The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupery
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupery
This is the most read and most translated book in and from the French language. The sales are huge: two million every year and one hundred and forty million so far. It is one of the bestselling books ever
Antoine de Saint – Exupery has been a very intriguing character. An aristocrat, pioneering aviator and a writer he flew over the Sahara.
I think there would be two ways or keys for looking at this hugely popular story:
The first and most obvious one, would be to feel empathy for The Little Prince, who falls out of nowhere on a strange planet. He is an outsider and reading a bit of critique on the side, I understand that the story probably reflects the life of Saint- Exupery, who was an outcast for some time.
There is poetry and tenderness, although the latest adapted version that I listened to this morning was rather bad. It must have been a version for Children’s Radio or something like that, because it was patronizing and lame. However, I had the chance to listen to other productions, earlier on and I remember enjoying it. There is a slight reserve over the huge success of a book that presumes to deal with the ineffable, nondescriptive presence of an alien. It is not a hermetic style, but it still puzzles me that people try to read in such big numbers books that seem rather complicated.
Sometimes readers go for the very wrong choice…I am thinking Dan Brown and the mystery of the marriage that took place (?) between Christ and Mary…or so I heard, I apologize if it is incorrect, but it seems to be a blockbuster that does not give much, except for mystery and intrigue. There must be something good there if it sold millions of copies.
The Little Prince on the other hand is a Rara Avis, a good that is both good and a huge commercial success.
The other way to look at the book would be to make fun of it, in a style reminiscent of Little Britain and /or Catavencii. I‘ll give it a try, since the book was both tender and beautiful, but also intrigued me and made a little devil appear and say: come on, this not serious…it’s kids’ games…
After all, what is this about: an alien, like Paul, a rather silly comedy, with an extraterrestrial who brings back to life a bird, only to eat it after that- I saw the trailer, but to see the whole of it seems a waste of time.
How did it sell one hundred and forty million copies you wonder? People do not buy the UFO stuff in such big numbers…come on. Perhaps it has to do with the interesting blending of Aladdin and E.T., where nothing is offered, no magic electric power, neither a wish nor three.
However sad, once in a while a rational devious being might be tempted to laugh a little at the improbable situation.
A kid from some other planet, which must be billions upon billions of miles away to support life, lands here with no strange craft and turns out to be suffering from a mild depression…
Come on! Give me a break!
The Little Prince should be green and looking like a zombie, a terminator something and not moan about home, but kill some s*it like in Mars Attack, with Jack Nicholson, Danny de Vito and a few more stars.
And then what kind of parents and social services do these “people” have on that sophisticated enough to have the means to get someone over here planet, but not good enough for responsible parents and/or efficient social services, child support, baby sitting and whatever.
The last part was just a fun exercise; of the left side of the brain…I hear that the positive side is, oddly- on the left part of our brain.
I wonder from where does The Little Prince get his fun, on the left?
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