A classic in the history of bee literature.

A fascinating and timely appreciation of the bee and the life of the hive.

The late 19th century mindset of the author adds to the interest. The musings on industry, work, community, royal rule vs workers' coop, and more. What adds to the interest is seeing the gaps in knowledge about bees at the time. The author notes that bees had only been studied closely for about 50 years at the time he was writing. Therefore, much has been learned but so much more remained unknown.

This is not a book for the general audience. I would, however, recommend it to hard core beekeepers. Having some knowledge of late 19th century intellectual life helps, but is not essential.

Lovely!

This was OK. There were definitely moments of really great prose that made me go "Hmm...yes!" but there were a lot more moments where I was rolling my eyes. Maeterlinck really, really liked attributing human reason and emotion to the bees as they go about their business. As a history of the way people wrote natural history, it could be an interesting read, and for anyone who keeps bees. For me, not so much.

Po niesamowitej "Inteligencji kwiatów" nastawiałam się na botaniczną, pełną informacji pozycję, przeplataną niewielką ilością filozoficznych wtrętow. "Życie pszczół" jest jednak dokładnym przeciwieństwem.

Mnóstwo dygresji i wodolejstwa, wiele powtórzeń i przede wszystkim bardzo mało rzeczywistej wiedzy o pszczołach, a szkoda, bo kiedy się ona pojawia to w genialnej formie, ktorą zabłysnął we wspomnianej wyżej "inteligencji".

Oczywiście w dalszym ciągu jest to książka dobra, pieknie wydana i kolorowa, ale trzeba mieć na uwadze, że bliżej jej do lekko chaotycznego filozoficznego wywodu niż wnikliwej obserwacji przyrodniczej, która wydaje się być tylko pretekstem.

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2872453.html

It's quite short, and it's basically about bees. Maeterlinck was a keen bee-keeper, he knew what he was writing about (in this case at least - a later book about termites was allegedly plagiarized), and his enthusiasm is infectious. As the quote above demonstrates, it's a detailed, lyrical and rather passionate work, if somewhat anthropomorphic.

The downside is that, like a lot of nature writing of the time (the book was first published in 1901), it is a rather politically conservative text. There is no room here for departure form the natural order; although queens may be overthrown and replaced, this happens only as part of the set natural cycle of returning to the status quo. Bees manifest the importance of knowing your place and sticking to it. I was irresistibly reminded of Laline Paul's The Bees, one of the first books I read for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, which turns exactly the same setting into a revolutionary parable.

“But nature is always magnificent when dealing with the privileges and prerogatives of love. She becomes miserly only when doling out the organs and instruments of labour. She is especially severe on what men have termed virtue, whereas she strews the path of the most uninteresting lovers with innumerable jewels and favours”

And

“Out of a thousand of them, one only, once in his life, will have to seek, in the depths of the azure, the presence of the royal virgin. Out of a thousand one only will have, for one instant, to follow in space the female who desires not to escape. That suffices. The partial power flings open her treasury, wildly, even deliriously.”

And

“She loves the moment when drops of dew still moisten the leaves and the flowers, when the last fragrance of dying dawn still wrestles with burning day, like a maiden caught in the arms of a heavy warrior; when through the silence of approaching noon is heard, once and again, a transparent cry that has lingered from sunrise.”

(These last two quotations are in the chapter titled, “The Nuptial Flight” of the Queen bee).

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I didn’t enjoy the writing.