Hominid (novel)
Encyclopedia
Hominid is a short novel by Austria
n writer Klaus Ebner
. Taking place millions of years ago, it is a fictional story of a band
of extinct hominids who inhabit Central Africa
. Referencing the seven days of biblical Creation
, the novel takes place in seven days. As the protagonist Pitar leads his band to civilization, tension arises between the clan
leader Costello and his rival Re. Over the course of the story, Pitar invents tools, discovers the use of fire
, and falls in love with Maluma. The seventh day marks a turning point in the storyline, as the members of the band separate from one another.
The characters' contemporary language and Pitar's thorough knowledge of modern-day history, philosophy and science add to the grotesque humor of the novel, while his two friends quote classical Roman literature
and Chinese sayings. The book was published by Viennese
publisher FZA Verlag in October 2008. Between 2008 and 2010, several Austrian and German critics and writers published reviews of the novel.
in the categories of short story
and essay
—in addition to the prize money the organizer of the award, the Viennese publishing house FZA, offers to the winner to publish a 100-page book. Hence Ebner wrote and finalized his narrative within four months. The book was published in the October of the same year with the German title Hominide. The publisher introduced the work to the public with a public reading in Vienna.
The novel consists of seven chapters, "Day 1" to "Day 7", with the action of each chapter occurring on consecutive days. The chapters refer to the seven days of the biblical Creation
. In comparison with other works of Ebner, Hominid is the first to be about a prehistoric
subject. The author had already addressed topics of religious faith before, in the short stories “Der Schreiber von Aram (The Scribe of Aram)” and “Momentaufnahme (Snapshot)”, and frequently used a satirical style for his narratives.
n transitional region between rainforest
and savanna
. The main characters are Australopithecus afarenses
, an extinct, mostly tree-dwelling hominid that existed before the use of tools and fire. The story is told through first-person narration
by the protagonist, Pitar. In deliberating his social
and natural environment
, Pitar decides to lead his band
to civilization: “Hence I decided to shed some light on the darkness, to light a candle following the motto Let there be light and so on.” His linguistic capacity, thoughts and speech correspond to those of modern man, and he also is knowledgeable about history, politics, philosophy
and literature. Intermittent comments made by Pitar concerning a particular prospect or artifact
that has not been invented or developed yet add to the humor of the grotesque
scenario. Pitar's close friends are Carpediem, who enunciates Latin phrases and quotes the writers of Classical Antiquity
, and Lao, who frequently refers to Chinese philosophy
.
Although it is difficult to convince his fellow Hominidae
to follow him, Pitar manages to persuade the patriarch
al leader of the clan, Costello, who has taken command from the recently deceased Thorn. The band builds windbreak
s to help them descend more often from the trees, thus exposing them to a higher risk of being attacked by predators on the ground. A rivalry emerges between Costello and another band member, Re, who not only questions the leading abilities of the present alpha
but also desires Costello's females. To alleviate the escalating debate of authority, Pitar tries to implement a parliament
to settle disputes peacefully. Costello, however, considers the parliament to be a forum in which he can consolidate his power, citing famous speeches by Winston Churchill
and Abraham Lincoln
; the other members ruin this noble idea with their lack of discipline and ostentatious indifference.
One of the subplots of the novel details the budding love between Pitar and Maluma, a female member of the band. Costello perceives the group of females as his personal harem
, but when Maluma falls in love with Pitar she breaks off her relationship with him. On each day, the characters discover new insights and artefacts, but seek rest from their exhaustion by the seventh day. This repose, however, is disrupted by the attack of a saber-toothed cat
. Several members of the band are killed, including Costello, thus enabling Re to assume power. Pitar and Maluma decide to leave the band, stating, "We should leave in time, leave Re and his new Reich, which, when I'm taking into account Thorn's previous reign, would be the Third over here." Pitar and Maluma head toward the savanna, an action which alludes to both the expulsion from paradise
and the Out of Africa theory
. Only odd-numbered chapters narrate the love story, which bookmarks the novel. Writer Karin Gayer
mentions in her review that the love story of Pitar and Maluma, and its positioning within the text, offers "a second interpretation of the beginning and the end".
