Fantazius Mallare and The Kingdom of Evil by Ben Hecht
"Fantazius Mallare and The Kingdom of Evil" is a dark narrative that explores themes of madness, egoism, and the nature of reality through its main character, Ben Fantazius Mallare. A thirty-five-year-old sculptor with a disdain for reason and sanity, Mallare sees himself as a superbeing, striving for god-like control over others, particularly women. His relationships are marked by violence and delusion, as illustrated by his interactions with Rita, an eighteen-year-old gypsy girl whom he attempts to dominate and later brutally assaults.
The story transitions into "The Kingdom of Evil," where Mallare's psyche manifests as a prison run by a giant named Dr. Sebastien, who holds other men captive to entertain his lover, Kora. Central to this section is the revelation that all characters are extensions of Mallare's own mind, illustrating his struggle with desire and identity. As the narrative unfolds, Julian, a poet, recognizes his own existence as a figment of Mallare's imagination, prompting a quest for escape from the madness that envelops them. The tale ultimately delves into the complexities of self-awareness, control, and the interplay between creator and creation, leaving readers to ponder the boundaries between reality and illusion.
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Fantazius Mallare and The Kingdom of Evil
First published:Fantazius Mallare: A Mysterious Oath (1922) and The Kingdom of Evil (1924)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Fantasy—superbeing
Time of work: Undefined
Locale: Mallares house and a world he creates in his mind
The Plot
Ben Hecht’s Fantazius Mallare: A Mysterious Oath relates the story of the title character, a misanthropic, psychopathic madman who considers himself a superbeing. He strives to be a god and battles against reason and his senses. Mallare, a thirty-five-year-old sculptor, despises reason, sanity, and thought; of these three “vices,” he lacks the first two. The artist, for example, visits an amusement park and returns home with a paralyzed black hunchbacked dwarf. He makes the dwarf his servant and names him Goliath simply because such an appellation is clearly a misnomer. The fact that Mallare gives a name to Goliath manifests the title characters egoism; he names an inferior as does God in the Book of Genesis. This parallel is relevant because throughout the novel, Mallare strives to be, and sometimes considers himself to be, a god.
The sculptor decides that he can become a god by controlling a woman. He discovers a beautiful but stupid eighteen-year-old gypsy girl and brings her home. He insists that Rita never talk, that she merely listen to him. She cannot understand the musings of this madman yet is attracted to him anyway. Mallare intends to gratify his egoism, to become a god by enslaving a woman and by resisting his sensual urges.
After throwing Rita against the wall, Mallare leaves for a walk and encounters a beggar. In a mad reverie, he mistakes the beggar for Rita and strangles him. Thinking that he has killed Rita, the sculptor walks home but finds her waiting for him. She seduces him, and he has sexual intercourse with her regularly. He deems it masturbation because he considers her a hallucination caused by his madness. If she exists, it is only because he has created her in his mind. Goliath watches Mallare have sex with Rita and manifests his jealousy. Mallare sends his paralyzed dwarf servant away because he is ashamed that his senses have enslaved him. He therefore feels compelled to murder this female phantom.
Mallare viciously beats Rita, leaving her bloodied and angry. As he meditates, he wonders how he drew blood from a phantom; he contemplates that she may never have existed and that even the blood is part of the hallucination. Her love for him dissipates. To exact revenge, she angers him by engaging in sexual intercourse with Goliath. The servant lusts for Rita and excitedly fornicates with her, but while the two have sex, they look not at each other but at Mallare, awaiting his reaction. Mallare contemplates the incident as it happens, considering that perhaps Rita and Goliath are real and that he may be a phantom. Envious of his subordinates for exercising powers of their own and enraged that life may exist outside himself, he exiles her from Heaven (his house) for employing sex to turn his servant against him, leaving the forlorn Goliath to look out the window in search of her. By overcoming lust for Rita, or at least believing that he has, Mallare asserts that he has conquered his senses and the physical world. Fantazius Mallare concludes with Mallare writing in his journal exclusively in the third person, for he is no longer Mallare and is separated from himself.
In The Kingdom of Evil, the reader learns from Mallares journal that a fog overcomes him and other men, and they find themselves held prisoner in a cave by a giant named Dr. Sebastien. Sebastien loves Kora, a beautiful woman with eyes like the heads of serpents. To please his bored lover, Sebastien kidnaps these men so that they can build, for Koras entertainment, the Kingdom of Evil.
Julian, a poet, attempts to befriend Mallare, but the sculptor despises him. The towers and elaborate architecture bore Kora, who says that she can be excited only by a god. The men build a temple in the shape of a huge flower and construct a god out of human tissue, organs, fibers, and membranes. The god, Synthemus, bears a striking resemblance to Mallare, as does Julian. The reader gradually learns that all the characters in the novel are Mallare, that each is a part of him who has arisen out of Mallares brain. As in Fantazius Mallare, no life exists outside the mind of Mallare.
Mallare lusts for Kora, but she disdains him because she desires Julian. Julian, however, dislikes her and everyone else in the Kingdom of Evil. He cares only for Mallare. His affection for Mallare dwindles, however, when the sculptor admits his lust for Kora. Julian realizes that Kora, like the other inhabitants of the island, do not exist except as thoughts in Mallares mind. He expresses disappointment, for he comprehends that Kora, Mallares creation, exists as the embodiment of the protagonists lust. The poet recognizes that he also exists as a figment of Mallares imagination, so he attempts to escape the island and thus the madmans dream. Julian, with the help of General Piltendorff, another of Sebastiens victims, binds the god and other inhabitants of the Kingdom of Evil in the temple, which crumbles to the ground. Julian, Piltendorff, and Mallare then escape from the island in a ship.