CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR SERIES

Finally, in 1978, she found a publisher willing to devote the time and resources to publishing the series. She rewrote The Clan of the Cave Bear four times. In the mid-1970s, Auel began revising her mammoth manuscript. As Auel asserts, 'the story lead to research, the research fired my imagination, and the wealth of material made me decide to write a novel.' The original manuscript was almost one half-million words long and was rejected by several publishers. In fact, The Clan of the Cave Bear started as a short story exploring Auel's interest in Paleolithic humans. It was not until after she had raised five children that she began to write poetry and fiction. She moved to Oregon and attended Portland State University, receiving her M.A. Jean Auel was born in Chicago on February 18, 1936. Her novel has even inspired fans to write sequels about the Clan available on the World Wide Web (Author Biography The Clan of the Cave Bear is an original work of fiction that explores the world of human beings in prehistoric times. However, the reading public truly seems to enjoy the novel that sold over one hundred thousand copies in the first three months after its publication. It is precisely this 'bad' science and overt racism that has prompted many anthropologists to denounce the novel. In fact, Auel seems to be basing her view of the Neanderthal on the racially motivated 'bad' science of late nineteenth-century French anthropology. Historians and anthropologists immediately reacted to Auel's book, maintaining that her assumptions about Neanderthal life were not realistic. Ayla is very different from the Clan: physically, she is blond and blue-eyed and the people in the Clan are stocky and dark she is expressive, sensitive, and smart and they are dour, plodding, and cold. The story concerns a young girl named Ayla who is orphaned by a natural disaster and then adopted by a group known as the Clan. Indeed The Clan of the Cave Bear is one of those novels that is either loved or hated. Although meticulously researched, the sheer length of the original manuscript made many publishers unwilling to take the risk on the untried author.

CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR SERIES

The Clan of the Cave Bear was initially met with reluctance by publishers when Jean Auel approached them with her plan for a series of novels set in prehistoric times.

Clan of the cave bear