Existe-t-il une sagesse de l’apiculteur ?

Abstract

Since Virgil, there has been a discrete but constant association of beekeeping with some sort of epicurean wisdom. Living a frugal live in the quietness of Nature, far from the urban whirl of agitation, the beekeeper was supposed to experience the happiness of the philosopher detached from the world. This old vision, as illusory as it might be, seems to have encountered a new popularity in the contemporary novel. Many current writers tend indeed to depict beekeepers characters in their fictions as philosophing misfits, good-hearted wise men or anti-modernity fighters. This article tries to make an inventory of all these textual appearances and to define what could possibly be a beekeeper’s wisdom.

Keywords

• beekeeper
• bee
• wise
• wisdom