Born inLyon to anaristocratic family, Saint-Exupéry trained as a commercial pilot in the early 1920s, working airmail routes across Europe, Africa, and South America. Between 1926 and 1939, four of his literary works were published: the short storyThe Aviator, novelsSouthern Mail andNight Flight, and the memoirWind, Sand and Stars. Saint-Exupéry joined theFrench Air Force forWorld War II and flew reconnaissance missions untilFrance's armistice with Germany in 1940. After being demobilised by the Air Force, Saint-Exupéry lived in exile in the United States between 1941 and 1943 and helped persuade it to enter the war. During this time, his worksFlight to Arras andThe Little Prince were published.
Saint-Exupéry returned to combat by joining theFree French Air Force in 1943, despite being past the maximum age for a war pilot and in declining health. On 31 July 1944, during a reconnaissance mission overCorsica, Saint-Exupéry's plane disappeared: it is presumed to have crashed.[6] Debris from the wreckage was discovered nearMarseille in 2000, but the cause of the crash remains unknown.[7]
Coat of arms of the de Saint-Exupéry family since the 18th centuryBirthplace of Saint-Exupéry in thePresqu'île section ofLyon, on the street now named after him, in blue at lower left
Saint-Exupéry was born inLyon, into theFrench aristocratic Catholic family that traced its lineage back several centuries. Their surname references the 5th-century bishop SaintExuperius. He was the third child ofViscountJean de Saint-Exupéry (1863–1904) and his wife, Marie Boyer de Fonscolombe (1875–1972).[8][9][10][Note 1] His father, an executive of theLe Soleil (The Sun) insurance brokerage, died of a stroke in the train station of La Foux before Saint-Exupéry's 4th birthday. His father's death affected the entire family, transforming their status to that of "impoverished aristocrats".[12]
Saint-Exupéry had three sisters and a younger brother, François, who died at age 15 ofrheumatic fever contracted while both were attending theMarianistCollege Villa St. Jean inFribourg,Switzerland, duringWorld War I. Saint-Exupéry attended to his brother, who he claimed was his closest confidant, beside his death bed, and later wrote that François "remained motionless for an instant. He did not cry out. He fell as gently as a [young] tree falls", imagery later recrafted into the climactic ending ofThe Little Prince. At the age of 17, now the only male in the family following the death of his brother, Saint-Exupéry soon assumed the role of a protector and took to consoling his family, despite still being distraught over his father's death.[13]
After twice failing his final exams at a preparatoryNaval Academy, Saint-Exupéry entered theÉcole des Beaux-Arts as anauditor to study architecture for 15 months, again without graduating, and then fell into the habit of accepting odd jobs. In 1921, Saint-Exupéry began his military service as a basic-rank soldier with the2e Régiment dechasseurs à cheval (2nd Mounted Hunters Regiment) and was sent to Neuhof, nearStrasbourg.[14] While there, he took private flying lessons and the following year was offered a transfer from the French Army to the French Air Force. He received hispilot's wings after being posted to the 37th Fighter Regiment inCasablanca, Morocco.
Later, Saint-Exupéry was reposted to the 34th Aviation Regiment atLe Bourget on the outskirts of Paris, and then experienced the first of his manyaircraft crashes. Saint-Exupéry, influenced by the urgings of the family of hisfiancée, future novelistLouise Lévêque de Vilmorin, subsequently left the air force to take an office job. The couple ultimately broke off their engagement and he worked at several more odd jobs over the next few years.[15]
By 1926, Saint-Exupéry was flying again. He became one of the pioneers of internationalpostal flight, in the days when aircraft had few instruments. Later, he complained that those who flew the more advanced aircraft had become more like accountants than pilots. He worked forAéropostale betweenToulouse andDakar, and then also became the airline stopover manager for theCape Juby airfield in the Spanish zone ofSouth Morocco, in theSahara. His duties included negotiating the safe release of downed fliers taken hostage by Saharan tribes, a perilous task that earned him his firstLégion d'honneur from the French Government in 1930.[16]
In 1929, Saint-Exupéry was transferred to Argentina, where he was appointed director of theAeroposta Argentina airline. He lived inBuenos Aires, in theGalería Güemes building. He surveyed new air routes across South America, negotiated agreements, and occasionally flew the airmail as well as search missions looking for downed fliers. This period of his life is briefly explored inWings of Courage, anIMAX film by French directorJean-Jacques Annaud.[17]
Saint-Exupéry photographed nearMontréal, Québec, in May 1942, on a speaking tour in support of France after its armistice with Germany. Saint-Exupéry was highly stressed and bedridden withcholecystitis at this time in his life.[18][19]
Saint-Exupéry's first novella,L'Aviateur (The Aviator), was published in 1926 in a short-lived literary magazine,Le Navire d'Argent (The Silver Ship).[20] In 1929, his first book,Courrier Sud (Southern Mail) was published. It chronicled his time flying the Casablanca-Dakar mail route.[21]
The 1931 publication ofNight Flight established Saint-Exupéry as a rising star in the literary world. It was the first of his major works to gain widespread acclaim, and it won theprix Femina. The novel mirrored his experiences as a mail pilot and director of theAeroposta Argentina.[22]
That same year, atGrasse, Saint-Exupéry marriedConsuelo Suncin (née Suncín Sandoval), a once-divorced, once-widowedSalvadoran writer and artist, who Saint-Exupéry described as having possessed a bohemian spirit and a "viper's tongue".
