Asteroid B-612
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| Author | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry |
|---|---|
| Original title | Le Petit Prince |
| Translator | (English editions) Katherine Woods T.V.F. Cuffe Irene Testot-Ferry Alan Wakeman Richard Howard David Wilkinson |
| Illustrator | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry |
| Cover artist | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry |
| Country | France |
| Language | French English |
| Publisher |
Reynal & Hitchcock (U.S.) Gallimard (France) |
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Publication date
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April 1943 (U.S.: English & French) (France, French, 1945) |
| Preceded by | Pilote de guerre (1942) |
| Followed by | (1944) |
The Little Prince (French: Le Petit Prince; French pronunciation: [lə pəti pʁɛ̃s]), first published in April 1943, is a novella, the most famous work of French aristocrat, writer, poet, and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
The novella is one of the most-translated books in the world and has been voted the best book of the 20th century in France. Translated into 300 languages and dialects, selling nearly two million copies annually, and with year-to-date sales of over 140 million copies worldwide, it has become one of the best-selling books ever published.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, Saint-Exupéry escaped to North America. Despite personal upheavals and failing health, he produced almost half of the writings for which he would be remembered, including a tender tale of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss, in the form of a young prince visiting Earth. An earlier memoir by the author had recounted his aviation experiences in the Sahara Desert, and he is thought to have drawn on those same experiences in The Little Prince.
Since its first publication, the novella has been adapted to numerous art forms and media, including audio recordings, radio plays, live stage, film, television, ballet, and opera.
Though ostensibly styled as a children's book, The Little Prince makes several observations about life and human nature. For example, Saint-Exupéry tells of a fox meeting the young prince during his travels on Earth. The story's essence is contained in the fox saying that "One sees clearly only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eye." Other key morals articulated by the fox are: "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed," and "It is the time you have lost for your rose that makes your rose so important." The fox's messages are arguably the book's most famous quotations because they deal with human relationships.
Now an adult himself, the narrator has become a pilot, and, one day, his plane crashes in the Sahara, far from civilization. Here, the narrator is greeted by a young boy whom he refers to as "the little prince". Upon encountering the narrator, the little prince asks him to draw a sheep. The narrator first shows him his old picture of the elephant inside the snake, which, to the narrator's surprise, the prince interprets correctly. After three failed attempts at drawing a sheep, the frustrated narrator simply draws a box, claiming that there is a sheep inside the box. Again, to the narrator's surprise, the prince exclaims that this is exactly the drawing he wanted. The prince has a strange habit of avoiding directly answering any of the narrator's questions. The prince is described as wearing a scarf and having golden hair and a lovable laugh.
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Wikipedia