The Clan of the Cave Bear
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| 1986 Coronet Books paperback edition | |
| Author | Jean M. Auel |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Earth's Children |
| Genre(s) | Historical |
| Publisher | Crown |
| Released | May 4, 1980 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 468 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-517-54202-1 |
| Followed by | The Valley of Horses |
The Clan of the Cave Bear is a historical fiction novel by Jean M. Auel. It is the first in the Earth's Children series that investigates the possibility of Neanderthals and humans living near each other at the same time.
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[edit] Plot summary
The protagonist is a young Cro-Magnon (human) girl named Ayla. At the age of 5, she is orphaned in an earthquake and subsequently adopted into a band of Neanderthals who think of themselves as part of an overarching group, the titular "Clan of the Cave Bear" (or simply "the Clan").
The novel attempts to create the effect of kairosis from Ayla's attempts at assimilation into the alien culture of the Neanderthal "Clan". Ayla embodies the Stranger in a Strange Land, acting as our (the modern human readership's) emissary to terra incognita. Here she meets Creb, the Mog-ur, a spiritual leader and savant who, although physically handicapped and unable to hunt (as all normal males in the Clan must), represents the acme of the Clan, if not of Neanderthal, evolution: he is vastly more gifted than other mog-urs within the greater Clan in his ability to connect with ancestral spirits and knowledge (cf Frank Herbert's Bene Gesserit concept). The Clan is the Darwinian apex of a communal society, with gender and class roles cemented not only by custom, but by physical, mental and spiritual adaptation.
Concepts explored in the novel, albeit briefly, include the innately greater ability of Homo sapiens (i.e. Cro-Magnon, i.e. modern humans) to understand abstract concepts such as language and counting, their relative deficiency in instinct and their tendency toward innovation. Ayla makes inroads into animal and even plant domestication as well as - from the reader's perspective - the rational codification of knowledge, or epistemology; this is contrasted with the Clan's reliance on inherited memories.
Ayla's obvious physical and less obvious mental differences from Clan people lead to most of the conflicts, as, for example, when she is thought by Clan members to be a very slow learner. The process of "learning" for a member of the Clan is akin to being reminded of something they already knew but had forgotten, but for Ayla, a human, the same information has to be assimilated anew and therefore comparatively slowly.
Ultimately, the novel opts for catharsis, with Ayla finding herself exiled from the Clan to begin a new life on her own; the sequels pick up her story (see Earth's Children). The Valley of Horses is the next novel in this series.
The archaeological and paleontological research for this book is respectable, especially when one considers that all of it was done from Auel's public library, with no budget for travel. Some of the descriptions are based on the cave burial at Shanidar.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
In 1986, the movie, The Clan of the Cave Bear was released. It starred Daryl Hannah and Joey Cramer and was a box-office flop having cost US$15 million to produce and only bringing in $1.9 million in the U.S. None of the other books have been adapted to film.
[edit] See also
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- The Next Book**
The Next book in the Earth's Children series can be pre outlined as the last book gives hint's as to what may happen next. Ayla had just given birth to her baby called jonayla and her horse Whinney had also given birth to a foal. The next book will possibly tell of the growing experiences(learning to talk, walk and learning about their culture.) of both of these new arrivals. Many things may be touched upon such as Ayla finally fitting in with a group(the mother's of the cave).
Another event which may happen in the next book is that of a more spiritual and religious side of the Zelandonii being revealed as Ayla may be identified as a zelandoni. This of course would make her status among the Zelandonii rise even more and may at the end of the book see Jondalar, Ayla their baby and a few other characters even starting a new cave.
