Size: 15 x 10 cm
The Little Prince is a French-language work, the most famous by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Published in 1943 in New York at the same time as its English translation, it is a poetic and philosophical tale in the guise of a children's story.
The language, simple and pared down because it is meant to be understood by children, is in reality the narrator's chosen vehicle for a symbolic vision of life. Each chapter recounts an encounter of the little prince that leaves him puzzled by the absurd behaviour of the 'grown-ups'. Each of these encounters can be read as an allegory.
The watercolours are part of the text and contribute to this purity of language: sparseness and depth are the work's leading qualities.
It can be read as the author's invitation to rediscover the child within, for 'all grown-ups were once children. (But few of them remember it.)'. The book is dedicated to Léon Werth, but 'when he was a little boy'.
