I reread ‘The Little Prince’ last night. Actually no, it was the first time I was reading the translation. My grandmother used to read this story to me when I was a kid and I reread it a few times when growing up. I happened to come across a copy of it in English a few weeks ago, and thought ‘why not, it’s been a long time I haven’t read it’. Although I try to avoid translations as much as possible, I still enjoyed the read.
It hasn’t lost any of its freshness and childish innocence. However, behind the light tale are serious concerns. ‘Le Petit Prince’ points to the absurdity of human life. It shows how by growing up as adults, we have lost sight of what’s really important in life. We have become too serious, individualistic, and are unable to reach true happiness. ‘Le Petit Prince’ warns us about the dangers of forgetting how to love with the heart rather than with the eyes, and reminds us how to give a sense to our lives. As the fox says:
“On ne voit bien qu’avec le coeur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux” (“It is only with one’s heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eyes”)
I think this book should be on every bookshelf, it is definitely a beautiful tale of love.
4 comments
Comments feed for this article
May 16, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Vincent à L'ouest
Moi j’y suis toujours resté complètement insensible. Comme quoi, les goûts et les couleurs…
June 6, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Cecfrombelgium
Moi aussi j’y reviens souvent à ce livre… ‘Il avait pris au sérieux des mots sans importance et était devenu très malheureux’…
La fin du livre me rend toujours mélancolique
September 2, 2008 at 9:44 am
Gee
Thank you for the lovely gift of this little story that you gave to my family 🙂
Gav read it first himself, but I am now reading it to him, 2 chapters a night and then a wee discussion about them and their relevence in our own outlook on life and people.
It is really helping us in getting to know each other better 🙂
What a gift!!
April 7, 2011 at 8:46 am
Giveaway – The 10,000 mark « C'est la vie!
[…] The Little Prince by St Exupery is my favourite book of all times. My grandmother used to read it to me when I was a kid and I took a lot of pleasure reading it again as an adolescent and as an adult. You can read my review of it here. […]