The Earth's Children Series: Epilogue: What Could Auel Have Done Differently?

So here we are.  Where did it all go wrong?

A month or two after The Land of Painted Caves was released, when the cynicism had fully sunk in, I dashed off this fanfic, which detailed the plot for a proposed Book Seven.  I still wish that such a novel would be released, though I have little faith that it will be.  Jean Auel hinted in 2010 that she had more material and The Land of Painted Caves might not be her last, but that does not mean she is hard at work pounding out the story.  While Auel still seemed quite sharp in 2010 and 2011, the physical toll of writing -- at least at the pace she knew -- might be too much for her at this point.

Of course if Auel does produce a Book Seven, all bets are off.  It could be the best story that she's written since The Clan of the Cave Bear, enough to dissolve our cynicism and make us fall in love with the Earth's Children series all over again.  Or it could be drek that makes The Land of Painted Caves look like a feast of brilliant plotting and characterization.

If there is no Book Seven, though, we have to ask ourselves where the Earth's Children series went off the rails, or if it went off the rails.  Who is to say that Auel did not intend for things to unfold exactly as they did?

<Crazy Theory Time>

Maybe it was always just a big joke on us, that we believed Ayla's destiny was to do good instead of evil.  Maybe Auel always intended for her to be the proverbial Eve who eats the apple and gets humankind banished from the Garden of Eden.

Think about it: who better to start the shift from matriarchy to violent patriarchy than someone comfortable with the concept of male domination?  It couldn't be one of the other Cro-Magnons because they grew up in cultures that promoted an all-powerful Mother who gave women her blessings.  Men can make babies, too?  Why that's crazy talk!  Whereas Ayla never had that indoctrination because she was learning that men were stronger, better, and must always be obeyed.  She was ripe for cutting a swath through the Cro-Magnon Mother culture, even as she appeared to embrace the freedoms of Cro-Magnon women.

What better way to get Cro-Magnons used to the idea of male supremacy than to put them in greater contact with the Clan?  In all the time Ayla taught the Others that the Clan were human, she never condemned their gender practices.  So the Others learned that the Clan's ways were "human, just different from ours," and were taught to accept a society where men were dominant -- sometimes brutally so.  And gradually the Others' objections to male domination would fall away in their own society.

How insidious of Auel to make Ayla someone the Others admired and trusted, so that they did not think to question the "truths" she taught... right down to the Gift of Knowledge.  In the final novel, the Clan did not appear because they did not need to appear: by the end, there was a little Clan in everyone.            

</Crazy Theory Time>


Do I think that the Crazy Theory was what Auel intended?  No.  Though part of me wishes it were, because that would at least make the Earth's Children series far more clever and coherent than any of us imagined.  I do think that the series opens itself up to this interpretation, though by sidestepping a few issues and stretching others.

Instead, I see a more pedestrian explanation: Auel started off with one vision and got sidetracked.  Either she realized that her original vision was not going to work, or she became interested in a new vision.  Maybe it was a little of each.

We know that from early on, Auel was committed to presenting the prehistoric era as accurately as possible.  Due to the limitations imposed on her at the time -- a suburban wife taking her first stab at fiction writing -- she did not have access to the most cutting-edge papers.  So Auel took what she had and created as realistic a portrait as possible, but gave herself room to imagine the rest.  Then as her work became more renowned, she gained access to more privileged work.  Some point afterward, Auel's zeal for research and realism must have taken over.  Maybe she simply felt awed by the years of research contained in the scientific papers and felt it would be like spitting on their authors to present something that was never there.  So while Auel could not white out the "psychic Clan" from her series, she could at least prevent further inaccuracies.  When she wrote The Clan of the Cave Bear, Auel thought that the Clan lived near the Ninth Cave location, but more in-depth research proved this was not so.  Therefore, Auel changed her series outcome so that there was no final Clan-Others confrontation.    