Saint-Exupéry left and returned to his wife many times—he saw her as both his muse, but, over the long term, the source of much of his angst.[23] The relationship has been described as 'rocky', with Saint-Exupéry travelling frequently and indulging in numerous affairs, most notably with the FrenchwomanHélène de Vogüé (1908–2003), known as "Nelly" and referred to as "Madame de B." in Saint-Exupérybiographies.[24][Note 2] Vogüé became Saint-Exupéry's literaryexecutrix after his death and also wrote her own Saint-Exupéry biography under a pseudonym, Pierre Chevrier.[26]
Saint-Exupéry continued to write until the spring of 1943 when he left the United States with American troops bound for North Africa in theSecond World War.[27]
Canadian and American sojourn andThe Little Prince
AfterFrance's armistice with Germany, Saint-Exupéry went into exile in North America, escaping through Portugal. He stayed inEstoril, at the Hotel Palácio, between 28 November and 20 December 1940.[29] He described his impressions of his stay inLettre à un otage.[30] On the same day that he checked out, he boarded the S.S.Siboney and arrived in New York City on the last day of 1940,[31] with the intention of convincing the US to enter the conflict against Nazi Germany quickly.[32] On 14 January 1941, at aHotel Astor author luncheon attended by approximately 1,500, he belatedly received hisNational Book Award forWind, Sand and Stars, won a year earlier while he was occupied witnessing thedestruction of the French Army.[33] Consuelo followed him to New York City several months later after a chaotic migration to the southern French town ofOppède, where she lived in an artist's commune, the basis of her autobiography,Kingdom of the Rocks: Memories of Oppède.[34][35]
Two editions ofThe Little Prince (lower left and upper right, artwork not shown) on display at the Saint-Exupéry exhibit at theAir and Space Museum in Paris, France. Also, upper left:Lettre à un otage (Letter to a Hostage), and bottom right:Pilote de guerre (English version:Flight to Arras)
Saint-Exupéry added the hyphen to his surname after his arrival in the United States, saying that he was annoyed with Americans addressing him as "Mr. Exupéry".[3] During this period, he authoredPilote de guerre (Flight to Arras), which earned widespread acclaim, andLettre à un otage (Letter to a Hostage [fr]), dedicated to the 40 million Frenchliving under Nazi oppression, in addition to numerous shorter pieces in support of France. The Saint-Exupérys also resided inQuebec City, Canada for several weeks during the late spring of 1942. During their time in Quebec City, the family lived with the philosopherCharles De Koninck and his family, including his "precocious" 8-year-old son,Thomas.[38][39][Note 3]
After he returned from his stay in Québec, which had been fraught with illness and stress, the wife of one of his publishers helped persuade Saint-Exupéry to produce a children's book,[40] hoping to calm his nerves and also compete with the new series ofMary Poppins stories byP.L. Travers. Saint-Exupéry wrote and illustratedThe Little Prince in New York City and the village ofAsharoken in mid-to-late 1942, with the manuscript being completed in October.[38] It was published in early 1943 in both English and French in the United States, and only later appeared in France, posthumously, after theliberation of France, as his works had been banned by the collaborationistVichy Regime.[41][42][Note 4]The Little Prince is dedicated to Saint-Exupéry's close friendLéon Werth.[44]
In April 1943, following his 27 months in North America, Saint-Exupéry departed with an American military convoy forAlgiers, to fly with theFree French Air Force and fight with theAllies in a Mediterranean-based squadron. Then 43, soon to be promoted to the rank of commandant (major), he was far older than most men in operational units. Although eight years over the age limit for such pilots, he had petitioned endlessly for an exemption which had finally been approved by GeneralDwight Eisenhower. However, Saint-Exupéry had been suffering pain and immobility due to his many previous crash injuries, to the extent that he could not dress himself in his ownflight suit or even turn his head leftwards to check for enemy aircraft.[45]
Saint-Exupéry was assigned with a number of other pilots to his former unit, renamedGroupe de reconnaissance 2/33 "Savoie", flyingP-38 Lightnings, which an officer described as "war-weary, non-airworthy craft".[46] The Lightnings were also more sophisticated than models he previously flew, requiring him to undertake seven weeks of stringent training before his first mission. After wrecking a P-38 through engine failure on his second mission, he was grounded for eight months, but was then later reinstated to flight duty on the personal intervention of GeneralIra Eaker, Deputy Commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces.[47][48][Note 5]
After Saint-Exupéry resumed flying, he also returned to his longtime habit of reading and writing while flying his single-seatLockheed F-5B (a specially configured P-38reconnaissance variant). His prodigious studies of literature gripped him and on occasion, he continued his readings of literary works until moments before takeoff, with mechanics havingwarmed up and tested his aircraft for him in preparation for his flight. On one flight, to the chagrin of his colleagues awaiting his arrival, he circled the airport for an hour after returning, so that he could finish reading a novel. Saint-Exupéry frequently flew with a lined notebook (carnet) during his long solitary flights and some of his philosophical writings were created during such periods when he could reflect on the world below him.[50]
Before his return to flight duty with his squadron in North Africa, the collaborationistVichy Regime unilaterally promoted Saint-Exupéry as one of its members. Saint-Exupéry was shocked and dismayed by this, in keeping with his historical harsh criticism of the Vichy Regime. Subsequently, French General (laterFrench President)Charles de Gaulle, whom Saint-Exupéry held in low regard, made a public statement that implied that Saint-Exupéry was supporting Germany. Saint-Exupéry becamedepressed by these events and began to consumealcohol heavily.[51] His physical and mental health began deteriorating. Saint-Exupéry was said, by his peers in the air force, to be intermittently subject to depression, and there was discussion about grounding him.[52][Note 6]
