wrestler, to win a much-needed $100; the college football game that ends in tragedy; Hugo battling with and overcoming a shark to rescue a sailor (offhand, I'd say that we would not be treated to such a spectacle again until the 1977 film "The Spy Who Loved Me" and the 1979 film "Zombie"); the sight of Hugo, having just witnessed a buddy blown to bits, committing absolute mayhem amongst the German soldiers in their trenches; Hugo rescuing a fellow bank employee who had gotten himself locked inside a 5-foot-thick safe; the horrible tortures that the police put Hugo through to extract information from him, and Hugo's long-postponed punishment of them; the wonderful scene in which Hugo converses with his dying father; and finally, Hugo's ultimate fate in the Mexican jungle. So, does Wylie allow his superman to enjoy a happy ending? Well, I would never dream of telling--and the answer to that question is indeed withheld till the very final paragraphs of the book--but if you've ever read some other of these vintage superman affairs, such as "The Wonder," John Taine's "Seeds of Life" (1931), Olaf Stapledon's "Odd John" (1935), and Stanley G. Weinbaum's "The New Adam" (1939), you'll probably have a pretty good idea.
Actually, I have no quibbles whatsoever to lodge against Wylie's practically perfect piece of work here. Sure, his novel can be justly accused of being a bit episodic, but isn't that the way most lives are, with their various phases and settings? Still, I was more than pleased with how this classic sci-fi tale turned out, and the evenings that I spent with Hugo Danner in "Gladiator" were most enjoyable ones for me. Bison Books has another book by Philip Wylie that has been sitting on my shelf unread for ages now, namely 1951's "The Disappearance," and that is where I believe this reader will be heading next, Wylie-wise. Stay tuned....
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at https://fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of Philip Wylie....)
"Gladiator" was first released in 1930 as a $2.50 hardcover by the American publisher Alfred A. Knopf, with a stunning illustration on its dust jacket by an artist only listed as Lowenchuno. Befitting its now-classic status, around a dozen other releases would follow; the one that I was fortunate enough to acquire is the 2004 edition from Bison Books. This was the fourth novel to be written by the Massachusetts-born author Philip Wylie, who was 28 years old when the book was released. Wylie would, by the time of his passing in 1971, at age 69, come out with no fewer than 27 novels, plus 16 books of short stories and six works of nonfiction. I have already written here of two of his best-known works, 1932's "When Worlds Collide" and 1933's "After Worlds Collide," both of them written in collaboration with Edwin Balmer, but "Gladiator," Wylie's first work of speculative science fiction, may be even better than those two great classics. The author would go on to pen novels and stories covering a wide range of subject matter--mysteries, thrillers, sci-fi--as well as newspaper articles and books dealing with various social issues, but today, I would venture to say, he is best remembered for his science fiction, and "Gladiator" is a perfect example of just why that is. Highly involving, beautifully written, exciting, tragic and ultimately moving, it is a tale that just might leave modern-day readers stunned by its manifold fine qualities.
"Gladiator," in essence, is the tale of Hugo Danner, who was born in the small (fictitious) town of Indian Creek, Colorado, sometime near the end of the 19th century. His father, Abednego Danner, was a henpecked biology professor who, before Hugo's birth, had invented a revolutionary serum employing "alkaline radicals"; a serum that might, theoretically, give a human being the proportionate strength of an ant or a grasshopper. Some tadpole eggs treated with the serum result in tadpoles powerful enough to break free of their glass aquarium; a pregnant cat that is similarly treated gives birth to a kitten strong enough to run through walls and become the murderous scourge of a neighbor's cattle! When Abednego’s shrewish and devout wife, Matilda, becomes pregnant (a development that does indeed startle the reader, considering the strained relationship between the two), the overzealous scientist gives her a drugged beverage to knock her out, and then inoculates his unconscious spouse with the serum unawares. (Just a wee bit unethical, no?) The result, nine months later, can be guessed. Hugo is born with such an unnatural strength that his crib has to be specially constructed of iron. At 6 years old, he comes close to killing a school bully in a fight, and, as events in his later life demonstrate, the strapping lad would eventually be able to jump 40 feet high, kick a 90-yard punt in a football game, and walk 40 mph while carrying a ton of supplies! He could hold his breath inordinately long underwater, and, perhaps most remarkable, had a skin so tough that it was practically impervious to bullets! While growing up, he is cautioned by his worried parents about using his abilities in front of others, and throughout his life, as we soon learn, Hugo's main concern will be just how he can put his remarkable gifts to the best use. Unfortunately, practically every time Hugo endeavors to do good for others, it only serves to bring grief to himself.
Over the course of "Gladiator," we witness the many episodes in Hugo's checkered career. Thus, we see him become one of the most popular men at his college, only to bring about a calamitous tragedy on the football field. To make some money between terms, Hugo lowers himself to do a strongman act on the Coney Island boardwalk. Later, he becomes a ship hand, a pearl diver in the South Seas, and, in the book's longest section, a French Foreign Legion volunteer in the WW1 trenches. After the Armistice is signed, a disillusioned Hugo, broke and desperate for work, becomes a steel factory employee, a bank clerk, a farmhand, a political influencer in D.C., a dabbler in radical politics, and finally, an assistant on an archeological expedition in the Yucatan. Along the way, he has relationships with four very different women: Anna Blake, his childhood sweetheart; Iris, the socialite cousin of his college buddy; a harlot named Charlotte, with whom he shacks up for a happy summer in Coney Island; and Roseanne Cane, the unhappy wife of his farmer employer. All four of these relationships, unfortunately, go sour, and poor Hugo finds that his remarkable abilities are in no wise a guarantee of fulfillment or happiness....
Now, as to the question of whether "Gladiator" was or was not an influence on writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster when they teamed up to create Superman (whose first appearance was in "Action Comics" #1, in the spring of 1938), that answer has long been unproved and inconclusive. Sure, there are some similarities between Hugo and Supes: the super strength (although Superman is of course incalculably stronger), their childhood passed in rural settings, their bulletproof skin, and the fact that both men erect fortresses of solitude for themselves. (Hugo’s was constructed out of boulders in the Colorado forest when he was just a boy.) And the 10-year-old Hugo does at one point tell his father "...I can jump higher'n a house. I can run faster'n a train. I can pull up big trees an’ push 'em over...." But that's pretty much where it ends. Rather, I can see how "Gladiator" might have been an influence on the Doc Savage character, who would soon make his initial appearance in the "Doc Savage Magazine"'s March 1933 issue. Doc, like Hugo, was at least an Earthling, whose mind and body had been trained from birth by a team of scientists to achieve incredible things. It is Clark Savage, the Man of Bronze, with his so-called Fortress of Solitude in the North Pole, who I've always considered a direct influence on the creation of Clark Kent, the Man of Steel. Hugo surely seems to have more in common with Doc than with the flying, X-ray-vision-using, practically invincible alien from the planet Krypton. Unfortunately, Siegel and Shuster never did acknowledge either character as an influence on their most famous creation, so we will probably never know for sure. (I might add here that Wylie's 1932 novel, "The Savage Gentleman," supposedly has so many similarities with the later Doc Savage as to negate any possibility of coincidence.)
For the rest of it, "Gladiator" finds Wylie exhibiting a love affair with the English language, and his book really does feel as if it were aspiring to be placed in the pantheon of Great American Novels. Wylie's patent love of language is akin to the great Mark Helprin's today; this is one sci-fi novel that can truly be deemed great literature, as well. So many beautifully written passages practically cry out to be underlined or highlighted. Take, for example, this throwaway description of the ocean off the coast of Panama, as Hugo gazes at it:
"...The sea. Blue, green, restless, ghost-ridden, driven into empty quarters by devils riding the wind, secretive, mysterious, making a last gigantic, primeval stand against the conquest of man, hemming and isolating the world, beautiful, horrible, dead god of ten thousand voices, universal incubator, universal grave...."
