Night flight The land of humans

Author: (French) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Night Flight was awarded the French Femina Literature Prize. As night falls, three postal planes take off simultaneously from Patagonia, Chile, and Paraguay toward Buenos Aires, with Rivière directing the entire flight at the airport. The plane piloted by Fabian encounters a severe storm mid-flight, is swept up into the Atlantic, and eventually runs out of fuel. The novel's plot is simple, yet its meaning is profound. It is not only an ode to the pioneers of human aviation but also an exploration of the value of action, as Nobel Prize-winning author Jean-Paul Sartre said in his preface to the book: "Human happiness does not lie in the freedom we enjoy but in the responsibilities we undertake. I am particularly grateful to the author for explaining this truth." Terre des Hommes was awarded the Académie Fran?aise Prize for Literature, and its English translation won the National Book Award in the United States. The book's elegant and enduring prose reflects on colleagues who fought alongside the author—Mermoz crashes atop a four-thousand-meter snow-capped cliff, stranded for two days and nights, repairs the damaged plane, and miraculously escapes the perilous location. Guillaumet makes an emergency landing in the perpetually frozen Andes at minus forty degrees Celsius, relying on sheer willpower to walk like an ant for five days and nights, snatching back his life from the clutches of death. Saint-Exupéry and the mechanic also crash in the Libyan Desert, but they never give up hope for life, running around the barren sand dunes and finally being rescued. The book lacks a continuous plot, meandering through air routes, planes, planets, oases, deserts, and ultimately delving into the central theme that runs throughout—the human and the land they inhabit. Night Flight was awarded the French Femina Literature Prize. As night falls, three postal planes take off simultaneously from Paraguay toward Buenos Aires, with Rivière directing the entire flight at the airport. The plane piloted by Fabian encounters a severe storm mid-flight, is swept up into the Atlantic, and eventually runs out of fuel. The novel's plot is simple, yet its meaning is profound. It is not only an ode to the pioneers of human aviation but also an exploration of the value of action, as Nobel Prize-winning author Jean-Paul Sartre said in his preface to the book: "Human happiness does not lie in the freedom we enjoy but in the responsibilities we undertake. I am particularly grateful to the author for explaining this truth." Terre des Hommes was awarded the Académie Fran?aise Prize for Literature, and its English translation won the National Book Award in the United States. The book's elegant and enduring prose reflects on colleagues who fought alongside the author—Mermoz crashes atop a four-thousand-meter snow-capped cliff, stranded for two days and nights, repairs the damaged plane, and miraculously escapes the perilous location. Guillaumet makes an emergency landing in the perpetually frozen Andes at minus forty degrees Celsius, relying on sheer willpower to walk like an ant for five days and nights, snatching back his life from the clutches of death. Saint-Exupéry and the mechanic also crash in the Libyan Desert, but they never give up hope for life, running around the barren sand dunes and finally being rescued. The book lacks a continuous plot, meandering through air routes, planes, planets, oases, deserts, and ultimately delving into the central theme that runs throughout—the human and the land they inhabit.