Normally when I read a book I don't like to know too much about the author.
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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.
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@futurebird That reminds of this book I read by a Norwegian, called "Rat" I think (it was a long time ago) but the story is told entirely from the POV of a rat. Like, an actual Norway rat. Not an anthropomorphized rat, just a rat. It's surreal and terrifying and very stream of conciousness - but the conciousness is not very human at all. Very strange and confusing book, especially to a teenager who like SF and war stories more than anything else.
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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 think it might be his masterpiece.
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. I think it would benefit from illustrations.
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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:
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
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F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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@futurebird That reminds of this book I read by a Norwegian, called "Rat" I think (it was a long time ago) but the story is told entirely from the POV of a rat. Like, an actual Norway rat. Not an anthropomorphized rat, just a rat. It's surreal and terrifying and very stream of conciousness - but the conciousness is not very human at all. Very strange and confusing book, especially to a teenager who like SF and war stories more than anything else.
Is there an English version? Who was the author?
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Is there an English version? Who was the author?
@futurebird It was in English. Let me see if I can find it.
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@futurebird It was in English. Let me see if I can find it.
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Thank you!
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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:
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
I am a person uniquely aware of exactly when, if you are talking about ants at length those who aren't "ant people" will lose the thread of what you are saying.
Most people think there are two kinds of ants "red ants" and "black ants." And that's about it.
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.
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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:
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
@futurebird Because OF COURSE there is an ant wikipedia
️ 
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I am a person uniquely aware of exactly when, if you are talking about ants at length those who aren't "ant people" will lose the thread of what you are saying.
Most people think there are two kinds of ants "red ants" and "black ants." And that's about it.
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.
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*
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I am a person uniquely aware of exactly when, if you are talking about ants at length those who aren't "ant people" will lose the thread of what you are saying.
Most people think there are two kinds of ants "red ants" and "black ants." And that's about it.
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.
So will there be an annotated version coming out for people who don't know much about ants yet?
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So will there be an annotated version coming out for people who don't know much about ants yet?
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.
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I am a person uniquely aware of exactly when, if you are talking about ants at length those who aren't "ant people" will lose the thread of what you are saying.
Most people think there are two kinds of ants "red ants" and "black ants." And that's about it.
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.
@futurebird Your mission is to annotate it like http://www.powermobydick.com/Moby001.html
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@futurebird Because OF COURSE there is an ant wikipedia
️ The antcyclopedia antyone can edit.
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@futurebird Because OF COURSE there is an ant wikipedia
️ The concept of a "wiki" is intrinsically ant-like.
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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:
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
@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
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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
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.
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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.
@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."
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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.
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 kills thousands of ants, their bodies forming mountains.
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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/
It might a good time to brush up on all things Canadian.
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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.
Fedi book club?
