Hominid (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 Werkstattpreis 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.

Plot synopsis

Hominid takes place several million years ago in the Central African 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 patriarchal leader of the clan, Costello, who has taken command from the recently deceased Thorn. The band builds windbreaks 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".

Characters

In a conversation with the Viennese regional leader of publisher Arovell, Ebner revealed the hidden meanings of his characters' names.

Major themes

The novel addresses hominization 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 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".

Style

Hominid is a short novel 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.

Reception and criticism

Heinz Gerstinger 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 bonobos. 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.