The Little Prince  (English, Paperback, Saint-Exupery Antoine de)

The Little Prince is a futuristic adventure novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry which explores the whimsical innocence of childhood and its transformation into the conformal ideology of adults.

Summary Of The Book

The novel commences with the narrator, a pilot, crashing into the Sahara desert. It is here that the narrator meets the protagonist of the story, the prince. The prince claims to belong to a planet called Asteroid 325, and the two hit it off instantly. The prince recounts his story, of how he took great care of Asteroid 325 until a rose mysteriously sprouted on the planet and caused the little prince to fall in love with it. However, after a tiff with the rose, the prince decides to leave the planet and explore other planetary bodies.

Throughout their friendship, the little prince describes the planets he visited before embarking upon Earth. The characters he meets are all engulfed in their own lives and have no time for anything but their chosen occupations. The prince’s interactions with these adults leave him disheartened since he is unable to understand them. On Earth, the prince meets with a wise fox who gives him invaluable advice. This advice makes him rethink his decisions, and he decides to leave.

The relationship between the narrator and the protagonist is one of simple, yet profound friendship, and this poetic tale leaves you in a state of poignancy and deep thought. The Little Prince has been translated into over 250 dialects and languages, and remains to be one of the top three bestselling books till date.

About Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a French author, poet, publicist, aristocrat and pilot, born in Lyon, France in 1900.

Some of his other works include The Aviator, Night Flight, Southern Mail, Wartime Writings, 1939–1944, and The Wisdom of the Sands.

Saint-Exupéry was a commercial pilot before World War II and is considered to be one of the international postal flight pioneers. Most of his literary works are said to have been inspired by aviation as well. His essay, An Open Letter To Frenchmen Everywhere, was known for its highly controversial matter, and featured in The New York Times Magazine in 1942. He died at the age of 44 in a plane crash.