On Christian Bök’s “The Doomsday Songs(For Friedrich Nietzsche – Upon the Death of Superman)”

The Allegory of the ‘Supers’, Doomsday, and the Reflective Questions on Religion, Conscience, and Morality (An Essay for Dr Wiens – Upon Close Listening)

You can listen to Christian Bök’s poem here on Pennsound, a wonderful resource created by the University of Pennsylvania: http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Bok.php.

***Originally submitted 23 October 2019 to Dr Jason Wiens, in part for credit, for ENGL 372: Canadian Literature at the University of Calgary***

***Not only is this essay subject to copyright, but any unauthorized use without citation is considered academic misconduct (plagiarism). You are welcome to consult this paper if you provide the appropriate citation(s)***

Nietzsche’s infamous idiom, “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you” is a fitting descriptor of Bök’s sound poem, “The Doomsday Song (For Friedrich Nietzsche - Upon the Death of Superman)”. Bök himself begins his performance with the statement, “the text […] owes a great deal of debt to the DC Comic mini-series […] about the Death of Superman” (00:00:11 – 00:00:17) before diving headfirst into a steady stream of cacophonic onomatopoeia. Upon analysis of the poem’s performance, with emphatic consideration to its form as a sound poem, the intertextuality to both Nietzsche’s writing and “The Death of Superman” comic reveals an allegory of religion, conscience, and morality. Further, as “The Doomsday Song” is abstracted through experimentation, Bök’s breaking of the fourth wall reinforces and further alludes to the understanding of Nietzsche’s work and the explicit dedication to him in the poem’s title. Within this paper I will explicate Bök’s poem through close listening, emphasizing the structure of the poem and the ‘diction’ of the onomatopoeia, before connecting my reading of these to the intertextuality of “The Death of Superman” and selections from Nietzsche’s oeuvre. I will then frame this explication within the context of Nietzsche’s philosophy and contextualize this analysis to inferences of a reflection of human identity as a whole.

As a sound poem, “The Doomsday Song (For Friedrich Nietzsche - Upon the Death of Superman)” does not have an official written text but has been transcribed using the text found throughout the three arcs of “The Death of Superman”. Arc One – known as “Doomsday!” opens with the titular villain punching through earth, stone, and steel in cacophonic brilliance, which is echoed in Arc Two’s – known as “Funeral for a Friend” with Jonathan Kent’s – Superman’s adoptive father – climactic heart attack. Arc Three – “The Reign of the Supermen!” – then concludes with the re-emergence of Superman, his rise from the grave, the defeat of his imposters, the reawakening of his powers and the eventual defeat of Doomsday. Although not overt in Bök’s oral performance, the poem is broken into three distinct sections in their alluded onomatopoeia. “KROOM! KROOM! KRAKOOM! KRAKA-DOOM! KA-DOOM! FLOOM FWOOM BOOM KRAKADOOM BUDDADOOM” (00:00:25 – 00:00:31) marks the first section and is drawn directly from the first comic arc. “CHOOM KA-CHOOM KA-DOOM SHOOM! KTOOM KTOOM! BUH-BOOM! BUH-BOOM!” (00:00:32 – 00:00:35) is from the second arc, and the third arc is represented by the conclusion of the poem in, “PTOOM! KRAKATOOM! THOOM! BA-DOOM BA-DOOM BRA-DOOM! THOOM!” (00:00:35 – 00:00:39). These three sections complete one refrain, of which, there are three in total starting and ending at 00:00:25 – 00:00:39, 00:00:40 – 00:00:51, and 00:00:52 – 00:01:05, respectively. Each refrain also acts as an allusion to each of arc in the series, exemplified in Bök’s shifting tone and rhythm of speech.

