Joseph Henry Roni Sr. is the pseudonym of a Belgian-French writer who worked in the genre of science fiction and the prehistoric novel of Joseph Henri Boeks. He also wrote under the pseudonym Anacrios. Roni Sr. is one of the founders of modern science fiction. His most famous work is the book La guerre du feu, translated from French "The Struggle for Fire", dedicated to the theme of the life of primitive society and the production of fire.
Roni Sr childhood and youth
Joseph-Henri Roni Sr. was born February 17, 1856 in the city of Brussels in Belgium, in the family of Joseph Boeks and Irmin Tubiks. Having matured, he conducted various studies in Bordeaux (France) related to mathematics, physics, chemistry and other natural sciences. In 1874, he left for London to work for a telegraph company. There, in 1880, he married Gertrude Holmes. In 1883, he moved to his brother in Paris. In 1890, he was naturalized as a citizen of France, without renouncing his Belgian citizenship. In Paris, he began to correspond and chat with popular writers Edmond de Goncourt and Alfons Daudet. He actively participates in Parisian literary life and collaborates with many magazines and begins his career as a writer. Roni wrote his works in his native French.
Creativity with brother
Initially, he wrote with his younger brother Serafin-Justin-Francois Boeks under the pseudonym J.-H. Roni. In 1886, they created their first novel, The Depths of Kiyamo, under the influence of naturalism.
Together they create several prehistoric novels. After 1908, the brothers split due to quarrels due to a lack of understanding. The older brother adopted the pseudonym Roni Sr., and the younger brother began to publish as Roni Jr.
The path to fame
In 1909, his famous prehistoric novel, The Struggle for Fire, was published. The French author already had experience in creating works of similar subjects. If we talk about the brief content of the "Fight for Fire", then it is to describe the existence of our distant ancestors.
The novel takes place in the immemorial past, and its heroes are primitive Neanderthals. The main idea of "Fighting for Fire" revolves around the theme of the loss of fire, wandering in order to get it. As well as the whole process of the development of fire by primitive people.
Summary of "Fighting for Fire"
The events that the author describes in the novel take us tens of thousands of years ago, to the Stone Age, to the historical era when the primitive communal system flourished.
The action takes place in the Paleolithic era, about 100,000 years ago. A small tribe of primitive people Ulam leads a difficult, risky existence, living in a cave and maintaining a fire that they themselves can’t get. From generation to generation, the life of this tribe is full of adventure and anxiety. They wage a fierce battle with the forces of nature, with dangerous predators and hostile tribes, including clans of cruel cannibals.
Their whole life, from birth to death, passes by the fire and depends entirely on it - they are constantly, day and night, forced to maintain and maintain the flame, because the loss of fire means the death of an entire tribe. During a fight with enemies, many ulamras die, and the fire was destroyed, he “died”. The leader of the Faum tribe promises to marry his daughter Gammlu to someone who receives fire for the tribe. Get the fire caused by the young and strong warrior Nao. He decides to choose for his companions two other young hardy warriors - Nama and Gava. They are opposed by another fellow tribe-beast-like Agu with his two brothers. Agu also seeks to take possession of Gammlu.
Nao and his comrades begin a search for fire in a world hostile to the Ulamars. They manage to avoid many dangers that await them at every turn: these are various predatory animals; alien and hostile tribes; unexplored forces of nature. They have to withstand the battle with the furry cannibals - kzamiv, and subsequently - with many red dwarfs. Friends make fire and with great difficulty begin the return journey to their home. On the way, they meet a friendly tribe of wa, from whom they learn how to make fire using stones. The heroes return to their native tribe, but one of the tribesmen suddenly drowned the portable hearth with a flame in the swamp. Nao makes an attempt to light a fire, as he saw this with a friendly tribe, but he fails. Then the representative of the tribe wa and shows the tribe Nao technology of ignition of fire.
Thus, the main characters defeated the battle of Agu and his brothers, and return fire to the native tribe and teach clan members how to get it on their own.
Of course, the book is quite voluminous, this is only a summary. The "fight for fire" has three chapters in its content.
The main characters of the "Fight for Fire"
The main characters of the adventure novel are:
- Faum is the leader of the tribe and one of the main characters of the novel.