Saint-Exupéry's last reconnaissance mission was to collect intelligence on German troop movements in and around theRhone Valley precedingOperation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France. Although he had been reinstated to his old squadron with the provision that he was to fly only five missions, on 31 July 1944, he took off in an unarmedP-38 on his ninth reconnaissance mission from an airbase onCorsica.[53][Note 7] To the great alarm of his squadron compatriots, he did not return, vanishing without a trace.[55][Note 8] Word of his disappearance soon spread across the literary world and then it spread into international headlines.[47][56]
Bracelet of Saint-Exupéry found in 1998Part of the landing gear of Saint-Exupéry's plane, recovered from the Mediterranean, displayed at theFrench Air and Space Museum
In September 1998, to the east of Riou Island (south of Marseille), a fisherman found a silver identity bracelet bearing the names of Saint-Exupéry, his wifeConsuelo, and his American publisher,Reynal & Hitchcock.[57] The bracelet was hooked to a piece of fabric, presumably from his flight suit.[26] Announcement of the discovery was an emotional event in France, where Saint-Exupéry was a national icon, and some disputed its authenticity because it was found far from his intended flight path, implying that the aircraft might not have been shot down.[58]
In May 2000, a diver found debris from a Lockheed P-38 Lightning submerged off the coast of Marseille, near where the bracelet was found. The discovery galvanized the country, which had conducted searches for his aircraft and speculated on Saint-Exupéry's fate for decades.[59] After a two-year delay imposed by the French government, the remnants of the aircraft were recovered in October 2003.[57][Note 9] In 2004, French officials and investigators from the FrenchUnderwater Archaeological Department officially confirmed that the wreckage was from Saint-Exupéry's aircraft.[59][61]
No marks or holes attributable to gunfire were found, but that was not considered significant as only a small portion of the aircraft was recovered.[60] In June 2004, the fragments were given to theMusée de l'Air et de l'Espace (Air and Space Museum) inLe Bourget, Paris, where Saint-Exupéry's life is commemorated in a special exhibit.[62][63]
In 1948, formerLuftwaffe telegrapher Rev.Hermann Korth published his war logs, noting an incident that occurred at around noon on 31 July 1944 in which aFocke-Wulf Fw 190 shot down a P-38 Lightning. Korth's account ostensibly supported a shoot-down hypothesis for Saint-Exupéry.[64][65] The veracity of his log was met with skepticism, because it could have described a P-38 which was flown by Second Lieutenant Gene Meredith on 30 July, shot down south ofNice.[64][66][Note 10]
In 1972, the German magazineDer Landser quoted a letter from Luftwaffe reconnaissance pilot Robert Heichele, in which he purportedly claimed to have shot down a P-38 on 31 July 1944.[68] His account, corroborated by a spotter, seemingly supported a shoot-down hypothesis of Saint-Exupéry.[69] Heichele's account was met with skepticism because he described flying a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 D-9, a variant which had not yet entered Luftwaffe service.[70]
In the lists which are held by theBundesarchiv-Militärarchiv, no victory was credited to Heichele or his unit in either July or August 1944, and the decrypted report of the day's reconnaissance does not include any flights by 2./NAG 13's Fw 190s.[71] Heichele was shot down on 16 August 1944 and died five days later.[Note 11][72]
In 2008, a French journalist fromLa Provence, who was investigating Saint-Exupéry's death, contacted former Luftwaffe pilots who flew in the area of Marseille, eventually getting an account from Horst Rippert (1922–2013).[62][73][74] Rippert was the older brother of the famous bass singerIvan Rebroff, who was born in Berlin as Hans-Rolf Rippert. In his memoirs, Horst Rippert, an admirer of Saint-Exupéry's books, expressed both fears and doubts that he was responsible, but in 2003 he stated that he became certain that he was responsible when he learned the location of Saint-Exupéry's wreckage.[75] Rippert claimed to have reported the kill over his radio, but there are no surviving records to verify this account.[65][66][Note 12][Note 13]
Rippert's account, as it is discussed in two French and German books, was met with both publicity and skepticism.[77][78] Luftwaffe comrades expressed doubts in Rippert's claim, given that he held it private for 64 years.[79][80][Note 14] Very little German documentation survived the war, and contemporary archival sources, consisting mostly of Allied intercepts of Luftwaffe signals, offer no evidence to verify Rippert's claim.[81][82] The entry and exit points of Saint-Exupéry's mission were likely nearCannes, yet his wreckage was discovered south of Marseille.[76]
Though it is possible that German fighters could have intercepted, or at least altered, Saint-Exupéry's flight path, the cause of his death remains unknown, and Rippert's account remains one hypothesis among many.[66][76][83][Note 15]
While not precisely autobiographical, much of Saint-Exupéry's work is inspired by his experiences as a pilot. One notable example is his novella,The Little Prince, a poetic tale self-illustrated in watercolours in which a pilot stranded in the desert meets a young prince fallen to Earth from a tinyasteroid. "His most popular work,The Little Prince was partially based upon a crash he and his navigator survived in the Libyan desert. They were stranded and dehydrated for four days, nearing death when they miraculously stumbled upon a Bedouin who gave them water."[85] Saint-Exupéry wrote inWind, Sand and Stars that the Bedouin saved their lives and gave them "charity and magnanimity [by] bearing the gift of water."The Little Prince is a philosophical story, including societal criticism, remarking on the strangeness of the adult world. One biographer wrote of his most famous work: "Rarely have an author and a character been so intimately bound together as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and his Little Prince," and remarking of their dual fates, "...the two remain tangled together, twin innocents who fell from the sky."[26]
Saint-Exupéry's notable literary works (published English translations in parentheses) include:[86]
The Wild Garden (1938) – Limited to one thousand copies privately printed for the friends of the author and his publishers as a New Year's Greeting. The story is taken from the forthcoming book,Wind, Sand and Stars, to be published in the spring of 1939.
During the 1930s, Saint-Exupéry led a mixed life as an aviator, journalist, author and publicist forAir France,Aéropostale's successor. His journalistic writings forParis-Soir,Marianne and other newspapers covered events inIndochina and the Far East (1934), the Mediterranean, Soviet Union and Moscow (1935), and theSpanish Civil War (1936–1937). Saint-Exupéry wrote a number of shorter pieces, essays and commentaries for various newspapers and magazines.[95]
Notable among those during World War II was "An Open Letter to Frenchmen Everywhere", which was highly controversial in its attempt to rally support for France against Nazi oppression at a time when the French were sharply divided between support of theGaullists andVichy factions. It was published inThe New York Times Magazine in November 1942, in its original French inLe Canada, de Montréal at the same time, and inPour la Victoire the following month.[87][96] Other shorter pieces include (in French except where translated by others to English):[92][96]
"Letter to Young Americans",The American High School Weekly, 25 May 1942, pp. 17–18.
"Voulez-vous, Français, vous reconcilier?",Le Canada, de Montreal, 30 November 1942.
"L'Homme et les éléments",Confluences, 1947, Vol. VII, pp. 12–14 (issue dedicated to Saint-Exupéry; originally published in English in 1939 as 'The Elements' inWind, Sand and Stars).
"Lettre Inédite au General C",Le Figaro Littéraire, 10 April 1948 (posthumous).
Pilote de guerre (Flight To Arras), which describes the German invasion of France, was slightly censored when it was released in its original French during wartime byÉditions Gallimard in his homeland in 1942, due to the removal of a derogatory remark which was made aboutHitler (which Gallimard failed to reinsert in subsequent editions afterWorld War II). Shortly after the book's wartime release in France, Nazi appeasers and Vichy supporters objected to its praise of one of Saint-Exupéry's squadron colleagues, CaptainJean Israël, who was portrayed as being amongst the squadron's bravest defenders during theBattle of France.[97]
In support of their German occupiers and masters, Vichy authorities attacked the author as a defender ofJews (inracist terms) leading to the praised book being banned in France,[97] along with prohibitions against further printings of Saint-Exupéry's other works.[42] Prior toFrance's liberation new printings of Saint-Exupéry's works were made available there only by means of covert print runs, such as that of February 1943 when 1,000 copies of anunderground version ofPilote de guerre were printed in Lyon.[41][42][98]
A further complication occurred due to Saint-Exupéry's and others' view of GeneralCharles de Gaulle, who was held in low regard. Early in the war, de Gaulle became the leader of theFree French Forces in exile, with his headquarters in London. Even though both men were working to free France from Nazi occupation, Saint-Exupéry viewed de Gaulle with apprehension as a possible post-war dictator, and he consequently provided no public support to the General. De Gaulle retaliated by implying that the author was a supporter of Germany, and he then had his literary works banned inFrance's North African colonies. Saint-Exupéry's writings were, with irony, banned simultaneously inoccupied France and the territory which was controlled byFree France.[26][99]
Due to Saint-Exupéry's wartime death, the French government awarded his estate thecivil code designationMort pour la France (English:Died for France) in 1948. Amongst the law's provisions is an increase of 30 years to the duration of the original copyright's duration of 70 years; thus most of Saint-Exupéry's creative works will not fall out of copyright status in France for an extra 30 years.[100][101]
Historical marker where the Saint-Exupérys resided inQuebec
Saint-Exupéry is commemorated with an inscription in thePanthéon in Paris, France's repository of historical greats. Although his body was never identified, his name was added to the Panthéon in November 1967 by a French legislative act. The inscription reads: "A LA MEMOIRE DE • ANTOINE DE SAINT EXUPERY • POETE ROMANCIER AVIATEUR • DISPARU AU COURS D'UNE MISSION • DE RECONNAISSANCE AERIENNE • LE 31 JUILLET 1944" (To the memory of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, poet, novelist, aviator, missing during an aerial reconnaissance mission, 31 July 1944). Amongst other honours from France, he was named aChevalier de la Légion d'honneur in April 1930 and was promoted toOfficier de la Légion d'honneur in January 1939. He was awarded theCroix de Guerre in 1940 and was posthumously awarded theCroix de Guerre avec Palme in 1944.[102]
From 1993 until the introduction of theeuro, Saint-Exupéry's portrait and several of his drawings fromThe Little Prince appeared on France's50-franc banknote.[26] The French Government also later minted a 100-franc commemorative coin, with Saint-Exupéry on itsobverse side, and the Little Prince on its reverse. Brass-plated souvenirMonnaie de Paris commemorative medallions were also created in his honour, depicting the pilot's portrait over the P-38 Lightning aircraft he last flew.