In a conversation with the Viennese regional leader of publisher Arovell
, Ebner revealed the hidden meanings of his characters' names.
from an ironic point of view. Mankind's evolution from the ape-like Australopithecus afarenses to modern society with history, technology and cultural expression is compressed into only seven days. The strong allusion to faith is contrasted by numerous references to scientific insights. With the evolution of mankind starting in Central Africa, Lucy is the name given to the first skeleton of an Australopitecus afarensis found. The characters mention that Homo erectus
would be the hominid species to tame fire. Orrorin and Toumaï represent two of the oldest-known hominin
ancestors, while Aegyptopithecus zeuxis
is one of the earliest primates. Through scientific references and a distinct ironic tone, Ingrid Reichel makes it clear in her review that the book cannot be taken in by any religion or fundamentalism.
While scholars know of patriarchal and matrifocal ancient societies, very little can be said about a society of a species, which is as remote as the Australopithecus. On the basis of examples in today's chimpanzee and bonobo societies, Klaus Ebner introduced both patriarchal and matriarchal characters in the novel, Costello and Akshaya. Some of the female characters are very strong and self-conscious, such as Akshaya, who is so firm that even Costello retrocedes from her. While political power is controlled by the males, the social structure seems matrifocal and matrilineal
, corresponding to the image of prehistoric societies exhibited by scholars.
Another theme is the love
story between Pitar and Maluma. While the society of the band is depicted as driven by sexual attraction
in a male hierarchy
, the relationship between Pitar and Maluma leads them to break away from traditional habitudes. Pitar is not the alpha male, but he starts a love relationship on his own, in which Maluma quits Costello's harem. The love story demonstrates love as a quite late cultural achievement of mankind. In addition, Karin Gayer emphasizes the significance of Pitar's and Maluma's love against the religious component in defining the love story and its positioning within the storyline as another concept "of the beginning and the end".
which contains one single and linear storyline. However, it is subdivided into seven chapters, each standing for a narrated day. The satirical character of the book stems from the underlying grotesque scenario, the speeches of Pitar and his fellow hominids, the mentioning of artifacts which have not yet been invented, and the numerous allusions to world history and literature.
Steffen Roye from the German literary magazine Verstärker states in the title of his book review that Ebner has the characters of his story "talk as if they were modern-day juveniles". When it comes to allusions, a number of them consist of quotes, usually from classical Latin writers.
Ebner's writing style is rich in detail, as Ingrid Reichel states, and she pinpoints the "artist of the word". Similar judgments have been made by other critics when they reviewed the preceding works by Ebner, such as Wolfgang Ratz
about Auf der Kippe or Julia Rafael about Lose.
thinks the book is a "history of the awakening of the spirit of mankind". The author has the events glided "into the playful by his gently irony". Several reviewers underline the narrative's ironic and satirical aspect, including the names of the characters, Latin quotations and idioms as well as the parallelism between the seven days of Creation and scientific hominization
. Ingrid Reichel
points out the perfect publication date, just in time for the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin
's theory of evolution
. Similarly to other reviewers who had written about Ebner's earlier books, she highlights the sophisticated use of a detail-rich language which is "steeped in subtle and sensitive humor".
Despite many explicit allusions to several world religions
, Ingrid Reichel states that the novel is a book for “readers with humor, for reasoners (…), for darwinists
, on no account for creationists
, to a lesser extent for people of faith, but rather for atheists, … and fundamentalists
drop out entirely”. Another aspect is identified by Karin Gayer when pinpointing the parallel evolution of the patriarchal hierarchy in the narrated society and the alluded social matriarchy, the first resembling Chimpanzee
communities and the second representing those of Bonobo
s. In addition, she points out the strength of the women characters. She declares that at the time of the Australopithecus, neither chimpanzees nor bonobos existed, but "the author is not interested in paleoanthropologic
precisenesses—he is interested in mirroring our society, in exposing human behavior". She compares Costello with the alpha of a community of chimpanzees and a classical manager, and Akshaya with bonobo females and a modern-day career woman. With regard to these underlying comparisons, Gayer says, "On another level we are struck by the permanent notional commingling of the simian and the human, a composition which leaves us pensive and asks the legitimate question where we, who consider ourselves sapiens in a double sense, should finally classify man."
