The Little Prince: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Picador Classic, 38) - Softcover

De Saint-Exupéry, Antoine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1509811303 ISBN 13: 9781509811304

Publisher: Picador, 2015

Synopsis

With an introduction by Kate Mosse
Translated by Ros Schwartz

All grown-ups were children once (but most of them have forgotten).

A pilot who has crash landed in the desert awakes to see an extraordinary little boy. 'Please,' asks the stranger, 'will you draw me a little lamb!' Baffled by the little prince's incessant questioning, the pilot pulls out his pencil, and starts to draw. As the little prince's curiosity takes them further on their journey together, the pilot is able to piece together an understanding of the tiny planet from which the prince has come and of his incredible travels across the universe.

First published in 1943, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry has been translated into more than 250 languages, becoming a global phenomenon. Heart-breaking, funny and thought-provoking, it is an enchanting and endlessly wise fable about the human condition and the power of imagination. A book about both childhood and adulthood, it can be read as a parable, a war story, a classic children's fairy-tale, and many more things besides: The Little Prince is a book for everyone; after all, all grown-ups were children once.

'The Little Prince moves from asteroid to desert, from fable and comedy to enigmatic tragedy, in order to make one recurrent point: You can't love roses. You can only love a rose' Adam Gopnik, New Yorker

About this title

Review:

You could be excused for thinking that this book is one containing a simple story for young children about a Little Prince. How wrong you would be! This is far from the truth: it is much more. It is a complex story containing lots of ambiguities about a child with golden hair. These are all eruditely discussed before the actual story begins, in a section entitled "How It All Began". "Is The Little Prince a story written for children or is it a meditation intended for adults?"

The Art of Living is discussed, along with a system of values, and the train of thought behind them is the unifying element. You are invited to "look at the book, and allow yourself to travel from one image to the next... " It was written and published more than 50 years ago in the USA, and the author was a Frenchman who illustrated the book himself; it was later translated by Kathryn Woods. The Little Prince is still very popular and has now been translated into many languages. Shortly after it was first written, the author died--disappearing together with his plane somewhere over the Mediterranean. This Gift edition contains all the original illustrations, plus some more original drawings that came to light later and have been published here for the first time.--Susan Naylor

Review:

The Little Prince moves from asteroid to desert, from fable and comedy to enigmatic tragedy, in order to make one recurrent point: You can't love roses. You can only love a rose (Adam Gopnik New Yorker)

Ros Schwartz's translation is beautifully judged (Financial Times)

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1509811303
• ISBN 13: 9781509811304
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128