The Life of the Bee

“If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.”

Maurice Maeterlinck received the 1911 Nobel Prize for Literature, for this excellent book about the life of bees. Far from being an entomologist’s study paper, this magnificent poetic work puts the nature of this very special insect centre stage.

The Life of the Bee constitutes a real philosophical voyage of discovery about the plant world and more particularly, these social insects. This original text is surprising by it’s scientific precision and accuracy. Maeterlinck's meticulous observations lead us to a veritable masterpiece of descriptions and fundamental questions, bringing into question the observer and the observed.

Indeed, the analogies that he uses between the animal kingdom and that of men, make us humble and inquiring, moved and pensive. This portrayal of the hive and the bees becomes at the same time poetic, philosophical and political.

Moving between wonder and knowledge, Maeterlinck asks us to preserve the links that unite us with nature. Now that an ecological disaster is threatening to destroy this fragile harmony, this book is well worth reading.