Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: Biography and Interesting Facts
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is known throughout the world as the author of The Little Prince. But his biography is no less surprising than this book: he was a professional pilot, carried mail over sea and desert, flew on dangerous routes, survived plane crashes, served in military aviation and wrote about what he saw and experienced in the sky.
That is why it is difficult to separate Saint Exupery's books from his life. For him, flying was not just a profession, but a way of looking at the world: borders become less visible from above, and a lonely person in the desert suddenly feels the value of friendship, responsibility and human support especially acutely.
Who is Antoine de Saint-Exupéry?
Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint-Exupery was born on June 29, 1900 in Lyon, France. He grew up in a large family and was interested in technology, inventions and flights from an early age. At the beginning of the 20th century, aviation was still a young and risky business, so for a boy, an airplane seemed almost a miracle.
Later, this hobby became a profession. Saint-Exupéry received flight training during his military service and later worked in civil aviation. His life was spent between two occupations that today are inextricably linked with his name: flying and literature.
If a child asks who wrote The Little Prince, the short answer is simple: French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. But behind this answer hides a whole story of adventures, postal routes, desert, night sky and books.
Childhood and first steps in aviation
Saint-Exupéry took to the air for the first time in his youth. And in 1921, during his military service, he began seriously studying aviation. He received a civilian, and then a military pilot's license.
For the modern person, air travel often means a comfortable seat, control systems and precise navigation. For the pilots of the 1920s, things were completely different. They flew in relatively simple machines, guided by the terrain, weather and sky, and an engine failure far from the city could turn an ordinary flight into a fight for life.
It was in such a world that Saint-Exupéry was formed. And this experience later became the material for his books.
How a pilot became a writer
Postal aviation and the first books
In 1926, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry began working for the Latécoère airline, which carried mail between France, North Africa and other points on the route. At the end of the same year, he was already operating mail flights between Toulouse, Casablanca and further towards Dakar.
It was the era of postal aviation pioneers. Pilots flew over mountains, oceans and deserts, often in difficult weather and with minimal technical support. Saint-Exupéry worked alongside people for whom mutual trust was not a beautiful phrase, but a matter of security.
Around the same time, he began to print artistic texts. Aviation did not remain only in the background. It became one of the main sources of his themes: responsibility for others, companionship, endurance, loneliness and choice.
Flights that became literature
Saint-Exupéry worked for airlines in North Africa and South America. Night flights, route searches, the desert and meetings with other pilots gradually made their way onto the pages of his books.
In December 1935, while attempting a long-distance flight from Paris to Saigon, his plane crashed in the desert. He later used this experience in his prose, in particular in the book "Land of People". Therefore, when reading Saint-Exupéry, we often deal not with the fictional "romance of heaven", but with reinterpreted real events of his life.
The most famous books of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The creativity of Saint-Exupéry is not limited to "The Little Prince". Most of his famous books are related in one way or another to aviation, travel and the moral choice of man.
"Night Flight"
The novel "Night Flight" was published in 1931. In it, Saint-Exupéry showed the world of postal aviation, where pilots perform dangerous night flights, and behind each flight there is not only technology, but also the responsibility of people for each other.
In the same year, "Night Flight" won the French literary prize Femina. The book helped to establish Saint-Exupéry not only as an aviator who writes, but as a serious writer.
"Land of people"
"Land of People" was published in France in 1939. This is a book in which memories of flights, friends and dangerous situations are combined with thoughts about a person.
Saint-Exupéry does not write about aviators as fearless superheroes. He is more interested in what happens to a person when he is in danger, is responsible for others or is alone with nature. In 1939, the book received the Grand Prix du roman of the French Academy.
"The Little Prince"
The most famous work of Saint Exupery was "The Little Prince". This is a short story-tale with a simple plot and many themes that unfold differently in childhood and adulthood.
The little prince travels between planets, meets strange adults, takes care of his Rose, meets the Fox and asks questions that have no immediate answers. Through the fairy-tale form, the author talks about friendship, affection, loneliness, care, responsibility and how easy it is for adults to forget about the really important things.
How "The Little Prince" appeared
Saint-Exupéry worked on The Little Prince in the US during World War II. He not only wrote the text, but also created the drawings for the book himself. That is why the watercolor image of a little boy with golden hair is so closely related to the author's idea.
