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McKay’s Bees: A Novel PDF

210 Pages·2003·10.234 MB·English
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PHOENIX FICTION TITLES FROM CHICAGO Ivo Andric: The Bridge on the Drina Jurek Becker: Bronstein's Children Thomas Bernhard: Concrete, Correction, Extinction, Gargoyles, The Lime Works, The Loser, Old Masters, Wittgenstein's Nephew, Woodcutters, Yes Arthur A. Cohen: Acts of Theft, A Hero in His Time, In the Days of Simon Stem Jean Dutourd: A Dog's Head Wayne Fields: The Past Leads a Life ofI ts Own Bruce Jay Friedman: A Mother's Kisses Jack Fuller: The Best ofJ ackson Payne, Convergence, Fragments Randall Jarrell: Pictures from an Institution Margaret Laurence: A Bird in the House, The Diviners, The Fire-Dwellers, A Jest of God, The Stone Angel Andre Malraux: The Conquerors, The Walnut Tree ofA ltenberg Dalene Matthee: Fiela's Child Thomas McMahon: Loving Little Egypt, McKay's Bees, Principles ofA merican Nuclear Chemistry R. K. Narayan: The Bachelor ofA rts, The Dark Room, ,The English Teacher, The Financial Expert, Mr. Sampath-The PrinterofMalgudi, Swami and Friends, Waiting for Mahatma Morris Philipson: A Man in Charge, Secret Understandings, Somebody Else's Life, The Wallpaper Fox Anthony Powell: A Dance to the Music of Time (in four Movements with three novels in each volume) Peter Schneider: Couplings, The Wall Jumper Paul Scott: The Raj Quartet (in four volumes: The Jewel in the Crown, The Day oft he Scorpion, The Tower of Silence, A Division oft he Spoils), Staying On Irwin Shaw: Short Stories: Five Decades, The Young Lions George Steiner: The Portage of San Cristobal ofA . H. Richard Stem: A Father's Words, Golk Stephen Vizinczey: An Innocent Millionaire, In Praise ofO lder Women Anthony Winkler: The Painted Canoe Christa Wolf: Accident: A Day's News Marguerite Yourcenar: A Coin in Nine Hands, Fires, Two Lives and a Dream C~Y'5 Bees A NOVEL Thomas McMahon The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London Copyright © 1979 by Thomas McMahon All rights reserved. First published 1979 University of Chicago Press edition 2003 Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 0-226-56111-9 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 12345 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McMahon, Thomas A., 1943- McKay's bees: a novel/Thomas McMahon. p. cm. - (Phoenix fiction.) ISBN 0-226-56111-9 (alk. paper) 1. Frontier and pioneerlife-Fiction. 2. Bee culture-Fiction. 3. Beekeepers-Fiction. 4. Kansas-Fiction. I. Title. II. Series. PS3563.A3188M392003 813' .54-dc21 2003048353 @ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992 for my mother and father ABOUT THE AUTHOR Thomas McMahon (1943-1999), novelist, inventor, and professor of bio mechanics, was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Lexington, Massachu setts. He studied physics at Cornell University before earning a doctorate from M.LT. in 1970. He wrote his first novel, Principles of American Nu clear Chemistry (1971), while he was a graduate student. At Harvard, where he had a joint appointment in applied mathematics and biology, he helped to design an indoor track that reduced injuries and improved run ning times. McMahon's explanation of the mechanics ofw alking on water achieved by a small lizard called the basilisk, or Jesus Christ lizard-made headlines, while his studies, On Size and Life (1983) and Muscles, Reflexes, and Locomotion (1984), were widely praised. In his second novel, McKay's Bees (1979), published two years after he was appOinted to the Gordon McKay chair at Harvard, McMahon invents a colorful and exciting life story for Mr. McKay. Loving Little Egypt (1987), his third novel, received the same glOwing reviews garnered by his earlier books and includes the same lively blend of scientific and historic detail with a gentle affection for his characters and their foibles. Both these novels inspired stage productions. Loving Little Egypt won the 1988 Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Two years after McMahon's death, his daugh ter discovered a manuscript of an early work entitled Ira Foxglove; after sitting in a drawer for three decades, this novel will be published in the fall of 2003. 1 + GoRDON MCKAY based his plan for a new city in the West on bees because of their energy. One never finds them disap pointed or confused; they have their plans and they have their hopes and they love their work. In the morning, from the moment the sun touches the hives and warms them, the bees come forward and jump into the air. They are agricultural animals, like chickens and pigs, but the difference is their en ergy. There is, of course, the possibility for failure in any thing nectar flowers must have the wet and the heat in some reason able proportion or they will give up. But the bees never let themselves fall into reveries of worry and speculation on their fortune. Instead, they conduct their affairs with confidence and optimism. McKay could feel this confidence and optimism swelling up 1

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