The multitudinous allusions to well-known and lesser-known books, movies and sayings cause contradicting receptions. While Heinz Gerstinger and Ingrid Reichel explicitly highlight the comical effect of the insinuations, the German critic Steffen Roye regards them as sometimes "exaggerated" and says, "As the story develops, it becomes more and more like a revue." The numerous expressions in foreign languages, especially in Latin, remain untranslated in the first edition
. In her review, Ingrid Reichel invites the publisher to add a glossary to a new edition. The author subsequently released such a glossary on his own website.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n writer Klaus Ebner
Klaus Ebner
Klaus Ebner is an Austrian writer, essayist, poet, and translator. Born and raised in Vienna, he began writing at an early age. He started submitting stories to magazines in the 1980s, and also published articles and books on software topics after 1989. Ebner's poetry is written in German and...
. Taking place millions of years ago, it is a fictional story of a band
Band society
A band society is the simplest form of human society. A band generally consists of a small kin group, no larger than an extended family or clan; it has been defined as consisting of no more than 30 to 50 individuals.Bands have a loose organization...
of extinct hominids who inhabit Central Africa
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
. Referencing the seven days of biblical Creation
Creation according to Genesis
The Genesis creation narrative describes the divine creation of the world including the first man and woman...
, the novel takes place in seven days. As the protagonist Pitar leads his band to civilization, tension arises between the clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
leader Costello and his rival Re. Over the course of the story, Pitar invents tools, discovers the use of fire
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
, and falls in love with Maluma. The seventh day marks a turning point in the storyline, as the members of the band separate from one another.
The characters' contemporary language and Pitar's thorough knowledge of modern-day history, philosophy and science add to the grotesque humor of the novel, while his two friends quote classical Roman literature
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
and Chinese sayings. The book was published by Viennese
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
publisher FZA Verlag in October 2008. Between 2008 and 2010, several Austrian and German critics and writers published reviews of the novel.
Background
Ebner first considered writing a novel in which prehistoric characters have present-day knowledge and a modern language in 2006. Believing that this topic would not suffice for a long novel, he initially did not pursue the idea. In February 2008 Ebner won the Wiener WerkstattpreisWiener Werkstattpreis
The international Wiener Werkstattpreis is a literary award established in 1992 in Austria. Since 2000, the award has been given annual. The organizers hope to bring public attention to writers who are not well known....
in the categories of short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
and essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
—in addition to the prize money the organizer of the award, the Viennese publishing house FZA, offers to the winner to publish a 100-page book. Hence Ebner wrote and finalized his narrative within four months. The book was published in the October of the same year with the German title Hominide. The publisher introduced the work to the public with a public reading in Vienna.
The novel consists of seven chapters, "Day 1" to "Day 7", with the action of each chapter occurring on consecutive days. The chapters refer to the seven days of the biblical Creation
Creation according to Genesis
The Genesis creation narrative describes the divine creation of the world including the first man and woman...
. In comparison with other works of Ebner, Hominid is the first to be about a prehistoric
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
subject. The author had already addressed topics of religious faith before, in the short stories “Der Schreiber von Aram (The Scribe of Aram)” and “Momentaufnahme (Snapshot)”, and frequently used a satirical style for his narratives.
Plot synopsis
Hominid takes place several million years ago in the Central AfricaCentral Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
n transitional region between rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
and savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
. The main characters are Australopithecus afarenses
Australopithecus afarensis
Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct hominid that lived between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago. A. afarensis was slenderly built, like the younger Australopithecus africanus. It is thought that A...
