Everything about Robert Ardrey totally explained
Robert Ardrey (b.
October 16,
1908,
Chicago,
Illinois—d.
January 14,
1980,
South Africa) was an
American playwright and
screenwriter who returned to his
academic training in
anthropology and the
behavioral sciences in the
1950s.
African Genesis and
The Territorial Imperative, two of Robert Ardrey's most widely read works, as well as
Desmond Morris's
The Naked Ape (1967), were key elements in the
public discourse of the
1960s which challenged earlier anthropological assumptions. Ardrey's ideas notably influenced
Arthur C. Clarke and
Stanley Kubrick in the development of, as well as
Sam Peckinpah, to whom
Strother Martin gave copies of two of Ardrey's books.
Paleoanthropology
As a
science writer for the informed non-specialist reader in
paleoanthropology, which encompasses
anthropology,
ethology,
paleontology and
human evolution, Robert Ardrey was among the proponents of the
hunting hypothesis and the
killer ape theory.
Ardrey postulated that precursors of
Australopithecus survived millions of years of drought in the
Miocene and
Pliocene epochs, as the
savannah spread and the
forests shrank, by adapting the hunting ways of
carnivorous species. Changes in
survival techniques and
social organisation gradually differentiated pre-humans from other
primates. Concomitant changes in diet potentiated unique developments in the
human brain.
The
killer ape theory posits that
aggression, a vital factor in
hunting prey for food, was a fundamental characteristic which distinguished prehuman ancestors from other primates.
These themes have also been investigated in
academia by, among others:
Researchers
Some of the scientists whose
research particularly informed Robert Ardrey's scientific investigations, and with several of whom Ardrey consulted at length while developing his four major works in
Africa from the
1940s through the
1970s, include:
Warder Clyde Allee
Charles Kimberlin Brain
Robert Broom
Helmut Buechner
Clarence Ray Carpenter
Raymond Dart
Eliot Howard
James Kitching
Louis Leakey
Eugene Marais
Kenneth Oakley
Books
Fiction
World's Beginning (1944) (Cited in Everett F. Bleiler's The Checklist of Fantastic Literature, 1948.)
The Brotherhood of Fear (1952)
Nonfiction
African Genesis: A Personal Investigation into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man (1961)
The Territorial Imperative: A Personal Inquiry into the Animal Origins of Property and Nations (1966) (External Link
)
The Social Contract: A Personal Inquiry into the Evolutionary Sources of Order and Disorder (1970) (External Link)
The Hunting Hypothesis: A Personal Conclusion Concerning the Evolutionary Nature of Man (1976)
Aggression and Violence in Man: A Dialogue Between Dr Louis Leakey and Mr Robert Ardrey (1971) ISBN 0-03649-184-6.
Plays
Star Spangled (1936)
Casey Jones (1938)
God and Texas (1938)
How To Get Tough About It (1938)
Thunder Rock (1939) (filmed in 1942 in the UK, released 1944 in the US)
Jeb (1946)
Sing Me No Lullaby (1954)
Shadow Of Heroes (1958) (produced in London as Stone and Star)
Screenplays
They Knew What They Wanted (1940)
A Lady Takes a Chance (1943)
The Green Years (1946)
Song of Love (1947)
The Three Musketeers (1948)
Madame Bovary (1949)
The Secret Garden (1949)
The Schumann Story (1950) short film adaptation of Song of Love
The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955)
The Power and the Prize (1956)
The Wonderful Country (1959)
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) Nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay
The Animal Within (1975) documentary
Honours
1935: Sergel Drama prize.
1937: Guggenheim fellowship.
1940: Sidney Howard Memorial prize.
1961: Theresa Helburn memorial award.
1963: Willkie Brothers grant for anthropology.
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Personal
Robert Ardrey was the son of Robert Leslie Ardrey, an editor and publisher, and the former Marie Haswell.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Robert Ardrey'.
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