The book truly is a stunning sci-fi debut, both in terms of subject matter and presentation. And the book is, surprisingly, sexually frank for its time; not for nothing did the 1949 Avon paperback edition of "Gladiator" sport the blurb "The Lusty Life of an Uninhibited Superman." And as if this weren’t enough, Wylie's work here also operates as an extremely effective antiwar novel, featuring scenes of unflinching carnage on the battlefield. At bottom, though, "Gladiator" comes off as something of a genuine tragedy, and if Hugo's motto isn’t "No good deed goes unpunished," it might as well be. The reader feels the plight of this supremely powerful man who only means to do well...if he can only figure out how best to apply his astounding physical strengths. And we sympathize with Hugo when the understandable urge sometimes strikes him to run amok. Wylie's novel, as do the best of these superman affairs, is also a telling commentary on how society often misunderstands and distrusts--even abhors--its physically and/or mentally gifted, and how these exceptional outcasts must ultimately learn to cope...or perish.
In a book filled with any number of emotionally charged or flat-out exciting sequences, several manage to stand out, including Mrs. Danner's discovery of what her husband had done to her, leading to a highly dramatic and physical confrontation; Hugo's bout in the ring with an enormous Swedish wrestler, to win a much-needed $100; the college football game that ends in tragedy; Hugo battling with and overcoming a shark to rescue a sailor (offhand, I'd say that we would not be treated to such a spectacle again until the 1977 film "The Spy Who Loved Me" and the 1979 film "Zombie"); the sight of Hugo, having just witnessed a buddy blown to bits, committing absolute mayhem amongst the German soldiers in their trenches; Hugo rescuing a fellow bank employee who had gotten himself locked inside a 5-foot-thick safe; the horrible tortures that the police put Hugo through to extract information from him, and Hugo's long-postponed punishment of them; the wonderful scene in which Hugo converses with his dying father; and finally, Hugo's ultimate fate in the Mexican jungle. So, does Wylie allow his superman to enjoy a happy ending? Well, I would never dream of telling--and the answer to that question is indeed withheld till the very final paragraphs of the book--but if you've ever read some other of these vintage superman affairs, such as "The Wonder," John Taine's "Seeds of Life" (1931), Olaf Stapledon's "Odd John" (1935), and Stanley G. Weinbaum's "The New Adam" (1939), you'll probably have a pretty good idea.
Actually, I have no quibbles whatsoever to lodge against Wylie's practically perfect piece of work here. Sure, his novel can be justly accused of being a bit episodic, but isn't that the way most lives are, with their various phases and settings? Still, I was more than pleased with how this classic sci-fi tale turned out, and the evenings that I spent with Hugo Danner in "Gladiator" were most enjoyable ones for me. Bison Books has another book by Philip Wylie that has been sitting on my shelf unread for ages now, namely 1951's "The Disappearance," and that is where I believe this reader will be heading next, Wylie-wise. Stay tuned....
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at https://fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of Philip Wylie....)
November 9, 2019
This is a SF novel that can be viewed as one of the progenitors of Superman. Originally published in 1930 it contains some ideas that later became a trope of Superhero genre.
The story start with a scientist, Abednego Danner, who was a professor of biology in a small college in the town of Indian Creek. He was interested in the fact that “An ant can carry a large spider—yet an ant is tissue and fiber, like a man. If a man could be given the same sinews—he could walk off with his own house”, “Consider the grasshoppers. Make a man as strong as a grasshopper—and he'll be able to leap over a church. I tell you, there is something that determines the quality of every muscle and nerve”. Compare this with an early description published in Action Comics #1 that also compared Superman’s great strength to an ant’s ability to carry hundreds of times its own weight and a grasshopper’s ability to leap great distances. Even the insects used for the comparison are the same!
The biologist finds a serum that increases the strength and after several experiments with animals, injects it into his wife (without her knowledge). The son is born on X-mas Eve, named Hugo Danner. The rest of the story depicts his life, from crib to school, to collage and sports, to the Great war and beyond. He never dons a cape but he deeds several feats worthy of the early (late 30s) Superman.
The story is rather uneven, it starts great with jokes and sitcom moments, witty phrases like “As a scientist he was passionately intrigued by the idea. As a husband he was dubious. As a member of society he was terrified.” Or “The village is known for the speed of its gossip and the sloth of its intelligence.” However, closer to the middle it loses the steam and starts to slog, with minor improvements up until the end. The ending however is great and unexpected (at least for me). What I found unusual for a 30s book is that there is a lot of sex, not in terms of scenes of intercourse (there are none), but that it is talked at all – Hugo has quite a few partners during the story.
The story start with a scientist, Abednego Danner, who was a professor of biology in a small college in the town of Indian Creek. He was interested in the fact that “An ant can carry a large spider—yet an ant is tissue and fiber, like a man. If a man could be given the same sinews—he could walk off with his own house”, “Consider the grasshoppers. Make a man as strong as a grasshopper—and he'll be able to leap over a church. I tell you, there is something that determines the quality of every muscle and nerve”. Compare this with an early description published in Action Comics #1 that also compared Superman’s great strength to an ant’s ability to carry hundreds of times its own weight and a grasshopper’s ability to leap great distances. Even the insects used for the comparison are the same!
The biologist finds a serum that increases the strength and after several experiments with animals, injects it into his wife (without her knowledge). The son is born on X-mas Eve, named Hugo Danner. The rest of the story depicts his life, from crib to school, to collage and sports, to the Great war and beyond. He never dons a cape but he deeds several feats worthy of the early (late 30s) Superman.
The story is rather uneven, it starts great with jokes and sitcom moments, witty phrases like “As a scientist he was passionately intrigued by the idea. As a husband he was dubious. As a member of society he was terrified.” Or “The village is known for the speed of its gossip and the sloth of its intelligence.” However, closer to the middle it loses the steam and starts to slog, with minor improvements up until the end. The ending however is great and unexpected (at least for me). What I found unusual for a 30s book is that there is a lot of sex, not in terms of scenes of intercourse (there are none), but that it is talked at all – Hugo has quite a few partners during the story.
November 17, 2019
Read for Evolution of SF group. Lots of good discussion there. So much more than an adventure, and in fact the only SF element is the premise. Mostly it's about the dilemma of the superior man - how can he fit in, and/or be a hero, when ordinary people react in the primitive ways that they do? Very well written, almost literary with allusions, metaphors, the occasional poetic or alliterative turn of phrase.
I see how some say it's progenitor to Superman, though of course super-strength is a trope as old as time, and Wylie gave Hugo no kryptonite. I see it as reflecting the trope that Ayn Rand is known for, that super man is necessarily superior man. But really, it stands on its own merits, is very enjoyable, and it should be much more widely read.
Avl. free to borrow on openlibrary.org.
I see how some say it's progenitor to Superman, though of course super-strength is a trope as old as time, and Wylie gave Hugo no kryptonite. I see it as reflecting the trope that Ayn Rand is known for, that super man is necessarily superior man. But really, it stands on its own merits, is very enjoyable, and it should be much more widely read.
Avl. free to borrow on openlibrary.org.
January 10, 2018
What a find! This book, written in 1930, is the 'mother' of the superhero genre. It's also far more than the pulp adventure it may appear, with a well-thought out and prescient plot that sees the protagonist struggling to come to terms with his superpowers. Raced through it and thoroughly enjoyed it. A definite keeper.
