Post B2NUb4aEcdGGnooEca by raganwald@social.bau-ha.us
(DIR) More posts by raganwald@social.bau-ha.us
(DIR) Post #B2NP8ruPeWzNc7ylLU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T12:57:16Z
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Normally when I read a book I don't like to know too much about the author. But, at last I've had to go find out who is this "Frederick Philip Grove." He's mostly famous, not for his science fiction book "Consider Her Ways" about ants-- but his books about "life on the prairie" in Canada. This sounds dreary to me. But I will check it out. "Consider Her Ways" was the last fiction book he wrote and I don't think any review I've read of it understands it at all. 1/
(DIR) Post #B2NPPdrt6ov2zSnQnY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T13:00:17Z
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In fact, in reviews of Grove's life's works this book is often skipped over, as if it's some kind of embarrassment. I will say that if you don't know a LOT about ants the book is probably a bit confusing. Grove assumes you know what all of the various species of ants he mentions look like.It has an unreliable ant narrator and many jokes that are ant-centric.2/
(DIR) Post #B2NPtTgrVxKy6zrkSO by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T13:05:41Z
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For example, the ants encounter a myrmecologist who they regard as a hazard, hapless and baffling. The myrmecologist rides a bicycle: they call him "Wheeler."*waggles eyebrows*WHEELER? Get it?It's this guy:https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Wheeler,_William_Morton_(1865-1937)Wheeler was a contemporary of Grove. I wonder if they met? ...or if, like me, he just got sick of seeing the guy's name on every ant species.(Wheeler is no slouch, coined the term 'superorganism' )If you know anything of Mr. Grove let me in on it. 3/3
(DIR) Post #B2NPxsjoKWuKxCLSSG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T13:06:26Z
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@Wyatt_H_Knott Is there an English version? Who was the author?
(DIR) Post #B2NQDi4dkLSiVsdRcO by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T13:09:19Z
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@Wyatt_H_Knott Thank you!
(DIR) Post #B2NQOT1A46010F8aIa by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T13:11:17Z
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I am a person uniquely aware of exactly when, if you are talking about ants at length to people who aren't "ant people" those people will lose the thread of what you are saying. I keep thinking "No you need to explain what that is! they won't get it"But maybe he wrote this book as a gift to "ant people" only. Well, I may propagate it for the rest of you.
(DIR) Post #B2NR2sbGN0IvvcIHqq by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T13:18:35Z
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I have the impression that after a life of chasing commercial success as an author, and finding a little of it, but not much, Grove wrote "Consider Her Ways" the way that he wanted and made few concessions to make it popular. It was published two years after Animal Farm and I think the superficial similarities between these books are the only reason why we have it now. *superficial*
(DIR) Post #B2NR9veDRBK9PK2Jcm by gbargoud@masto.nyc
2026-01-17T13:19:49Z
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@futurebird So will there be an annotated version coming out for people who don't know much about ants yet?
(DIR) Post #B2NRKumazdfJuWC7jU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T13:21:50Z
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@gbargoud I'm seriously thinking about doing a youTube "read along" with images to illustrate some of the ants mentioned, and notes about where he's correct about ants and where's it's wrong. This is complicated by the fact that the story is told by an unreliable ant narrator... and that the unreliable of the narrator is one of the major themes. It could be fun.
(DIR) Post #B2NS90eVRcj2asIWLQ by babelcarp@social.tchncs.de
2026-01-17T13:30:51Z
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@futurebird Your mission is to annotate it like http://www.powermobydick.com/Moby001.html
(DIR) Post #B2NSX2zGPof4mjT8Yy by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T13:35:14Z
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@Wyatt_H_Knott The antcyclopedia antyone can edit.
(DIR) Post #B2NSbHFHLT9EAGycts by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T13:36:00Z
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@Wyatt_H_Knott The concept of a "wiki" is intrinsically ant-like.
(DIR) Post #B2NTQKdUV06RRte9YG by AnnaAnthro@mastodon.social
2026-01-17T13:45:12Z
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@futurebird Grove is always taught in CanLit classes, esp Master of the Mill. In my recollection, he used ants as positive symbols of his world of Ontario settler homesteaders but ultimately powerless in rising urban industrialization. This is a good book review mentioning the Canadian history aspects of his ant novel. https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/58/proietti58art.htm
(DIR) Post #B2NURriJ6PRMHVC7Qe by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T13:56:43Z
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@AnnaAnthro Thank you for finding this essay. It's not the only one that suggests that the ants in the book are a "utopian society" and uses that lens to examine the work. But, it's the ants themselves who claim they are superior and civilized, the joke is that they aren't no one is.For example our narrator, a leaf-cutter ant, proud pacifist and vegetarian laments that other ants always myopically think they are the pinnacles of creation. Not recognizing she herself is the same.
