Summer’s here and the sales start today in the Little Prince online store. In this hot weather, why not treat your own little prince or princess to a tee shirt at sale prices? The Yves Delorme bathrobes are also marked down, so now is the ideal moment for bargains on these quality items.
The story takes place in the town of Crest, in the Drôme. Antiquarian Martial Duvert has in his possession a typescript of The Little Prince, written in Kabyle and also containing the drawings of the Little Prince. What makes the book so valuable is that it was produced by Saint-Exupéry himself. The origin of this priceless work can be traced back to La Bourride, a restaurant in Marseilles often frequented by Saint-Exupéry.
There are 150 copies of The Little Prince in Kabyle, circulated in 1950 as a tribute to Franco-Kabyle friendship. It was only when comparing his typescript to a copy of one of these that Martial Duvert realised that his copy dated from before 1950.
The manuscript of the final chapters of Pilote de Guerre (Flight to Arras) fetched a high price at auction: 74,900 euros, well over the initial estimate of 65,000 – 70,000 euros. A private buyer made the successful bid for the 15 autograph sheets, written between 1939 and 1949.
These are the key chapters of the book, in which Saint-Exupéry’s humanism is palpable; they speak of the war as seen from the airs, of man coming to the rescue of man. They include passages that were to find a place in the pages of Citadelle (The Wisdom of the Sands), a book Saint-Exupéry was writing in parallel and never completed.
Jean-Pierre Dizengremel was 10 years old when he met Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in Athens. After a lecture, his parents invited Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and his wife Consuelo to dinner. Young as he was, he remembers Antoine’s stature and the air of the aviator that clung to him. One of the amusing anecdotes Jean-Pierre recalls is how the pilot shared his food with the family cat, or blew bubbles for the Dizengremel’s dog to catch and burst.
A priceless account, so why not listen to it right now?
Last winter we told you about the Russian voluntary group Podari Zhizn (Give Life) that works with sick children. Early in June, a massive charity gala evening was held on behalf of Podari Zhizn. A performance of The Little Prince was staged in the legendary Mikhailovsky Theatre before an audience of invited guests and some of the children the group works with. Musicians and well-known figures contributed their talents to the rest of the evening. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin thanked all those who took part and congratulated Podari Zhizn on its work. Jean d’Agay, Vice President of the Succession Saint-Exupéry-d’Agay estate, also attended the event. Interviewed by local media, he emphasised the need to create ties between people. Taming one another in order to progress together.
After tickets sold out rapidly, the show was broadcast on television and on giant screens. Watch footage from the event in these two reports shown on Russian television.
Florencia González is a dancer and choreographer with the Ballet d’Europe. “Le Petit Prince” is her first creation for the stage. In her interpretation, Florencia González was keen to focus on the love story between the Little Prince and his rose, as well as the absurdity of the different worlds the Little Prince travels through.
You don’t need to appreciate the finer points of ballet to enjoy the video below. You’ll have no trouble recognising the world of the Little Prince and the characters that surround him. Grace and the feeling of being inside a dream is what you will experience as you watch this video of Florencia González’s ballet.
No, it’s not a joke – simply the latest work from gifted academic Mino Hiroshi, already the author of an earlier work on the Little Prince in which he studied every word and phrase to decipher its hidden meaning.
Mino Hiroshi has also translated The Little Prince into Japanese. Now he has brought out an encyclopaedia (alas, in Japanese only) retracing the history of the Little Prince, from his birth to his impact, dissemination and various developments. Japanese speakers should start looking out now to buy this unique encyclopaedia, available only as an import.
Civic education is a subject we cannot afford to abandon in this day and age. It teaches us about fundamental rights, the concepts of equality and fraternity. In a textbook aimed at 12 to 13 year-olds, schools publisher Belin uses Antoine de Saint-Exupéry as an example to explain the concept of multiple identities. The book cites the author of the Little Prince on the grounds of his many fields of knowledge and experience, as a pilot for first l’Aéropostale and then the army, as a writer, journalist, etc.
It also addresses the concept of posterity, looking at the mark Saint-Exupéry has left on history and in people’s memories.
Four photos, thought to be even later than those taken by journalist John Philips, have been donated to the Angers-Marcé aviation museum. Their former owner, now deceased, was fellow-pilot Raymond Duriez, who met Saint-Exupéry in Corsica in 1944, shortly before the author’s death. The photos were found in a box containing papers and documents dating from the period that had been presented to the museum’s head curator by the son of Raymond Duriez. In it were found four photos showing the author of The Little Prince.
The photos date from July 1944 and they show Saint-Exupéry in his villa in Corsica, standing near a jeep, or in the cockpit of his plane. In this last shot, his name is clearly visible on his life jacket – it’s him, no question about it! It is not known exactly who took the photos, but we do know that Raymond Duriez walked Saint-Exupéry to his Lightning that day and even helped him don his flight suit. It was 31 July 1944, the day Antoine de Saint-Exupéry flew his last mission.
To find out more, check out the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry timeline.
If you’re female, there’s a good chance you’ve already heard of Anaïs Valente. She has written three books of advice for young single women: Les Bon Plans pour les Filles (top tips for girls), La Célib’attitude des Paresseuses (how to cope with being single and lazy) and Le Savoir Ecrire pour les Filles (creative writing for girls). The books are full of useful information, written with a large dose of humour, and have proved a big success in bookstores.
Anaïs Valente also writes a blog under the title “Le célibat ne passera pas par moi!” (think “Bridget Jones”), an everday account of her life, likes, etc. In one of her posts, she talks about her two favourite books: L’Ecume des Jours (Froth on the Daydream) by Boris Vian and… The Little Prince. Anaïs recently discovered the Little Prince seen through the eyes of Joann Sfar. As she read the graphic novel, echoes of the recording by Gérard Philipe resonated from her childhood.