PS. This is a Blackmask Online reprint edition, and the editing/transcription is woeful in places. But hey, so what?
PS. This is a Blackmask Online reprint edition, and the editing/transcription is woeful in places. But hey, so what?
January 7, 2018
In which all the new-fangled emotional and psychological complexity claimed for modern superhero movies is found to have been there from the start
"When you were little more than a mass of plasm inside your mother, I put a medicine in her blood that I had discovered. I did it with a hypodermic needle. That medicine changed you. It altered the structure of your bones and muscles and nerves and your blood. It made you into a different tissue from the weak fibre of ordinary people. Then—when you were born—you were strong. Did you ever watch an ant carry many times its weight? Or see a grasshopper jump fifty times its length? The insects have better muscles and nerves than we have. And I improved your body till it was relatively that strong. Can you understand that?"
"Sure. I'm like a man made out of iron instead of meat."
"That's it, Hugo. And, as you grow up, you've got to remember that. You're not an ordinary human being. When people find that out, they'll—they'll—"
"They'll hate me?"
"Because they fear you. So you see, you've got to be good and kind and considerate—to justify all that strength. Some day you'll find a use for it—a big, noble use—and then you can make it work and be proud of it. Until that day, you have to be humble like all the rest of us. You mustn't show off or do cheap tricks. Then you'd just be a clown. Wait your time, son, and you'll be glad of it. And—another thing—train your temper. You must never lose it. You can see what would happen if you did? Understand?"
"I guess I do. It's hard work—doin' all that."
"The stronger, the greater, you are, the harder life is for you. And you're the strongest of them all, Hugo."
The heart of the ten-year-old boy burned and vibrated. "And what about God?" he asked.
Danner looked into the darkened sky. "I don't know much about Him," he sighed."
This was one of those pleasant surprises that happen all too rarely in my reading life. I expected pulp, I expected a proto-superman, a science fiction adventure with little else. Instead I found a complex and moving exploration of humanity, of war, of failure, of the hatred and fear of the strange, of youth and desire.
"There are, in the lives of almost every man and woman, certain brief episodes that, enduring for a long or a short time, leave in the memory a sense of completeness. To those moments humanity returns for refuge, for courage, and for solace. It was of such material that Hugo's next two months were composed. The items of it were nearly all sensuous: the sound of the sea when he sat in the sand late at night with Charlotte; the whoop and bellow of the merry-go-round that spun and glittered across the street from his tent; the inarticulate breathing and the white-knuckled clenchings of the crowd as it lifted its face to his efforts, for each of which he assumed a slow, painful motion that exaggerated its difficulty; the smell of the sea, intermingled with a thousand man-made odors; the faint, pervasive scent of Charlotte that clung to him, his clothes, his house; the pageant of the people, always in a huge parade, going nowhere, celebrating nothing but the functions of living, loud, garish, cheap, splendid; breakfasts at his table with his woman's voluptuousness abated in the bright sunlight to little more than a reminiscence and a promise; the taste of beer and pop-corn and frankfurters and lobster and steak; the affable, talkative company of Valentine Mitchel."
The writing, in particular during the lengthy sequence set in WW1, is of unexpectedly high quality.
"Winter. Mud. A light fall of snow that was split into festers by the guns before it could anneal the ancient sores. Hugo shivered and stared into no man's land, whence a groan had issued for twenty hours, audible occasionally over the tumult of the artillery. He saw German eyes turned mutely on the same heap of rags that moved pitifully over the snow, leaving a red wake, dragging a bloody thing behind. It rose and fell, moving parallel to the two trenches. Many machine-gun bullets had either missed it or increased its crimson torment. Hugo went out and killed the heap of rags, with a revolver that cracked until the groans stopped in a low moan. Breaths on both sides were bated. The rags had been gray-green. A shout of low, rumbling praise came from the silent enemy trenches. Hugo looked over there for a moment and smiled. He looked down at the thing and vomited. The guns began again."
This is well worth your time, and can be found for free here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42914/...
"When you were little more than a mass of plasm inside your mother, I put a medicine in her blood that I had discovered. I did it with a hypodermic needle. That medicine changed you. It altered the structure of your bones and muscles and nerves and your blood. It made you into a different tissue from the weak fibre of ordinary people. Then—when you were born—you were strong. Did you ever watch an ant carry many times its weight? Or see a grasshopper jump fifty times its length? The insects have better muscles and nerves than we have. And I improved your body till it was relatively that strong. Can you understand that?"
"Sure. I'm like a man made out of iron instead of meat."
"That's it, Hugo. And, as you grow up, you've got to remember that. You're not an ordinary human being. When people find that out, they'll—they'll—"
"They'll hate me?"
"Because they fear you. So you see, you've got to be good and kind and considerate—to justify all that strength. Some day you'll find a use for it—a big, noble use—and then you can make it work and be proud of it. Until that day, you have to be humble like all the rest of us. You mustn't show off or do cheap tricks. Then you'd just be a clown. Wait your time, son, and you'll be glad of it. And—another thing—train your temper. You must never lose it. You can see what would happen if you did? Understand?"
"I guess I do. It's hard work—doin' all that."
"The stronger, the greater, you are, the harder life is for you. And you're the strongest of them all, Hugo."
The heart of the ten-year-old boy burned and vibrated. "And what about God?" he asked.
Danner looked into the darkened sky. "I don't know much about Him," he sighed."
This was one of those pleasant surprises that happen all too rarely in my reading life. I expected pulp, I expected a proto-superman, a science fiction adventure with little else. Instead I found a complex and moving exploration of humanity, of war, of failure, of the hatred and fear of the strange, of youth and desire.
"There are, in the lives of almost every man and woman, certain brief episodes that, enduring for a long or a short time, leave in the memory a sense of completeness. To those moments humanity returns for refuge, for courage, and for solace. It was of such material that Hugo's next two months were composed. The items of it were nearly all sensuous: the sound of the sea when he sat in the sand late at night with Charlotte; the whoop and bellow of the merry-go-round that spun and glittered across the street from his tent; the inarticulate breathing and the white-knuckled clenchings of the crowd as it lifted its face to his efforts, for each of which he assumed a slow, painful motion that exaggerated its difficulty; the smell of the sea, intermingled with a thousand man-made odors; the faint, pervasive scent of Charlotte that clung to him, his clothes, his house; the pageant of the people, always in a huge parade, going nowhere, celebrating nothing but the functions of living, loud, garish, cheap, splendid; breakfasts at his table with his woman's voluptuousness abated in the bright sunlight to little more than a reminiscence and a promise; the taste of beer and pop-corn and frankfurters and lobster and steak; the affable, talkative company of Valentine Mitchel."
The writing, in particular during the lengthy sequence set in WW1, is of unexpectedly high quality.
"Winter. Mud. A light fall of snow that was split into festers by the guns before it could anneal the ancient sores. Hugo shivered and stared into no man's land, whence a groan had issued for twenty hours, audible occasionally over the tumult of the artillery. He saw German eyes turned mutely on the same heap of rags that moved pitifully over the snow, leaving a red wake, dragging a bloody thing behind. It rose and fell, moving parallel to the two trenches. Many machine-gun bullets had either missed it or increased its crimson torment. Hugo went out and killed the heap of rags, with a revolver that cracked until the groans stopped in a low moan. Breaths on both sides were bated. The rags had been gray-green. A shout of low, rumbling praise came from the silent enemy trenches. Hugo looked over there for a moment and smiled. He looked down at the thing and vomited. The guns began again."
This is well worth your time, and can be found for free here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42914/...