(DIR) Post #B2NUb4aEcdGGnooEca by raganwald@social.bau-ha.us
2026-01-17T13:58:20Z
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@futurebird @AnnaAnthro I told my children from a very young age: "Humans are the most advanced form of life on Earth, according to every metric humans have devised to measure greatness."
(DIR) Post #B2NUkZt3bbI6Ul95EW by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T14:00:05Z
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@AnnaAnthro Yes the book describes a world where males are mostly irrelevant. That's how ants really operate. But it's not a world free from intrigue, deceit, dominance and war. Our vegetarian, pacifist, scientist narrator thinks nothing of giving a pheromone to one of her most loyal subjects that causes her to die basically "for national security" reasons which she rationalizes convincingly. The next night this dangerous pheromone causes thousands of ants, their bodies forming mountains.
(DIR) Post #B2NUqPYgv45uCQOvkO by MCDuncanLab@mstdn.social
2026-01-17T14:01:06Z
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@futurebird @gbargoud Fedi book club?
(DIR) Post #B2NUrHSsUtWvO263BQ by donray@mastodon.online
2026-01-17T14:01:06Z
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@futurebird It might a good time to brush up on all things Canadian.
(DIR) Post #B2NUyTyAP5Z0CEAKsC by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T14:02:36Z
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@AnnaAnthro I almost thought this was a little heavy handed: using power to kill, no matter how good your reasoning may seem has expansive consequences as it violates a core value.Nonetheless both ants and people rationalize such death all of the time. And like the narrator we sense the consequences of our actions only dimly. But I could be projecting my own values on to this work. That is possible too.
(DIR) Post #B2NWqRcTSMNqV3JXHc by AnnaAnthro@mastodon.social
2026-01-17T14:23:33Z
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@futurebird If I remember Grove’s other works, he is quite reflexive about the smugness of his Lake Simcoe Ontario & Manitoba homesteader world. They see themselves as morally superior, esp vis a vis Toronto. As someone raised in Berlin, it must’ve been quite clear to him. That the ants mirror this kinda fits.
(DIR) Post #B2NgwzAccxiZpp2o2y by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T16:16:46Z
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@EricLawton "Now I'm wondering how many fiction books there are, featuring ants."Not enough. But, we work daily and with great dedication to correct this issue.
(DIR) Post #B2NhrYctzP8a16FPWK by NatureMC@mastodon.online
2026-01-17T16:26:38Z
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@EricLawton And I remember, unfortunately, only very vaguely, a wonderful feature film in which a rather quirky ant researcher from earlier times (19th c or beginning 20th) appeared, who had really existed. I can't remember the film even with the best will but would like to see it gain!@futurebird
(DIR) Post #B2NiSbbZsTunyAIHrM by mensrea@freeradical.zone
2026-01-17T16:33:40Z
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@futurebird @EricLawton there are in some of the discworld books
(DIR) Post #B2Nigozot3mVYTPaSW by NearerAndFarther@techhub.social
2026-01-17T16:36:15Z
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@futurebird @EricLawton Is there a section with ants in The Once and Future King, or am I misremembering? That's the first thing that comes to mind when I think about ants in fiction, but considering how uncertain I am, it's probably not a great example!
(DIR) Post #B2Nipu3rQMXRs2dGQC by tkinias@hcommons.social
2026-01-17T16:37:53Z
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@futurebird Watership Down but ants?@EricLawton
(DIR) Post #B2NjFBd9EuqhbGC4Tg by CuriousMagpie@beige.party
2026-01-17T16:42:27Z
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@futurebird Ursula Leguin has a short story about ants called "The Author of the Acacia Seeds".@EricLawton
(DIR) Post #B2NqdgUWqlmRwVn5CS by sanzky@masto.es
2026-01-17T18:05:16Z
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@futurebird @EricLawton children of time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. it also features sentient spiders. great read.
(DIR) Post #B2Nulk7lcuoZLLF4rY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-17T18:51:32Z
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@queenofnewyork @NatureMC @EricLawton Someone needed to study "The First Law of Antkeeping" (and also the second law)
(DIR) Post #B2Nv7Lgp9dT1vowTuC by Photo55@mastodon.social
2026-01-17T18:55:31Z
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@futurebird @EricLawton The Sword in the Stone, of course.
(DIR) Post #B2QBlPvknGc6FZyPNQ by mrdk@mathstodon.xyz
2026-01-18T21:11:26Z
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@futurebird By the way, “Consider her ways” can be found at https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0201151h.html. I will certainly have a look into it.