First analysing the breakdown of each refrains’ three sections, as noted above, several observations can be made of Bök’s performance. The sections are broken into four – three – four in terms of seconds, reflective of the length of the comics as the arc of “Funeral for a Friend” was shorter than the other two. Further to this, it can be observed that Bök adds distortion to his voice in the section “KROOM! KROOM! KRAKOOM! KRAKA-DOOM! KA-DOOM! FLOOM FWOOM BOOM KRAKADOOM BUDDADOOM” (00:00:25 – 00:00:31), with a gritty feel adding to the epic battle unfolding. Bök’s distorted voice can also be reflective of pain. It may represent the physical damage and literal breakup of the body, as Superman takes incredible damage from his combatant. Further, it can reflect the pain of Lois Lane – Superman’s lover – and the rest of the world, quite literally waiting in bated breath, with a choked inability for speech. In his second arc, “CHOOM KA-CHOOM KA-DOOM SHOOM! KTOOM KTOOM! BUH-BOOM! BUH-BOOM!” (00:00:32 – 00:00:35) there is a significant decrease in volume, fittingly so for the “Funeral for a Friend”. The use of the “BUH-BOOM! BUH-BOOM!” (00:00:34 – 00:00:35) is alluding to the death of Jonathan Kent and his heart attack, the onomatopoeia conforming with the common colloquial for a heartbeat. Finally, “PTOOM! KRAKATOOM! THOOM! BA-DOOM BA-DOOM BRA-DOOM! THOOM!” (00:00:35 – 00:00:39) is “The Reign of the Supermen”. Each “TOOM” or “THOOM” used is alluded to Superman’s strikes – contrasted with the “KRAKA”, “BA” and “BRA” that acts as prefixes. These are alluding to the imposters Superman confronts in this arc, with elements of Doomsday’s strikes in the prefixes – demonstrating the villainous or antagonistic nature of those characters – but are still ‘Supermen’ per the title, as they use “THOOM” to complete the strike, as opposed to “DOOM”. These observations hold true for all iterations of the refrain. This then requires my analysis to shift away from the relatively straight-forward allusions between the comics and the diction, to the larger effect caused by each of the three refrains.

Analyzing the audio file in Logic Pro X, Bök’s performance can be measured in decibels (d.b.), in beats per minute (BPM), and in pitches – which are measured in hertz (hz). Each arc’s refrain – from 00:00:25 – 00:00:39, 00:00:40 – 00:00:51, and 00:00:52 – 00:01:05 – also fittingly reflects the theme of each comic arc. The first refrain occupies fourteen seconds, which I measured at approximately 130 BPM. Its peak decibel point is measured at 2.8 d.b. over the whole recording’s average, and the hertz diagram shows a relatively flat EQ. Observing this, the louder reading by Bök highlights the tension caused by aggressive villain of the “Doomsday!” arc with the steady BPM reflecting the conflict – akin to the marching of a war song. In contrast, the second arc occupies only eleven seconds, but has a shifting BPM. The first and last sections of this refrain (00:00:40 – 00:00:43) and (00:00:48 – 00:00:51) have a BPM of approximately 134, whereas the section between (00:00:44 – 00:00:47) has a BPM of about 128. Effectively, this elongates the tragedy of the “Funeral for a Friend” section of the poem, within the refrain that is paired with that same arc. In other words, Bök emphasizes this particular section, thereby effectuating my reading of how the refrains are also paired with each arc. As noted in the decibel diagram, this section has a lower peak decibel at 2.1 db. above average. This refrain also sees the hertz increase in pitch, highlighting a sense of anguish, mourning and pain – akin to the sobs and higher pitched sobs that humans seemingly always provide while in grief – at least in its depictions in popular media. To conclude the performance, Bök returns to a steady BPM of 130, dropping the decibels to 1.8 db. above average and employing the highest hertz reading. This effectively represents the conflict that continues, as we return to the action of the narrative, but also offers a sense of hope – reflected by the higher pitch and softer speech. Further, this brings the reading to an effective conclusion – while speculatively, Bök may also be running out of breath. Regardless, an effect is reached and is observed to be an effective allusion.