, an extinct, mostly tree-dwelling hominid that existed before the use of tools and fire. The story is told through first-person narration
First-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
by the protagonist, Pitar. In deliberating his social
Social environment
The social environment of an individual, also called social context or milieu, is the culture that s/he was educated or lives in, and the people and institutions with whom the person interacts....
and natural environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
, Pitar decides to lead his band
Band society
A band society is the simplest form of human society. A band generally consists of a small kin group, no larger than an extended family or clan; it has been defined as consisting of no more than 30 to 50 individuals.Bands have a loose organization...
to civilization: “Hence I decided to shed some light on the darkness, to light a candle following the motto Let there be light and so on.” His linguistic capacity, thoughts and speech correspond to those of modern man, and he also is knowledgeable about history, politics, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and literature. Intermittent comments made by Pitar concerning a particular prospect or artifact
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
that has not been invented or developed yet add to the humor of the grotesque
Grotesque
The word grotesque comes from the same Latin root as "Grotto", meaning a small cave or hollow. The original meaning was restricted to an extravagant style of Ancient Roman decorative art rediscovered and then copied in Rome at the end of the 15th century...
scenario. Pitar's close friends are Carpediem, who enunciates Latin phrases and quotes the writers of Classical Antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
, and Lao, who frequently refers to Chinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy is philosophy written in the Chinese tradition of thought. The majority of traditional Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States era, during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and...
.
Although it is difficult to convince his fellow Hominidae
Hominidae
The Hominidae or include them .), as the term is used here, form a taxonomic family, including four extant genera: chimpanzees , gorillas , humans , and orangutans ....
to follow him, Pitar manages to persuade the patriarch
Patriarch
Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...
al leader of the clan, Costello, who has taken command from the recently deceased Thorn. The band builds windbreak
Windbreak
A windbreak or shelterbelt is a plantation usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion. They are commonly planted around the edges of fields on farms. If designed properly, windbreaks around a...
s to help them descend more often from the trees, thus exposing them to a higher risk of being attacked by predators on the ground. A rivalry emerges between Costello and another band member, Re, who not only questions the leading abilities of the present alpha
Alpha (biology)
In social animals, the alpha is the individual in the community with the highest rank. Where one male and one female fulfill this role, they are referred to as the alpha pair...
but also desires Costello's females. To alleviate the escalating debate of authority, Pitar tries to implement a parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
to settle disputes peacefully. Costello, however, considers the parliament to be a forum in which he can consolidate his power, citing famous speeches by Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
and Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
; the other members ruin this noble idea with their lack of discipline and ostentatious indifference.
One of the subplots of the novel details the budding love between Pitar and Maluma, a female member of the band. Costello perceives the group of females as his personal harem
Harem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
, but when Maluma falls in love with Pitar she breaks off her relationship with him. On each day, the characters discover new insights and artefacts, but seek rest from their exhaustion by the seventh day. This repose, however, is disrupted by the attack of a saber-toothed cat
Machairodontinae
Machairodontinae is an extinct carnivoran mammal subfamily of Felidae endemic to Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe from the Miocene to Pleistocene living from c. 23 Ma until c...
. Several members of the band are killed, including Costello, thus enabling Re to assume power. Pitar and Maluma decide to leave the band, stating, "We should leave in time, leave Re and his new Reich, which, when I'm taking into account Thorn's previous reign, would be the Third over here." Pitar and Maluma head toward the savanna, an action which alludes to both the expulsion from paradise
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
and the Out of Africa theory
Recent African origin of modern humans
In paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans is the most widely accepted model describing the origin and early dispersal of anatomically modern humans...
. Only odd-numbered chapters narrate the love story, which bookmarks the novel. Writer Karin Gayer
Karin Gayer
Karin Gayer is an Austrian writer. She published poetry and narrative fiction.-Biography:Karin Gayer was born in May 1969 in Mödling while she is living today in Vienna. She began to study psychology but interrupted and ended her studies because she “could not find what she was searching for″....
mentions in her review that the love story of Pitar and Maluma, and its positioning within the text, offers "a second interpretation of the beginning and the end".
Characters
Arovell Verlag
Arovell Verlag is an Austrian publishing house for contemporary literature. It has been founded in 1991 by the Austrian writer, artist and musician Paul Jaeg. Today, Jaeg is still the directing proprietor, while Thomas Gamsjäger is CEO....
