Att gestalta det förhistoriska utifrån ett föränderligt facit : Neandertalaren i pure prehistoric fiction

Sammanfattning

The purpose with this master´s thesis is to, from a doxological perspective, investigate how the Neanderthal man is portrayed in pure prehistoric fiction (ppf). The study asks how the Neanderthal man, as a literary representation of a different humanity, responds to evolving scientific consensus outside of fiction. The analysis is framed by a model of four interpretive paradigms concerning the relationship between the Neanderthal man and sapiens, spanning from Boule´s wildly criticized reconstruction (1908) to Pääbos genetic breakthrough (2010). The analysis focuses on three ppf, each written within a different paradigm: William Golding´s The Inheritors (1955), Jean M. Auels The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980) and Claire Camerons The Last Neanderthal (2017). Through a theoretical framework that synthesizes doxology, Barthes reality effect, and reader-response theory, a strategic/thematic close reading of the novels is conducted. The conclusion shows that the Neanderthal man of the novels, and by extension their fictional worlds, are never representations of the “real” Neanderthal man or of actual prehistory. The literary Neanderthal man is a fictional, evolving figure, bound to shifting paradigms and changing horizons of expectations.