I am in awe of this book, Golding's craft, and his work in general (I have also read "Lord of the Flies" and "Darkness Visible"). The writing itself, whatever one thinks of the plot, is transcendent. I am impressed by what must have been prodigious research on Golding’s part to gain insight in the world of the Neanderthals, about whose specific reality modern man can only speculate. Whatever the Neanderthals lacked in intellectual capability, they more than made up for in their ability to use their senses, especially that of smell. As well as their possible telekinetic activity, which would have been unencumbered by more advanced intellectual processes. Golding's Neanderthals have an intuitive grasp of their world that is lacking in the modern human; on the other hand, the Neanderthals also live more wholly at the mercy of "Oa" (Mother Earth). The innocence of the Neanderthals is endearing, the "new people" Homo sapiens are dangerous and menacing. I felt compassion for the Neanderthals, and contempt for "the new people". The emotion that binds both species together is fear; -IE- Homo sapiens refer to the Neanderthals as "devils"; Fa tells Lok that “the new people are frightened of the air”.

The prose within "The Inheritors" is highly poetic; Golding paints an intricate portrait of a primeval landscape, such as our planet will probably never experience again; this description in itself adds to the atmosphere of suspense the author creates in this novel. It is not just that landscape in itself that is impressionable, but also how it is perceived by the Neanderthals and their "mind-dream-pictures"; -IE- the heightened colors seen by Lok during his hangover from the honey-drink. Golding shrouds his worlds in mystery to create a background of heightened effect, which becomes an integral part of the story; Richard Wagner used a similar technique by employing the orchestra as an additional "voice" in “Der Ring des Nibelungen”. One of the major themes of this book focuses on the evolution of innocence into corruption; a problem that unfortunately still exists in humans today. Another theme is that of the Machiavellian nature of mankind as a whole, specifically in how that behaviour was starting to evolve in Golding's portrait of Homo sapiens. I actually think this work is more engaging than the more commercially accessible LOTF (and certainly more so than the experimental-yet-inconsistent "Darkness Visible”). Golding is a recent discovery of mine, and I am looking forward to reading more of his work.
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The attempt to capture the development of language and human cognition was admirable, but it may be a failed experiment. Action was frequently difficult to follow as a result. Still interesting. ( )

I was excited to read another William Golding, and had been told about this novel by some university professor or other. I was, sad to say, rather disappointed by it.

(Might as well be honest from the start.)

The book is the story of when primitive man and modern man encountered each other for the first time in prehistory, marking the end of one civilization and the beginning of a new one. It’s quite an interesting concept, especially when you see how well Golding tries to emulate the culture of primitive man, who is essentially the collective main character of the story. The primitive men live a culture of togetherness and unity, which is really emulated well in the story telling, and you can really feel the loss as the characters start to disappear and succumb to modern man one by one. There are some really interesting and good points in the story, but for the most part, it is quite forgettable.

The general story is just rather…lackluster. I don’t remember much of the plot or much of the characters’ names, which is saying something. It’s good, but it’s one of those books that just doesn’t leave a mark at all.

Final rating: 2/5. ( )

Si algún periodo del devenir humano requiere un esfuerzo extra de imaginación para narrarlo es, sin lugar a dudas, la prehistoria. Existen pocos datos, fragmentarios, algunos contradictorios y los científicos apenas si llegan a consensuar algunas hipotéticas afirmaciones. Golding muestra en esta novela conocer bien la visión que los paleoantropólogos tenían de la evolución humana. Pasadas varias décadas, “Los herederos” se publicó en 1955, muchos de los paradigmas entonces vigentes se han desmoronado y han sido sustituidos sucesivamente por otros nuevos. No sólo en lo que a sapiens se refiere sino, especialmente, en la visión que se tiene hoy en día de neandertal: sus habilidades técnicas, su posible universo simbólico, su aspecto físico, su intercambio de ADN con otras especies… Incluso actualmente se baraja la posibilidad del denisovano como una tercera especie humana contemporánea a las otras dos. No obstante el autor no menciona en ningún momento a que grupos humanos se refiere cuando los describe.
Todo esto no resta mérito a la obra de Golding. Partiendo de los conocimientos científicos de la época pergeña una historia ficticia pero creíble con un estilo valiente y con un vocabulario críptico a fuerza de sencillo lo que permite al lector, no sin esfuerzo, intentar ver el mundo a través de los ojos de un humano prehistórico.
Más allá del conflicto entre especies cercanas genéticamente que ocupan el mismo hábitat, Golding se vale de la trama como armazón para desarrollar una dimensión ética: la crueldad, el rechazo del diferente, la lucha por sobrevivir,… Al mismo tiempo propone un posible universo simbólico en el hombre prehistórico: creencias, ritos, valores,… Así como el devenir cotidiano de su existencia: sus anhelos más inmediatos que un filósofo epicúreo consideraría deseos naturales y necesarios, sus aspiraciones más superfluas,… Una novela para la reflexión que además, por su ritmo, entretiene y que exige del lector una atención especial. ¿Se puede pedir más? ( )

This is my first reading of a novel by William Golding. I heard The Inheritors discussed on the brilliant podcast Backlisted, and their appreciation of the book was borne out for me in the reading of it. Briefly, it is the story of the tragic encounter between a small band (perhaps a last remnant) of Neanderthals and a more advanced group of Homo Sapiens. Golding is so brilliant at having the reader experience the story through the senses and mind of Lok, the main character. The Neanderthals are small, hirsute, emerging from all fours and into language and the way you experience this in the reading seems nothing short of miraculous. As the encounter between the two groups unfolds, you too will experience Lok’s confusion, fear and attraction to these strange New People. In this way the book can be challenging as you try to understand what is going on, but simultaneously there is tremendous narrative drive and suspense. Plus the writing is beautiful.

I have always been fascinated by early human and prehistoric time. It’s what we come from, as though you could encounter in such stories a possible distillation of what humans are and what we could be. Or where we went wrong, or if we ever lived in a sort of Eden. The Inheritors succeeds in all these ways. I loved the book. ( )