Editorial Reviews
Book Description
What was the world like for people thousands of years ago? How can we know? Through fiction? This is a work of literary criticism, and more. It begins with a discussion of the problem of authenticity and then considers twelve pieces of fiction that depict human prehistory:
H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau, Pierre Boulle's The Planet of the Apes, Jules Verne's The Village in the Treetops, Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Land That Time Forgot, the struggle for legitimacy in Wells' "The Grisly Folk," the Tasmanian analogue in Lester Del Rey's "The Day Is Done," William Golding's The Inheritors, "the promise of humanity" in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, the theme of "a god among the heathen" in Wells' "The Lord of the Dynamos" and other works, Jean Auel's The Clan of the Cave Bear, J.H. Rosny-Aîné's Quest for Fire, and Wells' The Time Machine: An Invention.
A final chapter considers the paleoanthropologist as literary critic.
About the Author
Charles De Paolo is a professor of English at Manhattan Community College, the City University of New York and a member of the H.G. Wells Society and the Science Fiction Foundation. His essays have appeared in CLIO and The Wellsian. He lives in Aberdeen, New Jersey.
Human Prehistory in Fiction,Charles De Paolo,McFarland & Company,0786414170,Anthropology - General,Fantasy - General,Fantasy literature,Fiction,General,History and criticism,Literature - Classics / Criticism,Performing Arts/Dance,Prehistoric peoples in literat,Prehistoric peoples in literature,Science Fiction - General,Science Fiction And Fantasy,Science fiction,20th century,Literary studies: general,Novels, other prose & writers: from c 1900 -
Book Updates:
Recommended Books