January 30, 2009
I first heard of Gladiator when it was mentioned as the inspiration to Superman. I wouldn't say that the two have all that much in common, but its clear to see to what degrees it influenced the basic elements of Superman.
Gladiator is not very long and reads rather fast. The language is old, but doesn't bother when you read at all. It follows the life oh Hugo Danner, which has amazing powers. The story revolves around him trying to fit in with different people and circumstances - just wanting acceptance and love from his fellow man. His great gift is more of a curse as he struggles to find a use for this power within him.
It's not a typical superhero story at all! It's more about society and it's fear of anything that's different than it is of a swashbuckling hero and a damsel in distress.
I enjoyed it, thought it was a great science fiction story for its time, which hasn't lost its relevance in our world today.
P.S. On a totally different note, I truly believe that in the right hands this could make awesome movie!
Gladiator is not very long and reads rather fast. The language is old, but doesn't bother when you read at all. It follows the life oh Hugo Danner, which has amazing powers. The story revolves around him trying to fit in with different people and circumstances - just wanting acceptance and love from his fellow man. His great gift is more of a curse as he struggles to find a use for this power within him.
It's not a typical superhero story at all! It's more about society and it's fear of anything that's different than it is of a swashbuckling hero and a damsel in distress.
I enjoyed it, thought it was a great science fiction story for its time, which hasn't lost its relevance in our world today.
P.S. On a totally different note, I truly believe that in the right hands this could make awesome movie!
May 18, 2014
I read the free edition available online at Project Gutenberg. I chose this edition because it's the original hardcover -- and has the coolest cover art.
Even allowing for the fact this book is 85 years old, it's not especially well-written. That said, the ideas it contains are fairly electric, and one can see how it inspired teenagers Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster to create Superman. Mostly because they lifted parts of it wholesale for their creation. I don't blame though, since as teenagers we mostly just regurgitate what we've seen before. It's not their fault Superman became an instant hit.
Of particular interest to me beyond the book's pulp nature is the look at everyday life back then. The slang is sometimes as impenetrable as protagonist Hugo Danner's bullet-proof skin, but I do find it fascinating to see how language has changed. In my own lifetime I've seen slang come and go ("That's really gear!" and "That's totally nails!" and "Word to your mother!"), so it's equally quaint and interesting to read how folks in the 1920s spoke. ("I'll have a poke at you, bo.")
Attitudes have also changed. There is a casual sexism towards women that really stands out nearly a century later, but it's not intentionally cruel. Wylie also shows that the lower caste is casually racist as they use phrases like, "That's sure white of you." (The first time I heard a similar phrase, "That's mighty white of you," was from Burgess Meredith in some old movie and I did a double-take.)
For all that, the book is actually quite progressive. Hugo Danner's father is a meek but brilliant biologist who is brow-beaten by his wife. Nonetheless they manage to enjoy an evening of procreation, and he can't resist the temptation to see if his experiments to vastly improve a creature's cells will work on his unborn child. He fears that he will have a daughter as petty as his wife and is relieved when he has a son. Once his son demonstrates his remarkable strength as a toddler, Danner researches his wife's ancestors to ensure she wasn't tainted with Indian blood. Hugo himself later states that he's "Scotch Presbyterian for 20 generations."
After that, though, the pettiness of racism and sexism seems to fall away as Hugo matures and sees the world. He goes to college, he gets a summer job as a circus strongman, he becomes a merchant marine, he joins the French Foreign Legion and fights in the Great War, he works as a farmhand, always careful to hide the true extant of his abilities unless there's no other choice... in fact, a lot of it feels much like the plot of the recent Superman movie, Man of Steel.
Hugo's various adventures lead him to the conclusion that most people are pathetic, no matter their origin or station in life. He investigates various belief systems in turn, capitalism, communism, libertarianism, even eugenics, and rejects them all. He struggles with his innate anger at injustice and tries to master his feeling of disdain for weaker mortals. He attempts to atone for his failings, including accidental homicide, but finds it impossible to measure up to the standards he slowly formulates over the course of the novel.
In the hands of a better writer, this would be genuinely powerful stuff, but even here you can feel the electricity of these ideas.
The ending is a trope we've seen a thousand times since, but this is the earliest I've encountered it in so stark a form. It has an archetypal, iconic image to it that every superhero comic book has emulated in one form or another ever since, whether those writers have read this book or not.
This is one of those source novels that I recommend people read, just to see the wellspring for so much of our current fiction. The ideas are better than the writing, but it is interesting nonetheless.
Even allowing for the fact this book is 85 years old, it's not especially well-written. That said, the ideas it contains are fairly electric, and one can see how it inspired teenagers Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster to create Superman. Mostly because they lifted parts of it wholesale for their creation. I don't blame though, since as teenagers we mostly just regurgitate what we've seen before. It's not their fault Superman became an instant hit.
Of particular interest to me beyond the book's pulp nature is the look at everyday life back then. The slang is sometimes as impenetrable as protagonist Hugo Danner's bullet-proof skin, but I do find it fascinating to see how language has changed. In my own lifetime I've seen slang come and go ("That's really gear!" and "That's totally nails!" and "Word to your mother!"), so it's equally quaint and interesting to read how folks in the 1920s spoke. ("I'll have a poke at you, bo.")
Attitudes have also changed. There is a casual sexism towards women that really stands out nearly a century later, but it's not intentionally cruel. Wylie also shows that the lower caste is casually racist as they use phrases like, "That's sure white of you." (The first time I heard a similar phrase, "That's mighty white of you," was from Burgess Meredith in some old movie and I did a double-take.)
For all that, the book is actually quite progressive. Hugo Danner's father is a meek but brilliant biologist who is brow-beaten by his wife. Nonetheless they manage to enjoy an evening of procreation, and he can't resist the temptation to see if his experiments to vastly improve a creature's cells will work on his unborn child. He fears that he will have a daughter as petty as his wife and is relieved when he has a son. Once his son demonstrates his remarkable strength as a toddler, Danner researches his wife's ancestors to ensure she wasn't tainted with Indian blood. Hugo himself later states that he's "Scotch Presbyterian for 20 generations."
After that, though, the pettiness of racism and sexism seems to fall away as Hugo matures and sees the world. He goes to college, he gets a summer job as a circus strongman, he becomes a merchant marine, he joins the French Foreign Legion and fights in the Great War, he works as a farmhand, always careful to hide the true extant of his abilities unless there's no other choice... in fact, a lot of it feels much like the plot of the recent Superman movie, Man of Steel.
Hugo's various adventures lead him to the conclusion that most people are pathetic, no matter their origin or station in life. He investigates various belief systems in turn, capitalism, communism, libertarianism, even eugenics, and rejects them all. He struggles with his innate anger at injustice and tries to master his feeling of disdain for weaker mortals. He attempts to atone for his failings, including accidental homicide, but finds it impossible to measure up to the standards he slowly formulates over the course of the novel.
In the hands of a better writer, this would be genuinely powerful stuff, but even here you can feel the electricity of these ideas.
The ending is a trope we've seen a thousand times since, but this is the earliest I've encountered it in so stark a form. It has an archetypal, iconic image to it that every superhero comic book has emulated in one form or another ever since, whether those writers have read this book or not.
This is one of those source novels that I recommend people read, just to see the wellspring for so much of our current fiction. The ideas are better than the writing, but it is interesting nonetheless.
August 7, 2023
3.75/5
An interesting story filled with realistic but unlikable characters doing mostly mundane things. While the story was interesting the story didn’t really flow mostly because each chapter felt almost like a separate short story like this was originally serialized even though that doesn’t seem to have been the case.
An interesting story filled with realistic but unlikable characters doing mostly mundane things. While the story was interesting the story didn’t really flow mostly because each chapter felt almost like a separate short story like this was originally serialized even though that doesn’t seem to have been the case.
