The secret of the tropis
The Secret of the Tropis ( Les Animaux dénaturés ) is a satirical science fiction novel by the French writer Vercors from 1952. German editions were published in 1958 by Aufbau-Verlag and 1976 by Heyne Verlag .
Vercors adapted his novel for the stage in 1964 under the title Zoo ou l'assassin philanthrope ( zoo or the philanthropic killer ).
action
In the jungles of New Guinea a British expedition is looking for fossils of the missing links between apes and humans. But instead of petrified bones, they find a very lively, previously unknown species of hominid . A name for the new species is quickly found Paranthropus greamiensis , after a member of the expedition, or the tropis for short, but opinions differ on the question “Are the tropis still apes or already humans?”. In defining the term human , researchers have similar difficulties as the philosophers of ancient Greece with the heap problem . It also turns out that a cross between tropi and orangutan as well as between tropi and humans is possible.
When the world learns about the tropis, an Australian entrepreneur is much more pragmatic. He secures the rights of use for the Tropi area, declares them animals and plans to use them in his textile factories as unpaid workers for primitive activities.
The journalist Douglas Templemore accompanying the expedition wants to clarify once and for all the question of who the Tropis belong to: A Tropi woman is artificially fertilized with her sperm, after the birth he has her registered at the registry office and his newborn son baptized. He then kills him and charges himself with murder. A jury in London must now decide whether he actually committed a murder (which would legally make the Tropis human) or just killed an animal. However, the jury refused to make a decision as long as is not clearly defined what actually is human. A commission meets and after a while Parliament passes a law according to which the religious spirit distinguishes humans from animals. Because of a ritual , the tropis are declared human.
The trial against Templemore is resumed. He is acquitted for having committed his act before the tropis were (made) human.
reception
The Canadian newspaper The Calgary Herald wrote on the English edition ( You Shall Know Them ) that it was the best novel of 1953, and Vercors took the excellent opportunity to comment on our affairs in a fine, ironic way.
filming
The novel was filmed in 1970 by Gordon Douglas under the title Adventure in New Guinea .
proof
- ↑ The comparison comes from the author: Vercors: The Secret of the Tropis. Heyne, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-453-30362-8 , p. 39.
- ↑ The term is broadly defined in the novel. B. also art and science. The secret of the tropis. 1976, p. 175f.
- ↑ Christmas Books For Grown-Ups. In: The Calgary Herald. December 12, 1953.
- ↑ Adventure in New Guinea in the Internet Movie Database (English)