The New Yorker always publishes cutting-edge fiction. In recent years, the featured piece of fiction might be by a writer from India, Japan, Turkey, or Britain.
This week they have mined a new vein. The story is "Trailhead" and the writer is E.O. Wilson, the great sociobiologist and scientist of On Human Nature and The Ants fame. His piece of fiction, told without dialogue, is the carefully observed birth, life, and depth of a particular ant colony; complete with digestive, physiological, and behavioral data.
It was a fascinating read. Not quite sure if I encountered bathos, pathos, or character development, but the idea of imparting scientific notions to students through a story like this has merit. Perhaps if it doesn't conform to our idea of literature, it might serve to that even higher calling: teaching.
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