November 17, 2024
Author Philip Wylie according to Wiki would become a respected writer in several areas and even become an advisor to America’s Joint Congressional Committee for Atomic Energy. However, as a not quite established writer, his early work was published as pulp fiction. Gladiator is among these early works. Granted it has its references to casual, un-married sex and there are some major images of violence, but these are not the main points of the book. Depending on sensitivities, this is not intended to be for the younger readers, but as is its situation as literature, versus popular fiction it is in a grey area.
Th Gladiator of the title is our protagonist, Hugo Danner. He is the child of an experiment forced on his mother by his bio-chemist father. There is little about this that passes even the less sensitive feelings about human experiments in 1930, and somehow, we are moved to over look it. Hugo is from birth bigger, faster stronger and impervious to injury.
Much of the discussion of this book is around how much it directly influenced the later creation of Superman, and much later a host of well know super powered comic book characters. As a matter of comic book, or even copy right history these are interesting research problems, but if we focus on Hugo, beside the point.
What Wykie is focused on is the internal life of a heroically minded, turely advanced human, but for all that a Human. From early on he has to restrain himself. With his super powers come a major tendency towards violence. As a child he cannot help but attract teasing and while trying to suppress his strength, he is bullied. What these other children do is wrong, but he is so beyond their limits, that he cannot allow himself the freedom to be himself.
Ninety years later much of literature is focused on how much the individual must find and express and be allowed their unique identity. What if that authentic identity is received as monstrous? What if that perception poisons any chance at love, respect or so much as a modest appearance on the edges of society.
Hugo is born of his father’s original sin. It is his burden to try and be not just good, but worthy of his powers. The cost is that he cannot do anything good enough to truly improve the human condition, nor can he achieve even the simplest of desired human relations.
Pulp fiction is defined as being centered on the sensual and sensational, the word pulp referring to the cheap paper upon which it was originally printed. Gladiator is more than that. Action packed maybe, certainly he has sex. Mostly he has an inner life. Something rarely attempted in most Superman stories.
Th Gladiator of the title is our protagonist, Hugo Danner. He is the child of an experiment forced on his mother by his bio-chemist father. There is little about this that passes even the less sensitive feelings about human experiments in 1930, and somehow, we are moved to over look it. Hugo is from birth bigger, faster stronger and impervious to injury.
Much of the discussion of this book is around how much it directly influenced the later creation of Superman, and much later a host of well know super powered comic book characters. As a matter of comic book, or even copy right history these are interesting research problems, but if we focus on Hugo, beside the point.
What Wykie is focused on is the internal life of a heroically minded, turely advanced human, but for all that a Human. From early on he has to restrain himself. With his super powers come a major tendency towards violence. As a child he cannot help but attract teasing and while trying to suppress his strength, he is bullied. What these other children do is wrong, but he is so beyond their limits, that he cannot allow himself the freedom to be himself.
Ninety years later much of literature is focused on how much the individual must find and express and be allowed their unique identity. What if that authentic identity is received as monstrous? What if that perception poisons any chance at love, respect or so much as a modest appearance on the edges of society.
Hugo is born of his father’s original sin. It is his burden to try and be not just good, but worthy of his powers. The cost is that he cannot do anything good enough to truly improve the human condition, nor can he achieve even the simplest of desired human relations.
Pulp fiction is defined as being centered on the sensual and sensational, the word pulp referring to the cheap paper upon which it was originally printed. Gladiator is more than that. Action packed maybe, certainly he has sex. Mostly he has an inner life. Something rarely attempted in most Superman stories.
March 10, 2012
If Superman introduced modern-day superheroes in comic books, then the protagonist of this book, Hugo Danner, would be considered the progenitor of the concepts. Born as a result of his father's experiments in "muscular strength and the nervous discharge of energy," Hugo is capable of feats that are beyond that of the majority of mortal men, such as running with abnormal speed, lifting massive boulders, setting bear traps with his teeth, killing sharks with his bare hands, and ripping open a two-ton steel door of a bank vault. But those very gifts have made Hugo isolated; an outcast and a black sheep in the eyes of society, the story's primary antagonist. Hugo's every extraordinary action was met with envy, fear, anger, hate, and rejection; his feats generally amounted to nothing, leaving him with, despite experiencing brief moments of happiness and acceptance, feelings of disappointment, loneliness, and desperation. Despite all this, Hugo continued until his untimely death his strive to rise above the constrictions of established society and to be accepted for his unique gifts, which is the overall theme of the story.
In all honesty, Hugo Danner is one of the most relatable characters to me. I too have unique abilities, mainly in academics and writing (so far), but I have yet to acquire a high paying job that would make use of my said abilities. But those abilities have not helped me go out with people. Most young people would move from their families to live on their own after graduating from hight school; yet it has been about six years since I have graduated from high school and I still live with my parents with little to no means of living in my own house or apartment. What's more, my abilities are useless in my part-time job as a bagger at a local supermarket. As a result, I have a tendency to feel useless and empty inside, like Hugo Danner did. In spite of all this, I do not intend to stop until I gain a position of acceptance in society where I would put my abilities to the best use and thus achieve an independent and blissful life. If you are curious about social psychological questions raised about society's acceptance and rejection of individuals, then this is the book for you. Those who are curious about the book that played a role in the creation of Superman should check it out, too.
In all honesty, Hugo Danner is one of the most relatable characters to me. I too have unique abilities, mainly in academics and writing (so far), but I have yet to acquire a high paying job that would make use of my said abilities. But those abilities have not helped me go out with people. Most young people would move from their families to live on their own after graduating from hight school; yet it has been about six years since I have graduated from high school and I still live with my parents with little to no means of living in my own house or apartment. What's more, my abilities are useless in my part-time job as a bagger at a local supermarket. As a result, I have a tendency to feel useless and empty inside, like Hugo Danner did. In spite of all this, I do not intend to stop until I gain a position of acceptance in society where I would put my abilities to the best use and thus achieve an independent and blissful life. If you are curious about social psychological questions raised about society's acceptance and rejection of individuals, then this is the book for you. Those who are curious about the book that played a role in the creation of Superman should check it out, too.
October 3, 2011
Speculative fiction by Philip Wylie. It was published in 1930 Alfred A. Knopf. Many people point to this novel as the origins for many pulp and comic-book superheroes. The story is about a young man, Hugo Danner, whose father, while Hugo was still in the womb injected him with a serum that turned Hugo into a superior man (Captain America). He grows up to be stronger, faster, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound... he's bullet-proof (Superman).
The story is about Hugo's search to find out where he fits in the world. He goes to college where he uses his speed and strength to become a football star until he accidentally kills another young man by stiff-arming him. He tries his hand at boxing and as a professional strong man. During WWI he joins the French Foreign Legion and becomes a war hero. At home a recession sends him to work in a steel mill until he gets fired by the union for working too hard.
He even tries his hand at influencing politics in Washington, D.C. using his strength to scare politicians into doing the right thing, but like all idealists, politics finally disillusions him.
Hugo never seems to find himself, and feels he's cursed to live apart from humanity, who fear and hate him for his unusual abilities. I kept expecting, since I've heard this referred to as an influence to superheroes and Doc Savage, that Hugo would turn to crime-fighting, but that never happens.
Although dated by the writing style and by social values of it's day, the book is still a fast read and surprisingly thoughtful.
The story is about Hugo's search to find out where he fits in the world. He goes to college where he uses his speed and strength to become a football star until he accidentally kills another young man by stiff-arming him. He tries his hand at boxing and as a professional strong man. During WWI he joins the French Foreign Legion and becomes a war hero. At home a recession sends him to work in a steel mill until he gets fired by the union for working too hard.