In 2000, on the centenary of his birth, in the city where he was born, he was memorialised when the Lyon Satolas Airport was renamed theLyon-Saint Exupéry Airport. Lyon'sTGV bullet train station was also renamedGare de Lyon Saint-Exupéry. The author is additionally commemorated by a statue in Lyon, depicting a seated Saint-Exupéry with the little prince standing behind him.[104]
A street inMontesson, a suburb of Paris, is named after him as Rue Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.[105]
Museum exhibits, exhibitions and theme villages dedicated to both him and his diminutive Little Prince have been created inLe Bourget, Paris and other locations in France, as well as in the Republic of South Korea, Japan, Morocco, Brazil, the United States and Canada:[citation needed]
TheAir and Space Museum at Paris'sLe Bourget Airport, in cooperation with The Estate of Saint-Exupéry-d'Agay, has created a permanent exhibit of 300 m2 dedicated to the author, pilot, person and humanist. TheEspace Saint-Exupéry exhibit, officially inaugurated in 2006 on the anniversary of the aviator's birthday,[106] traces each stage of his life as an airmail pioneer, eclectic intellectual artist, and military pilot. It includes artefacts from his life: photographs, his drawings, letters, some of his original notebooks (carnets) he scribbled in voluminously and which were later published posthumously, plusremnants of the unarmed P-38 he flew on his last reconnaissance mission and which were recovered from the Mediterranean Sea.[107]
InGyeonggi-do, South Korea, andHakone, Japan, theme village museums have been created honouring Saint-Exupéry'sLittle Prince.
In January 1995, theAlberta Aviation Museum ofEdmonton, Alberta, Canada, in conjunction with the cultural organizationAlliance française, presented a showing of Saint-Exupéry letters, watercolours, sketches and photographs.[108]
InSão Paulo, Brazil, through 2009, the Oca Art Exhibition Centre presented Saint-Exupéry and The Little Prince as part of The Year of France and The Little Prince. The displays covered over 10,000 m2 on four floors, and chronicled Saint-Exupéry,The Little Prince and their philosophies, as visitors passed through theme areas of the desert, asteroids, stars, and the cosmos. The ground floor of the giant exhibition was laid out as a huge map of the routes flown by the author withAeropostale in South America and around the world. Also included was a full-scale replica of the author's crashedCaudron Simoun, lying wrecked on the ground of a simulated Libyan desert following his disastrous Paris-Saigon race attempt. The miraculous survival of Saint-Exupéry and his mechanic/navigator was subsequently chronicled in the award-winning memoirWind, Sand and Stars (Terre des hommes), and also formed the introduction of his most famous workThe Little Prince (Le Petit Prince).[109]
In 2011, theCity of Toulouse, France, home ofAirbus and the pioneering airmail carrierAéropostale, in conjunction with the Estate of Saint-Exupéry-d'Agay and the Youth Foundation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, hosted a major exposition on Saint-Exupéry and his experience with Aéropostale. The exposition, titledL'année Antoine de Saint-Exupéry à Toulouse, exhibited selected personal artefacts of the author-aviator, including gloves, photos, posters, maps, manuscripts, drawings, models of the aircraft he flew, some of the wreckage from his Sahara Desert plane crash, and the personal silver identification bracelet engraved with his and Consuelo's name, presented by his U.S. publisher, which was recovered from his last, ultimate crash site in the Mediterranean Sea.[110]
A number of other prominent exhibitions were created in France and the United States, many of them in 2000, honouring the centenary of the author-aviator's birth.
Saint-Exupéry's 1939 memoirTerre des hommes (titled asWind, Sand and Stars in English) was chosento create the central theme (Terre des Hommes–Man and His World) of the1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (Expo '67), the most successful world's fair of the 20th century. The central theme, which also generated the 17 subsidiary elements used for the world's fair, was elucidated at a 1963Montebello, Quebec, conference held with some of Canada's leading thinkers. At Montebello, French-Canadian authorGabrielle Roy helped choose the central theme by quoting Saint-Exupéry on mankind's place in the universe:[citation needed]
"Être homme, c'est précisément être responsable. C'est sentir, en posant sa pierre, que l'on contribue à bâtir le monde" (to be a man is to be responsible, to feel that by laying one's own stone, one contributes to building the world)
Additionally,Michèle Lalonde andAndré Prévost'soratorioTerre des hommes, performed at thePlace des Nations opening ceremonies and attended by the international delegates of the participating countries, strongly projected the French writer's 'idealist rhetoric'.Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry (1901–1979), his widow, was also a guest of honour at the opening ceremonies of the World's Fair.[116]
Asteroid2578 Saint-Exupéry, discovered in November 1975 by Russian astronomerTamara Smirnova and provisionally cataloged as Asteroid 1975 VW3, was renamed in the author-aviator's honour.[117] Another asteroid was named as46610 Bésixdouze (translated to and from bothhexadecimal and French as 'B612').[118] Additionally the terrestrial-asteroid protection organizationB612 Foundation was named in tribute to the author'sLittle Prince, who fell to Earth from Asteroid B-612.[119][120][121][122]
Philatelic tributes have been printed in at least 25 other countries as of 2011[update].[123] Only three years after his death, the pilot-aviator was first featured on an 8 francFrench West Africa airmail stamp (Scott Catalog # C11). France followed several months later in 1948 with an 80 franc airmail stamp honouring him (CB1), and later with another stamp honouring both him and airmail pioneer Jean Mermoz, plus the supersonicConcorde passenger airliner, in 1970 (C43).[123] In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the writer's death,Israel issued a stamp honouring "Saint-Ex" andThe Little Prince in 1994.[124]
In Argentina and Brazil, where Saint-Exupéry became the founding director of the pioneering South American airmail airlineAeroposta Argentina:
the small Brazilian airport servingOcauçu, São Paulo is named after the pilot, and[citation needed]
several Argentinian schools are also named after the author-aviator.[citation needed]
The main street of the town of Campeche on the Ilha da Santa Catarina (where Florianopolis the capital of the state is also situated), is named avenida principe pequeno because of his connection to the region.
