The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

However, a historically poor student, Saint-Exupéry failed the examination and studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts instead. He returned to France in 1917, and briefly attended a college prep school in Paris before attempting to enter the naval academy. Receiving his early education at Catholic schools in France, Saint-Exupéry was sent away to a boarding school in Switzerland after the outbreak of World War I. Saint-Exupéry enjoyed a mostly carefree and privileged life, and in 1912, he took his first trip in an airplane-an experience that would have a profound and lasting impression on him. His father died when he was a young boy, and his mother moved him and his four siblings to a relative’s château in the east. Early LifeĪntoine de Saint-Exupéry was born into an aristocratic family in Lyon, France, on June 29, 1900.

His adventures as a pilot would supply the inspiration for all of his literary endeavors, which culminated with the 1943 publication of the classic The Little Prince. He received his pilot’s wings during his compulsory military service in 1922, around which time he also began to write. Raised in an aristocratic family, he fell in love with aviation at an early age after took his first airplane ride at the age of 12.

In 1944, during his final reconnaissance mission in the Rhone Valley, however, his aircraft disappeared dramatically, without a trace.(1900-1944) Who Was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry?Īntoine de Saint-Exupéry was a French writer, aviator, poet and author. Following the publication of The Little Prince in 1943, Saint-Exupéry decided to return to war to fight with the Allies. However, after the Fall of France, Saint-Exupéry and his wife Consuelo Suncin fled to New York, where he would eventually write and illustrate The Little Prince. Saint-Exupéry continued to fly, joining the French Air Force upon the beginning of World War II. During his years as a pilot, Saint-Exupéry began writing, and several years later, with the publication of his novel Vol de nuit (Night Flight), he was established as a rising star in the literary world. After failing his final exams at the preparatory Naval Academy, Saint-Exupéry enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts as an auditor to study architecture for 15 months, before dropping out again to take odd jobs and eventually to become an aviator. Born into an aristocratic family, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was the third of five children and one of two sons in the family.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry