The Soul of the White Ant is the English title of a famous behavioural field study by South African poet and author Eugène Nielen Marais (1871-1936)[1], as well as a surreal comedy by British playwright Snoo Wilson (1948-2013)[2].

The Soul of the White Ant by Eugène Nielen Marais

A behavioral field study of ants, written and published in Afrikaans under the title Die Siel van die Mier ("The soul of the ant"), initially as a series of articles in Die Huisgenoot, then published in book form by J.L. Van Schaik in in 1934. In 1937 it appeared in English translation as The Soul of the White Ant. Besides the intrinsic value of Marais's theory about the organizational unity of the termite nest, the study is also famous for the acrimonious controversy surrounding claims by Marais that the Afrikaans version of his work had been plagiarized by the Belgian author Maurice Maeterlinck [3].

For more on the author and his work, see the entry on Eugène Nielen Marais

The Soul of the White Ant by Snoo Wilson

The original play text

In 1976 Eugène Nielen Marais's scientific study The Soul of the White Ant was used as a thematic stimulus and title by playwright Snoo Wilson for his surreal comedy about the apartheid system and the explosive racial tensions in South Africa at the time. The play features Marais as one of the characters and the text was published by Samuel French.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history

1976: First performed at the Soho Poly, London, in February, directed by Dusty Hughes, with designs by Di Seymour and music by Tim Thomas. The cast consisted of Simon Callow (as Pieter de Graaf), Nicholas Bull (as Juilius), Linda Marchal (as Mabel de Wet), Janet Amsden (as Edith), Pat Hassel (as June) and Clive Merrison (as Eugene Marais).