If that was not the reason for the detour away from Clan-Others clash to "Men make babies, m'kay?", then maybe the reason was because Auel attempted to plot out a Clan-Others clash and found that it did not work, that any clash was resolved in just a few chapters.  I find this hard to believe, as Auel could make one dinner feast last 10 chapters, but it's another possible explanation.  

Another problem may have been that Auel realized that any confrontation between the Clan and Others would be messy and morally complex, and as we all know by now, Auel is uncomfortable with untangling the moral messes that she creates.  Auel showed this discomfort as early as The Valley of Horses, so maybe the outcome of her series should not have been a surprise.

Understandable, yes, but no less frustrating.  What could Auel have done differently to make her series stronger?  Here are a few ideas:

1.  Have a Proof Reader Who Wasn't One of Her Kids.  From Auel's acknowledgements at the beginning, it appears that she relied frequently on her children as "beta readers" for the series.  In some ways, that is understandable: they would know how to keep a secret, and might not hold back on harsh feedback the way a stranger might.  At the same time, her children are not writers.  Furthermore, kids who love their mothers are going to be soft in their criticism, both because they are in awe of Mom's accomplishment and because they don't want to hurt her feelings.  Don't need any awkward Thanksgivings, after all.  Auel should have relied more on beta readers who had a lot of experience reading fiction and could discern the good from the bad.  That brings me to:  

2.  Be More In Touch With the Fan Base.  One brilliant move by George RR Martin of the A Song of Ice and Fire series was to have a devoted fan provide quality control.  The fan would alert Martin to inconsistencies and narrative problems as he was writing A Dance With Dragons and is currently doing the same for The Winds of Winter.  Having a fan provide quality control can create problems similar to the ones I mentioned above, but it can also get a writer in touch with someone who really knows the series well and can remind the writer of plots and characters that he or she might otherwise have neglected.  While I have some gripes about Martin's most recent installment, it is clear he still knows how to write a story, and fan input has likely kept him consistent.

But even if Auel refused to use a fan for quality control, she should have at least tended to her fan base over the years.  Auel may have liked delivering lectures on the research aspect of her novels, but she completely ignored the segment of fans (aka most of them) who just read her novels for the story and characters.  Had she attended a few conventions, say, or had a Q&A over chat on the Internet, or answered questions on a website, Auel might have been more aware of what fans wanted, and also of the criticisms.  That is not to say Auel should have written solely to please her fans, but she should have at least been conscious of our not-unreasonable desires, and it seemed like she never really was.

3.  Screw Accuracy and Write the Damn Story as Intended.  Once you create the theory that all Neanderthals have a psychic connection, you can't get much more out there.  So what if there wasn't much evidence of Neanderthals living near the Ninth Cave?  I doubt anyone would have held it against Auel if she inserted the Clan where they historically never were.  Even prehistoric purists would have given her a pass.

By the early 2000s, Auel was no longer the main storyteller in the prehistoric universe.  If she did not portray a certain place or time accurately, someone else would have.  That might have been her problem: maybe she felt too possessive of her groundbreaking research, too much like she had to "own" the prehistoric era and place her narrative stamp all over it, like a dog peeing to mark its territory.  If that was the case, her story suffered for it.

Conclusion

So yes, there is no question that the Earth's Children series gradually slides downhill, bottoming out with The Shelters of Stone and The Land of Painted Caves.  More is the pity if the latter is Auel's final novel of the series.

It is easy to let disappointment overwhelm after decades of build up.  However, what Jean Auel created overall is impressive, and the series as a whole has many good points.  Even if you roll your eyes at the series, there is always that novel you feel compelled to reread -- whether The Valley of Horses because you like seeing Ayla's survival, or The Mammoth Hunters to groan at the terrible love triangle.

Publishing a novel is an accomplishment.  Publishing a series of novels that are not only best sellers but are also constantly reread is a remarkable feat.  Auel deserves praise for hitting this rare literary sweet spot.   

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