, Ebner revealed the hidden meanings of his characters' names.
- Akshaya: The name originates from HindiHindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
(specifically SanskritSanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
) and signifies “the indomitable”. Akshaya is a female character with a firm personality, and belongs to the band although she often acts as an antepole in regard to Costello. In a certain sense she represents the matriarchalMatriarchyA matriarchy is a society in which females, especially mothers, have the central roles of political leadership and moral authority. It is also sometimes called a gynocratic or gynocentric society....
form of governance by daring to disagree with the alpha and making her own decisions. - Bongo: Originates from the African people and language and is also used for place names in several African countries, also alluding to Adriano CelentanoAdriano CelentanoAdriano Celentano is an Italian singer, songwriter, comedian, actor, film director and TV host.-Biography:Celentano was born in Milan at 14 Via Gluck, about which he later wrote the famous song "Il ragazzo della via Gluck"...
s film Bingo BongoBingo BongoBingo Bongo is a well known 1982 Italian family comedy film directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile and starring Adriano Celentano as an Italian Tarzan character escaping across Milan and speaking with all animal's races...
and a kind of forest antelopeBongo (antelope)The western or lowland bongo, Tragelaphus eurycerus eurycerus, is a herbivorous, mostly nocturnal forest ungulate and among the largest of the African forest antelope species....
. The novel presents Bongo as a clownish, male juvenile who teases the other members of the band but is protected from backlashes by his youth and humor. - Carpediem: Latin for "seize the dayCarpe diemCarpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace that has become an aphorism. It is popularly translated as "seize the day"...
", literally meaning "pluck the day", which stems from a poem by HoraceHoraceQuintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
. Carpediem is Pitar's closest friend and uses Latin quotations and expressions. - Costello: English-Italian surname. Costello is the patriarch of the band. Keen on remaining in power, he recognizes that Pitar's ideas might help him prevail. For this reason he supports Pitar.
- Djamila: A female character who belongs to Costello's harem. Her name stems from the Arabic languageArabic languageArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
meaning "the pretty one". - Ischa: A female character who belongs to Costello's harem. Together with Djamila she woos the clan leader. Her name stems from the Semitic languagesSemitic languagesThe Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
meaning "woman". - Konrad: Old High GermanOld High GermanThe term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
for "bold or good adviser". KonradConrad (name)Conrad is a masculine given name and a surname. As a given name, it is of Old Germanic pre-7th century origin meaning "brave", "bold ruler", "counsel". As a surname, Conrad is of Medieval German origin, from the compound given name Kuoni-rad, meaning "brave counsel". It became popular in...
is a follower of Re and acts as his speaker, also challenging and ridiculing Pitar's ideas. - Lao: Depending on the intonationIntonation (linguistics)In linguistics, intonation is variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words. It contrasts with tone, in which pitch variation does distinguish words. Intonation, rhythm, and stress are the three main elements of linguistic prosody...
, the word is Chinese for "firm, solid" or "old". It is also an allusion to the Lao peopleLao peopleThe Lao are an ethnic subgroup of Tai/Dai in Southeast Asia.-Names:The etymology of the word Lao is uncertain, although it may be related to tribes known as the Ai Lao who appear in Han Dynasty records in China and Vietnam as a people of what is now Yunan Province...
who live in Southeast AsiaSoutheast AsiaSoutheast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. The character Lao quotes Chinese philosophers and is a friend of Pitar. When he leaves the band after the attack of the sabre-tooth, he goes in the direction of East Africa and Asia. - Lucy: An allusion to LucyLucy (Australopithecus)Lucy is the common name of AL 288-1, several hundred pieces of bone representing about 40% of the skeleton of an individual Australopithecus afarensis. The specimen was discovered in 1974 at Hadar in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Depression. Lucy is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years...
, the skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis specimen discovered in 1974 in EthiopiaEthiopiaEthiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. Lucy is the mother of most children in the band. At the end of the book she leaves for East AfricaEast AfricaEast Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
with Lao. - Maluma: MalumaBouba/kiki effectThe Bouba/Kiki Effect is a non-arbitrary mapping between speech sounds and the visual shape of objects. This effect was first observed by German-American psychologist Wolfgang Köhler in 1929...
is an artificial word from synesthesiaSynesthesiaSynesthesia , from the ancient Greek , "together," and , "sensation," is a neurologically based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway...