- Gamla is the daughter of Faum.
- Nao is the main character in love with Gamla.
- Nam is the satellite of Nao.
- Woof is Nao's companion.
- Agu, the son of the Bison - the eldest of the Bison brothers.
- Rook, son of the Bison, is the brother of Agu.
- Gong Dry Bones is an elder of the tribe.
- M-son of Tours.
- Goo is the son of the Tiger.
Genre of Roni Sr.
Roni Sr. shares his own “science fiction books” between science fiction (this was not the case yet) and novels about the prehistoric past, such as Wamerech and Fight for Fire, which is considered the first real prehistoric novel.
The book "Fight for fire" is the most famous and popular representative of the historical science fiction genre with elements of adventure. Joseph-Henri Roni uses all kinds of artistic means to give the work a fascination. It combines the real facts of the prehistoric past of mankind with fictional characters and events in their lives. In the future, many authors in the fantasy genre will rely on the works of Roni Sr. to write their own books.
Mastering fire by man
Based on the brief content of the "Fight for Fire", we can conclude that the theme of the development of fire by primitive man is central to the novel. The production of fire by primitive people was a turning point in the cultural aspect of human evolution. He became a source of heat, protection, and a way of cooking. The development of fire made it possible for the cultural achievements of mankind, and also provoked the geographical settlement of people throughout the planet. In addition, it contributed to a change in the nutrition of the first people (people began to eat fried meat of animals and poultry) and behavior. In addition, the production of fire allowed to expand human activity, as it allowed to engage in hunting and gathering in the dark.
Claims for the earliest final evidence of human development of fire range from 1.7 to 0.2 million years BC. The evidence for the deliberate use of fire by people, according to archaeologists, is more than half a million years old, and has widespread scientific support.
Scientific credibility
In the novel of Roni Sr., “The Struggle for Fire,” the oldest fauna of the planet is represented: mammoths, cave lion, cave bears, saber-toothed tigers, etc. In addition, it makes an attempt to restore the life and traditions of various primitive tribes that are at different stages of development (here it is probably about Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals). These descriptions are based on the scientific research of nineteenth-century scientists, but the further development of science has led to the fact that at present their reliability is low.
Other works of Roni Sr.
" Cave Lion" is also one of the famous works of the famous French writer. It tells of two young Cro-Magnons who, when studying caves and a lake in a dungeon after a mild earthquake, find another part of an impassable mountain range. There, amazing and shocking events happen to them: a collision with other Cro-Magnons, and a struggle with saber-toothed predators, and an acquaintance with a dangerous cave lion. This book is essentially a continuation of the story of La guerre du feu with a separate independent story.
Roni Sr. also creates a series of other famous novels. In his 1911 vampire-themed novel The Young Vampire, he describes vampirism as a consequence of hereditary genetic abnormalities. Roni took this idea from the writer Richard Mateson from the novel "I am Legendary." In 1925, Roni Sr. was the first to introduce the term “astronaut” in his work “The Stars”, which later became widely used. We can say that this is one of the most prolific representatives of the fantasy adventure genre.
World recognition
In 1897, Roni Sr. was awarded the Order of the Cavalier of the Legion of Honor - one of the highest awards in France. In 1903, together with his brother, he was included in the first jury of the Goncourt Prize at the Academy. From 1926 to 1940 he was president of the Academy of Goncourt. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1926, 1928 and 1933. Joseph-Henri Roni Sr. died on February 15, 1940 in Paris. In 1980, a French literary prize for French-language science fiction was created in his honor. And Roni Sr.’s novel “Fighting for Fire” has been a model of fantasy adventure for several decades.
Screen adaptation of the work
In 1981, the book "Fighting for Fire" was filmed. The film of the same name starring Everett McGill and Ron Perlman. Here, too, the plot unfolds in the Paleolithic era. The fire that had been maintained for a long time was extinguished. Neanderthals, who are not yet able to mine it, must get it, because without fire the life of a tribe is impossible. To win the heart of the beloved girl, the protagonist of the film decides to go on a long and very dangerous journey in order to get fire. Film critics gave positive reviews to "Fight for Fire" (the film earned recognition).