The Little Prince
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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 |
| Publisher |
Reynal & Hitchcock (U.S.) Gallimard (France) |
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Publication date
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September 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 1943, is a novella, the most famous work of French aristocrat, writer, poet, and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944).
The novella is the fourth most-translated book in the world and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France. Translated into more than 250 languages and dialects (as well as Braille), selling nearly two million copies annually with sales totaling 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 was exiled to North America. In the midst of 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 fallen to 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 in the United States, the novella has been adapted to numerous art forms and media, including audio recordings, radio plays, live stage, film, television, ballet, and operatic works.
The Little Prince is a poetic tale, with watercolour illustrations by the author, in which a pilot stranded in the desert meets a young prince fallen to Earth from a tiny asteroid. The story is philosophical and includes social criticism, remarking on the strangeness of the adult world. It was written during a period when Saint-Exupéry fled to North America subsequent to the Fall of France during the Second World War, witnessed first hand by the author and captured in his memoir Flight to Arras. The adult fable, according to one review, is actually "...an allegory of Saint-Exupéry's own life—his search for childhood certainties and interior peace, his mysticism, his belief in human courage and brotherhood, and his deep love for his wife Consuelo but also an allusion to the tortured nature of their relationship."
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Wikipedia