In 1960 the humanitarian organizationTerre des hommes, named after Saint-Exupéry's 1939 philosophical memoirTerre des hommes (titled asWind, Sand and Stars in English),[126] was founded inLausanne,Switzerland by Edmond Kaiser. OtherTerre des Hommes societies were later organized in more countries with similarsocial aid and humanitarian goals. The several independent groups joined to form a new umbrella organization,Terre des Hommes-Fédération Internationale (TDHFI, in English:International Federation of Terre des Hommes, or IFTDH). The national constituents first met in 1966 to formalize their new parent organization, headquartered inGeneva, Switzerland. As of 2009[update] eleven organizations in Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and Syria belonged to the Federation. An important part of their works is their consulting role to theUnited Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).[127]
In June 2009, the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation (FASEJ) was founded in Paris by the Saint-Exupéry–d'Agay Estate, to promote education, art, culture, health and sports for youth worldwide, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This organization, which follows Saint-Exupéry's philosophies and his memory, was financed in part by the sale of one of his original 1936 handwritten manuscripts at aSotheby's auction for €312,750.[128][129]
Numerous public schools, lycées, high schools, colleges and technical schools have been named in honour of Saint-Exupéry across France, Europe, Québec and South America, as well as at least two in Africa. TheÉcole Antoine de Saint-Exupéry de Kigali, a French international school inRwanda, is named after him, as is École Francaise Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in Saint Louis, Senegal.[130][131]
TheGR I/33 (later renamed as the 1/33 Belfort Squadron), one of the French Air Force squadrons Saint-Exupéry flew with, adopted the image of theLittle Prince as part of the squadron andtail insignia on itsDassault Mirage fighter jets.[132]
Google celebrated Saint-Exupéry's 110th birthday with a special logotype depicting the little prince being hoisted through the heavens by a flock of birds.[133]
Numerous streets and place names are named after the author-aviator throughout France and other countries.[citation needed]
Cafe Saint-Ex, a popular bar and nightclub in Washington, D.C. near the U-Street corridor, holds Saint-Exupéry as its name source.[citation needed]
International Watch Company (IWC) has created many Saint-Exupéry tribute versions of several of their wristwatch lines, with the distinctive 'A' from his signature featured on the dial.[citation needed]
The American aviation magazineFlying ranked Saint-Exupéry number 41 on their list of the "51 Heroes of Aviation".[134]
The French 50-franc banknote depicted Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and had several features that allude to his works.[135]
Saint-Exupéry and his wifeConsuelo were portrayed byBruno Ganz andMiranda Richardson in the 1996 biopicSaint-Ex, a British film biography of the French author-pilot. It also featuredEleanor Bron and was filmed and distributed in the United Kingdom, with scripting by Frank Cottrell Boyce. The film combines elements of biography, documentary, and dramatic licence.[citation needed]
The 2024 French filmSaint-Exupéry (originally titledSaint-Ex) written and directed byPablo Agüero depicts Saint-Exupéry's (Louis Garrel) airmail career in theAndes, revolving around his efforts to save his friend, Henri Guillaumet (Vincent Cassel).[136]
In the 2009 JapanesedoramaKarei naru Spy (華麗なるスパイ), produced byNippon Television, a spy named "Antoine de Saint-Exumopéry" (アントワーヌ ド・サン・テグモペリ ) is played by actor MOUNIR. (Episode 2). The spy works for the evil Mr.Takumi (ミスター匠), leader of an international terrorist organization.
After his disappearance,Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry wroteThe Tale of the Rose, which was published in 2000 and subsequently translated into 16 languages.[137]
Saint-Exupéry is mentioned inTom Wolfe'sThe Right Stuff: "A saint in short, true to his name, flying up here at the right hand of God. The good Saint-Ex! And he was not the only one. He was merely the one who put it into words most beautifully and anointed himself before the altar of the right stuff."[citation needed]
Comic-book authorHugo Pratt imagined the fantastic story of Saint-Exupéry's last flight inSaint-Exupéry: le dernier vol (1994).[citation needed]
Saint-Exupéry is the subject of the 2013 historical novelStudio Saint-Ex (Knopf, New York / Penguin, Canada) byAnia Szado. In the novel Saint-Exupéry awaits the Americans' entry into World War II, while writingThe Little Prince in New York.[citation needed]
Saint-Exupéry was the principal character inAntonio Iturbe's 2017 Spanish-language novelA cielo abierto which was translated into English and published in 2021 with the titleThe Prince of the Skies.
Saint-Exupéry's death and speculation that Horst Rippert shot him down are the subject of "Saint Ex", a song onWidespread Panic's eleventh studio album,Dirty Side Down.[citation needed]
"P 38", a 1983 song by the Swedish pop band Webstrarna took inspiration from Saint-Ex's disappearance in July 1944.