He even tries his hand at influencing politics in Washington, D.C. using his strength to scare politicians into doing the right thing, but like all idealists, politics finally disillusions him.
Hugo never seems to find himself, and feels he's cursed to live apart from humanity, who fear and hate him for his unusual abilities. I kept expecting, since I've heard this referred to as an influence to superheroes and Doc Savage, that Hugo would turn to crime-fighting, but that never happens.
Although dated by the writing style and by social values of it's day, the book is still a fast read and surprisingly thoughtful.
July 23, 2013
No, it wouldn't get four stars were it not for it's having been written almost eighty years ago and how well it has stood the test of time. Like many more modern "super heroes" Hugo Danner's superhuman strength and durability was the result of a scientific experiment--an intentional one in his case.
Gladiator then explores the practical and moral issues Hugo deals with during his thirty years of life from circa 1890 to 1920. Wylie grounds his hero in contemporary society and history, but focuses on the collision between a man like Hugo with normal people.
The angst which superheroes have only recently discovered was Danner's from the beginning. And ultimately, like many who have sought their own answers, he finds none, and is man enough to know it.
A very good read. Better written than many books by Wylie's more famous contemporaries.
Gladiator then explores the practical and moral issues Hugo deals with during his thirty years of life from circa 1890 to 1920. Wylie grounds his hero in contemporary society and history, but focuses on the collision between a man like Hugo with normal people.
The angst which superheroes have only recently discovered was Danner's from the beginning. And ultimately, like many who have sought their own answers, he finds none, and is man enough to know it.
A very good read. Better written than many books by Wylie's more famous contemporaries.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2017
-Rara avis, más en su tiempo, pero de interés en ciertos aspectos hoy.-
Género. Ciencia ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. En el libro Gladiator, el superhombre (publicación original: Gladiator, 1930) conocemos a Hugo Danner, un superhombre que vive en un pequeño pueblo norteamericano a finales del siglo XIX. Su padre, tras experimentar con animales, decidió inyectar el suero en el que estaba trabajando en su esposa embarazada, por lo que el niño nace con una fuerza descomunal, es casi invulnerable y muy rápido. Según crece, tiene que evitar hacer gala de sus habilidades porque su entorno suele reaccionar de forma adversa. Cuando va a la universidad, descubrirá un mundo nuevo pero con otros retos.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...
Género. Ciencia ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. En el libro Gladiator, el superhombre (publicación original: Gladiator, 1930) conocemos a Hugo Danner, un superhombre que vive en un pequeño pueblo norteamericano a finales del siglo XIX. Su padre, tras experimentar con animales, decidió inyectar el suero en el que estaba trabajando en su esposa embarazada, por lo que el niño nace con una fuerza descomunal, es casi invulnerable y muy rápido. Según crece, tiene que evitar hacer gala de sus habilidades porque su entorno suele reaccionar de forma adversa. Cuando va a la universidad, descubrirá un mundo nuevo pero con otros retos.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...
October 8, 2010
This is a great book, way ahead of its time. It is a lot deeper than people may think from the storyline. My dad recomended this book to me when I was a teenager. He had read it in High School in the 50's. I in turn recomended it to my friends who all loved it. It covers a lot (historically) of the early 20th century. War, college football, steel mills, Coney Islands & Mayan Excavations. Many of the topic's that it covers are pertenant today, such as bullying. I have read a lot of books and this is one of the best.
August 25, 2019
This is the precursor to Superman. Hugo Danner is strong, smart, and incredibly arrogant. He's also a self-interested bastard. I really liked this, and though I read it a couple of years ago I still think of it from time to time.
I'm interested in any book that covers superheros and super-powered individuals through prose, and this is one of, if not the first.
I'm interested in any book that covers superheros and super-powered individuals through prose, and this is one of, if not the first.
November 4, 2011
Definitely a product of it's time, but a fascinating story. You can really tell how this started the trend of super hero stories.
February 16, 2016
Excellent pulp era SiFi story. The inspiration for the original concept of Superman. Very recommended
March 19, 2023
Early novel by Philip Wylie, noted author and social critic. Inspired much of Superman, but this novel is so much more. Republished many times and still in print, it is also freely available at Project Gutenberg.
Professor Danner is fascinated by animals that can lift multiple times their weight, jump multiple body heights and lengths, etc. He perfects a serum that can achieve that, and the incident with the cat has some humorous bits.
After that, the story changes, with Danner treating his unborn child. The remainder of the novel is about Hugo's upbringing and the challenges with the use (and curse) of his abilities. The most poignant of these is World War I.
Siegel and Shuster used Danner's strength well in the pulps of the day, and picked up on the small town upbringing, good guy life saving, bullet proofing and crime fighting from here. More about Supe's challenges, including sports and wars, could be quite interesting for the franchise. Or maybe they've already been done - I can't keep up with everything in the comic world.
What I can recommend is finding this nearly 100 year old novel and giving it a read.
Professor Danner is fascinated by animals that can lift multiple times their weight, jump multiple body heights and lengths, etc. He perfects a serum that can achieve that, and the incident with the cat has some humorous bits.
After that, the story changes, with Danner treating his unborn child. The remainder of the novel is about Hugo's upbringing and the challenges with the use (and curse) of his abilities. The most poignant of these is World War I.
Siegel and Shuster used Danner's strength well in the pulps of the day, and picked up on the small town upbringing, good guy life saving, bullet proofing and crime fighting from here. More about Supe's challenges, including sports and wars, could be quite interesting for the franchise. Or maybe they've already been done - I can't keep up with everything in the comic world.
What I can recommend is finding this nearly 100 year old novel and giving it a read.
November 19, 2019
Read with the Evolution of SF group here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Audio edition from Librivox this time backed up by the ebook from Gutenberg.org. Both were excellent & free!
A lot of people were surprised by how much they liked this old story. The characters were well done, including women according to a self-proclaimed feminist. (I found that reassuring. As a guy, I often miss stuff.) The whole tone of the novel sets the tone for most comic book characters today & was very similar to the early Superman. if you want to read one of the roots, this is a good place to start. Highly recommended.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Audio edition from Librivox this time backed up by the ebook from Gutenberg.org. Both were excellent & free!
A lot of people were surprised by how much they liked this old story. The characters were well done, including women according to a self-proclaimed feminist. (I found that reassuring. As a guy, I often miss stuff.) The whole tone of the novel sets the tone for most comic book characters today & was very similar to the early Superman. if you want to read one of the roots, this is a good place to start. Highly recommended.
November 20, 2019
This book, written in 1931, may have influenced the creation of Superman and other superhero stories. I read it, along with a book club, largely for that reason. I expected it to be of only historical interest. But it turned out to be much more thoughtful and well-written than I expected.
In this case, having super powers turns out to be more of a curse than an advantage. Perhaps if the character had made different choices he may have been able to turn things around, but I'm not sure. Anyway, this is well worth reading.
In this case, having super powers turns out to be more of a curse than an advantage. Perhaps if the character had made different choices he may have been able to turn things around, but I'm not sure. Anyway, this is well worth reading.
May 4, 2011
I finished reading Gladiator last Thursday before going on vacation. It’s a classic work of science fiction by the co-author of When World’s Collide (1933). This is the first novel that I read partly on my Nook and partly with a paper copy.
I read the first half of from a free eBook I downloaded from ManyBooks.com and the other half from a paperback book published by Bison books.
