Where did Saint Exupery live? Awards and prizes

1. Biography of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

2. Major works of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

3. “The Little Prince” - characteristics and analysis of the work.

4. "Planet of People" - characteristics and analysis of the work

1. Biography of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born in the French city of Lyon, descended from an old family of Périgord nobles, and was the third of five children of Viscount Jean de Saint-Exupéry and his wife Marie de Fontcolombes. At the age of four he lost his father. His mother raised little Antoine.

In 1912, at the aviation field in Amberier, Saint-Exupéry took off for the first time in an airplane. Exupery entered the School of the Christian Brothers of St. Bartholomew in Lyon (1908), then with his brother François he studied at the Jesuit College of Sainte-Croix in Manse - until 1914, after which they continued their studies in Friborg (Switzerland) at the Marist College, preparing to enter the Ecole Naval (he took a preparatory course at the Naval Lyceum Saint-Louis in Paris), but did not pass the competition. In 1919, he enrolled as a volunteer student at the Academy of Fine Arts in the architecture department.

The turning point in his fate was 1921 - then he was drafted into the army in France. Having interrupted the deferment he received upon entering higher education educational institution, Antoine enlisted in the 2nd Fighter Regiment in Strasbourg. At first he is assigned to a work team at repair shops, but soon he manages to pass the exam to become a civilian pilot. He is transferred to Morocco, where he receives a military pilot's license, and then sent to Istres for improvement. In 1922, Antoine completed the course for reserve officers in Aurora and became a junior lieutenant. In October he was assigned to the 34th Aviation Regiment at Bourges near Paris. In January 1923, he suffered his first plane crash and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He will be discharged in March. Exupery moved to Paris, where he devoted himself to writing. However, at first he was not successful in this field and was forced to take on any job: he sold cars, he was a salesman in a bookstore.

Only in 1926 did Exupery find his calling - he became a pilot for the Aeropostal company, which delivered mail to the northern coast of Africa. In the spring, he begins work transporting mail on the line Toulouse - Casablanca, then Casablanca - Dakar. On October 19, 1926, he was appointed head of the Cap Jubi intermediate station (city of Villa Bens), on the very edge of the Sahara. Here he writes his first work - “Southern Postal”.

In March 1929, Saint-Exupery returned to France, where he entered the highest aviation courses of the naval fleet in Brest. Soon, Gallimard's publishing house published the novel "Southern Postal", and Exupery left for South America as the technical director of Aeropost - Argentina, a branch of the Aeropostal company. In 1930, Saint-Exupéry was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor for his contribution to the development of civil aviation. In June, he personally participated in the search for his friend the pilot Guillaume, who suffered an accident while flying over the Andes. In the same year, Saint-Exupéry wrote “Night Flight” and met his future wife Consuelo from El Salvador.

In 1930, Saint-Exupéry returned to France and received a three-month vacation. In April, he married Consuelo Sunsin, but the couple, as a rule, lived separately. On March 13, 1931, the Aeropostal company was declared bankrupt. Saint-Exupéry returned to work as a pilot for the France-South America postal line and served the Casablanca-Port-Etienne-Dakar section. In October 1931, Night Flight was published, and the writer was awarded the Femina literary prize. He takes leave again and moves to Paris.

In February 1932, Exupery again began working for the Latecoera airline and flew as a co-pilot on a seaplane serving the Marseille-Algeria line. Didier Dora, a former Aeropostal pilot, soon got him a job as a test pilot, and Saint-Exupéry almost died while testing a new seaplane in the Bay of Saint-Raphael. The seaplane capsized, and he barely managed to get out of the cabin of the sinking car.

In 1934, Exupery went to work for the Air France airline (formerly Aeropostal), as a representative of the company, traveling to Africa, Indochina and other countries.

In April 1935, as a correspondent for the Paris-Soir newspaper, Saint-Exupéry visited the USSR and described this visit in five essays. The essay “Crime and Punishment in the Face of Soviet Justice” became one of the first works of Western writers in which an attempt was made to comprehend Stalinism. On May 3, 1935, he met with M. A. Bulgakov, which was recorded in E. S. Bulgakov’s diary. Soon Saint-Exupéry became the owner of his own Simun aircraft and on December 29, 1935, he attempted to set a record for the flight Paris - Saigon, but crashes in the Libyan Desert, again narrowly escaping death. On January 1, he and the mechanic Prevost, dying of thirst, were rescued by Bedouins.

In August 1936, according to an agreement with the newspaper Entransijan, he went to Spain, where he Civil War, and publishes a number of reports in the newspaper.

In January 1938, Exupery traveled aboard the Ile de France to New York. Here he proceeds to work on the book “Planet of People”. On February 15, he begins the flight from New York to Tierra del Fuego, but suffers a serious accident in Guatemala, after which he recovers for a long time, first in New York and then in France.

On September 4, 1939, the day after France declared war on Germany, Saint-Exupéry arrived at the place of mobilization at the Toulouse-Montaudran military airfield and on November 3 was transferred to an air unit long-range reconnaissance 2/33, which is based in Orconte (Champagne province). This was his response to his friends’ persuasion to abandon the risky career of a military pilot. Many tried to convince Saint-Exupéry that he would bring much more benefit to the country as a writer and journalist, that thousands of pilots could be trained and that he should not risk his life. But Saint-Exupery achieved appointment to a combat unit.

Saint-Exupery made several combat missions in a Block 174 aircraft, performing aerial photographic reconnaissance missions, and was nominated for the Military Cross award. In June 1941, after the defeat of France, he moved to his sister in the unoccupied part of the country, and later went to the United States. Lived in New York, where, among other things, he wrote his most famous book"The Little Prince" (1942, published 1943).

On July 31, 1944, Saint-Exupery set off from Borgo airfield on the island of Corsica on a reconnaissance flight and did not return.

His short life was not easy: at the age of four he lost his father, who belonged to the dynasty of counts, and his mother took upon himself all the upbringing. Over the course of his entire pilot career, he suffered 15 accidents and was seriously injured several times, coming close to death. However, despite all this, Exupery was able to leave his mark on history not only as an excellent pilot, but also as a writer who gave the world, for example, “The Little Prince.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born in the French city of Lyon to Count Jean-Marc Saint-Exupéry, who was an insurance inspector, and his wife Marie Bois de Fontcolombes. The family came from an old family of Perigord nobles.

First, the future writer studied in Mansa, at the Jesuit College of Sainte-Croix. After that - in Sweden in Friburg in a Catholic boarding school. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in the department of architecture. In October 1919, he enrolled as a student at the National Higher School of Fine Arts in the department of architecture.

The turning point in his fate was 1921 - then he was drafted into the army in France. At first he is assigned to a work team at repair shops, but soon he manages to pass the exam to become a civilian pilot.

In January 1923, he suffered his first plane crash and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Afterwards, Exupery moved to Paris, where he devoted himself to writing. However, at first he was not successful in this field and was forced to take on any job: he sold cars, he was a salesman in a bookstore.

Only in 1926 did Exupery find his calling - he became a pilot for the Aeropostal company, which delivered mail to the northern coast of Africa.

On October 19, 1926, he was appointed head of the Cap Jubi intermediate station, on the very edge of the Sahara. Here he writes his first work - “Southern Postal”. In March 1929, Saint-Exupery returned to France, where he entered the highest aviation courses of the naval fleet in Brest. Soon, Gallimard's publishing house published the novel "South Postal", and Exupery left for South America.

In 1930, Saint-Exupéry was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor for his contribution to the development of civil aviation. In the same year, Saint-Exupéry wrote “Night Flight” and met his future wife Consuelo from El Salvador.

In the spring of 1935, Antoine became a correspondent for the Paris-Soir newspaper. He was sent on a business trip to the USSR. After the trip, Antoine wrote and published an essay “Crime and Punishment in the Face of Soviet Justice.” This work became the first Western publication in which the author attempted to comprehend and understand Stalin's strict regime.

Soon, Saint-Exupéry became the owner of his own aircraft, the S. 630 “Simun”, and on December 29, 1935, he attempted to set a record on the Paris-Saigon flight, but suffered an accident in the Libyan desert, barely escaping death.

In January 1938, Exupery went to New York. Here he proceeds to work on the book “Planet of People”. On February 15, he begins the flight from New York to Tierra del Fuego, but suffers a serious accident in Guatemala, after which he recovers for a long time, first in New York and then in France.

During World War II, Saint-Exupery made several combat missions in a Block 174 aircraft, performing aerial photographic reconnaissance missions, and was nominated for the Military Cross award. In June 1941, after the defeat of France, he moved to his sister in the unoccupied part of the country, and later went to the United States. He lived in New York, where, among other things, he wrote his most famous book, The Little Prince.

On July 31, 1944, Saint-Exupery set off from Borgo airfield on the island of Corsica on a reconnaissance flight and did not return. For a long time nothing was known about his death, and they thought that he crashed in the Alps. And only in 1998, in the sea near Marseille, a fisherman discovered a bracelet.

In May 2000, diver Luc Vanrel said that at a depth of 70 meters he discovered the wreckage of an airplane that may have belonged to Saint-Exupéry. The remains of the plane were scattered over a strip one kilometer long and 400 meters wide.

In 2008, German Luftwaffe veteran 86-year-old Horst Rippert said that it was he who shot down Antoine de Saint-Exupery in his Messerschmitt Me-109 fighter. According to Rippert, he confessed in order to clear Saint-Exupéry's name from accusations of desertion or suicide. According to him, he would not have fired if he had known who was at the controls of the enemy plane. However, pilots who served with Rippert express doubt about the veracity of his words.

The French Air and Space Museum is the oldest aviation museum in the world

Now the raised wreckage of Exupery's plane is in the Aviation and Space Museum in Le Bourget.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is familiar to the whole world, mainly thanks to his philosophical work “The Little Prince”. But what kind of person was Exupery? The biography of this writer-pilot is very little known to many, despite the fact that his fate is full of interesting twists and turns. There was dramatic love, great friendship, and adventures, many of which were reflected in his books.

The de Saint-Exupéry family

The biography of the future writer begins in the French city of Lyon, where he was born on June 29, 1900. He was the third child of Comte de Saint-Exupéry and his wife. In just 4 years of marriage, the couple managed to acquire two daughters, Marie-Madeleine and Simone, and a son. Soon after Antoine his brother Francois was born, and two years later - younger sister Gabriel de Saint-Exupéry.

The biography of the future writer soon became darker. Immediately after birth youngest daughter Jean de Saint-Exupéry, whom George Sand herself dubbed a real French chevalier, died, leaving his wife alone with five children and without a livelihood.

Antoine Exupery: short biography. Childhood

After the death of their father and husband, the family settles with Aunt Marie in Lyon on Place Bellecour, but often the children visit their grandmother’s castle, where Queen Margot herself once visited.

Despite the poverty, the family is very friendly, and all the children get along well with each other. Of course, Antoine is attached to his sisters, however real friendship he is associated with younger brother Francois. She adores her little son and his mother; she calls him the Sun King for his blond curls, upturned nose and easy-going character, which remained with Exupery throughout his life.

His biography is full of memories from his contemporaries and family that the boy grew up very cheerful and inquisitive, adored animals, and also loved to tinker with engines; perhaps this is where his love for aviation came from, which would develop much later.

Education

At the age of 8, Antoine entered a Christian school in Lyon, and then he and his brother continued their education at the Jesuit college in Montreux. The next stage is college in Switzerland, where the boy entered at the age of 14. Having received a bachelor's degree three years later, the young man plans to enter the Naval Lyceum in Paris, even attends preparatory courses, but does not pass the competition.