Although interesting, most of these observations seemingly decide that the poem acts as an effective allusion – something I have already mentioned Bök explicitly states prior to his performance. What is more interesting then, is the title, wherein the intertextuality to Nietzsche can be prescribed, and what value this may add to the text. It should first be noted that there is no published writing – academic or otherwise online – of Nietzsche and any connection to the D.C. character of Superman. However, Nietzsche’s writing on the “Übermensch” which has been – albeit incorrectly – commonly translated into “Supermen”, is one of the most obvious allusions. Nietzsche’s nihilism lead to great critique of the American Dream and – as Superman is the embodiment of the American ideal – a direct critique of the American Dream itself. Further, it should be noted that although Adolf Hitler would adopt Nietzsche’s Übermensch into his eugenics program, the superman that Nietzsche writes of is more akin to the ‘enlightened’. Much like existentialists pose that those who accept bad faith have overcome and transcended into ‘enlightenment’, so too does Nietzsche, when we accept the “Death of God”.

Superman is frequently referred to both in-universe and out-of-universe as a god. Within the D.C. Universe, and indeed within American culture, Superman is frequently seen as a beacon of hope – the embodiment of the human ideal, and the purveyor of justice and moral conscience. With the literal death of Superman in this comic arc, we quite literally see the “Death of God”. Upon resurrection, Superman has lost his powers and it is only by a deus ex machina of mystic – science. As Hitler adopted it, Nietzsche had written of the power of science to overcome gods – in my understanding, as a satire akin to Machiavelli’s “The Prince”. Taking these writings to understand the comic then, Nietzsche critiques our purchase into the American Dream and a faulty sense of idealistic – almost cult-like or otherwise religious – worship of Superman and the very philosophies, ideologies, and principles he represents. Superman’s return, his magical restoration, and the happy ending provided thereby stressing the absurdity and foolishness of our refusal to nihilistically accept the truth before us and become the Übermensch. The several imposter Supermen in the “Reign of the Supermen!” also allegorically act as a splitting vision of our revisionist ‘American’ ideals, and how the western principles of democracy and freedom are flawed.  By dedicating this poem to Nietzsche, Bök has shifted the entire poem from a simple rewrite of the comic’s narrative into a harsh critique. The poem is cacophonic throughout, and even at its softest points of mourn and grief offer sharp criticism. Bök breaks the fourth wall and explicitly states there is a dedication to Nietzsche and an allusion to the comics. He then actively shapes how we read this poem and has us reflect on the comic acting as the “abyss gazing back at [us]”. Therefore, this poem acts to question our understanding of philosophy, our morals in our ideology, and the identity our conscientious morality as a whole.

Nietzsche is commonly understood to have embraced nihilism, rejected philosophical reasoning, and promoted a literary exploration of the human condition. Bök’s dedication to Nietzsche in “The Doomsday Song (For Friedrich Nietzsche - Upon the Death of Superman)” seemingly promotes Nietzsche’s writing on the “Death of God” and the “Übermensch” by raising existential questions of our conscientious morality. In doing so, Bök’s poem demonstrates how “The Death of Superman” is allegorical, and with his cacophonic and sound poetic work, arrives at a final conclusion of nihilistic conscience and abstract morality. By breaking the fourth wall, Bök actively demonstrates how “the abyss will gaze back into you” and challenges us to read – or in this case, closely listen – to our morality “FLOOM FWOOM BOOM” (00:00:28 – 00:00:30) – or in lay terms, ‘break down’ – around us. Fittingly, the deconstructive nature of nihilism that ‘grounds’ this poem states that there is no objective truth – and as is the case with Bök in his experimental sound poetry – that there may simultaneously be meaning in the meaningless. Therefore “The Doomsday Song (For Friedrich Nietzsche - Upon the Death of Superman)” can then be considered a song written as the soundtrack to our judgement day – “BA-DOOM BRA-DOOM! THOOM!” (00:01:03 – 00:01:05).

Works Cited

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Bök, Christian. “The Doomsday Song (For Friedrich Nietzsche - Upon the Death of Superman)”. Launch Reading for Umlaut Machine: Selected Visual Works at the Kelly Writers House 18 November 2009. University of Pennsylvania, Pennsound. http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Bok.php. Co-sponsored by Writers Without Borders and KWH Art, followed by a conversation featuring curator Kaegan Sparks, Astrid Lorange, Danny Snelson and Henry Steinberg. MP3.

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