The Inheritors (William Golding)
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 First edition cover depicting The Sorcerer |
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| Author | William Golding |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Faber & Faber |
| Released | 1955 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 233 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
The Inheritors is the 1955 second novel by the British author William Golding, best known for Lord of the Flies. It was his personal favourite of all his novels and concerns the extinction of the last remaining tribe of Neanderthals at the hands of the more sophisticated (and malevolent) newly-evolved Homo sapiens.
[edit] Plot introduction
This novel is an imaginative reconstruction of the life of a band of Neanderthals. It is written in such a way that the reader might assume the group to be full Homo sapiens as they gesture simply to one other, not seeming to speak, and bury their dead with heartfelt, solemn rituals.
A male and female pair witness the disappearance or outright death of members of their group, culminating in the kidnapping of their young daughter. The male and female Neanderthal infiltrate and observe the humans' encampment on a river island, and there, witness what is to them an incomprehensible series of quasi-religious rituals which center around a matriarch-priestess figure. (The Neanderthal, unable to swim, are terribly afraid of crossing the water to reach their daughter.) The priestess desires to keep the young Neanderthal, whose red hair and infantile features catch her fancy, as a sort of pet. In one of the book's many humorous scenes, the Neanderthals discover a pot of honey fermented by the humans and become drunk.
All save the last chapter of the novel are written in a stark, simple style, reflecting the humble perspective of the Neanderthal group. Their observations of early human behavior serve as a filter for Golding's exercise in paleoanthropology, in which modern readers will recognize prefigurations of later human spirituality and culture. In the final chapter, after the conclusive showdown between humans and Neanderthals over the young kidnapped girl, the humans ultimately flee the area in their boats. This last chapter is the only one written from the humans' vantage, and here Golding's style assumes full depth in the humans' ability to describe and comprehend what has happened. Interestingly, the humans see the furry, reddish creatures by whom they are beset as a type of forest demon whom they regard with fearful superstition.
[edit] See also
- Article on Neandertal interaction with Cro-Magnons, an archaic form of humans, for an anthropological account of the type of situation described in the novel.
- Dance of the Tiger, a novel depicting Neandertal and Cro-Magnon interaction, by paleontologist Björn Kurtén.
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