When Antoine turns 17, his brother François unexpectedly dies of articular rheumatism. The young man has a hard time experiencing the loss of someone close to him; he withdraws into himself.

After failing the exams for the military lyceum, Saint-Exupéry was forced to content himself with attending lectures on architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts.

Getting to know the sky. Pilot

Exupery, whose biography is inextricably linked with the sky, dreamed of it since childhood. The first flight happened in his life when he was only 12 years old. The famous pilot Gabriel Wroblewski, despite the prohibitions of Antoine's mother, took him with him to the aviation field in Amberier. This short flight impressed the boy so much that it left a mark on his entire life.

However, the next chance to get closer to heaven presented itself only at the age of 21, when he joined the army and became a soldier of Exupery. From this moment on, his biography is full of flights. He first enlisted in an aviation regiment in Strasbourg, where he was assigned as a non-flying soldier in a repair shop. However, the sky beckoned him, and de Saint-Exupéry decided to take the civil pilot exam. In parallel with his service, he learns to fly, and at the end of the year he is transferred to Casablanca, where he takes an exam and receives the rank of officer.

During this period, he writes in his diaries that he experiences an irresistible desire to fly. Soon after gaining the opportunity to be a civilian pilot, he also received the right to fly a military aircraft, and then, having received the rank of junior lieutenant in the reserve, he was transferred to serve in an aviation regiment near Paris.

In 23, Exupery had his first accident, received severe injuries and temporarily gave up aviation. He works in a tile factory, selling trucks, until fate finally gives him the chance to realize the young man's second passion and talent - writing.

First attempts at writing

Antoine began writing quite early and was immediately successful - his first work, the fairy tale “The Odyssey of a Cylinder,” which he wrote in college in 1914, received first prize at a literary competition.

However, the door to serious literature will open for him much later. In 1925, Antoine, at the invitation of his cousin, comes to her salon, where he meets writers and publishers. They are literally fascinated by the young man and his works and offer to publish his stories. And already in April of the following year, his story “The Pilot” was published in the magazine “Silver Ship”.

Return to the sky

His first public success brings Exupery together with the wealthy businessman de Massima, who introduces him to the management of the Aeropostal airline. At first, Exupery works only as a mechanic, and then as a pilot of a mail plane. Moreover, he began to fly not just anywhere, but to Africa. He soon becomes the head of a small airport in the city of Cap Jubi in the heart of the Sahara Desert. To the surprised questions of his relatives about his fate and career as a writer, he always answered that in order to write, you first need to live. And his life here is amazing. In addition to his main work, Saint-Ex, as his friends decided to call him, uses all his diplomatic talents and either reconciles warring African tribes, pacifies the warlike Moors, or rescues them from captivity castaways pilots, or even tames a wild fox.

This work and travel to new amazing places did not change the character of Exupery. His big, kind heart was ready to give everything to people. He spent money and time helping his friends and family, helping solve their problems and believed that hatred can only be overcome by love. Thanks to this work, Antoine makes his closest friends - Jean Mermoz and Henri Guillaumet. Together they will make a significant contribution to the development of aviation not only in Europe, but also in Africa and even South America.

New points on the map

After Africa, Exupéry briefly returns to France, where he begins to collaborate with book publishers and also improves his piloting skills. And soon a new assignment - a branch of the Aeropostal airline in South America, in Buenos Aires. Regular night flights over Casablanca - here main job performed by Antoine Exupery.

A brief biography of the further period of his life is marked by the financial collapse of his native airline in 31, after which Exupery leaves it. Subsequently, he works on the postal lines connecting Dakar, Marseille and Algeria, tests new seaplanes and again gets into a serious accident. He miraculously survives, and divers have difficulty finding him. And his next accident happened soon in Saigon, in the Mekong Valley.

In 1933, Exupéry joined the Paris-Soir newspaper, where he became a correspondent. Among other countries, he visits the USSR, where he meets Bulgakov. Exupery's essays on the Soviet Union are a great success among readers. Soon he organizes a large air tour over the Mediterranean Sea to promote aviation.

Crash of plans

Being not only a pilot, but also an inventor, he borrowed money, bought a plane and participated in the development of a project for a high-speed flight from Paris to Saigon. He is in a hurry, because in order to receive money for the task, he must complete it by December 31st. On the night of December 30, Exupery, together with his mechanic, crashed in the Libyan desert, miraculously did not die and tried to survive for several more days without food and water. They are rescued by nomadic Bedouins.

The last serious accident occurs on a flight from New York to Tierra del Fuego. For several days after the accident, the pilot was in a coma, he had serious head injuries and other injuries, so he could no longer put on a parachute independently due to a shoulder injury. The short biography of de Saint-Exupéry is literally full of such accidents.

Literary success

While still working in the hot desert of Cap Jubi, Antoine writes his first major work at night, the book “Southern Postal”. In 29, returning to France, Exupery signed an agreement with the publishing house of Gaston Gallimard for the release of seven of his novels. The second work is “Night Flight” written in Argentina. In 1931, Exupery received the prestigious Femina Prize for this novel, and a year later, American filmmakers made a full-length film based on it.

The adventures and travels that befell Exupery were always reflected in his works. Thus, an accident in the Libyan desert and subsequent wanderings through it formed the basis of the novel “Land of Men.” The work was also influenced by the trip to the USSR made by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

The biography is short, but full of experiences, and is included in the novel “Military Pilot”. It is inspired by the Second World War. Taking direct part in it and doing everything in his power, Exupery puts all his confusion, all his mental anguish into the book. In the USA it has great success, and in its native France it is prohibited by censorship. On the wave of popularity, an order for a children's fairy tale comes from America. In the course of his work, the writer creates his most famous work - “The Little Prince” with the author’s illustrations.

Personal life

Exupery, whose (short) biography would not have been revealed without personal relationships, truly loved only two women. Despite his fine spiritual organization and, undoubtedly, lyrical character, Antoine was not too lucky with girls. At the age of 18, he first met the one he fell in love with. Her name was Louise, and she was the sister of his comrade. Louise came from a noble, wealthy family and had a very quarrelsome and capricious character. Antoine, having fallen madly in love with her, proposed, but did not receive a definite answer. Some time later, when the young man was in the hospital with his first injury, he learned of the final break in the engagement. It was swipe for him. And Louise only considered him a loser; even the literary success that Antoine de Exupery received did not change her opinion.

The biography of the tall, stately, handsome and charming French pilot, however, could not do without the attention of women, but he himself, having once experienced disappointment, was in no hurry to start affairs. At the same time, he was also worried that he was wasting his youth and life. In letters to his mother, he complained that he could not meet a woman who could calm his anxiety.

However, Antoine Exupery soon met such a woman. His biography at that time continues in Buenos Aires, where the writer meets Consuelo Carrilo. It is not known exactly how they met, but it must be assumed that they were introduced by a mutual friend, writer Benjamin Crepier. Consuelo was the widow of the writer Gomez Carrilo and had a rather complex character. The short, dark, not very beautiful woman was nevertheless the center of attention. She carried herself proudly and arrogantly, like a queen, she was well educated, well-read and intelligent. She brought confusion into Exupery's life, pestering him with violent scandals and hysterics, but it seemed that this was all he lacked.

The difficult love of a writer

The memoirs of Ksenia Kuprina, the daughter of the Russian writer A. Kuprin, are interesting. She met Consuelo in Paris and was fascinated by her intelligence and grace. One day, an Argentinean woman called Ksenia in the middle of the night and begged her to come. She told a 19-year-old girl a story about how she met an amazing man whom she fell incredibly in love with. But they are not destined to be together, since he was shot by the revolutionaries right before her eyes. Shocked Kuprina took Consuelo to her Vacation home and for several days she consoled her friend, literally pulled her out of the lake, in which she wanted to drown herself with obsessive persistence.

Imagine Kuprina’s indignation when it turned out that the shot lover was Exupery, alive and unharmed. Consuelo was so angry with him and wanted to break up that she made up the idea that he was dead and made those around her believe it.

They got married just a few months after they met, but pretty soon their life together ceased to be joyful and happy. Consuelo literally went crazy, torturing her husband with her antics. She either started a fight and threw dishes in front of guests, or went to bars until the morning and told vile, lying stories about her husband. However, he endured everything with a smile and calmness. Perhaps only he knew what she really was like, and saw the other side of her intolerable character. Be that as it may, this love was as devoted and passionate as the first day they met.

World War II period

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, whose biography dates back to the war years, ended up in Nazi Germany at 37. He was unpleasantly surprised by what Nazism did to people. When England and France declare war on Germany, Exupery is assigned to serve on the ground for health reasons, but he connected all his connections and was assigned to an aviation reconnaissance group.

After living and working in the USA in 1944, Exupery returned to his homeland again, but was not allowed to engage in intelligence activities, as he was already in the reserves. And again we have to connect connections. Despite serious health problems, he is allowed to make 5 more flights to obtain images of the area. On July 31, a plane piloted by Antoine Saint-Exupéry took off on a mission. The writer’s biography ends at this moment, since the plane did not return at the appointed time. Only 60 years later, in 2004, the remains of the kindest writer on the planet were raised and identified from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

en.wikipedia.org

Biography

Childhood, adolescence, youth

Antoine de Saint-Exupery was born in the French city of Lyon, came from an old provincial noble family, and was the third of five children of Viscount Jean de Saint-Exupery and his wife Marie de Fontcolombes. At the age of four he lost his father. His mother raised little Antoine.

In 1912, at the aviation field in Amberier, Saint-Exupéry took off for the first time in an airplane. The car was piloted by the famous pilot Gabriel Wroblewski.

Exupery entered the School of Christian Brothers of St. Bartholomew in Lyon (1908), then with his brother Francois he studied at the Jesuit College of Sainte-Croix in Manse - until 1914, after which they continued their studies in Friborg (Switzerland) at the Marist College, preparing to enter the Ecole Naval (he took a preparatory course at the Naval Lyceum of Saint-Louis in Paris), but did not pass the competition. In 1919, he enrolled as a volunteer student at the Academy of Fine Arts in the architecture department.

Pilot and writer

The turning point in his fate was 1921 - then he was drafted into the French army. Having interrupted the deferment he received upon entering a higher educational institution, Antoine enrolled in the 2nd Fighter Aviation Regiment in Strasbourg. At first he is assigned to a work team at repair shops, but soon he manages to pass the exam to become a civilian pilot. He is transferred to Morocco, where he receives a military pilot's license, and then sent to Istres for improvement. In 1922, Antoine completed the course for reserve officers in Aurora and became a junior lieutenant. In October he was assigned to the 34th Aviation Regiment at Bourges near Paris. In January 1923, he suffered his first plane crash and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He will be discharged in March. Exupery moved to Paris, where he devoted himself to writing. However, at first he was not successful in this field and was forced to take on any job: he sold cars, he was a salesman in a bookstore.

Here he writes his first work - “Southern Postal”.

In March 1929, Saint-Exupery returned to France, where he entered the highest aviation courses of the naval fleet in Brest. Soon, Gallimard's publishing house published the novel "Southern Postal", and Exupery left for South America as the technical director of Aeropost - Argentina, a branch of the Aeropostal company. In 1930, Saint-Exupéry was awarded the Knights Order of the Legion of Honor for his contribution to the development of civil aviation. In June, he personally participated in the search for his friend the pilot Guillaume, who suffered an accident while flying over the Andes. In the same year, Saint-Exupery wrote “Night Flight” and met his future wife Consuelo.

