Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: The Little Prince and the Great Prince

He saw himself more as a pilot who wrote than as a great author and thinker. However, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry did not go down in history for his career as a pilot, but for his literary works. His true great love was probably flying, a passion he developed as a child after going on a flight.

This passion came with many enforced breaks, which perhaps encouraged his writing. In any case, he wrote his first work, 'Southern Mail / Courrier Sud', while working as a manager at a stopover airport, waiting for the next plane. He flew again, married a young widow, became an instructor, and wrote books – his life was marked by sudden changes and a series of positive developments and failures that followed one another quickly.

De Saint-Exupéry was a sensitive and deeply emotional person who, due to the circumstances of his life and his conflicting passions, was forced to reconcile great contradictions. The way he develops and unfolds his stories, which often revolve around aviation, reveals a profound insight that sees beyond the surface. He encapsulated this in the phrase: 'It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.' This saying is so well known that hardly anyone does not recognise it. It is uttered by a fox in the author's book 'The Little Prince'.

'The Little Prince' is the author's best-known work and has achieved cult status practically since its publication in 1943. Although it is a fairy tale, the story of the little visitor from outer space also appeals to adults – perhaps even primarily to them. In it, Saint-Exupéry reflects on his own life, which he sometimes felt was restrictive.

Saint-Exupéry's thoughts often revolved around love and trust, as if he were searching for an ideal he could not find. 'You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed' is another phrase uttered by the fox who wants to be tamed by the little prince. This linked to an epiphany influenced by feelings of guilt: Making something unfree forever brings with it an enormous responsibility.

Perhaps his marriage was not easy either; many interpret the story of the rose, from which the Little Prince ultimately flees, as a parable for this. 'One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance', says the little asteroid dweller, setting off on his journey from star to star, where he meets the strangest people.

When the prince meets a pilot who has crashed in the desert and is looking for water, the two form a deep albeit brief friendship. However, the prince then wants to return home to the rose and his tiny star. However, this is no longer possible, because his body has become too heavy. He asks a snake to help him and disappears. The pilot then asks all humans to help him find the little prince.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry died in mysterious circumstances in July 1944 while on a reconnaissance flight. There are several theories – some consider enemy action, while others believe it was suicide. The latter is a plausible theory, given that he was a seeker between worlds. Perhaps he believed that he had to rid himself of his body in order to finally return home, just as the Little Prince did.

'If you fight against something, whatever it may be, you must destroy yourself, for a part of that which you are fighting against is within you, no matter how small it may be' (from Saint-Exupéry's unfinished work 'The Wisdom of the Sands / Citadelle').

© 'Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: The Little Prince and the Great Prince': An article by Pressenet (translated by Izabel Comati), 05/2025. The fantasy illustration shows a little boy with fox, CC0 (Public Domain Licence).