When I started into the paperback in took me a while to find my place and noticed that I had two different versions of the book. Gladiator was originally published in 1930 by Knopf in hardback. Nineteen years later it was published in paperback by Avon in 1949 with the blurb “Specially revised and edited for Avon Books”. Apparently this revision involved cutting the book nearly in half. I’m guessing the free ebook text was taken from the abridged paperback text. Well I guess you get what you pay for…
Anyway, it’s the story of Hugo Danner, the son of a biologist father who treats his unborn son as an experimental subject. As a result, Hugo is very different from those around him. Hugo is incredibly strong and because of that strength he feels he should be able to do great things. Gladiator is also the story of being different and of the alienation one can feel because of that difference. As he grows up he learns he has to hide that strength to not attract unwelcome attention.
Gladiator is considered the direct precursor to Doc Savage (created in 1933) and Superman (created in 1938). Indeed Hugo’s abilities feel very much like the original description of Superman: "… he could easily: Leap 1/8th of a mile; hurdle a twenty-story building...raise tremendous weights...run faster than a express train... and that nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin!"
The resemblances between Hugo and Doc Savage are not so impressive. Like Hugo, Doc Savage was the product of an experiment by his father, although in Doc Savage’s case the experiment was not a pre-natal one. And like Hugo, Doc Savage is stronger and smarter than normal humans; but Doc Savage is significantly smarter and not incredibly stronger.
In some ways, Hugo is very much like Captain America. In both cases the intent of the experiment was to produce stronger human beings. And like Captain America, Hugo went to war and used his abilities to fight the enemy.
But the most significant difference is that Hugo is an outcast because of his power. This was certainly not the case for any of the above. Doc Savage, Superman and Captain America were all revered and hailed as heroes.
Thematically, Gladiator seems closer to the Marvel’s heroes of the 60s. Spider-Man, while not as powerful as Hugo, is feared by those he tries to protect and feels like an outcast. Like Hugo, Spider-Man is very much alone.
Bottom line: I liked this book a lot.
I read the first half of from a free eBook I downloaded from ManyBooks.com and the other half from a paperback book published by Bison books.
When I started into the paperback in took me a while to find my place and noticed that I had two different versions of the book. Gladiator was originally published in 1930 by Knopf in hardback. Nineteen years later it was published in paperback by Avon in 1949 with the blurb “Specially revised and edited for Avon Books”. Apparently this revision involved cutting the book nearly in half. I’m guessing the free ebook text was taken from the abridged paperback text. Well I guess you get what you pay for…
Anyway, it’s the story of Hugo Danner, the son of a biologist father who treats his unborn son as an experimental subject. As a result, Hugo is very different from those around him. Hugo is incredibly strong and because of that strength he feels he should be able to do great things. Gladiator is also the story of being different and of the alienation one can feel because of that difference. As he grows up he learns he has to hide that strength to not attract unwelcome attention.
Gladiator is considered the direct precursor to Doc Savage (created in 1933) and Superman (created in 1938). Indeed Hugo’s abilities feel very much like the original description of Superman: "… he could easily: Leap 1/8th of a mile; hurdle a twenty-story building...raise tremendous weights...run faster than a express train... and that nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin!"
The resemblances between Hugo and Doc Savage are not so impressive. Like Hugo, Doc Savage was the product of an experiment by his father, although in Doc Savage’s case the experiment was not a pre-natal one. And like Hugo, Doc Savage is stronger and smarter than normal humans; but Doc Savage is significantly smarter and not incredibly stronger.
In some ways, Hugo is very much like Captain America. In both cases the intent of the experiment was to produce stronger human beings. And like Captain America, Hugo went to war and used his abilities to fight the enemy.
But the most significant difference is that Hugo is an outcast because of his power. This was certainly not the case for any of the above. Doc Savage, Superman and Captain America were all revered and hailed as heroes.
Thematically, Gladiator seems closer to the Marvel’s heroes of the 60s. Spider-Man, while not as powerful as Hugo, is feared by those he tries to protect and feels like an outcast. Like Hugo, Spider-Man is very much alone.
Bottom line: I liked this book a lot.
May 23, 2018
Over the years, I always had heard of the novel "Gladiator" which possibly was the inspiration for Superman. Last year, I picked up a Kindle edition for cheap (free!) and now it's mine.
I see how it could have inspired Superman. Hugo Danner has all the "classic" Superman powers: fast, strong, invulnerable, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But the actual character doesn't remind me much of Superman, and the story goes that Siegel and Schuster didn't know about the book, and I am apt to believe it.
It's clear to me that the book HAS inspired a whole lot of superhero stories. Danner as a child growing up strong in rural farmland with parents that try to hide his powers? Superboy. Danner being a star athlete? Dash from the Incredibles. Danner living in bad neighborhoods trying to make a living and do the right thing? Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. Danner storming through n0-man's land during World War I? Wonder Woman. Danner roaming around the world rootless? Wolverine. Danner living as a bum? Hancock. Danner going to Washington and trying to influence history? Lex Luthor.
The book is full of Superhero tropes and images and it predates the genre by nearly 10 years. That being said, it's mostly about how Danner is unhappy that he has these powers, that he has to hide them, and how they make his life complicated. So in that sense, it's another one of those "power won't buy you happiness" stories. Of course it won't, but you'll trade one set of problems (food, shelter) for another (self-actualization.)
It's written is a rather bland early 30s language. Not particularly literary, not particularly flowery, just straightforward prose. The dialog is a lot of Danner saying "Yep" or "I'm kinda strong" but it's not terrible, just a little dated, like most pulp fiction magazines.
For a super-powered Bildungsroman, I've read a lot worse.
Recommended for Comicbook lovers and Pulp Fiction fans.
I see how it could have inspired Superman. Hugo Danner has all the "classic" Superman powers: fast, strong, invulnerable, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But the actual character doesn't remind me much of Superman, and the story goes that Siegel and Schuster didn't know about the book, and I am apt to believe it.
It's clear to me that the book HAS inspired a whole lot of superhero stories. Danner as a child growing up strong in rural farmland with parents that try to hide his powers? Superboy. Danner being a star athlete? Dash from the Incredibles. Danner living in bad neighborhoods trying to make a living and do the right thing? Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. Danner storming through n0-man's land during World War I? Wonder Woman. Danner roaming around the world rootless? Wolverine. Danner living as a bum? Hancock. Danner going to Washington and trying to influence history? Lex Luthor.
The book is full of Superhero tropes and images and it predates the genre by nearly 10 years. That being said, it's mostly about how Danner is unhappy that he has these powers, that he has to hide them, and how they make his life complicated. So in that sense, it's another one of those "power won't buy you happiness" stories. Of course it won't, but you'll trade one set of problems (food, shelter) for another (self-actualization.)
It's written is a rather bland early 30s language. Not particularly literary, not particularly flowery, just straightforward prose. The dialog is a lot of Danner saying "Yep" or "I'm kinda strong" but it's not terrible, just a little dated, like most pulp fiction magazines.
For a super-powered Bildungsroman, I've read a lot worse.
Recommended for Comicbook lovers and Pulp Fiction fans.
November 29, 2015
This book is not particularly well written, but does contain some very interesting ideas reflecting some of the concerns of its time. It is the story of someone with incredible gifts unable to find his place in the world, much as many people in the world were struggling with the Great Depression and the rise of fascism. The notion that an all-powerful man could usher in a new age of accomplishment and enlightenment undoubtedly appealed to the downtrodden of the time. While there is no direct confirmation that this book inspired Siegel and Shuster's creation of Superman, it is likely that the same philosophical discussions that influenced Wylie also influenced Siegel and Shuster, as well as other writers (e.g., Lester Dent with Doc Savage).