Pilot and correspondent

In 1931, Saint-Exupéry returned to France and received a three-month vacation. In April, he married Consuelo Sunsin, but the couple, as a rule, lived separately. On March 13, 1931, the Aeropostal company was declared bankrupt. Saint-Exupéry returned to work as a pilot for the France-South America postal line and served the Casablanca-Port-Etienne-Dakar section. In October 1931, Night Flight was published, and the writer was awarded the Femina literary prize. He takes leave again and moves to Paris.

In 1934, Exupery went to work for the Air France airline (formerly Aeropostal), as a representative of the company, traveling to Africa, Indochina and other countries.

Soon, Saint-Exupéry became the owner of his own aircraft, the C.630 Simun, and on December 29, 1935, he attempted to set a record on the Paris-Saigon flight, but suffered an accident in the Libyan desert, again barely escaping death. On January 1, he and the mechanic Prevost, dying of thirst, were rescued by Bedouins.

In August 1936, according to an agreement with the newspaper Entransijan, he went to Spain, where there was a civil war, and published a number of reports in the newspaper.

War

On September 4, 1939, the day after France declared war on Germany, Saint-Exupéry was mobilized at the Toulouse-Montaudran military airfield and on November 3 transferred to the 2/33 long-range reconnaissance air unit, which is based in Orconte (Champagne province). This was his response to his friends’ persuasion to abandon the risky career of a military pilot. Many tried to convince Exupery that he would bring much more benefit to the country as a writer and journalist, that thousands of pilots could be trained and that he should not risk his life. But Saint-Exupery achieved appointment to a combat unit. In one of his letters in November 1939, he writes: “I am obliged to participate in this war. Everything I love is at risk. In Provence, when the forest is on fire, everyone who is not a bastard grabs buckets and shovels. I want to fight, love and my inner religion force me to do this. I can't stay away."

Saint-Exupéry made several combat missions on a Block-174 aircraft, performing aerial photographic reconnaissance missions, and was nominated for the Croix de Guerre award. In June 1941, after the defeat of France, he moved to his sister in the unoccupied part of the country, and later went to the United States. He lived in New York, where, among other things, he wrote his most famous book, “The Little Prince” (1942, published 1943). In 1943, he returned to the French Air Force and with great difficulty achieved his enrollment in a combat unit. He had to master piloting the new high-speed Lightning P-38 aircraft.

“I have a funny craft for my age. The next one in age is six years younger than me. But, of course, I prefer my current life - breakfast at six in the morning, a dining room, a tent or a whitewashed room, flying at an altitude of ten thousand meters in a world forbidden to humans - to unbearable Algerian idleness... ... I chose work for maximum wear and tear and, because necessary I always push myself to the end, I won’t back down anymore. I just wish this vile war would end before I fade away like a candle in a stream of oxygen. I have something to do after it” (from a letter to Jean Pelissier, July 9-10, 1944).

On July 31, 1944, Saint-Exupery set off from Borgo airfield on the island of Corsica on a reconnaissance flight and did not return.

Circumstances of death

For a long time nothing was known about his death. And only in 1998, in the sea near Marseille, a fisherman discovered a bracelet.

There were several inscriptions on it: “Antoine”, “Consuelo” (that was the name of the pilot’s wife) and “c/o Reynal & Hitchcock, 386 4th Ave. NYC USA." This was the address of the publishing house where Saint-Exupery's books were published. In May 2000, diver Luc Vanrel said that at a depth of 70 meters he discovered the wreckage of an airplane that may have belonged to Saint-Exupéry. The remains of the plane were scattered over a strip one kilometer long and 400 meters wide. Almost immediately, the French government banned any searches in the area. Permission was received only in the fall of 2003. Experts recovered fragments of the plane. One of them turned out to be part of the pilot's cabin; the serial number of the aircraft was preserved: 2734-L. Using American military archives, scientists compared all the numbers of aircraft that disappeared during this period. Thus, it turned out that the onboard serial number 2734-L corresponds to the aircraft, which in the US Air Force was listed under the number 42-68223, that is, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning aircraft, a modification of the F-4 (long-range photo reconnaissance aircraft), which was flown by Exupery.

Luftwaffe logs contain no records of aircraft shot down in this area on July 31, 1944, and the wreckage itself does not show obvious signs of shelling. This gave rise to many versions of the crash, including versions of a technical malfunction and suicide of the pilot.

According to press publications from March 2008, German Luftwaffe veteran 88-year-old Horst Rippert said that it was he who shot down Antoine Saint-Exupery's plane. According to his statements, he did not know who was at the controls of the enemy aircraft:
I didn’t see the pilot, only later did I find out that it was Saint-Exupéry

These data were obtained on the same days from radio interceptions of negotiations at French airfields carried out by German troops.

Bibliography

Major works

*Courrier Sud. Editions Gallimard, 1929. English: Southern Mail. Southern Postal. (Option: “Mail - to the South”). Novel. Translations into Russian: Baranovich M. (1960), Isaeva T. (1963), Kuzmin D. (2000)
*Vol de nuit. Roman. Gallimard, 1931. Preface d'Andre Gide. English: Night Flight. Night flight. Novel. Awards: December 1931, Femina Prize. Translations into Russian: Waxmacher M. (1962)
*Terre des hommes. Roman. Editions Gallimard, Paris, 1938. English: Wind, Sand, and Stars. Planet of people. (Option: Land of People.) Novel. Awards: 1939 Big bonus French Academy (05/25/1939). 1940 Nation Book award USA. Translations into Russian: Velle G. “Land of People” (1957), Nora Gal “Planet of People” (1963)
* Pilote de guerre. Recit. Editions Gallimard, 1942. English: Flight to Arras. Reynal&Hitchcock, New York, 1942. Military pilot. Tale. Translations into Russian: Teterevnikova A. (1963)
* Lettre a un otage. Essai. Editions Gallimard, 1943. English: Letter to a Hostage. Letter to a hostage. Essay. Translations into Russian: Baranovich M. (1960), Grachev R. (1963), Nora Gal (1972)
* The Little Prince (French Le petit prince, English The little prince) (1943). Translation by Nora Gal (1958)
* Citadel. Editions Gallimard, 1948. English: The Wisdom of the Sands. Citadel. Translations into Russian: Kozhevnikova M. (1996)

Post-war editions

* Lettres de jeunesse. Editions Gallimard, 1953. Preface de Renee de Saussine. Letters from Youth.
*Carnets. Editions Gallimard, 1953. Notebooks.
* Lets say it all. Editions Gallimard, 1954. Prologue de Madame de Saint-Exupery. Letters to mother.
*Un sens a la vie. Editions 1956. Textes inedits recueillis et presentes par Claude Reynal. Give life meaning. Unpublished texts collected by Claude Raynal.
* Ecrits de guerre. Preface de Raymond Aron. Editions Gallimard, 1982. War notes. 1939-1944
* Memories of some books. Essay. Translations into Russian: Baevskaya E. V.

Small jobs

* Who are you, soldier? Translations into Russian: Ginzburg Yu. A.
* Pilot (first story, published on April 1, 1926 in the Silver Ship magazine).
* Morality of necessity. Translations into Russian: Tsyvyan L. M.
* We must give meaning to human life. Translations into Russian: Ginzburg Yu. A.
* Appeal to Americans. Translations into Russian: Tsyvyan L. M.
* Pan-Germanism and its propaganda. Translations into Russian: Tsyvyan L. M.
* Pilot and the elements. Translations into Russian: Grachev R.
* Message to the American. Translations into Russian: Tsyvyan L. M.
* A message to young Americans. Translations into Russian: Baevskaya E. V.
* Foreword to Anne Morrow-Lindbergh's The Wind Rises. Translations into Russian: Ginzburg Yu. A.
* Preface to the issue of Document magazine dedicated to test pilots. Translations into Russian: Ginzburg Yu. A.
* Crime and Punishment. Article. Translations into Russian: Kuzmin D.
* In the middle of the night, enemy voices echo from the trenches. Translations into Russian: Ginzburg Yu. A.
* Citadel themes. Translations into Russian: Baevskaya E. V.
* France first. Translations into Russian: Baevskaya E. V.

Letters

* Letters from René de Saussin (1923-1930)
* Letters to mother:
* Letters to his wife, Consuelo:
* Letters from Kh. (Mrs. N): [text]
* Letters to Leon Werth
* Letters to Lewis Galantier
* Letters from J. Pelissier.
* Letters to General Shambu
* Letters to Yvonne de Letrange
* Letters to Mrs. Francois de Rose Translations into Russian: Tsyvyan L. M.
* Letters to Pierre Dalloz

Miscellaneous

* Entry in the Squadron Book of Honor 1940
* Entry in the Book of Honor of air group 2/33 1942
* Letter to one of the opponents 1942
* Letter to an unknown correspondent 1944, June 6
* Telegram to Curtis Hitchcock 1944, July 15
* A bet between Saint-Ex and his friend Colonel Max Jelly.

Literary awards

* 1930 - Femina Prize - for the novel “Night Flight”;
* 1939 - Grand Prix du Roman French Academy- “Wind, sand and stars”;
* 1939 - US National Book Award - “Wind, Sand and Stars.”

Military awards

* In 1939 he was awarded the Military Cross of the French Republic.

Names in honor

* Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport;
* Asteroid 2578 Saint-Exupery, discovered by astronomer Tatyana Smirnova (discovered on November 2, 1975 under the number “B612”);
* Mountain peak in Patagonia Aguja Saint Exupery
* In 2003, the moon of the asteroid “45 Eugenia” was named after the Little Prince.

Interesting Facts

* During his entire piloting career, Saint-Exupéry suffered 15 accidents.
* During a business trip to the USSR, he flew on board the ANT-20 Maxim Gorky aircraft.
* Saint-Exupery mastered the art of card trick perfectly.
* Became the author of several inventions in the field of aviation, for which he received patents.
* In the dilogy “Seekers of the Sky” by Sergei Lukyanenko, the character Antoine Lyonsky appears, combining the profession of a pilot with literary experiments.
* Suffered an accident on the Codron S.630 Simon plane (registration number 7042, onboard - F-ANRY) during the flight Paris - Saigon. This episode became one of storylines book "Planet of People".

Literature

* Grigoriev V.P. Antoine Saint-Exupéry: Biography of the writer. - L.: Education, 1973.
* Nora Gal. Under the star of Saint-Aix.
* Grachev R. Antoine de Saint-Exupery. - In the book: Writers of France. Ed. E. G. Etkind. - M., Education, 1964. - p. 661-667.
* Grachev R. About the first book of the writer-pilot. - “Neva”, 1963, No. 9.
* Gubman B. The Little Prince over the Citadel of the Spirit. - In the book: Saint-Exupery A. de. Works: In 2 volumes - Trans. from fr. - M.: “Consent”, 1994. - T.2, p. 542.
* Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry. Memories of Rose. - M.: “CoLibri”
* Marcel Mijo. Saint-Exupéry (translation from French). Series "ZhZL". - M.: “Young Guard”, 1965.
*Stacy Schiff. Saint-Exupery: A Biography. Pimlico, 1994.
* Stacy Schiff. Saint-Exupery. Biography (translation from English) - M.: “Eksmo”, 2003.
* Yatsenko N.I. My Saint-Exupery: Notes of a bibliophile. - Ulyanovsk: Simb. book, 1995. - 184 pp.: ill.
* Bell M. Gabrielle Roy and Antoine de Saint-Exupery: Terre Des Hommes - Self and Non-Self.
* Capestany E.J. The Dialectic of the Little Prince.
* Higgins J.E. The Little Prince: A Reverie of Substance.
* Les critiques de notre temps et Saint-Exupery. Paris, 1971.
* Nguyen-Van-Huy P. Le Compagnon du Petit Prince: Cahier d’Exercices sur le Texte de Saint-Exupery.
* Nguyen-Van-Huy P. Le Devenir et la Conscience Cosmique chez Saint-Exupery.
* Van Den Berghe C.L. La Pensee de Saint-Exupery.

