The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Published by William Heinemann Ltd: London, 1977.
First published 1945.
Translated from the French by Katherine Woods.

A cute, quirky, whimsical, oddly melancholic little book.

The nameless narrator talks about his early forays into art, then, after his plane breaks down, forcing him to land in the Sahara, he meets the titular Little Prince. The Prince has arrived at Earth from his home on Asteroid B-612, a tiny world with three tiny volcanoes (one extinct) and a vain flower. He befriends the narrator and asks him to draw a sheep. After a few attempts which are criticized by the Prince, the narrator pleases the visitor by drawing a box and tells him the sheep is inside it. The Prince plans to take the sheep home with him, but is struggling to figure out how.

This is not a long book, but it does have moments that seem somehow profound, and is very abstract in its ideas. The ending also builds on the feeling of melancholy that has been felt throughout, with the Prince 'finding a way home' in a much more troubling way than you would anticipate from the very cutely-illustrated book.

I don't really know how I feel about The Little Prince yet. 

It was unique.

I liked it. I think.

It will stick with me for a while too.

Completed 20 March, 2022.

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