Auel, Jean M

Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.

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(1936- ) US author who is known solely for her enormously successfulEarth's Children sequence ofPrehistoric SF novels:The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980),The Valley of Horses (1982), both assembled asThe Clan of the Cave Bear/The Valley of Horses (omni1994), plusThe Mammoth Hunters (1985), all three assembled asEarth's Children (omni1987), plusThe Plains of Passage (1990),The Shelters of Stone (2002) andThe Land of the Painted Caves (2011). It could not be suggested that the sequence is very usefully read as sf, or that, indeed, it is intended to be read as sf; most of the events recounted – as the young Cro-Magnon protagonist Ayla grows up in the Neanderthal community which has adopted her, and begins to effect transformations in her world – are legitimate palaeo-anthropological extrapolations pastwards about the nature of humanEvolution, but do not initially occupy a frame in any real sense fantastic, though Ayla does generate an unusual number of culture-changingInventions solo. As the series continues, the greatest displacement from what might fairly be called romantic realism – the plots themselves have novelettish moments – lies in the growing capacity of the main characters to commune with animals, a capacity perhaps more easily understood in fantasy terms. In any case, generic definitions aside, Auel's control over masses of detail, and her compulsive storytelling style, put theEarth's Children books on a level far above most of their very numerous predecessors. The first book was filmed asThe Clan of the Cave Bear (1986), directed by Michael Chapman and starring Daryl Hannah. [JC]

see also:Women SF Writers.

Jean Marie Auel

born Chicago, Illinois: 18 February 1936

works

series

Earth's Children

The Clan of the Cave Bear (New York: Crown Publishers,1980) [Earth's Children: hb/Hiroko]
The Valley of Horses (New York: Crown Publishers,1982) [Earth's Children: hb/Hiroko]
- The Clan of the Cave Bear/The Valley of Horses (London: Hodder and Stoughton,1994) [omni of the above two:Earth's Children: hb/Mark Hanson]
The Mammoth Hunters (New York: Crown Publishers,1985) [Earth's Children: hb/Hiroko]
- Earth's Children (London: Hodder and Stoughton,1987) [omni of the first three:Earth's Children: hb/]
The Plains of Passage (New York: Crown Publishers,1990) [Earth's Children: hb/Hiroko]
The Shelters of Stone (London: Hodder and Stoughton,2002) [Earth's Children: hb/Hiroko]
The Land of the Painted Caves (New York: Crown Publishers,2011) [Earth's Children: hb/Rob Wood]