Notes

1. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, collected works in 3 volumes. Publishing house "Polaris", 1997. Volume 3, p. 95
2. Antoine de Saint-Exupery
3. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, collected works in 3 volumes. Publishing house "Polaris", 1997. Volume 3, p. 249
4. 1 2 Saint-Exupery's plane was shot down by a German pilot, news on vesti.ru. March 15, 2008
5. A simple solution to an old mystery.

Biography

His service as a reconnaissance aircraft pilot was a constant challenge to common sense: Saint-Exupery could hardly squeeze his heavy body, broken in numerous disasters, into the cramped cockpit; on the ground he suffered from the 40-degree Algerian heat, in the sky, at an altitude of ten thousand meters - from pain in poorly fused bones. He was too old for military aviation, his attention and reaction failed him - Saint-Exupery crippled expensive planes, miraculously remaining alive, but with manic stubbornness he took to the skies again. It ended the way it should have ended: in the French aviation units, an order was read out about the feat and awarding of Major de Saint-Exupery, who had disappeared without a trace.

The world has lost amazingly bright man. The pilots of the long-range reconnaissance group recalled that in the spring and summer of 1944, Saint-Exupéry seemed “lost on this planet” - he still knew how to make others happy, but he himself was deeply unhappy. And friends said that in 1944 he needed danger “like a painkiller pill”; Saint-Exupéry had never been afraid of death before, but now he was looking for it.

The little prince fled from Earth to his planet: a single rose seemed to him more valuable than all the riches of the Earth. Saint-Exupery had such a planet: he constantly recalled his childhood - lost heaven, where there was no return. The major kept asking for the Annessy area to patrol and, shrouded in clouds from the explosions of anti-aircraft shells, glided over his native Lyon, over the castle of Saint-Maurice de Remand, which once belonged to his mother. Since then, more than one - several lives have passed, but only here he was truly happy.

Gray walls entwined with ivy, a high stone tower - in early middle ages it was built from large round boulders and rebuilt in the 18th century. Once upon a time, the gentlemen de Saint-Exupéry sat out the raids of English archers, robber knights and their own peasants here, and at the beginning of the 20th century, the rather dilapidated castle sheltered the widowed Countess Marie de Saint-Exupéry and her five children. Mother and daughters occupied the first floor, the boys settled on the third. A huge entrance hall and a mirrored living room, portraits of ancestors, knightly armor, precious tapestries, damask-upholstered furniture with half-worn gilding - the old house was full of treasures, but little Antoine (everyone in the family called him Tonio) was not attracted to this. Behind the house there was a hayloft, behind the hayloft there was a huge park, behind the park there were fields that still belonged to his family. A black cat gave birth in the hayloft, swallows lived in the park, rabbits tumbled in the field and tiny mice scurried about, for which he built houses from wood chips - living creatures occupied him more than anything in the world. He tried to tame grasshoppers (Tonio put them in cardboard boxes, and they died), fed swallow chicks with bread soaked in wine and cried over the empty mouse house - freedom turned out to be more valuable than a daily portion of crumbs. Tonio teased his brother, did not listen to the governess, and screamed throughout the house when his mother spanked him with a morocco slipper. The little count loved everything that surrounded him, and everyone loved him. He disappeared into the field, went on long hikes with the forester and thought that this would go on forever.

The children were looked after by a governess; at home celebrations they danced, dressed in 18th-century camisoles; they were brought up in closed colleges - Antoine completed his education in Switzerland...

But Madame de Saint-Exupéry knew the price of this grace: the family’s situation was desperate. Count Jean de Saint-Exupéry died when Tonio was not even four years old; he left no fortune, and the estate was bringing in less and less income. The children had to take care of their future themselves - the adult world, waiting for the ruined aristocrats outside the castle gates, was cold, indifferent and vulgar.

Until the age of 16, the young count lived completely carefree - Tonio brought animals home, tinkered with model engines, teased his brother and tormented his sisters’ teacher. The mice kept running away - and he brought a white rat to the castle; The little animal turned out to be surprisingly affectionate, but one bad day it was dealt with by a gardener who couldn’t stand rodents. Then Edison woke up in him, and he began to assemble mechanisms. A telephone made from tins and cans worked perfectly, but the steam engine exploded right in his hands - he lost consciousness from horror and pain. Then Tonio became interested in hypnosis and terrorized the sweet-loving lady - having encountered the commanding gaze of a terrible child, the unfortunate old maid froze over a box of chocolate-covered cherries, like a rabbit in front of a boa constrictor. Antoine was mischievous and charming - handsome, strong, with a light brown curly head and a cute upturned nose...

Childhood ended when his beloved brother Francois died of a fever. He bequeathed a bicycle and a gun to Antoine, took communion and passed away - Saint-Exupéry forever remembered his calm and stern face. Tonio is already seventeen - military service is ahead, and then he needs to think about his career. Childhood ended - and with it the old golden-haired Tonio disappeared. Antoine grew taller and darker: his hair straightened, his eyes widened, his eyebrows turned black - now he looked like an owlet. An awkward, shy, poor young man, not adapted to independent life, full of love and faith, came out into the big world - and the world immediately gave him a hard time.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was drafted into the army. He chose aviation and went to serve in Strasbourg. His mother gave him money for an apartment: one hundred and twenty francs a month (for Madame de Saint-Exupéry this was a very large sum!), and the son had a home. Antoine took a bath, drank coffee and called home on his own phone. Now he had time for leisure, and he could not help but fall in love.

Madame de Vilmorin was a real society lady - a young widow with connections, fortune and great ambitions. Her daughter Louise was famous for her intelligence, education and gentle beauty. True, she was not in good health and spent about a year in bed, but this only added to her charm. Louise, drowning in pillows, received guests in the thinnest peignoir - and the two-meter tall Saint-Exupery completely lost his head. He wrote to his mother that he had met the girl of his dreams, and soon proposed.

Such a match would be ideal for an impoverished aristocrat, but Madame de Vilmorin did not like the future son-in-law. The young man has neither fortune nor profession, but he has more than enough oddities - and her daughter is seriously going to do this stupid thing! Madame Vilmorin did not know her child well: Louise, of course, liked the role of the count's bride, but she was in no hurry to get married. It all ended when Saint-Exupery, who had undertaken to test a new plane without the knowledge of his superiors, crashed to the ground a few minutes after takeoff. He stayed in the hospital for several months, and during this time Louise got tired of waiting and gained new admirers; the girl thought and decided that her mother was probably right.

Saint-Exupéry will remember her all his life. Years passed, but he kept writing to Louise that he still remembered her, that he still needed her... Louise was already living in Las Vegas: her husband, who was engaged in trading, took her there. He disappeared for months on his business, dust storms raged in the town every now and then, and when Louise left the house, the cowboys dismounted and whistled after him. Her life was not a success, and Antoine, by this time famous writer, pestered her with requests for autographs... This seemed like a strange misunderstanding to Louise: her ex-fiancé seemed to her the biggest loser of everyone she knew.

His army service came to an end, and Saint-Exupéry went to Paris. The years that followed became a continuous chain of failures, disappointments and humiliations. He miserably failed the exam at the Maritime Academy and, according to the rules established in France, lost the right to higher education. Pointless and fruitless studies in architecture, living at the expense of his mother (this time she rented him a very bad apartment - the family’s money was running out), dinners with friends, breakfasts in cheap cafes and dinners at social events, depressingly monotonous Colettes and Paulettes - soon Antoine was tired and from them, and from myself. He lived like a bird of heaven: having settled with high-society acquaintances, the count could fall asleep in the bathtub, flood the lower floor and, waking up from the furious cry of the hostess, ask her with touching reproach: “Why do you treat me so badly?” Antoine joined the office of a tile factory and, falling asleep in the middle of the working day, scared his colleagues by shouting: “Mom!” Finally, the director's cup of patience ran out, and the descendant of the Knight of the Holy Grail, whose family included the manager of the royal court, archbishops and generals, became a traveling salesman. Both his previous and current work inspired him with deep disgust; Money continued to come from home, and he spent it on private lessons, which he took from professors at the Sorbonne.

And then his mother wrote to Antoine that she would have to sell the castle... And the cute Parisian scoundrel, who considered himself a complete loser, set out on the path that led him to fame.

Didier Dora, director of the Lacoeter airline, recalled how “a tall fellow with in a pleasant voice and with a concentrated gaze", "an insulted and disappointed dreamer" who decided to become a pilot. Dora sent Comte de Saint-Exupéry to the mechanics, where he began to tinker with the engines with pleasure, getting his hands dirty with grease: for the first time since the castle of Saint-Maurice de Remans, he felt feeling truly happy.

Prayer bench covered with worn red velvet, jug with hot water, a soft bed, his favorite green chair, which he dragged with him everywhere, looking for his mother in the castle, the old park - he dreamed of all this in Paris, and at the Cap Jubi airport, sandwiched by the sands of the Arabian desert, he somehow forgot. He slept on a door placed on two empty boxes, wrote and ate on an overturned barrel, read by the light of a kerosene lamp and lived in harmony with himself - for internal balance he needed a feeling of constant danger and the opportunity to accomplish a feat. Didier Dora was a wise man: he knew that he had better pilots than Exupery, but none of them could lead other people. A variety of people felt at ease and free with Antoine: he was interested in everyone, and he found his own key to everyone. Dora made him the head of the airport in Cap Jubi, and in a submission written a few years later for the Order of the Legion of Honor about Saint-Exupery it was said: “... A pilot of rare courage, an excellent master of his craft, showed remarkable composure and rare dedication, carried out several brilliant operations. Repeatedly flew over the most dangerous areas, searching for the pilots Rene and Serra, who had been captured by hostile tribes. Saved the wounded crew of a Spanish plane that almost fell into the hands of the Moors. Without hesitation, endured the harsh conditions of life in the desert, constantly risking their lives..."

When Saint-Exupéry left for Africa, he had only one published story under his belt. In the desert he began to write: his first novel, “Southern Postal,” brought him fame. He returned to France as a famous writer - they signed an agreement with him for seven books at once, he had money. He left aviation after his friend and boss Didier Dora lost his job. By this time, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a married man...

They met in Buenos Aires, where Saint-Exupéry was promoted to technical director of the Aeroposta Argentina company. Consuelo Gomez Carrilo was tiny, frantic, impetuous and fickle - she managed to be married twice (her second husband committed suicide), loved to lie and adored France. At the end of her life, she herself became confused in versions own biography: There are four versions describing their first kiss.

A plane takes off from the Buenos Aires airfield and makes a circle over the city: Saint-Exupéry breaks away from the helm, leans towards Consuelo and asks him to kiss him. In response, the passenger says that: a) she is a widow, b) in her country they kiss only those they love, c) some flowers, if you approach them too sharply, immediately close, d) she has never kissed anyone against her will . Saint-Exupéry threatened to dive into the river, and she kissed him on the cheek - a few months later, Consuelo received an eight-page letter ending with the words: “With your permission, your husband.”

