Antoine De Saint-Exupéry, Biography Of A Noble Soul
Few literary works in the world have been translated into 250 languages, including several indigenous languages. However, this is the case with the Little Prince . The author, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, has put together an allegory of his philosophy of life and part of his adventures.
The Little Prince is not the only work of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, but it is the most successful. Many do not know whether to classify this work as a work of children’s or adult literature. And it has precisely this charm: it can be read from several points of view.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a wonderful and sensitive writer, but also a great adventurer. Aviation and travel enthusiast, attractive and intellectually alive. He loved challenges and on a few occasions found himself in mortal danger out of sheer attraction to the challenge.
A happy boy
Antoine was the son of Count Jean de Saint-Exupéry, an insurance expert. His mother was Marie de Fronscolombe, a loving woman of great artistic sensitivity. The writer and aviator was born on June 29, 1900 on the island of Riou (France).
Of course, his family was very well off. Antoine had 4 brothers: 3 girls and 1 boy. He was the third. His only brother died of rheumatic fever when he was only 15 years old. The scene and the effect of this death are present in The Little Prince .
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s father died at the age of 9. Since then, her family has moved to an aunt’s castle. Little Antoine, despite everything, had a happy childhood. His family was very loving and he adored his mother.
Architect, aviator and writer
Antoine wanted to enter college, but he failed the exam. So he decided to enroll in a School of Fine Arts to study architecture. In 1921 he served in the army and fell in love with aviation.
Between 1922 and 1926, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry carried out various trades, as a representative of a trucking company and inspector of a brickyard. Finally, in 1926, he began to work as a professional pilot at Aeropostale and published his first story: The Aviator .
In 1928, he was appointed representative of Aeropostale for Argentina and settled in that country. There he met the Salvadoran writer and artist Consuelo Carrillo. They were introduced by a mutual friend and it was one of those love at first sight cases. Then the company went bankrupt in South America. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Consuelo therefore left for France and married in 1931.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the man
In 1919, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry published his first novel, Courrier sud . The same year of his marriage, he published Vol de Nuit , his first major literary success. André Gide himself wrote the prologue. With this work, he won the Fémina prize.
His relationship with Consuelo started to get rocky. The marriage lasted 15 years, between successive separations and reconciliations. He and she rated the relationship as intense and unstable.
What most affected the marriage were Antoine’s successive infidelities. However, it is clear that Consuelo was the great love of her life. The character of the rose, in The Little Prince , is dedicated to him.
Saint-Exupéry, an adventurer, a dreamer
In 1935, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and his friend André Prévot tried to establish an aviation record, flying in record time from Paris to Saigon. However, the plane failed and they had to make an emergency landing in the Libyan desert. They were there, at the mercy of chance. On the fourth day, they were helped by a Bedouin.
This experience in the desert is told allegorically in The Little Prince . Later, in 1938, he also wanted to record a flight, this time between New York and Tierra del Fuego. He had an accident in Guatemala and almost died. This inspired the work Terre des Hommes .
With the Second World War, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry decides to enlist to fight the Nazis. When the Germans invaded France, he emigrated to the United States. He wrote Pilote de guerre and Le Petit Prince in 1943. He then joined the French resistance.
The underground resistance entrusted him with a secret operation along the French coast. He left to complete it on July 31, 1944. However, his plane was attacked by German troops and disappeared. His body was found in August of the same year, but it was not until 2000 that the plane he commanded was found.
Our thoughts Discover the story of the old man and the crane, the tale of a wise man who passes on his teachings in the company of a bird.
