Night flight. The land of humans

Author: (French) Saint-Exupéry
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-03-01
Features: The Night Flight won the French Femina Literature Award. As night fell, three postal planes simultaneously took off from Patagonia, Chile, and Paraguay toward Buenos Aires, with Rivière directing the entire flight from the airport. The plane piloted by Fabian encountered a severe storm en route, was swept up into the Atlantic, and eventually ran out of fuel. The novel's plot is simple, yet its meaning is profound and subtle. It is not merely 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 elucidating 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 the author—Mermoz, who fell atop a snow-capped cliff four thousand meters high, stranded for two days and nights, repaired the damaged plane, and miraculously escaped the perilous location. Guillaumet made an emergency landing in the perpetually ice-covered Andes Mountains, where temperatures dropped to minus forty degrees Celsius. With unwavering determination, he walked like an ant for five days and nights, snatching his life back from the clutches of death. Saint-Exupéry and the mechanic also fell into the Libyan desert, but they never gave up hope for survival. They ran about in the barren sand dunes and were finally rescued. The book lacks a continuous plot, meandering through air routes, planes, stars, oases, deserts, and ultimately delving into the central theme that runs throughout—the human and the earth they inhabit. The Night Flight won the French Femina Literature Award. As night fell, three postal planes simultaneously took off from Paraguay toward Buenos Aires, with Rivière directing the entire flight from the airport. The plane piloted by Fabian encountered a severe storm en route, was swept up into the Atlantic, and eventually ran out of fuel. The novel's plot is simple, yet its meaning is profound and subtle. It is not merely 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 elucidating 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 the author—Mermoz, who fell atop a snow-capped cliff four thousand meters high, stranded for two days and nights, repaired the damaged plane, and miraculously escaped the perilous location. Guillaumet made an emergency landing in the perpetually ice-covered Andes Mountains, where temperatures dropped to minus forty degrees Celsius. With unwavering determination, he walked like an ant for five days and nights, snatching his life back from the clutches of death. Saint-Exupéry and the mechanic also fell into the Libyan desert, but they never gave up hope for survival. They ran about in the barren sand dunes and were finally rescued. The book lacks a continuous plot, meandering through air routes, planes, stars, oases, deserts, and ultimately delving into the central theme that runs throughout—the human and the earth they inhabit.