Then she flew to him in Paris. They got married, and soon Antoine was transferred to Casablanca - now he was truly happy. Consuelo was a complete mythomaniac and lied as naturally as she breathed, but she could see in her hat a boa constrictor that had swallowed an elephant... She was charmingly restless and, according to Saint-Exupery’s friends, “in conversation she jumped from topic to topic like a goat ". The essence of this nimble, slightly crazy girl was frivolity and inconstancy, but she had to be looked after and protected. Saint-Exupéry felt in his element: in the castle of Saint-Maurice de Remans he tamed rabbits, in the desert - foxes, gazelles and pumas, now he had to test his gift on this semi-wild, unfaithful, charming creature.

He was sure that he would succeed: Saint-Exupery tamed everyone who surrounded him. Children adored him - he made for them funny paper helicopters and soap bubbles with glycerin that bounced off the ground. Adults loved him, he was famous as a talented hypnotist and a virtuoso card magician; they said that he owed the latter to his unusually dexterous hands, but the solution, meanwhile, lay elsewhere. Antoine instantly understood who was in front of him: a curmudgeon, a hypocrite or a careless good-natured person - and immediately felt what card he would wish for. He was never wrong, his judgments about people were absolutely correct - from the outside, Saint-Exupery seemed like a real magician.

He was unusually kind: when he had money, he lent left and right; when he ran out of money, he lived off his friends. Saint-Exupery could easily come to his friends at half past two in the morning and call at five in the morning family people and start reading the chapter you just wrote. They forgave him everything, because he himself would have given his last shirt to his friend. Having matured, he became unusually attractive: wonderful eyes, a figure that seemed to come out of ancient Egyptian frescoes: broad shoulders and narrow hips formed an almost perfect triangle... A man like him could make any woman happy - except Consuela Gomez Carrilo.

The poor thing could not be happy at all: she constantly thirsted for new adventures and was slowly going crazy. This tied Saint-Exupery to her even more: behind the outbursts of causeless anger he saw hidden tenderness, behind betrayal - weakness, behind madness - a vulnerable soul. The rose from The Little Prince was copied from Consuelo - the portrait turned out to be accurate, although highly idealized.

At first, the sight of this couple brought joy to the soul: when Monsieur and Madame de Saint-Exupéry left Casablanca, the local society seemed to be orphaned. And Consuelo came home later and later: she made her own friends, and she became a regular at nightclubs and artistic cafes. It became more and more strange: Countess de Saint-Exupéry could come to a reception in a ski suit and mountain boots. At one of the cocktails, she ducked under the table and spent the whole evening there - only her hand with an empty glass was shown into the light of day from time to time.

The whole of Paris was gossiping about the scandals that were playing out in Saint-Exupéry's house: Antoine did not tell anyone about his personal problems, but Consuelo informed everyone she met about them. The famous plane crash of 1935, when Saint-Exupéry crashed into the sand of the Libyan desert at a speed of 270 kilometers during a flight from Paris to Saigon, was also the result of domestic squabbles: instead of getting enough sleep before the flight, he spent half the night looking for Consuelo in bars. Saint-Exupery lost his way, fell two hundred kilometers from Cairo, celebrated the New Year among the hot sands, walking forward - under the scorching sun, without water or food. He was saved by a randomly encountered Arab caravan. In Paris, enthusiastic newspapermen and an eternally dissatisfied wife were waiting for the winner of the desert.

By the beginning of World War II, Antoine was already a broken man: he was exhausted by his personal life. He sought solace from other women. But he could not leave Consuelo - he loved her, and love is always akin to madness. He could only go to war: in 1940, Saint-Exupery pilots the high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft "Bloch" and again enjoys the speed, freedom and clouds of anti-aircraft shell explosions around his plane.

The front has been broken, German tanks are rushing towards Paris, the roads are clogged with crowds of distraught refugees. Saint-Exupéry transports the old Farman to Algeria, in which, by some miracle, all the pilots of his squadron fit. From Africa he returns to Paris and then emigrates: Antoine cannot live in an occupied country. But even in New York he has no peace - he writes “The Little Prince”, which is very similar to “the last farewell”, does not learn English and yearns for Consuelo. The wife arrives - and hell returns: friends tell how at one of the dinner parties she threw plates at his head for an hour. Saint-Exupéry caught the dishes with a polite smile, not stopping talking for a second - he, as you know, was an excellent storyteller.

Consuelo complained to everyone about his impotence: why should she pay for her husband’s constant accidents and his passion for heights?! But this did not bother other women: Saint-Exupery began affairs with the young actress Natalie Pali, the artist Hedda Sterni, who fled to America from Romania; Young Sylvia Reinhardt was ready to devote her life to him. And although he didn’t know a word of English, and Sylvia didn’t speak French, they still felt good together: she gave him warmth and peace, he read his manuscripts to her, and the girl didn’t care at all about what Consuelo accused her husband of. . Saint-Exupéry spent all his evenings with Sylvia, and at night he returned home and was worried when he did not find Consuelo there - he could not live with her, but he was not able to do without her.

He went to war in the same way as the Little Prince on a journey to other planets - clearly realizing that there was no turning back. The military authorities also understood this, and did everything to prevent Saint-Exupery from sitting at the helm of a reconnaissance aircraft - in aviation his legendary absent-mindedness became the talk of the town. Even in his youth, he flew not by calculation, but by instinct, he forgot to slam the door, retract the landing gear, plugged in an empty gas tank and landed on the wrong paths. But then he was saved by his exceptional inner instinct, which helped him to save himself even in the most hopeless situations, but now he was middle-aged, unhappy and very unhealthy - every trifle turned into torment for him.

The squadron pilots loved Saint-Exupéry as much as anyone who encountered him. They hovered over him like a nanny over a child; he was constantly accompanied to the plane by an anxious escort. They put the overalls on him, but he doesn't look up from the detective, they tell him something, and he, still not letting go of the book, gets on the plane, slams the cockpit door... And the pilots pray that he will put it down at least in the air.

Overweight, groaning in his sleep, with the Order of the Legion of Honor and the Military Cross hanging crookedly, in a shapeless cap - everyone who was around wanted to save him, but Saint-Exupery was too eager to fly into the air.

He demanded that all flights to the Annessy area, where he spent his childhood, remain with him. But none of them went well, and the last flight of Major de Saint-Exupéry ended there. The first time he barely escaped the fighters, the second time he lost his oxygen device and had to descend to a dangerous height for an unarmed reconnaissance officer, the third time one of the engines failed. Before the fourth flight, the fortune teller predicted that he would die in sea water, and Saint-Exupéry, laughingly telling his friends about this, noted that she most likely mistook him for a sailor.

The Messerschmitt pilot, who was patrolling this area, reported that he had shot an unarmed Lightning P-38 (exactly the same as Saint-Exupéry's) - the downed plane turned away, started smoking and crashed into the sea. The Luftwaffe did not count his victory: there were no witnesses to the battle, and the wreckage of the downed plane was not found. And the beautiful legend about the writer-pilot who disappeared in the skies of France, the man whom the Arabs called the Captain of the Birds, continued to live: he disappeared, dissolved in the Mediterranean azure, went towards the stars - just like his Little Prince...

Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Prayer.

Lord, I ask not for miracles or mirages, but for the strength of every day. Teach me the art of small steps.
Make me observant and resourceful, so that in the diversity of everyday life I can stop in time on discoveries and experiences that excite me.
Teach me how to properly manage the time of my life. Give me a subtle sense to distinguish the primary from the secondary.
I ask for the strength of abstinence and measure, so that I do not flutter and slide through life, but intelligently plan the course of the day, could see the peaks and distances, and at least sometimes find time to enjoy art.
Help me understand that dreams cannot be a help. No dreams of the past, no dreams of the future. Help me to be here and now and perceive this minute as the most important.
Save me from the naive belief that everything in life should be smooth. Give me a clear consciousness that difficulties, defeats, falls and failures are only natural. integral part life, thanks to which we grow and mature.
Remind me that the heart often argues with the mind.
Send me at the right moment someone who has the courage to tell me the truth, but tell it lovingly!
I know that many problems can be solved if nothing is done, so teach me patience.
You know how much we need friendship. Let me be worthy of this most beautiful and tender Gift of Fate.
Give me a rich imagination so that at the right moment, at the right time, in the right place, silently or speaking, to give someone the necessary warmth.
Make me a person who knows how to reach those who are completely “below”.
Save me from the fear of missing out on something in life.
Give me not what I want for myself, but what I really need.
Teach me the art of small steps.

Biography

Andre Maurois

Introduction

Aviator, civil and military pilot, essayist and poet, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, after Vigny, Stendhal, Vauvenargues, together with Malraux, Jules Roy, and several soldiers and sailors, is among the few novelists and philosophers of action that our country has produced . Unlike Kipling, he did not simply admire men of action: he, like Conrad, himself participated in the acts he described. For ten years he flew over the Rio de Oro and over the Andean Cordilleras; he was lost in the desert and was rescued by the lords of the sands; once it fell into the Mediterranean Sea, and another time into the mountain ranges of Guatemala; he fought in the air in 1940 and fought again in 1944. The conquerors of the South Atlantic - Mermoz and Guillaume - were his friends. This is where the authenticity that resounds in his every word comes from, and this is also where life’s stoicism originates, for action reveals best qualities person.

However, Luc Estan, who wrote the excellent book “Saint-Exupery on Himself,” is right when he says that action was never an end in itself for Saint-Exupery. “The plane is not a goal, only a means. You don't risk your life for an airplane. After all, it is not for the sake of the plow that the peasant plows.” And Luc Estan adds: “He plows not just to make furrows, but to sow them. Action is to an airplane what plowing is to a plow. What kind of crops does it promise and what kind of harvest can be harvested?” I believe that the answer to this question is this: the rules of life are what you sow, and the harvest is people. Why? Yes, because a person is able to comprehend only that in which he himself took a direct part. This is where the anxiety that I saw tormented Saint-Exupéry in Algeria in 1943 came from, when he was not allowed to fly. He was losing contact with the earth because he was denied heaven.

Part I. Intermediate stages

Many contemporaries talked about this short but eventful life. In the beginning there was Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a “strong, cheerful, open” boy who, at the age of twelve, had already invented an airplane-bicycle and declared that it would fly into the sky to the enthusiastic cries of the crowd “Long live Antoine de Saint-Exupery!” He studied unevenly, glimpses of genius appeared in him, but it was noticeable that this student was not created for schoolwork. His family calls him the Sun King because of the blond hair that crowns his head; his comrades nicknamed Antoine the Stargazer because his nose was turned up to the sky. In fact, he was already the Little Prince, arrogant and absent-minded, “always joyful and fearless.” All his life he maintained a connection with his childhood, he always remained enthusiastic, inquisitive and successfully played the role of a magician, as if expecting enthusiastic exclamations: “Long live Antoine de Saint-Exupery!” And these exclamations were heard. But they only said more often: “Saint-Ex, Antoine or Tonio,” because he invariably became a particle inner life all those who knew him or read his books.

Never before, perhaps, has the vocation of an aviator manifested itself more clearly in a person, and never before, perhaps, has it been so difficult for a person to fulfill his calling. Military aviation agreed to enlist him only in the reserve. Only when Saint-Exupéry was twenty-seven years old did civil aviation allow him to become a pilot and then the head of an airfield in Morocco - at a time when this country was torn apart by contradictions: “The Little Prince becomes an important boss.” He publishes the book “Southern Postal” and introduces the sky to literature, which does not prevent him from remaining a brave and energetic pilot, and then technical director of the Aeropostal branch in Buenos Aires - here he works side by side with Mermoz and Guillaume. He gets into numerous and serious accidents. And only by a miracle does he survive. In 1931, he married the widow of the Spanish writer Gomez Carrillo - Consuelo, a native of South America: this woman's fantasy delights the Little Prince. Accidents continue; Either Saint-Ex almost crashes during a monstrous fall, then after an emergency landing he finds himself lost in the sand. And, tormented by debilitating thirst in the very heart of the desert, he feels an urgent need to find the “Planet of People” again!

