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Rossi, Umberto. "The Difficult Art of the Remake: Jonathan Lethem’s Omega the Unknown." Translating America. Importing, Translating, Misrepresenting, Mythicizing, Communicating America. Eds. Marina Camboni, Andrea Carosso and Sonia Di Loreto. Torino: Otto, 2010. 368–77. Added by: joachim (2/18/13, 3:20 AM) |
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| Resource type: Book Chapter Language: en: English BibTeX citation key: Rossi2010 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: "Omega the Unknown", Dalrymple. Farel, Lethem. Jonathan, Literature, Superhero, USA Creators: Camboni, Carosso, Di Loreto, Rossi Publisher: Otto (Torino) Collection: Translating America. Importing, Translating, Misrepresenting, Mythicizing, Communicating America |
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| Attachments | URLs http://www.academi ... Omega_the_Unknown_ |
| Abstract |
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This paper aims at understanding the complex implications of Jonathan Lethem’s decision to write the story of a graphic novel, Omega the Unknown (2007), which resurrected a forgotten superhero from the Marvel universe, and re-told his origins. Lethem seems to have been attracted to the original Gerber & Skrenes series, published in the Mid-Seventies, because it contained some of his favourite themes in nuce: alienation, adolescence and its obsessions, street life in New York City, especially in a racially mixed neighbourhood, and a science-fictional context (Omega-Man comes from another planet and has to fight against androids). However, the Omega series also offered Lethem the opportunity to somewhat disassemble the figure of the superhero in its main components, that have been embodied in three characters of the graphic novel: the silent Omega-Man, as the real Hero; Titus-Alexander Island, a gifted but odd adolescent, as the Would-Be Hero, and Rex Kansur, aka the Mink, as the Bogus Hero or Anti-Hero. This allows Lethem to articulate an original interpretation of superheroes as American icons, well rooted in the national tradition but also tied to such a classical text as Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
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