The torments of the superman

Written in 1924, The New Adam by Geneva-based novelist and journalist Noëlle Roger was just reissued this year by Editions de La Baconnière. And with the return of the fog, it makes for the perfect seasonal read. Here’s a quick overview in three words.

Knowledge

In order to save a man from certain death, Dr. Fléchère is about to do the unthinkable: perform a trepanation. While he had set out to push the boundaries of science, he finds himself having to rein in that very drive in his patient. For once revived, the patient discovers he possesses incredible abilities and a thirst for new experiences.

Promethean

One hundred years after Mary Shelley’s *Frankenstein*, this novel explores the fratricidal struggle between the creator and his supernatural creature, in which both threaten to descend into madness: remorse for one, and dehumanized madness for the other.

Dystopia

Once shut away in his laboratory and immersed in his research, this «man of the future» becomes unstoppable. Soon, it is no longer the good of humanity that he seeks, but to defy God and the very nature of things—even if it means dragging everyone down with him.

Write to the author: quentin.perissinotto@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: The New Adam © Quentin Perissinotto for Le Regard Libre

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Noëlle Roger
The New Adam
La Baconnière Publishing
2022 [1924]
336 pages

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