1939 War breaks out. And although doctors stubbornly admit that Saint-Exupery is completely unfit to fly (a consequence of numerous fractures and concussions), he eventually achieves enrollment in the reconnaissance air group 2/33. During the days of the enemy invasion, after several battles, this group was sent to Algeria and its personnel were demobilized. At the end of the year, Saint-Ex arrives in New York, where we met him. There he wrote the book "Military Pilot", which gained enormous success in the United States, as well as in France, at that time occupied by the enemy. I became attached to him with all my soul and would willingly repeat after Léon-Paul Fargue: “I loved him very much and will always mourn him.” And how could you not love him? He possessed both strength and tenderness, intelligence and intuition. He had a passion for ritual rites, he loved to surround himself with an atmosphere of mystery. His undeniable mathematical talent was combined with a childish desire for play. He either took over the conversation or remained silent, as if mentally transported to some other planet. I visited him on Long Island in the big house that he and Consuelo rented, where he wrote “The Little Prince.” Saint-Exupery worked at night. After lunch he talked, told, showed card tricks, then, towards midnight, when others had gone to bed, he sat down at his desk. I fell asleep. At about two in the morning I was woken up by shouts on the stairs: “Consuelo! Consuelo!.. I’m hungry... Cook me some scrambled eggs.” Consuelo came down from her room. Having finally woken up, I joined them, and Saint-Exupery spoke again, and he spoke very well. Having had his fill, he sat down to work again. We tried to fall asleep again. But the sleep was short-lived, because two hours later the whole house was filled with loud cries: “Consuelo! I'm bored. Let's play chess." Then he read to us the pages he had just written, and Consuelo, herself a poet, suggested cleverly invented episodes.

When General Bétoire arrived in the United States to collect arms, both Saint-Ex and I again asked to enlist in the French army in Africa. He left New York a few days before me and, when I got off the plane in Algiers, he was already meeting me at the airport. He looked unhappy. After all, Antoine felt so strongly the bonds that unite people, he always felt to some extent responsible for the fate of France, and now he discovered that the French were divided. The two general staffs opposed each other. He was enlisted in the command reserve and did not know whether he would be allowed to fly. He was already forty-four years old, and he stubbornly and persistently sought to be allowed to fly the P-38 aircraft, a fast car created for younger hearts. In the end, thanks to the intervention of one of Roosevelt's sons, Saint-Exupery received consent to this. And while waiting, he worked on a new book (or poem), which was later called “The Citadel.”

Promoted to the rank of major, he managed to join his dear reconnaissance group 2/33, the "Military Pilot" group, but his superiors, worried about his life, were reluctant to allow him to fly. He was promised five such flights, but he extracted agreement for three more. He did not return from his eighth flight over then-occupied France. He took off at 8:30 a.m. and by 1:30 p.m. he was still missing. The squadron comrades, gathered in the officers' mess, looked at their watches every minute. Now he only had one hour's worth of fuel left. At 14:30 there was no longer any hope left. Everyone remained silent for a long time. Then the squadron commander said to one of the pilots:

"You will complete the task entrusted to Major de Saint-Exupéry."

It all ended as in Saint-Ex's novel, and one could easily imagine that, when he had no more fuel and, perhaps, hope, he, like one of his heroes, rushed the plane upward - towards the heavenly field, densely dotted with stars.

Part II. Laws of action

Laws heroic world are constant, and we have the right to expect that we will find them in the works of Saint-Exupery almost the same as we knew them in Kipling’s stories and stories.

The first law of action is discipline. Discipline requires that a subordinate respect his superior; it also requires that the boss be worthy of such respect and that he, on his part, respect the laws. It’s not easy, not at all easy, to be a boss! “Oh Lord, I lived mighty, alone!” - Moses exclaims from Alfred de Vigny. Rivière, under whose command the pilots in “Night Flight” are, voluntarily withdraws into solitude. He loves his subordinates and has a kind of gloomy tenderness for them. But how can he openly be their friend if he is obliged to be harsh, demanding, ruthless? It is difficult for him to punish, moreover, he knows very well that punishment is sometimes unfair, that a person could not have acted differently. However, only the strictest discipline protects the lives of other pilots and ensures regular service. “Rules,” writes Saint-Exupéry, “are like religious rites: they seem absurd, but they shape people.” Sometimes it is necessary for one person to sacrifice himself to save many others. The boss has a terrible responsibility on his shoulders - to choose a victim, and if he has to sacrifice a friend, he does not even have the right to show his concern: “Love your subordinates, but don’t tell them about it.”

What does a boss give to his people in exchange for their obedience? He gives them "directives"; for them he is like a beacon in the night of action, showing the pilot the way. Life is a storm; life is a jungle; If a person does not fight the waves, if he does not fight the dense interweaving of vines, he is lost. Constantly spurred on by the strong will of his superior, man conquers the jungle. The one who obeys considers the severity of the one who commands him legitimate, if this severity plays the role of permanent and reliable armor, serves to protect his life. “These people... love what they do, and they love it because I'm strict,” Riviere says.

What else does a boss give to the people he commands? He gives them victory, greatness, and a long memory in the hearts of their contemporaries. Contemplating the Inca temple erected on the mountain, which alone survived from lost civilization, Rivière asks himself: “In the name of what severe necessity - or strange love- the leader of the ancient peoples forced crowds of his subjects to erect this temple on the top and thereby forced them to erect an eternal monument to themselves? . To this, some well-meaning person would no doubt answer: “Wouldn’t it be better not to build this temple, but not to make anyone suffer by building it?” However, man is a noble creature, and he loves greatness more than comfort, more than happiness.

But now the order is given, people begin to act, and then, according to the laws of the heroic world, friendship between comrades comes into play. Bonds of common danger, common selflessness, common technical means first they give birth to this friendship, and then they maintain it. “These are the lessons that Mermoz and our other comrades taught us. The greatness of any craft, perhaps, first of all lies in the fact that it unites people: for there is nothing in the world more precious than the bonds that connect man to man.” Work for material wealth? What self-deception! In this way a person acquires only dust and ashes. And this cannot give him something worth living for. “I am going through my most indelible memories, summing up the most important of my experiences - yes, of course, the most significant, the most significant were those hours that all the gold in the world would not have brought me.” A rich man has companions and hangers-on, a powerful man has courtiers, a man of action has comrades, and they are also his friends.

“We were slightly excited, as if at a feast. Meanwhile, we had nothing. Only wind, sand and stars. Harsh poverty in the Trappist spirit. But at this dimly lit table, a handful of people who had nothing left in the whole world but memories, shared invisible treasures.

Finally we met. It happens that you wander side by side with people for a long time, withdrawing into silence or exchanging insignificant words. But now comes the hour of danger. And then we are each other’s support. Then it turns out that we are all members of the same brotherhood. You join in the thoughts of your comrades and become richer. We smile at each other. Thus, the prisoner released is happy with the vastness of the sea.”

Part III. Creation

Can his books be called novels? Hardly. From work to work, the element of fiction in them is increasingly reduced. Rather, this is an essay about action, about people, about the Earth, about life. The scenery almost always depicts an airfield. And the point here is not the writer’s desire to be considered an expert, but his desire for sincerity. After all, this is exactly how the author lives and thinks. Why shouldn’t he describe the world through the prism of his profession, since it is in this way that he, like every pilot, comes into contact with the world around him.

"South Postal" is Saint-Exupéry's most romantic book. Pilot Jacques Bernis, a pilot for the Aeropostal company, returns to Paris and meets his childhood friend there, Genevieve Erlen. Her husband is a mediocre person; her child dies; she loves Bernice and agrees to leave with him. But almost immediately Jacques realizes that they are not made for each other. What is he looking for in life? He is looking for the “treasure” that contains the truth, the “key to unraveling” life. At first he hoped to find it in a woman. Failure. Later, like Claudel, he hoped to find it in the Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris, where Bernice went because he was feeling too miserable; but this hope also deceived him. Perhaps the key to the solution lies in the craft? And Bernice stubbornly, courageously carries the mail to Dakar, flying over the Rio de Oro. One day the author finds the corpse of Jacques Bernis - the pilot was killed by Arab bullets. But the post office was saved. It will be delivered to Dakar on time.

"Night Flight" refers to the South American period of Saint-Exupéry's life. In order for mail received from Patagonia, from Chile, from Paraguay to arrive in Buenos Aires on time, Aeropostal pilots have to fly at night over endless mountain ranges. If a storm overtakes them there, if they go astray, they are doomed. But their boss, Riviere, knows that such a risk must be taken. Together with Riviere, together with one of the inspectors, Robineau, together with the wife of the pilot Fabien, we monitor the progress of three aircraft during a thunderstorm. One of them, Fabien's plane, goes off course. The chains of the Cordilleras seem to close in front of him. The pilot only has half an hour of fuel left, and he realizes that there is no more hope. And then he rises to the stars, to where there is not a single living creature except himself. The conqueror of the legendary treasures, Fabien, will die. The young woman, the lamp she lit, the dinner she prepared so lovingly will wait for him in vain. Nevertheless, Rivière, who also loved Fabien in his own way, is busy with cold desperation sending mail to Europe. Rivière listens to the transatlantic plane “arising, prophesying, and melting away,” like the menacing tread of an army moving among the stars. Standing in front of the window, Riviere thinks:

“Victory... defeat... these lofty words are devoid of any meaning... Victory weakens the people; defeat awakens new forces in him... Only one thing should be taken into account: the movement of events.

In five minutes the radio operators will raise the airfields. All fifteen thousand kilometers will feel the beat of life; This is the solution to all problems.

The organ melody is already taking off towards the sky: an airplane.

Slowly walking past the secretaries, who bend under his stern gaze, Rivière returns to his work. Rivière the Great, Rivière the Victorious, bearing the burden of his difficult victory.”

Planet of the Humans is a wonderful collection of essays, some of them in novella form. The story is about the first flight over the Pyrenees, about how old, experienced pilots introduce newcomers to the craft, about how during the flight there is a struggle with “the three primordial deities - the mountains, the sea and the storm.” Portraits of the author's comrades: Mermoz, who disappeared into the ocean, Guillaume, who escaped in the Andes thanks to his courage and perseverance... Essay on "Plane and Planet", celestial landscapes, oases, landing in the desert, in the very camp of the Moors, and the story of that day, when, lost in the Libyan sands, as if in thick tar, the author himself almost died of thirst. But the plots themselves mean little; what is more important is that a person who surveys the planet of people from such a height knows: “Only the Spirit, touching the clay, creates Man from it.” Over the past twenty years, too many writers have buzzed our ears with talk of human weaknesses. Finally there is a writer who tells us about his greatness. “By God, I managed to do something,” exclaims Guillaume, “that no beast could do!” .