, representing curvy and smooth shapes. She becomes the loving companion of Pitar. Through Maluma, Pitar discovers the power and the sweets of love. - Manisha: This name stems from the Hindi and Sanskrit languages, signifying "the wise". In HinduismHinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, ManishaManishaManisha is the Hindu goddess of the mind. It is also commonly used as a name for girls esp. in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka the countries where Hinduism is a major religion. Manisha is a complex name with several layers of meaning...
is the goddess of the mind. Among the clan's women, Manisha has a similar role as Lao has among the men. She easily discusses with the males and her reasoning is witty and logical. - Pitar The protagonist's name stems from Sanskrit and means "father"; its intonation lies on the second syllableSyllableA syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
: "PitárLaryngeal theoryThe laryngeal theory is a generally accepted theory of historical linguistics which proposes the existence of one, or a set of three , consonant sounds termed "laryngeals" that appear in most current reconstructions of the Proto-Indo-European language...
". Pitar narrates the story of which he is the main character. - Re: Italian for "king", an allusion to the ancient EgyptAncient EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian sun god Re or RaRaRa is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
. Re is Costello's opponent and antagonistAntagonistAn antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
. An aggressive character, he perceives Pitar as an enemy because of Pitar's perceived support for the band's leader. He repeatedly defies Costello but does not dare to start an open revolt. The attack of the sabre-toothed cat, which kills Costello and some other members of the band, enables Re to become the leader at the end of the novel. - Rhododendron: GreekGreek languageGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
for "rose tree", a genus of flowering plants in the family EricaceaeEricaceaeThe Ericaceae, commonly known as the heath or heather family, is a group of mostly calcifuge flowering plants. The family is large, with roughly 4000 species spread across 126 genera, making it the 14th most speciose family of flowering plants...
. The character RhododendronRhododendronRhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...
is a male member of the band with an ecological attitude. Rhododendron is only a supporting actor in the story. - Ruth: HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
for "companion". RuthRuth (given name)Ruth is a common female given name, from Ruth the Moabite in the Book of Ruth, possibly from the Hebrew for "companion." In Israel, "Ruti" is a common nickname for Rut in the same way Bill is for William in English...
is a female band member with a distinctive strength of character. When the band is constructing their first windshield, she pushes a fervent discussion about labor law and commences a strike. - Thorn: This name stems from the Germanic languagesGermanic languagesThe Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
and is the denomination of the rune Thurisaz “Þ”, pronounced as “θ”. Thorn is the eldest of the clan and considered a sage. He appears only in the first two chapters, at the end of which he dies. From a dynastic point of view, he was Costello's predecessor.
Major themes
The novel addresses hominizationHominization
-Paleontology:The first formations of social Man or in Marxist terms, the role of social labour in the development of humans from apes. Many attempts have been made at explaining this, from in Classical times, Hobbes, Rousseau to Hegel...
from an ironic point of view. Mankind's evolution from the ape-like Australopithecus afarenses to modern society with history, technology and cultural expression is compressed into only seven days. The strong allusion to faith is contrasted by numerous references to scientific insights. With the evolution of mankind starting in Central Africa, Lucy is the name given to the first skeleton of an Australopitecus afarensis found. The characters mention that Homo erectus
Homo erectus
Homo erectus is an extinct species of hominid that lived from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later Pleistocene, about . The species originated in Africa and spread as far as India, China and Java. There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H...
would be the hominid species to tame fire. Orrorin and Toumaï represent two of the oldest-known hominin
Hominini
Hominini is the tribe of Homininae that comprises Homo, and the two species of the genus Pan , their ancestors, and the extinct lineages of their common ancestor . Members of the tribe are called hominins...
ancestors, while Aegyptopithecus zeuxis
Aegyptopithecus
Aegyptopithecus zeuxis means “linking Egyptian ape”. It was discovered by E. Simons in 1965. There is controversy over whether or not Aegyptopithecus should be a genus on its own or whether it should be moved into the genus Propliopithecus. If Aegyptopithecus is placed in its own genus, then there...
is one of the earliest primates. Through scientific references and a distinct ironic tone, Ingrid Reichel makes it clear in her review that the book cannot be taken in by any religion or fundamentalism.
