Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, born on 29 June 1900 in Lyon and lost at sea on 31 July 1944 off the coast of Marseille, was a French aviator, writer, poet and reporter.
Born into a family of the French nobility, he enjoyed a happy childhood despite the untimely deaths of his father and brother. A dreamy pupil, he obtained his baccalaureate in 1917. After failing the entrance exam for the Naval Academy, he turned his attention to fine art and architecture. Having become a pilot during his military service in 1921, he was hired in 1926 by the Latécoère company (later to become Aéropostale). He transported mail from Toulouse to Senegal, then moved to South America in 1929. At the same time, he became a writer. Drawing on his experiences as a pilot, he published his first novels: *Courrier sud* in 1929 and, most notably, *Vol de nuit* in 1931, which was a great success and won the Prix Femina.
From 1933 onwards, Saint-Exupéry devoted himself to journalism and aerial raids. He undertook major reporting assignments in Moscow in 1935, and in Spain in 1936 and 1937, which would shape his thinking on humanist values. *Terre des hommes*, published in 1939, was awarded the Grand Prix du Roman by the Académie française.
In 1939, he served in the Air Force, posted to an aerial reconnaissance squadron. Following the armistice of 22 June 1940, he was demobilised and left France for New York with the aim of persuading the United States to enter the war, where he became one of the voices of the Resistance. Longing for action, he finally joined a unit responsible for aerial reconnaissance in North Africa in April 1943. He went missing at sea with his aircraft, a Lockheed P-38 Lightning, whilst on a mission on 31 July 1944. He was declared ‘dead for France’. On 25 May 2000, his aircraft was found off the coast of Marseille and formally identified in 2003.
*The Little Prince*, written in New York during the Second World War and illustrated with his own watercolours, was published in 1943 in New York, and then posthumously in 1946 in France by Gallimard. This philosophical tale, characterised by both a light-hearted tone and a pessimistic view of human nature, very quickly became a huge global success.
Aucun livre trouvé pour cet auteur.
