Human Prehistory in Fiction

<p> 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:</p><p> H.G. Wells' <I>The Island of Doctor Moreau</I> Pierre Boulle's <I>The Planet of the Apes</I> Jules Verne's <I>The Village in the Treetops</I> Edgar Rice Burroughs' <I>The Land That Time Forgot</I> the struggle for legitimacy in Wells' The Grisly Folk the Tasmanian analogue in Lester Del Rey's The Day Is Done William Golding's <I>The Inheritors</I> the promise of humanity in Arthur C. Clarke's <I>2001: A Space Odyssey</I> the theme of a god among the heathen in Wells' The Lord of the Dynamos and other works Jean Auel's <I>The Clan of the Cave Bear</I> J.H. Rosny-Aine's <I>Quest for Fire</I> and Wells' <I>The Time Machine: An Invention.</I></p><p> A final chapter considers the paleoanthropologist as literary critic.</p>