Discovering the Hidden Wisdom of the Little Prince
In Search of Saint-Exupéry's Lost Child
1 of 1 copy available
The Little Prince is revered around the world. Two hundred million copies have been sold in 270 languages; it is the fourth best-selling book of all time. Part of its allure is that is seems incredibly wise but so simple it is read as a work for children. Yet its meaning is elusive, and its place amid the writings of an adventurer and war hero acclaimed for dramatic bestsellers like Night Flight and Flight to Arras is mysterious.
In this elegant, carefully argued book, Pierre Lassus reexamines the story of The Little Prince against the facts of Saint-Exupéry's own extraordinary life, from his cherished but fatherless childhood in aristocratic poverty to his career as a pioneering pilot. His plane had broken down in the desert before. He had adopted a fox, when posted at the Spanish fort of Cape Juby, in southern Morocco. He had known the world of business before becoming pilot; he had also known unrequited love. Like his little protagonist's, his body was never found after his plane disappeared in World War II. He was working on his spiritual autobiography when he died, and there too, Lassus finds resonances and keys to the understated spirituality of his last great book.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
August 8, 2017 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781628726848
- File size: 380 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781628726848
- File size: 378 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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June 1, 2017
The story behind one of the world's most popular books.Early on in this intriguing quest to solve the "enigma" of The Little Prince, "a true publishing phenomenon," child psychologist Lassus notes that the book is fourth on the list of the world's "most-read" books, after the Bible, the Quran, and Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung. The favorite book of both Martin Heidegger and James Dean was written in America during World War II at the request of the exiled author's American publisher. Antoine Saint-Exupery (1900-1944) was experiencing "deep moral anguish" at the time as well as writing a spiritual autobiography, The Wisdom of the Sands, which was posthumously published. Beautifully illustrated with watercolors by the author, this fairy tale for children, as some describe it, is about a little lost boy/prince from another planet who lands in a desert where a pilot is trying to repair his plane. They both want to go home. Saint-Exupery was an accomplished pilot who wrote a number of hugely popular and award-winning autobiographical books about aviation. He was brought up Catholic in a family dominated by women but never seriously practiced his religion as an adult. Lassus notes that there are no women in The Little Prince and that the author also once crashed a plane in the desert. Lassus goes on to interpret the book as a "metaphor of the author's life," identifying real-life parallels for key elements in the book. He focuses on what he sees as the book's spiritual message, exploring such topics as the annunciation, ascension, and Eden; quotations from the Bible become prevalent. For Lassus, the book seems "more of a parable than a fairy tale." Despite the heavy-handed religious reading of the book and some proselytizing, many will enjoy learning about Saint-Exupery and his life and how he came to write such a beloved book.COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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