While scholars know of patriarchal and matrifocal ancient societies, very little can be said about a society of a species, which is as remote as the Australopithecus. On the basis of examples in today's chimpanzee and bonobo societies, Klaus Ebner introduced both patriarchal and matriarchal characters in the novel, Costello and Akshaya. Some of the female characters are very strong and self-conscious, such as Akshaya, who is so firm that even Costello retrocedes from her. While political power is controlled by the males, the social structure seems matrifocal and matrilineal
Matrilineality
Matrilineality is a system in which descent is traced through the mother and maternal ancestors. Matrilineality is also a societal system in which one belongs to one's matriline or mother's lineage, which can involve the inheritance of property and/or titles.A matriline is a line of descent from a...
, corresponding to the image of prehistoric societies exhibited by scholars.
Another theme is the love
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
story between Pitar and Maluma. While the society of the band is depicted as driven by sexual attraction
Sexual attraction
Sexual attractiveness or sex appeal refers to an individual's ability to attract the sexual or erotic interest of another person, and is a factor in sexual selection or mate choice. The attraction can be to the physical or other qualities or traits of a person, or to such qualities in the context...
in a male hierarchy
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
, the relationship between Pitar and Maluma leads them to break away from traditional habitudes. Pitar is not the alpha male, but he starts a love relationship on his own, in which Maluma quits Costello's harem. The love story demonstrates love as a quite late cultural achievement of mankind. In addition, Karin Gayer emphasizes the significance of Pitar's and Maluma's love against the religious component in defining the love story and its positioning within the storyline as another concept "of the beginning and the end".
Style
Hominid is a short novelNovella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
which contains one single and linear storyline. However, it is subdivided into seven chapters, each standing for a narrated day. The satirical character of the book stems from the underlying grotesque scenario, the speeches of Pitar and his fellow hominids, the mentioning of artifacts which have not yet been invented, and the numerous allusions to world history and literature.
Steffen Roye from the German literary magazine Verstärker states in the title of his book review that Ebner has the characters of his story "talk as if they were modern-day juveniles". When it comes to allusions, a number of them consist of quotes, usually from classical Latin writers.
Ebner's writing style is rich in detail, as Ingrid Reichel states, and she pinpoints the "artist of the word". Similar judgments have been made by other critics when they reviewed the preceding works by Ebner, such as Wolfgang Ratz
Wolfgang Ratz
Wolfgang Ratz is an Austrian writer and singer-songwriter.-Biography:Wolfgang Ratz was born in Bilbao in the Basque Country. During his youth he lived in Vienna, Austria. He studied translation for Spanish, English and French, as well as Graphical Arts at the University of Vienna...
about Auf der Kippe or Julia Rafael about Lose.
Reception and criticism
Heinz GerstingerHeinz Gerstinger
Heinz Gerstinger is an Austrian writer, playwright and historian.- Biography :Heinz Gerstinger studied history and dramatics at the University of Vienna. He has worked for the universities of Graz and Vienna as well as for theaters in Graz, Augsburg and Vienna...
thinks the book is a "history of the awakening of the spirit of mankind". The author has the events glided "into the playful by his gently irony". Several reviewers underline the narrative's ironic and satirical aspect, including the names of the characters, Latin quotations and idioms as well as the parallelism between the seven days of Creation and scientific hominization
Hominization
-Paleontology:The first formations of social Man or in Marxist terms, the role of social labour in the development of humans from apes. Many attempts have been made at explaining this, from in Classical times, Hobbes, Rousseau to Hegel...