In August 2011,Saint-Ex, a theatrical production of Saint-Exupéry's life, premiered inWeston, Vermont.[138]
Saint-Exupéry appears as one of the three historical characters in the one-act play, DINNER @ AMELIA'S ((c) 2019) by Myles A. Garcia, an American playwright. The two other historical characters in the same play areAlberto Santos-Dumont, the Brazilian pioneering aviator, andT. E. Lawrence (the future Lawrence of Arabia).
^Saint-Exupéry was born at No. 8 rue Peyrat, later rue Alphonse Fochier, and still later rue Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, inLyon's 2nd arrondissement.[9] He was the third of five children (and nicknamed 'Tonio'), his older sisters were Marie-Madeleine ("Biche", 26 January 1897 – 1927), Simone ("Monot", 26 January 1898 – 1978), and his younger siblings François (1902–1917) and Gabrielle ("Didi", 1903–1986). His parents were Viscount Jean de Saint-Exupéry (1863–1904; different sources name his father as Jean-Marc or Caesar de Saint-Exupéry[11]) and Viscountess Marie, née Boyer de Fonscolombe (1875–1972). He was baptized in a Catholic ceremony in his great-aunt's chapel on 15 August 1900 inSaint-Maurice-de-Rémens; his godfather was his uncle,Roger de Saint-Exupéry,Earl of Miremont (1865 – August 1914, killed leading his battalion in Maissin, Belgium, during the First World War), his godmother was his aunt Madeleine Fonscolombe.[10]
^Hélène (Nelly) de Vogüé (1908–2003), born Hélène Jaunez to a French businessman, became a Vogüé, in 1927 and had one child with him, a son named Patrice. Hélène is referred to only as "Madame de B." in multiple Saint-Exupéry biographies. This occurred due to agreements she made with writers before granting them access to her troves of the author-aviator's writings, which she deposited in the French national archives—from which they will not be released until 2053. It is believed she sought her anonymity to protect Saint-Exupéry's reputation, as during theSecond World War, the U.S.OSS suspected she was a secretVichy agent andNazicollaborator.[25]
^The large home ofCharles De Koninck has since been classified as a historical building and has been visited frequently by numerous worldwide personalities from academic, scientific, intellectual, and political circles. Thomas kept a few memories from Saint-Exupéry's visit: "[He was] a great man. He was the aviator. Someone we would get attached to quite easily, who would show interest in us, the kids. He would make us paper planes, drawings. [...] He loved mathematical enigmas." The following year, he publishedThe Little Prince. According to the local legend, Saint-Exupéry received his inspiration from the junior De Koninck, who asked many questions. However,Thomas De Koninck denied this interpretation: "The Little Prince is Saint-Exupéry himself."
^Although Saint-Exupéry's regular publisher in France, Gallimard, listsLe Petit Prince as being published in 1946, that apparently is a legalistic interpretation possibly designed to allow for an extra year of the novella's copyright protection period and is based on Gallimard's explanation that sales of the book started only in 1946. Other sources, such as the one referenced, depict the first Librairie Gallimard printing of 12,250 copies as occurring on 30 November 1945.[43]
^After being grounded following his crash, Saint-Exupéry spared no efforts in his campaign to return to active combat flying duty. He utilized all his contacts and powers of persuasion to overcome his age and physical handicap barriers, which would have completely barred an ordinary patriot from serving as a war pilot. Instrumental in his reinstatement was an agreement he proposed to John Phillips, a fluently bilingualLife magazine correspondent in February 1944, where Saint-Exupéry committed to "...write, and I'll donate what I do to you, for your publication, if you get me reinstated into my squadron."[49] Phillips later met with a high-level U.S. Army Air Forces press officer in Italy, Colonel John Reagan McCrary, who conveyed theLife magazine request to General Eaker. The approval for return to flying status would be made "...not through favoritism, but through exception". The brutalized French, it was noted, would cut a German's throat "...probably with more relish than anybody".
^Saint-Exupéry suffered recurring pain and immobility from previous injuries due to his five serious aircraft crashes. After his death, there were also vague suggestions that his disappearance was the result of suicide rather than aircraft failure or combat loss.
^Various sources state that his final flight was either his seventh, eight, ninth, and even his tenth mission. He volunteered for almost every proposed mission submitted to his squadron, and protested fiercely after being grounded following his second sortie, which ended with a demolished P-38. Saint-Exupéry's friends, colleagues and compatriots were working to keep him grounded and out of harm's way, but his connections in high places, plus a publishing agreement withLife magazine, were instrumental in having the grounding lifted.[54]
^One ruse contemplated by GR II/33's commanders was to expose Saint-Exupéry "accidentally" to the plans of the pending invasion of France so he could be subsequently grounded. No air force general would countermand such a grounding order and risk Saint-Exupéry's being captured by the Germans if he were forced down. Saint-Exupéry's commanding officer—a close friend of his—was ill and absent when the author took off on his final flight. The commander "bawled out" his staff when he learned that a grounding scheme had not been implemented.