Finally, "Military Pilot". This book was written by Saint-Exupery after a short campaign - and defeat - in 1940... During the German offensive in France, Captain de Saint-Exupery and the crew of an airplane are ordered by their superior, Major Alias, to make a reconnaissance flight over Arras. It is quite possible that during this flight they will meet death, a useless death, since they are tasked with collecting information that they will no longer be able to convey to anyone - the roads will be hopelessly clogged, telephone communications will be interrupted, the general headquarters will move to another place. Giving the order, Major Alias himself knows that this order is meaningless. But what can we say? It never occurs to anyone to complain. The subordinate replies: “Yes, Mr. Major... That’s right, Mr. Major...” - and the crew sets off to carry out the mission that has become useless.

The book consists of the pilot's reflections during the flight to Arras, and then during his return in the midst of enemy shells exploding around him and enemy fighters hovering above him. These thoughts are sublime. “That’s right, Mr. Major...” Why does Major Alias send his subordinates, who are at the same time his friends, to a senseless death? Why are thousands of young people willing to die in a battle that appears to have already been lost? Because they understand that by participating in this hopeless battle, they are maintaining discipline in the army and strengthening the unity of France. They know well that they will not be able to turn the vanquished into victors in a few minutes, by performing several heroic deeds and sacrificing several lives. But they also know that defeat can be turned into a starting point on the path to the revival of the nation. Why are they fighting? What motivates them? Despair? Not at all.

“There is a truth higher than all the arguments of reason. Something penetrates us and controls us, to which I obey, but which I have not yet been able to understand. The tree has no tongue. We are the branches of the tree. There are obvious truths, although they cannot be expressed in words. I am not dying to delay the invasion, because there is no fortress in which I could hide with those I love and resist. I do not die to save my honor, because I do not believe that anyone’s honor has been harmed - I reject judges. And I'm not dying of despair. And yet I know: Dutertre, who is now looking at the map, will calculate that Arras is somewhere there, at an heading angle of one hundred and seventy-five degrees, and in half a minute he will tell me:

Course one hundred and seventy-five, Mr. Captain...

And I will take this course."

This is how the French pilot thought while awaiting death over Arras in flames; and as long as such people have such thoughts and as long as they express them in such sublime language, French civilization will not perish. “I obey, Mr. Major...” Saint-Ex and his comrades will not say anything else. “Tomorrow we won’t say anything either. Tomorrow, for witnesses, we will be defeated. And the vanquished must remain silent. Like grains."

You feel utter amazement that there were critics who considered this wonderful book “defeatist.” But I don’t know of another book that would inspire greater faith in the future of France.

“Defeat... Victory... (the author repeats after Riviere). I'm not good with these formulas. There are victories that fill you with inspiration, and there are others that humiliate you. Some defeats bring death, others awaken to life. Life manifests itself not in states, but in actions. The only victory that I have no doubt about is the victory inherent in the power of the grain. The grain thrown into the black soil has already won. But time must pass before the hour of his triumph in the ripened wheat comes.”

The French seeds will germinate. They have already sprouted since the time when “The Military Pilot” was written, and a new harvest is approaching. And France, which suffered for a long time, patiently waiting for a new spring, remains grateful to Saint-Exupery for the fact that he never renounced her.

“Since I am inseparable from my people, I will never renounce them, no matter what they do. I will never accuse them in front of outsiders. If I can take them under my protection, I will protect them. If they cover me with shame, I will hide this shame in my heart and remain silent. No matter what I thought about them then, I will never act as a witness for the prosecution...

That is why I do not relieve myself of responsibility for the defeat, because of which I will feel humiliated more than once. I am inseparable from France. France brought up the Renoirs, Pascals, Pasteurs, Guillaumes, Hoschedes. She also raised idiots, politicians and swindlers. But it seems too convenient to me to proclaim my solidarity with some and deny any kinship with others.

Defeat splits. Defeat destroys the unity that has been built. This threatens us with death; I will not contribute to such a division by shifting the responsibility for the defeat to those of my compatriots who think differently than me. Such disputes lead nowhere without judges. We were all defeated..."

Recognizing one's own, and not just someone else's, responsibility for defeat is not defeatism; this is justice. Calling the French to unity that will make future greatness possible is not defeatism; this is patriotism. “Military pilot” will undoubtedly remain in history French literature a book as significant as Slavery and the Greatness of the Soldier.

Of course, I won’t even try to “explain” The Little Prince. This "children's" book for adults is full of symbols, and its symbols are beautiful because they seem both transparent and hazy. The main virtue of a work of art is that it expresses itself, independent of abstract concepts. Cathedral does not need comments, just as the starry firmament does not need annotations. I admit that The Little Prince is a kind of embodiment of Tonio the child. But just as Alice in Wonderland was both a fairy tale for girls and a satire on Victorian society, so the poetic melancholy of The Little Prince contains a whole philosophy. “The king is listened to here only in those cases when he orders something to be done that would have happened without it; The lamplighter is respected here because he is busy with business, and not with himself; the business man is ridiculed here because he believes that one can “own” stars and flowers; The fox here allows itself to be tamed in order to distinguish the steps of its owner among thousands of others. “You can only learn things that you tame,” says the Fox. - People buy things ready-made in stores. But there are no such shops where friends would trade, and therefore people no longer have friends.”

"The Little Prince" is the creation of a wise and gentle hero who had many friends.

Now we should talk about The Citadel, Saint-Exupery's posthumously published book: he left many sketches and notes for it, but he did not have enough time to polish the work and work on its composition. That's why it's so difficult to judge this book. The author himself undoubtedly gave "The Citadel" great importance. It was like a conclusion, an appeal, a testament. Georges Pelissier, who was a close friend of Saint-Ex in Algeria, argues that in this work one should see the quintessence of the writer’s thoughts; he tells us that the first draft was entitled “The Lord of the Berbers” and at one time Saint-Exupéry wanted to call this prose poem “Kaid”, but then returned to the original version of the title “Citadel”. Another of the writer’s friends, Leon Werth, writes: “The text of The Citadel is just a shell. And the most external one. This is a collection of notes recorded using a voice recorder, oral notes, quick notes... “Citadel” is an improvisation.”

Others were more reserved. Luc Estan, who so admires Saint-Exupéry, the author of Night Flight and Planet of the Humans, admits that he does not accept “this monotonous recitative of the Eastern patriarchal ruler.” But this “monotonous recitative” takes up hundreds of pages. It seems that sand is flowing inexorably: “You pick up a handful of sand: beautiful sparkles sparkle, but they immediately disappear in a monotonous flow in which the reader gets bogged down. Attention dissipates: admiration gives way to boredom.” This is true. The very nature of the work is fraught with danger. There is something artificial in the fact that a modern Western European adopts the tone inherent in the book of Job. The Gospel parables are sublime, but they are laconic and full of mystery, while The Citadel is drawn out and didactic. In this book, of course, there is something from “Zarathustra” and Lamennais’ “Speeches of the Believer”, of course, its philosophy remains the philosophy of the “Military Pilot”, but there is no vital core in it.

And yet the sparkles remaining in the crucible after reading this book are from pure gold. Its theme is highly characteristic of Saint-Exupery. The old lord of the desert, who shares his wisdom and experience with us, was a former nomad. Then he realized that man can only find peace if he builds his citadel. A person feels the need for his own shelter, in his own field, in a country that he can love. A pile of bricks and stones is nothing; it lacks the soul of an architect. The citadel arises primarily in the human heart. It is woven from memories and rituals. And the most important thing is to remain faithful to this citadel, “for I will never decorate the temple if I begin to build it anew every moment.” If a person tears down walls, wanting to gain freedom thereby, he himself becomes like a “dilapidated fortress.” And then he is overcome by anxiety, because he ceases to feel his real existence. “My possessions are not herds, fields, houses or mountains, this is something completely different, this is what dominates them and binds them together.”

Both the citadel and the dwelling are bound by the bonds of certain relationships. “And rituals occupy the same place in time as a dwelling occupies in space.” It is good when time also represents a kind of structure and a person gradually moves from holiday to holiday, from anniversary to anniversary, from one vintage to another. Already Auguste Comte, and after him Alain, argued for the importance of ceremonies and solemn rituals, because without this, they believed, human society cannot exist. “I am re-establishing the hierarchy,” says the lord of the desert. - I will transform today's injustice into tomorrow's justice. And in this way I ennoble my kingdom.” Saint-Exupery, like Valéry, praises conventions. For if you destroy conventions and forget about them, a person again becomes a savage. The “obnoxious talker” reproaches the cedar for not being a palm tree, he would like to destroy everything around him and strives for chaos. “However, life resists disorder and spontaneous tendencies.”

The same severity applies to matters of love. “I lock a woman in marriage and command that the unfaithful spouse caught in adultery be stoned.” Of course, he understands that a woman is a trembling creature, she is completely in the grip of a painful desire to be tender and therefore calls out for love in the darkness of the night. But it will be in vain for her to move from tent to tent, for not a single man can satisfy her desires completely. And if so, why allow her to change her spouse? “I save only that woman who does not break the ban and gives vent to her feelings only in her dreams. I save the one who loves not love in general, but only the man whose appearance embodied love for her.” A woman must also build a citadel in her heart.

Who commands this? Lord of the Desert. And who commands the lord of the desert? Who dictates to him this respect for conventions and strong ties? “Stubbornly I went up to God to ask him about the meaning of things. But at the top of the mountain I found only a heavy block of black granite, which was the god.” And he prays to God to enlighten him. However, the granite block remains impenetrable. And it must remain like this forever. A God who allows himself to be pitied is no longer a god. “He is no longer a god even when he listens to prayer. For the first time in my life, I realized that the greatness of prayer lies primarily in the fact that it does not find an answer, in the fact that this communication between the believer and God is not overshadowed by an unsightly transaction. And the lesson of prayer is a lesson of silence. And love arises only when the gift is no longer expected. Love is first of all an exercise in prayer, and prayer is an exercise in silence.”

Here, perhaps, the last word mystical heroism.

Part IV. Philosophy

There were people who would like Saint-Exupery to be content with being a writer, a heavenly traveler, and they said: “Why is he constantly trying to philosophize when he is not a philosopher at all.” But I just like that Saint-Exupery philosophizes.

“You have to think with your hands,” Denis de Rougemont once wrote. The pilot thinks with his whole body and with the help of his aircraft. The most beautiful image created by Saint-Exupery, even more beautiful than the image of Rivière, is the image of a man whose courage is filled with such simplicity that it would be funny to talk about his courageous actions.

“Oshede is a former sergeant who was recently promoted to second lieutenant. Of course, he lacks education. There was no way he could explain himself. But he is coherent, he is whole. When it comes to Hosheda, the word “duty” loses all pompousness. Everyone would like to perform their duty the way Oshede does it. Thinking about Osheda, I reproach myself for my negligence, laziness, negligence and, above all, for my moments of disbelief. And this is not about my virtue: I just envy Osheda in a good way. I would like to exist to the same extent that Hoshede exists. A tree that has its roots deep in the soil is beautiful. Hoshede's tenacity is wonderful. You cannot be deceived in Osheda.”

Courage cannot arise from a cleverly composed speech, it is born from a kind of inspiration that becomes action. Courage is a real fact. The tree is a real fact. The landscape is a real fact. We could mentally separate these concepts into their component parts by resorting to analysis, but this would be a waste of time and would only damage them... For Oshede, being a volunteer is completely natural.

Saint-Exupéry disdains abstract thinking. He has little faith in various ideological constructs. He would willingly repeat after Alain: “For me, every proof is flawed in advance.” How can abstract concepts contain the truth about a person?

“The truth does not lie on the surface. If on this soil, and not on any other, orange trees take strong roots and bear generous fruits, then for orange trees this soil is the truth. If it is this religion, this culture, this measure of things, this form of activity, and not any other, that gives a person a feeling of spiritual fullness, a power that he did not suspect in himself, then it is precisely this measure of things, this culture, this form activity is the truth of man. What about common sense? His job is to explain life, let him get out of it any way he wants...”