The first edition of "The Little Prince" appeared in 1943 in New York in English and French. In France, the book was published after the author's death, in 1946.
Today, The Little Prince is read in many countries and translated into many languages. But the popularity of the work is not explained by records. The book is able to speak to different readers: a child sees the journey of an unusual hero, a teenager notices questions of friendship and loneliness, and an adult often reads the same story as a reminder of responsibility, love and the ability to see more than the surface of things.
Saint-Exupéry during World War II
When World War II began in 1939, Saint-Exupéry was mobilized into the French air force and carried out reconnaissance flights. One of the sorties of 1940, over the area of Arras, became an important material for his book Pilote de guerre.
After the defeat of France, he lived in the USA for some time. There he wrote and worked on "The Little Prince", but longed to return to flying. In 1943, Saint-Exupéry rejoined the Allied Air Force in North Africa.
On July 31, 1944, he left on a reconnaissance mission in a Lockheed P-38 Lightning and never returned. Saint-Exupéry was forty-four. The circumstances of his death remained the subject of searches and investigation for many years.
Interesting facts about Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
He wasn't just a writer who loved airplanes. Aviation was his real profession. Saint-Exupéry worked as a postal and military pilot and had extensive practical experience of flying.
He illustrated "The Little Prince" himself. The drawings are part of the author's world of the book, and not a later design by another artist.
The Little Prince was not first published in France. The first edition was printed in New York in 1943, and the French edition appeared in France in 1946.
Aviation adventures passed into his prose. Real flights, accidents, the desert, pilot friends and military flights became the basis for literary episodes and reflections.
His books received major literary honors. Night Flight won the Femin Prize in 1931, and Land of the People won the Grand Prix du roman of the French Academy in 1939.
He combined very different roles. In his biography, technology, risk, war, literature, drawing and philosophical reflections stand side by side. This is what makes the story of Saint-Exupéry interesting even for a reader who only knows The Little Prince.
Why are his books still read?
Saint-Exupéry wrote in the first half of the 20th century, but many of his themes have not become outdated. What does it mean to be responsible for someone? Why does friendship take time? Why do people sometimes notice the numbers and the status, but not the person? How to remain human in a world where it is easy to hide behind rules and roles?
These questions are especially expressive in "The Little Prince", but they also pass through the author's adult prose. For him, aviation becomes a way to test a person: in a difficult situation, it is no longer so important what your rank or position is. It is important whether you can trust another, help, fulfill your duty and not lose the ability to see a person in a person.
For children, acquaintance with Saint-Exupéry often begins with "The Little Prince". For older readers, it is interesting to return to the author already through "Night Flight" or "Land of People" and see where the sky, desert, loneliness, travel and the theme of responsibility came from in his fairy tale.
What to read after getting acquainted with Saint-Exupéry
If the child liked "The Little Prince", it is not necessary to immediately move on to all the adult works of the author. His aviation prose is more complex in language and themes and is better suited to older teens and adults.
For younger readers, it is more useful to first discuss The Little Prince himself: why the hero cared for his planet, what changed his meeting with the Fox, how adults on different planets differed, and why Rose was special to him.
Older teenagers can be offered "Night Flight" or individual parts of "Land of Men" if they are interested in aviation, flight history and real-life adventures. So it becomes clear that there are no two different people between the aviator Saint-Exupéry and the author of "The Little Prince". This is one biography and one view of the world, simply expressed in different genres.
Short answers to popular questions
Who wrote "The Little Prince"?
"The Little Prince" was written by the French writer and pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. He also created the illustrations for the first edition himself.
When was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry born?
He was born on June 29, 1900 in Lyon, France.
Was Saint Exupery really a pilot?
Yes. He worked in civil postal aviation, flew international routes and served in military aviation.
When was The Little Prince released?
The first edition was published in 1943 in New York. The book was published in France in 1946.
What other books did Saint Exupery write?
Among his most famous works are "Night Flight", "Land of Men", Pilote de guerre and other texts about aviation, man, responsibility and the experience of war.
When did Antoine de Saint-Exupéry die?
On July 31, 1944, his plane disappeared during a reconnaissance flight. The writer was 44 years old.