^Saint-Exupéry's P-38, as identified in the wreckage recovery report, was an F-5B-1-LO, LAC 2734 variant, serial number 42-68223, which departed Borgo-Porreta, Bastia, Corsica, France on 31 July 1944, at 8:45 a.m. The report includes an image of a component bearing a serial number which confirmed it came from Saint-Exupéry's aircraft. The size of the debris field—1 km (0.62 mi) long and 400 m (1,300 ft) wide—suggested that the aircraft had struck the water at high velocity.[60]
^The Luftwaffe pilot was on patrol near Corsica, and could have intercepted Lt. Meredith.[66] Lt. Meredith's remains were not recovered. He is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence, Italy ABMC Cemetery {ABMC Records}. Lt. Meredith was shot down byFeldwebel Guth of 3./Jagdgruppe 200, the same unit in which Horst Rippert (see below) was serving. Guth's victory claim is recorded in the lists which are held by the GermanBundesarchiv-Militärarchiv. The progress of the interception was followed by Allied radar and radio monitoring stations and documented in Missing Air Crew Report 7339 on the loss of Second Lieutenant Gene C. Meredith of the23rd Photographic Squadron/5th Reconnaissance Group. The intercepted Mediterranean Allied Air Forces Signals Intelligence Report for 30 July records that "an Allied reconnaissance aircraft was claimed shot down at 1115 [GMT]". The last estimated position of Meredith's plane is 4307N, 0756E.[67]
^He is buried in the German military cemetery atDagneux, France.
^The RAF's No. 276 Wing (Signals Intelligence, Allied intercepts of Luftwaffe communications) Operations Record Book for 31 July 1944 notes only: "... three enemy fighter sections between 0758/0929 hours operating in reaction to Allied fighters over Cannes, Toulon and the area to the North. No contacts. Patrol activity north of Toulon reported between 1410/1425 hours".[66]
^In documents OIS 4FG 40 and OP rep 25 (available at SHD / Air), the4th Fighter Squadron on a sweeping mission fromVercors to Orange, observed two German "bogeys" flying East at 11:30 a.m. Given Saint-Exupéry's fuel reserves and expected mission duration, it is possible that he crossed paths with the German aircraft.[76]
^The proposed "suppression" of Rippert's claim due to Saint-Exupéry's stature was also met with skepticism as Luftwaffe pilots tended to immediately report their kills, and the Allies did not broadcast Saint-Exupéry's status as missing for at least two days.[66] It is feasible that Rippert did not push for an official kill, given that he was flying alone with no spotter to corroborate.[76] After the war, Horst Rippert became a television journalist and led theZDF sports department. He was the brother of German singerIvan Rebroff. Rippert died in 2013.
^Of further note, as described in the history of the33rd Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, a P-38 triggered anti-aircraft fire nearIstres on 31 July, a reminder that there are many possible direct or indirect causes of Saint-Exupéry's death.[76][84]
^The French and English versions of this book (Terre des hommes/Wind, Sand and Stars) differed significantly, with Saint-Exupéry removing sections from the original French version he did not consider appropriate for its targeted U.S. audience, and adding new material specifically written for that group and translated into English, which he could not speak. Although it did not appear in its earliest editions of the English translation,An Appreciation was added to later printings, contributed byAnne Morrow Lindbergh, and earlier published inThe Saturday Review of Literature on 14 October 1939.[87]
^The last paragraph ofFlying's book review ofA Sense of Life incorrectly states that Saint-Exupéry's last mission was a bombing run, when in fact it was a photo-reconnaissance assignment for the pending invasion of Southern France.
^In exchange, Lindbergh contributed "An Appreciation" to the later printings of Saint-Exupéry'sWind, Sand and Stars, earlier published inThe Saturday Review of Literature on 14 October 1939.[87]
^abMilestones, Aug. 14, 1944. Missing in Action: Count Antoine de Saint Exupéry.Time, 14 August 1944. Quote: "Saint Exupery, veteran of over 13,000 flying hours, was grounded last March by a U.S. Army Air Forces officer because of age, was later put back into his plane by a decision of Lieut. General Ira C. Eaker, flew some 15 flak-riddled missions in a P-38 before his disappearance."
^Lichfield, John. "St Exupery plane wreck found in Med."The Independent, 28 May 2000.
^ab"France Finds Crash Site of 'Little Prince' Author Saint-Exupery."Europe Intelligence Wire,Agence France-Presse, 7 April 2004. Retrieved 9 November 2011 via Gale General OneFile (subscription); Gale Document Number: GALE|A115071273.
^abcdefBeale, Nick. "Saint-Exupéry Entre mythe et réalité."Aero Journal, No. 4, 2008, pp. 78–81. More details on the web-site "Ghost Bombers" (see External links)
^"Brief Chronograph Of Publications."Archived 14 October 2008 at theWayback MachineLePetitPrince.net, 26 October 2011. Note: the earliest year of publication is given for either of the French or English versions. All of Saint-Exupéry's literary works were originally created in French (he could neither speak nor write English very well), but some of his writings were translated and published in English prior to their French publication.
^"1939 Book Awards Given by Critics: Elgin Groseclose's 'Ararat' is Picked as Work Which Failed to Get Due Recognition",The New York Times, 14 February 1940, p. 25.
^Inman, William H. "Hotelier Saint-Exupery's Princely Instincts."Institutional Investor, March 2011. Retrieved online from General OneFile: 6 November 2011 (subscription).
Severson, Marilyn S. (2004).Masterpieces of French literature. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.ISBN978-0-313-31484-1.
La Gazette des Français du ParaguayAntoine de Saint-Exupéry, Vol de nuit 1931, Vaincre l'impossible – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Vuelo nocturno 1931, Superar lo desconocido bilingue, numéro 14 année II, Assomption, Paraguay.
Webster, Paul (1994).Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: the life and death of The Little Prince. London: Macmillan.ISBN978-0333617021.
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