What is truth? Truth is not a doctrine or a dogma. It cannot be achieved by joining any sect, school or party. “The truth of a man is what makes him a man.”

“To understand a person, his needs and aspirations, to comprehend his very essence, you do not need to oppose your obvious truths to each other. Yes you are right. You are all right. Logically you can prove anything. Even the one who thinks to blame the hunchbacks for all the misfortunes of mankind is right. It is enough to declare war on the hunchbacks - and we will immediately flare up with hatred for them. We will begin to take cruel revenge on the hunchbacks for all their crimes. And among the hunchbacks, of course, there are also criminals...

Why argue about ideologies? Any of them can be supported by evidence, and they all contradict each other, and from these disputes you only lose all hope of saving people. But people around us, everywhere and everywhere, strive for the same thing.

We want freedom. Anyone who works with a pickaxe wants every blow of the pickaxe to have meaning. When a convict uses a pickaxe, each blow only humiliates the convict, but if the pickaxe is in the hands of a prospector, each blow elevates the prospector. Hard labor is not where they work with a pickaxe. It's not terrible because it's hard work. Hard labor is where the blows of a pickaxe are meaningless, where labor does not connect a person with people.”

He who has created such a relative idea of truth cannot reproach other people because their beliefs are different from his own. If the truth for each is that which exalts him, then you and I, although we worship different gods, can feel closeness to each other through a common passion for greatness, through our common love for the very feeling of love. Intelligence is only worth something when it serves love.

“We have been deceived for too long about the role of intelligence. We have neglected the essence of man. We believed that the cunning machinations of base souls could contribute to the triumph of a noble cause, that clever selfishness could inspire self-sacrifice, that hardness of heart and idle chatter could establish brotherhood and love. We have neglected the essence. Cedar grain will somehow turn into cedar. The grain of the thorn will turn into a thorn. From now on, I refuse to judge people by the reasons that justify their decisions ... "

One should not ask of a person, “What doctrine does he hold?” What etiquette does he follow? Which party does he belong to? The main thing is: “What kind of person is he?”, and not what kind of individual he is. Because it counts a man is walking belonging to one or another social group, country, civilization. The French inscribed on the pediments of their public buildings: “Liberty, equality, fraternity.” They were right: it's a great motto. But on this condition, adds Saint-Exupery, if they realize that people can be free, equal and can feel like brothers only if someone or something unites them.

“What does it mean to free? If in the desert I free a man who is not striving anywhere, what will his freedom cost? Freedom exists only for someone who is striving somewhere. To free a man in the desert means to arouse thirst in him and show him the way to the well. Only then will his actions make sense. There is no point in freeing a stone if gravity does not exist. Because the freed stone will not move.”

In the same sense, we can say: “The soldier and his commander are equal in the nation.” Believers were equal in God.

“Expressing God, they were equal in their rights. While serving God, they were equal in their duties.

I understand why equality in God did not entail any controversy or disorder. Demagoguery arises when, in the absence of a common faith, the principle of equality degenerates into the principle of identity. Then the soldier refuses to salute the commander, because honoring the commander would mean honoring the individual, not the Nation.”

And finally, brotherhood.

“I understand the origin of brotherhood between people. People were brothers in God. You can only be brothers in something. If there is no knot tying people together, they will be placed next to each other rather than connected. You can't just be brothers. My comrades and I are brothers in group 2/33. The French are brothers in France."

To sum up: the life of a man of action is full of danger; death awaits him all the time; there is no absolute truth; however, sacrifice shapes people who will become masters of the world, for they are masters of themselves. This is the stern philosophy of the pilot. It is surprising that he extracts some form of optimism from it. Writers who spend their lives desk those in whom the heat of the soul slowly cools down become pessimists because they are isolated from other people. A man of action is ignorant of egoism, because he recognizes himself as part of a group of comrades. A fighter disdains the pettiness of people, because he sees an important goal in front of him. Those who work together, those who share common responsibility with others, rise above hostility.

Saint-Exupéry's lesson is still a living lesson. “It will seem to you that I am dying, but this is not true,” says the Little Prince; he also says: “And when you are consoled (you are always consoled in the end), you will be glad that you once knew me. You will always be my friend."

We are glad that we knew him once; and we will always be his friends.

Name: Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Age: 44 years old

Activity: writer, poet, pilot

Family status: was married

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: biography

Antoine de Saint-Exupery is a writer whose name is known to everyone who is familiar with the book “The Little Prince”. The biography of the author of the unforgettable work is full of incredible events and coincidences, because his main activity was related to aviation.

Childhood and youth

The full name of the writer is Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint-Exupéry. As a child, the boy's name was Tony. He was born on June 29, 1900 in Lyon, into a noble family, and was the 3rd child of 5 children. The head of the family died when little Tony was 4 years old. The family was left without funds and moved to their aunt, who lived on Place Bellecour. There was a catastrophic lack of money, but this was compensated by the friendship between brothers and sisters. Antoine was especially close to his brother Francois.

The mother instilled in the child a love of books and literature, talking about the value of art. Published letters remind us of her tender friendship with her son. Interested in his mother's lessons, the boy was also interested in technology and chose what he wanted to devote himself to.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery studied at a Christian school in Lyon, and then at a Jesuit school in Montreux. At the age of 14, through the efforts of his mother, he was sent to a Swiss Catholic boarding school. In 1917, Antoine entered the Faculty of Architecture at the Paris School of Fine Arts. The bachelor, with a diploma in hand, was preparing to enter the Naval Lyceum, but failed in the competitive selection. A great loss for Antoine was the death of his brother from articular rheumatism. He experienced the loss of a loved one by withdrawing into himself.

Aviation

Antoine dreamed of the sky since childhood. He first flew at the age of 12 thanks to the famous pilot Gabriel Wroblewski, who took him to the airfield in Amberier for fun. The impressions he received were enough for him to understand what would become the goal of his whole life.

1921 changed a lot in Antoine's life. After being drafted into the army, he completed aerobatics courses and became a member of the aviation regiment in Strasbourg. At first, the young man was a non-flying soldier in a workshop at the airfield, but soon became the holder of a civilian pilot’s certificate. Later, Exupery upgraded his qualifications to a military pilot.

After completing officer training, Antoine flew with the rank of junior lieutenant and served in the 34th regiment. After an unsuccessful flight in 1923, Exupery, having received a head injury, left aviation. The pilot settled in Paris and decided to try himself in the literary field. Success did not come. To make a living, Exupery was forced to sell cars, work at a tile factory and even sell books.

It soon became clear that Antoine was no longer capable of leading such a lifestyle. A chance acquaintance helped him out. In 1926, the young pilot received a position as a mechanic at the Aeropostal airline, and later became a pilot of an aircraft delivering mail. "Southern Postal" was written during this time period. The new promotion was followed by another transfer. Having become the head of the airport in Cap Jubi, located in the Sahara, Antoine took up creativity.

In 1929, the talented specialist was transferred to the position of director of the Aeropostal branch, and Exupery moved to Buenos Aires to manage the entrusted department. It operated regular flights over Casablanca. The company for which the writer worked soon went bankrupt, so from 1931 Antoine again worked in Europe.

At first he worked on postal airlines, and then began to combine his main job with a parallel direction, becoming a test pilot. During one of the tests, a plane crashed. Exupery survived thanks to the prompt work of divers.

The writer's life was connected with extreme sports, and he was not afraid to take risks. Participating in the development of a high-speed flight project, Antoine purchased an aircraft for operation on the Paris-Saigon route. The ship had an accident in the desert. Exupery survived thanks to chance. He and the mechanic, who were on their last legs from thirst, were saved by the Bedouins.

The worst accident the writer was in was a plane crash while flying from New York to Tierra del Fuego. Afterwards, the pilot was in a coma for several days, having suffered head and shoulder injuries.

In the 1930s, Antoine became interested in journalism and became a correspondent for the Paris Soir newspaper. As a representative of the newspaper "Entrance" Exupery was at war in Spain. He also fought in battles against the Nazis in World War II.

Books

Exupery wrote his first work in college in 1914. It was the fairy tale “Odyssey of the Cylinder”. The author's talent was appreciated and awarded 1st place in a literary competition. In 1925, at his cousin's house, Antoine met popular authors and publishers of the time. They were delighted with the young man’s talent and offered cooperation. The very next year, the story “The Pilot” was published in the pages of the Silver Ship magazine.

Exupery's works are associated with the sky and aviation. The writer had two callings, and he shared with the public his perception of the world through the eyes of a pilot. The author talked about his philosophy, which allowed the reader to look at life differently. That is why Exupery’s statements on the pages of his works are used today as quotes.

As an Aeropostale pilot, the pilot did not think about stopping literary activity. Returning to his native France, he signed a contract with the publishing house of Gaston Gallimard to create and publish 7 novels. Exupery the writer existed in close collaboration with Exupery the pilot.

In 1931, the author received the Femina Award for “Night Flight”, and in 1932 a film was made based on the work. The accident in the Libyan desert and the adventures that the pilot experienced while wandering through it, he described in the novel “Land of People” (“Planet of People”). The work was also based on emotions from acquaintance with the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union.

The novel “Military Pilot” became an autobiographical work. The author was influenced by experiences associated with participation in the Second World War. Banned in France, the book was an incredible success in the United States. Representatives of an American publishing house ordered a fairy tale from Exupery. This is how “The Little Prince” was released, accompanied by the author’s illustrations. He brought the writer world fame.

Personal life

At the age of 18, Antoine fell in love with Louise Vilmorne. The daughter of wealthy parents did not pay attention to the advances of the ardent young man. After the plane crash, the girl crossed him out of her life. The pilot perceived the romantic failure as a real tragedy. Unrequited love tormented him. Even fame and success did not change the attitude of Louise, who remained impartial.

Exupery enjoyed the attention of the ladies, charming him with his attractive appearance and charm, but was in no hurry to build his personal life. Consuelo Sunsin managed to find an approach to the man. According to one version, Consuelo and Antoine met in Buenos Aires thanks to a mutual friend. The woman's ex-husband, writer Gomez Carillo, has died. She found solace in an affair with a pilot.

A magnificent wedding took place in 1931. The marriage was not easy. Consuelo constantly made scandals. She had bad character, but the intelligence and education of his wife pleased Antoine. The writer, adoring his wife, tolerated what was happening.

Death

The death of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was shrouded in secrecy. During World War II, he considered it his duty to defend the honor of the country. Due to health reasons, the pilot was assigned to a ground regiment, but Antoine made connections and ended up in a flight reconnaissance squad.

On July 31, 1944, he did not return from the flight and was listed as missing in action. In 1988, near Marseille, a writer’s bracelet with his wife’s name engraved was found, and in 2000, parts of the plane he flew were found. In 2008, it became known that the cause of the writer’s death was an attack by a German pilot. The pilot of the enemy aircraft publicly admitted this years later. 60 years after the crash, photos from the scene of the collision were published.

The writer's bibliography is small, but it contains a description of a bright and adventurous life. The brave pilot and kind writer of the 20th century lived and died maintaining his dignity. Lyon Airport was named in his memory.

Bibliography

1929 – “Southern Postal”
1931 – “Mail to the South”
1938 – “Night Flight”
1938 – “Planet of Men”
1942 – “Military pilot”
1943 – “Letter to a Hostage”
1943 – “The Little Prince”
1948 – “Citadel”