Les Fourmis
Encyclopedia
Les Fourmis is a 1991 science fiction
novel by French
writer Bernard Werber
. It was released in English as Empire of the Ants. The book sold more than two million copies and has been translated into more than 30 languages. It was also taken to video-game format.
Les Fourmis is first in a three-part trilogy, followed by Le Jour Des Fourmis
("The Day of the Ants", 1992) and La Révolution des fourmis ("The Revolution of the Ants", 1996). The three novels are commonly known as Les Fourmis trilogy.
The plot begins as two stories that take place in parallel, one in the world of human
s (in Paris
) and one in the world of ant
s (in a Formica rufa
colony in a park near Paris). The time is the early 21st century (the recent future, relative to the time when Werber wrote the book). The human character receives a house and a provocative message as legacy from his recently died uncle. He begins to investigate the life and mysterious activities of his uncle and decides to descend into the cellar of the house but does not return. His family and other people follow and disappear. The ant character is a male whose foraging expedition gets destroyed in one strike by a mysterious force that comes from above. He suspects that a colony of another ant species has attacked them with a secret weapon, and attempts to meet with the queen and to rally other ants to investigate the disaster. However, he attracts the attention of a secret group of ants within the same colony that appear to want to conceal his information. As the plot unveils, the humans and the ants encounter new mysteries and participate in challenging events, including a war between different ant species. The descriptions of ant morphology, behavior, and social organization as well as their interactions with other species are engaging, detailed, and scientifically based, although Werber significantly exaggerates the reasoning and communication capabilities of the ants (rendering his work science-fiction).
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel by French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
writer Bernard Werber
Bernard Werber
Bernard Werber is a French science fiction writer active since the 1990s.-Novels:His style of writing mixes different literary genres, notably the saga, the science fiction of the inter-war years, and tracts of philosophy.In most of his novels, Bernard Werber uses the same form of construction,...
. It was released in English as Empire of the Ants. The book sold more than two million copies and has been translated into more than 30 languages. It was also taken to video-game format.
Les Fourmis is first in a three-part trilogy, followed by Le Jour Des Fourmis
Le Jour Des Fourmis
Le Jour Des Fourmis is a 1992 science fiction novel byFrench writer Bernard Werber.Le Jour Des Fourmis is the second part of a trilogy, preceded by Les Fourmis and followed by La Révolution des fourmis .- Plot summary :The Day of the Ants again, just as its predecessor has several connected...
("The Day of the Ants", 1992) and La Révolution des fourmis ("The Revolution of the Ants", 1996). The three novels are commonly known as Les Fourmis trilogy.
The plot begins as two stories that take place in parallel, one in the world of human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s (in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) and one in the world of ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s (in a Formica rufa
Formica rufa
Formica rufa, also known as the southern wood ant or horse ant, is a boreal member of the Formica rufa group of ants, commonly found throughout much of Europe in both coniferous and broad-leaf broken woodland and parkland. Workers can measure 8–10 mm in length...
colony in a park near Paris). The time is the early 21st century (the recent future, relative to the time when Werber wrote the book). The human character receives a house and a provocative message as legacy from his recently died uncle. He begins to investigate the life and mysterious activities of his uncle and decides to descend into the cellar of the house but does not return. His family and other people follow and disappear. The ant character is a male whose foraging expedition gets destroyed in one strike by a mysterious force that comes from above. He suspects that a colony of another ant species has attacked them with a secret weapon, and attempts to meet with the queen and to rally other ants to investigate the disaster. However, he attracts the attention of a secret group of ants within the same colony that appear to want to conceal his information. As the plot unveils, the humans and the ants encounter new mysteries and participate in challenging events, including a war between different ant species. The descriptions of ant morphology, behavior, and social organization as well as their interactions with other species are engaging, detailed, and scientifically based, although Werber significantly exaggerates the reasoning and communication capabilities of the ants (rendering his work science-fiction).
Translations
- Arabic translation: النمل
- Brazilian translation: O Império das Formigas
- Bulgarian translation: Мравките
- Czech translation: Mravenci
- Dutch translation: De mieren
- English translation: Empire of the Ants
- Finnish translation: Muurahaiset
- German translation: Die Ameisen
- Hebrew translation: הנמלים
- Hungarian translation: A hangyák
- Italian translation: Formiche
- Korean translation: 개미
- Polish translation: Imperium mrówek
- Portuguese translation: As Formigas
- Romanian translation: Furnicile
- Russian translation: Муравьи
- Slovak translation: Mravce
- Spanish translation: Las Hormigas
- Swedish translation: Myrorna
- Vietnamese translation: Kiến