Around the world reading challenge – book 5: Le Petit Prince

le petit princeLe Petit Prince, was written and first published in 1943 in the US in English and in French. The author, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was living in the US in exile from France at the time, after the armistice between France and Germany during World War II.

I read Le Petit Prince in French for the first time about 16 years ago while we were living in France. I could not remember details, but I just remember that I liked it. This was just prior to the birth of my son. My son is reading this book in his French class in high school this week and will likely write a very thoughtful essay in French on the topic. One of his homework questions was, “What does the box represent?” Meanwhile I’ll just tell you about a few of my favourite parts. I read it in French the second time and liked it the second time too.

My French was a little rusty and I was constantly looking up words. One word that surprised me was “crépuscule”. What  do you suppose that could mean? Something crusty, crispy maybe, something bodily like a component of blood or some skin affliction? But actually, it means twilight. My kids who are in French Immersion did not know this one, but my daughter did recognize it when she heard it at the Remembrance Day assembly last week. It is in the French translation of Sunset Boulevard, Boulevard du Crépuscule and there is a group of circus performers in Quebec, Flip FabriQue who recently put on a show called Crépuscule.

I love the beginning of the book where the pilot describes the only two drawings that he had done up until meeting the prince. When the pilot was six years old he drew a boa constrictor who had just eaten an elephant – drawing #1 and the same image, but from the inside – drawing #2.drawing 1 and 2

He was advised to study grammar and geography and arithmetic instead. He had kept the drawings and used them as an experiment or test in later years to identify another adult who could see in the same way. He had hopes of identifying someone who he could become a friend. No adult had ever passed the test. When he met the prince who asked him for a drawing of a sheep, the prince immediately knew what the drawings were. After a few attempts at sheep that were rejected, this is when the drawing of the box comes up in the story.

boxAlthough this drawing of the box is done out of exasperation, one of the things it means for me is a trust in the viewer to fill the box with the perfect sheep, which the prince does, to the pilot’s surprise. I sometimes wonder if I am just sharing some awkward sheep drawings, (I’m sure some of my work fits into that category,) but to my surprise, my writing has been well received and I am grateful for the kind words that have come my way. Thank you for the encouragement! It is surprising to know that after you let something go, that it could in some mysterious way connect or fill something somewhere in someone somehow, or maybe not… but maybe yes, and it has sometimes happened!

So much is conveyed through images and short dialogs between this extraterrestrial little prince and those he meets. Adults are exposed as the strange, joyless and unattractive idiots we can become when we are isolated and self-absorbed as if on some tiny planet of our own. The little prince meets these lone adults that are seated or standing or repeating the same movement in one spot and living an unchanging script, like a poster adult for the “Sitting is the new smoking.” That’s just my view from asteroid of the yoga teacher. Here, you can see these characters and get a brief overview of the story.

Really you just need to read or re-read this book. Read it in English, or French or one of the 250 languages and dialects that it has been translated into, (German, Spanish, Swahili, Turkish just to name a few). It says so much, so well in a short illustrated novella that is entertaining to both children and adults. I just noticed that Le Petit Prince was recently made into an animated film that was released in France last summer and this winter Theatre Calgary’s production of The Little Prince – The Musical will be premiering in January 2016. It will probably be very easy to find a copy in the library or in the bookstore or here in English (the full text is shown if you click on each chapter summary) or here in French.

Lastly, one of my favourite reminders from the fox, who points out that adults often forget, that to see what is most important we need to see with our hearts. I’m keeping this book. It definitely sparks joy.

fox

Images from the Le Petit Prince produced by www.ebooksgratuits.com

June Written by:

5 Comments

  1. Avatar
    Cindy Scott
    November 21, 2015
    Reply

    I took an ‘English Lit for Children’ in college. My favorite course! This one I missed, now I want to read it desperately. I am the only person I know that browses extensively thru the children’s section of bookstores and libraries. Except, now , I bet you browse that area too June.
    Thank you for this great blog!!

    • June
      June
      November 21, 2015
      Reply

      Thanks for reading Cindy, and for your comments. There are many children’s books I only discovered as an adult. There are some gems in this section for sure.

  2. Avatar
    Emaline Karam
    July 11, 2020
    Reply

    I love this book which I did not read until I was well into my late twenties. Since then I I I have kept it sequestered in my home–in both French and English for years. The book made me feel much less lost as an adult who swimming in an upper middle class culture where material items are/were worshipped with impunity and where so many people are empty shells. Since then I have given it to every friend who has had a baby: to read at any age in any language and especially if your compass has been tread upon buy an unkind world,
    It upset me when I found a number of years past that the book had been re-translated into English and that the newer addition had somehow lost some of its magical beauty. I have held on to my original and return to it—not often enough.
    Thank you for reminding me!

    • June
      June
      July 11, 2020
      Reply

      Thanks for reading, Emaline! Yes, it’s a book that you can go back to. I just watched an animated adaptation on Netflix the other day.

  3. Avatar
    Emaline Karam
    March 26, 2021
    Reply

    I prefer the translation of the older addition to that of the latest one. The newer translation seems to have lost some to the magic in favor of “getting the story out there quickly” this is by the means the main idea of the Little Prince and my opinion is that is makes the book very much less magical. I turns it into a techy version which is concise and restrictive. The original has involves nuances, and such that make it truly magical. A techy must have done the new translation. I will stick with the older more romantic and compelling version.

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