The most powerful part of this book is the middle section when the protagonist, Hugo, joins the French Foreign Legion at the start of World War I. Although his powers give him the ability to almost single-handedly win the war, he is blocked by the suspicion and hatred of his peers. He thus sees for himself the destruction and futility of war, turning what he thought would be not only fun and useful into a retched, soul-crushing experience.
These negative reactions to his powers continue after the end of the war, showing that many people fear great power more than they value great responsibility, a likely real-life reaction.
The final section of the book looks at Hugo's relationship with a sympathetic scientist who eventually brings up the question of eugenics. Hugo wrestles with this debate, knowing full well how society has shunned him, but knowing that a race of enhanced men could solve many of the world's problems.
That today we still don't have good answers to some of the book's questions makes this a powerful story despite some of the pulpish stylings it comes in.
The most powerful part of this book is the middle section when the protagonist, Hugo, joins the French Foreign Legion at the start of World War I. Although his powers give him the ability to almost single-handedly win the war, he is blocked by the suspicion and hatred of his peers. He thus sees for himself the destruction and futility of war, turning what he thought would be not only fun and useful into a retched, soul-crushing experience.
These negative reactions to his powers continue after the end of the war, showing that many people fear great power more than they value great responsibility, a likely real-life reaction.
The final section of the book looks at Hugo's relationship with a sympathetic scientist who eventually brings up the question of eugenics. Hugo wrestles with this debate, knowing full well how society has shunned him, but knowing that a race of enhanced men could solve many of the world's problems.
That today we still don't have good answers to some of the book's questions makes this a powerful story despite some of the pulpish stylings it comes in.
April 22, 2017
This was pretty stunning. I knew that Superman took some elements from Doc Savage but it stole even more liberally from this, however i also saw elements of Spider-Man and many other superhero stories, there's even a little Teen Wolf too.
So its a superhero story, or rather THE superhero story, i can't stress how bizarre this is to read as being from 1930 its essentially inventing the superhero genre but its also a deconstruction of the superhero.
It is at times light and even farcical but it has sex, violence, blood, death, despair and prostitutes. It simultaneously has as much in common with the 50 years of bright and shiny Super-Man as it does with Watchmen and all of the 'dark and gritty' superhero's of today.
It is the Alpha & Omega of superhero's. Somehow encompassing the entire genre and here it is written in 1930, amazing.
I'm generally not a fan of 30's writing its a little plain for my taste, so this is like if the 'Mona Lisa' was done in crayon, i ended up listened to most of it on a Libravox recording.
A really fascinating read for for any fans (or enemy's) of the Superhero genre.
So its a superhero story, or rather THE superhero story, i can't stress how bizarre this is to read as being from 1930 its essentially inventing the superhero genre but its also a deconstruction of the superhero.
It is at times light and even farcical but it has sex, violence, blood, death, despair and prostitutes. It simultaneously has as much in common with the 50 years of bright and shiny Super-Man as it does with Watchmen and all of the 'dark and gritty' superhero's of today.
It is the Alpha & Omega of superhero's. Somehow encompassing the entire genre and here it is written in 1930, amazing.
I'm generally not a fan of 30's writing its a little plain for my taste, so this is like if the 'Mona Lisa' was done in crayon, i ended up listened to most of it on a Libravox recording.
A really fascinating read for for any fans (or enemy's) of the Superhero genre.
January 26, 2012
I've been meaning to read Gladiator for years, since it is something which I consider "geek homework" (subcategory "further reading") - most anyone who has delved into the genesis of American superhero concepts knows how the creators of Superman were in no small part influenced by a pulpy novel about a super-strong, nigh-invulnerable young man named Hugo Danner. I always advocate going back to sources firsthand - and I always advocate reading pulp adventure. Gladiator hasn't been revered through the years in the same way as the Tarzan or Conan or even Doc Savage stories, and the reason why is pretty simple - it's not terribly well-written and it's not a particularly memorable story (the exceptional passages perhaps being the accounts of superhuman Hugo fighting in the trenches of World War I). In fact it seems very cliche some eight decades later, as originators often do in hindsight. But as a historical artifact it was an interesting sample of the primordial soup of speculative fiction as we know it today.
December 27, 2019
Edición en castellano de, según reza la tapa la novela que inspiró Superman a cargo de Ediciones Jaguar. Libro de 286 páginas originalmente sin índice, pero que pasamos a elaborar a continuación:
· presentación por Luis Alboreca pág. 7
· introducción por Philip Wylie pág. 13
· Uno pág. 17
· Dos pág. 27
· Tres pág. 33
· Cuatro pág. 49
· Cinco pág. 61
· Seis pág. 67
· Siete pág. 79
· Ocho pág. 95
· Nueve pág. 123
· Diez pág. 135
· Once pág. 141
· Doce pág. 153
· Trece pág. 165
· Catorce pág. 177
· Quince pág. 183
· Dieciséis pág. 195
· Diecisiete pág. 201
· Dieciocho pág. 209
· Diecinueve pág. 221
· Veinte pág. 237
· Veintiuno pág. 247
· Veintidós pág. 263
· Veintrés pág. 267
· apéndice (bibliografía y filmografía) pág. 281
Solapa delantera dedicada al autor y solapa trasera dedicada a Otros títulos publicados
· presentación por Luis Alboreca pág. 7
· introducción por Philip Wylie pág. 13
· Uno pág. 17
· Dos pág. 27
· Tres pág. 33
· Cuatro pág. 49
· Cinco pág. 61
· Seis pág. 67
· Siete pág. 79
· Ocho pág. 95
· Nueve pág. 123
· Diez pág. 135
· Once pág. 141
· Doce pág. 153
· Trece pág. 165
· Catorce pág. 177
· Quince pág. 183
· Dieciséis pág. 195
· Diecisiete pág. 201
· Dieciocho pág. 209
· Diecinueve pág. 221
· Veinte pág. 237
· Veintiuno pág. 247
· Veintidós pág. 263
· Veintrés pág. 267
· apéndice (bibliografía y filmografía) pág. 281
Solapa delantera dedicada al autor y solapa trasera dedicada a Otros títulos publicados
August 15, 2013
I really liked this book.
If your looking for an easy read with some superman smashing it up with villains and ending where he wins the day and gets the girl, well this isnt it.
It is a story which illuminates human nature.
It is a story of a man, who was given a gift and the price he had to pay for it, for there is always a price to be paid for any kind of a gift.
It is a natural order of things, you can newer get anything without giving something in return.
Be a decent human being with real moral, and through empathy suffer as you watch blindness of people and evil they do in it.
Be very smart or strong or capable and the price is the envy and hatred of ordinary men.
There is always a price and this story portrays this perfectly
If your looking for an easy read with some superman smashing it up with villains and ending where he wins the day and gets the girl, well this isnt it.
It is a story which illuminates human nature.
It is a story of a man, who was given a gift and the price he had to pay for it, for there is always a price to be paid for any kind of a gift.
It is a natural order of things, you can newer get anything without giving something in return.
Be a decent human being with real moral, and through empathy suffer as you watch blindness of people and evil they do in it.
Be very smart or strong or capable and the price is the envy and hatred of ordinary men.
There is always a price and this story portrays this perfectly
November 18, 2012
Ever wondered where Superman came from?
There's no way anybody will ever manage to convince me Siegel and Shuster never read this book and directly copy many of it's concepts.
I'm not saying that was a bad thing, as it did give us Superman, but if you ever want to know who Superman's daddy really was... this is the book you have to read.
There's no way anybody will ever manage to convince me Siegel and Shuster never read this book and directly copy many of it's concepts.
I'm not saying that was a bad thing, as it did give us Superman, but if you ever want to know who Superman's daddy really was... this is the book you have to read.
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