{"id":10503,"date":"2015-04-01T06:45:29","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T13:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=10503"},"modified":"2015-03-30T14:51:05","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T21:51:05","slug":"lit-matters-antoine-de-saint-exuperys-flights-of-fancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2015\/04\/01\/lit-matters-antoine-de-saint-exuperys-flights-of-fancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Lit Matters<\/em>: Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry\u2019s flights of fancy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"the-little-prince-original\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018All grownups were first children, but few of them remember it,\u2019\u2019 wrote Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry, a French novelist and pilot who is best remembered for his moving children\u2019s fable The Little Prince.<\/i><\/p>\n

Saint-Exup\u00e9ry was an aviation pioneer in the 1920s and 1930s, flying at a time when being a pilot was a rough and adventurous profession.<\/p>\n

He flew mail routes in Africa and South America and once, during a race, crashed in the Sahara desert, where he nearly died of dehydration.<\/p>\n

The high-altitude solitude and the dangers he encountered there gave Saint-Exup\u00e9ry plenty of time and fodder for musings on human nature and how to live one\u2019s life. His literary genius was in translating these experiences into profound yet often humorous and always accessible tales, as in the autobiographical Wind, Sand and Stars.<\/i><\/p>\n

When France surrendered to the Germans during WWII, Saint-Exup\u00e9ry went into exile in America.<\/p>\n

It was during this time he wrote The Little Prince.<\/i> Although ostensibly a children\u2019s book about a little boy who lives on an asteroid and travels to Earth, the deep philosophical implications of his adventures lend the story a rich complexity that\u2019s appreciable by readers of all ages.<\/p>\n

Like in many children\u2019s books, the boy encounters enchanted flowers and talking animals, but in Saint-Exup\u00e9ry\u2019s world foxes have such memorable lines as \u201cyou become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saint-Exup\u00e9ry rejoined the war and disappeared over the Mediterranean in 1944. He remains a national hero in France, and The Little Prince<\/i> is one of the best selling books of all time.<\/p>\n

Despite his storied life, Saint-Exup\u00e9ry was able to keep sight of his inner child. One of the most enduring lines from The Little Prince<\/i> rings with child-like simplicity and truth: \u201cIt is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry must-read: <\/b>
\nThe Little Prince<\/i>
\n(Lansdowne library code: PQ 2637 A274 P43713)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018\u2018All grownups were first children, but few of them remember it,\u2019\u2019 wrote Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry, a French novelist and pilot who is best remembered for his moving children\u2019s fable The Little Prince. Saint-Exup\u00e9ry was an aviation pioneer in the 1920s and 1930s, flying at a time when being a pilot was a rough and adventurous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-april-1-2015"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t