Before Adam (Hesperus Classics) - Softcover

Jack London

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1843910977 ISBN 13: 9781843910978

Publisher: Hesperus Press Ltd, 2013

Synopsis

'Before Adam' is Jack London's fictional tour de force. In it, he brilliantly recreates the dawn of humanity, depicting the prehistoric world as a place of dark conflict where only the fittest will survive. Tormented by a succession of terrifying dreams, the narrator is faced with the strange truth that his consciousness has become intertwined with that of Big Tooth, his Mid-Pleistocene ancestor. Through these dream memories, he witnesses Big Tooth's life - a life as one of the 'Folk' race, without developed language, social structure or fire. He sees, too, the Folk's fierce battles for survival against the more advanced Fire People, and the primitive Tree People. As he struggles to make sense of Big-Tooth's world, he begins questioning the very notion of eugenics, making 'Before Adam' one of the most pertinent works of its time.

About this title

Review:

'... a facsimile of the first edition ... with the original book illustrations; the late Loren Eiseley's interesting afterword dates from an earlier reprint of 1962; one of the minor classics of pre-historic romance.' --Interzone

From the Back Cover:

A young man in modern America is terrorized by visions of an earlier, primitive life. Across the enormous chasm of thousands of centuries, his consciousness has become entwined with that of Big-Tooth, an ancestor living at the dawn of humanity. Big-Tooth makes his home in Pleistocene Africa, a ferocious, fascinating younger world torn by incessant conflict between early humans and protohumans.

Before Adam is a remarkable and provocative tale that thrust evolution further into the public spotlight in the early twentieth century and has since become a milestone of speculative fiction. The brilliance of the book lies not only in its telling but also in its imaginative projection of a mindset for early humans. Capitalizing on his recognized ability to understand animals, Jack London paints an arresting and dark portrait of how our distant ancestors thought about themselves and their world.

This commemorative edition features a map of the world of Big-Tooth, an epilogue by Loren Eiseley, striking illustrations by Charles Livingston Bull, contemporary reviews, and a listing of peoples and characters.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hesperus Press Ltd
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1843910977
• ISBN 13: 9781843910978
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 123