J.-H. Rosny
1856–1940
Biography
J.-H. Rosny was the joint pen name of two Belgian brothers, Joseph Henri Honoré Boex and Séraphin Justin François Boex, who wrote together in French until 1909. Joseph, the elder, was born in Brussels in 1856 and died in 1940. When the partnership ended he went on writing as Rosny aîné ('Rosny the Elder'), while his brother used the name Rosny jeune. The dates on this page are the elder brother's.
Rosny aîné is remembered as one of the early shapers of modern French science fiction, and some critics rank him just behind Jules Verne. His first science fiction tale, Les Xipéhuz (1887), imagined prehistoric people meeting inorganic aliens, and he went on to write about other worlds, a dying Earth and unfamiliar forces. He also wrote a series of prehistoric novels, of which La Guerre du feu (1909) is the best known. The 1981 film Quest for Fire was based on it.
The book on this site is La Guerre du Feu: Roman des âges farouches, whose subtitle is roughly 'a novel of the fierce ages'. It follows a group of prehistoric people who must go in search of fire after their own has been lost. Rosny imagines early human life with the curiosity of a science writer, and this is the book by which he is most widely known.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
La Guerre du Feu: Roman des âges farouches
by J.-H. Rosny
A tribe of prehistoric hunters loses its fire, and without it they cannot survive. Three young warriors set out across a wild land full of beasts and hostile tribes to bring fire back.
Summary written by Claude Opus 5.5.