Night navigation, the land of humans

Author: (French) Saint-Exupéry (Exupéry, S.)
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Night Flight won the French Femina Literature Award. As night falls, three postal planes simultaneously take off from Patagonia, Chile, and Paraguay toward Buenos Aires. Rivière, in charge of the entire route, directs them from the airport. The plane piloted by Fabian encounters a massive 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 and subtle. 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." The Human Earth won the Académie Fran?aise Novel Award, and its English translation received the National Book Award in the United States. The book's elegant and enduring prose reflects on colleagues who fought alongside him in his career—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 ice-covered Andes Mountains at minus forty degrees Celsius, and with unwavering determination, walks like an ant for five days and nights, reclaiming his life from the clutches of death. Saint-Exupéry and his mechanic also crash-land in the Libyan Desert, but they do not give up hope for life. They wander across the barren sand dunes and are finally rescued. The book lacks a continuous plot, meandering through air routes, planes, planets, oases, deserts, and ultimately delves into the central theme that runs throughout—the human and the land they inhabit. Night Flight won the French Femina Literature Award. As night falls, three postal planes simultaneously take off from Paraguay toward Buenos Aires. Rivière, in charge of the entire route, directs them from the airport. The plane piloted by Fabian encounters a massive 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 and subtle. 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." The Human Earth won the Académie Fran?aise Novel Award, and its English translation received the National Book Award in the United States. The book's elegant and enduring prose reflects on colleagues who fought alongside him in his career—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 ice-covered Andes Mountains at minus forty degrees Celsius, and with unwavering determination, walks like an ant for five days and nights, reclaiming his life from the clutches of death. Saint-Exupéry and his mechanic also crash-land in the Libyan Desert, but they do not give up hope for life. They wander across the barren sand dunes and are finally rescued. The book lacks a continuous plot, meandering through air routes, planes, planets, oases, deserts, and ultimately delves into the central theme that runs throughout—the human and the land they inhabit.