. Ingrid Reichel
Ingrid Reichel
Ingrid Reichel is an Austrian artist, painter, essayist, and a reviewer of arts and literature.-Biography:...
points out the perfect publication date, just in time for the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's theory of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
. Similarly to other reviewers who had written about Ebner's earlier books, she highlights the sophisticated use of a detail-rich language which is "steeped in subtle and sensitive humor".
Despite many explicit allusions to several world religions
Major religious groups
The world's principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classified into a small number of major groups, although this is by no means a uniform practice...
, Ingrid Reichel states that the novel is a book for “readers with humor, for reasoners (…), for darwinists
Darwinism
Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
, on no account for creationists
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
, to a lesser extent for people of faith, but rather for atheists, … and fundamentalists
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
drop out entirely”. Another aspect is identified by Karin Gayer when pinpointing the parallel evolution of the patriarchal hierarchy in the narrated society and the alluded social matriarchy, the first resembling Chimpanzee
Common Chimpanzee
The common chimpanzee , also known as the robust chimpanzee, is a great ape. Colloquially, the common chimpanzee is often called the chimpanzee , though technically this term refers to both species in the genus Pan: the common chimpanzee and the closely related bonobo, formerly called the pygmy...
communities and the second representing those of Bonobo
Bonobo
The bonobo , Pan paniscus, previously called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often, the dwarf or gracile chimpanzee, is a great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the common chimpanzee...
s. In addition, she points out the strength of the women characters. She declares that at the time of the Australopithecus, neither chimpanzees nor bonobos existed, but "the author is not interested in paleoanthropologic
Paleoanthropology
Paleoanthropology, which combines the disciplines of paleontology and physical anthropology, is the study of ancient humans as found in fossil hominid evidence such as petrifacted bones and footprints.-19th century:...
precisenesses—he is interested in mirroring our society, in exposing human behavior". She compares Costello with the alpha of a community of chimpanzees and a classical manager, and Akshaya with bonobo females and a modern-day career woman. With regard to these underlying comparisons, Gayer says, "On another level we are struck by the permanent notional commingling of the simian and the human, a composition which leaves us pensive and asks the legitimate question where we, who consider ourselves sapiens in a double sense, should finally classify man."
The multitudinous allusions to well-known and lesser-known books, movies and sayings cause contradicting receptions. While Heinz Gerstinger and Ingrid Reichel explicitly highlight the comical effect of the insinuations, the German critic Steffen Roye regards them as sometimes "exaggerated" and says, "As the story develops, it becomes more and more like a revue." The numerous expressions in foreign languages, especially in Latin, remain untranslated in the first edition
Edition (book)
The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
. In her review, Ingrid Reichel invites the publisher to add a glossary to a new edition. The author subsequently released such a glossary on his own website.
Primary sources
- Ebner, Klaus. Hominide. Vienna: FZA Verlag, 2008. ISBN 978-3-9502299-7-4
Secondary sources
Carbonell, Eudald; Moyà, Salvador; Sala, Robert; Corbella, Josep. Sapiens. el llarg camí dels homínids cap a la intel·ligència. Edicions 62, Barcelona 2000.- (German) Gamsjäger, Sonja. “Gespräch mit Autoren. Dr. Sonja Gamsjäger im Gespräch mit den Autoren Martin Dragosits und Klaus Ebner”. In: Arovell-Kulturzeitschrift. Musik&Literatur&Kunst. Nr. 72. Gosau-Salzburg-Wien, 2009. p. 16-18.
- (German) Gayer, Karin. “Schöne neue Welt der Hominiden”. In: Kultur Online, Verein artCore, Bregenz/Binz 10.07.2009. Retrieved on 2010-07-28.
- (German) Gerstinger, Heinz. “Review on Hominide”. In: Literarisches Österreich. Nr. 01/09. Vienna, 2009. p. 21-22.
- (German) Reichel, Ingrid. “Es lebe die Satire!” In: Etcetera. Nr. 36. St. Pölten, 2009. p. 76. ISSN 1682-9115.
- (German) Roye, Steffen. “Darwins Nightmare – Klaus Ebner lässt seine „Hominiden“ reden wie junge Leute von heute.” In: Verstärker Online. Berlin, 2010. Retrieved on 2010-07-28.