The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Richard Howard
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Book Reviews of The Little Prince
Book Review: Beautiful Classic on Matters of the Heart
Summary: 5 Stars
I will review the book first then make some comments on the translation.
This is perhaps the best children's book written. I read it for the first time (Woods translation) a couple of weeks ago, and am glad that I did. Young and old alike can enjoy and treasure it. The fox is a great teacher about friendship, and how one truly sees only with the heart. Plus, the Little Prince's descriptions of the grownups he encountered on various planets is a concise but brilliant satire on how people lose sight of the forest for the trees as they get older. This is a must-have for anyone.
Now for the translation. Here are some excerpts from the old and new translations so that you can compare them.
Old Translation:
"For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected. He tolerated no disobedience. He was an absolute monarch. But, because he was a very good man, he made his orders reasonable."
New Translation:
"For the king insisted that his authority be universally respected. He would tolerate no disobedience, being an absolute monarch. But since he was a kindly man, all his commands were reasonable."
Old Translation:
"Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret."
New Translation:
"Go look at the roses again. You'll understand that yours is the only rose in all the world. The come back to say good-bye, and I'll make you the gift of a secret."
I read the old translation first, having checked it out from the library. I'm not sure how to describe the niceties of the grammatical differences between the translations, but the Woods translation to me seems more poetic, whereas the new translation seems to be more colloquial. I don't think that the new translation prevents you from enjoying the story at all, and I think it's great that the full-color art was restored. In other words, I don't think that this new edition should be avoided; it's well-worth buying and reading. Still, I personally think it would be a good idea to read the old translation. You can probably find it at your local library, or from one of the used book sellers here on Amazon.
Book Review: If you tame me...
Summary: 5 Stars
Something confuses me about "The Little Prince". Here we have a small simple tale that takes about half an hour to read. It is quiet and philosophical. The plot, such as it is, follows a the Little Prince and his petite adventures. The Little Prince loves a rose very much, but he must travel about the planets to better understand this love. The book is so lyrical in its simplicity that it's no wonder that it's often given to graduating students each and every year. More so than "Winnie-the-Pooh" or "Oh the Places You'll Go", this book encapsulates the world with pinpoint precision.My confusion? Why has this book been repeatedly ruined for kids? Am I the only one who remembers that catastrophe that was, "The Little Prince", an anima television show that played on Nickelodeon in the 1980s? How about the movie, starring Bob Fosse as the snake and Gene Wilder as the fox? How does a book this perfect become so exploited? I can only liken it to other books of its caliber. Like "Alice In Wonderland", the absurd plot elements make the story poignant. And like "Alice" (or the aforementioned Pooh) the book's simple writing is easily "improved" by the adults of the world.
I don't think "The Little Prince" is ideal children's literature, mind you. Kids may humor their parents by listening to it, but when you sit right down and read the book, it is not gripping stuff. The patronizing tone taken about "grown-ups", the Peter Pan-like elements, etc. all combine to make this a book that is ideally for children without actually saying anything to them directly. This is a book for adults but ostensibly for kids. Few children are going to be fooled by this. They'd rather sink their fangs into something a little more along the lines of "Harry Potter" or Lemony Snicket. But it is a piece of children's literature that will last beyond all our lives. This is a classic for the 20th century, and "The Little Prince" fully deserves to take his place amongst the other classic kid characters encompassed in the cannon. It is an outstanding tale of simply loving small.
Book Review: sad story
Summary: 5 Stars
Reporter of little prince
I was reading a book which is named little prince. It is a French writer's writing.
The story of little prince is a fairy tale. The whole content is very interesting. The relater was a pilot, and he had an accident with his plane in the desert of sahara in six years ago. In that time, he met a little prince. He knew the little prince was from another celestial body though by talking to him. Then the little prince related to him everything about the celestial body where he came from, especial his rose. The writer retails the everything in another six celestial bodies besides the earth where the little prince had been gone. At last , the little prince gone. The writer was very sad, as a result he wrote a book to commemorate him.
On his all-alone journey, the little prince met different kinds of people, which includes a king, a conceited man, a tippler, a businessman, a lamplighter and a geographer. From these people he got a conclusion that the grown-ups are very odd. Following the first character, he went to the Sahara, on the earth.
Traveling on the earth, the little prince, who saw a garden of five-thousand roses, was overcome with astonishment and sadness, as he considered his rose was unique in the universe before. At that time a fox appeared. The fox, who told the little prince about the meaning of the word "tame", becomes his new friend. At the time to said farewell, the fox made him know that his rose was unique because she was his rose and tamed by him. From that the little prince began to treasure friendship and be responsible to his rose.
The little prince was a guy who was artless and always curious. He did everything seriously. But he also was alone; enjoy watching the sundown on the chair. He even was sad, he loved a rose deeply.
Maybe it's more significant for us to imagine, and for more, think over.
Book Review: Inspiring for all
Summary: 5 Stars
This little book is certainly one of the best-known and most popular in French literature. Though at heart a children's story, it is rightly considered a classic in its own sense and is even found within respected French literary anthologies. Its author, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, is also famous for other works of fiction ("Vol de Nuit" etc.). Like the narrator in "The Little Prince," St-Exupery was a pilot as well. He apparently crashed or was shot down flying as a WWII pilot towards the end of the war and was never found. His likeness, along with that of the little prince and his pet lamb and the famous drawing of the elephant in the boa-constrictor, are all on the French 50 Franc note.The story can basically be split into two parts: The first part is the short introduction dealing with the narrator and his view of the world when he was a child and how adults could never understand the real meaning of things or perceive truth in the world--only the superficial and the usual. This is generally one of the main ideas of the book; "blessed are the children...". The rest of the book is the story of the little prince, whom the narrator discovers in the Sahara when he is trying to fix his downed airplane and is in fear of his life. The narrator and the reader slowly come to know the prince's story and learn about friendship, love and truth in a touching way. My favorite parts are those dealing with the prince's relationship with his beloved rose left on his planet and the prince's relationship with the wise little fox, who offers the prince his philosophical secret on life.
I have not read the book in translation so I cannot comment how this or other translations compare. Though considered a book for children, the French can still be a bit demanding if you want to try it in the original.
Book Review: CLASSIC!
Summary: 5 Stars
Reading level is ages 9-12? I don't think so! I think a senile person on the border of death would get something out of this book! Like Alice in Wonderland, this "kid" classic has more moving beneath its surface than many "adult" novels that I've read. It would disintegrate John Grisham's entire corpus just in the space of one page! Antoine de Saint-Euxpery first published this book in 1943 and since then it has been translated into a zillion languages, because like music, the language of Prince is universal. The plot is pretty straightforward. The author, a famous aviator, has mechanical trouble with his plane and is forced to land in the Sahara Desert a thousand miles from civilization. That is until a young boy approaches him out of the blue and asks him to draw a sheep for him. Sound surreal? Childhood IS surreal! Page by page, the pilot learns of the past of The Little Prince.
Don't expect reality here. The Little Prince lived on a small asteroid named B-612. So small, in fact that he could see 44 sunsets simply by moving a few steps every couple of minutes. He longed to explore and so was carried by a flock of birds to Earth.
The Little Prince has all the form of a parable or a fable, a tale that is meant to convey deeper thoughts than its superficial attributes. There are thoughts in this book on love, relationships, the emptiness of a life without either, death, spirituality, capitalism, in general, the souless existence of the adult world. I'm sure this book could be a doctoral thesis for a future professor somewhere. I will come back to this book to explore some mysteries many more times in my life, I think. Seek it out. Richard Howard is one of the greatest translators of our time. He only improves the English version of this great book.