Five Curiosities about The Little Prince

1 - The Little Prince is the third most translated book in the world

The work has been translated into more than 250 languages. It is second only to the Bible and the Quran. The translations even include rare dialects like Alur, spoken in Congo. Also, Toba, an indigenous language from northern Argentina. It has also been translated into the artificial language Esperanto and printed in braille.

2 - The book was not his only work

He was already famous before publishing The Little Prince. His book Vol de nuit (Night Flight), released in 1931, already made him famous and even won the Femina award, and was later adapted for the cinema. He also wrote other works, but in fact, The Little Prince became the most famous of them all.

3 – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a count, but worked as an aviator

His full name was Antoine Jean-Baptiste Marie Roger Foscolombe. He was the third of 5 children. His parents had a title of nobility, they were Viscounts. Because of this, Antoine received the title of Count. However, he worked as an aviator and delivered postcards.He was hired as a mail and cargo aviator, the so-called airmail in the 1920s. As a result, he even worked in the Spanish Civil War and in World War II.

4 – The work The Little Prince was inspired by a crash from his own plane

In 1936, the plane piloted by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry crashed in the Sahara desert. He spent a period of 4 days there. He suffered from hunger, dehydration and hallucinations. Until, finally, he was rescued by a Bedouin. The idea for the book came about during those days.

5 – The rose in the book The Little Prince was his wife, Consuelo

The rose portrayed in the book was his wife Consuelo and the cough also has a reason, she suffered from asthma. Fragile, with a strong personality, that was Consuelo. Their relationship was marked by comings and goings, mainly because of Saint-Exupéry's work. But even so, he showed a great fascination for her, who was a born artist. He proposed to her the same day he met her. The passion was so overwhelming that he wrote her a 40-page letter. Antoine used to write letters to those closest to him.

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Article by, 

Sidney Matias
Casa de Livro Blog