Message about Saint Exupery. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: biography, photos and interesting facts

Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint-Exupéry is a famous French writer, poet and professional pilot, essayist. Read below the biography of Antoine Exupery.

The writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born in the city of Lyon, France, into a noble family (count). I lost my father very early - at the age of four. That is why all upbringing fell on the mother’s shoulders. In Le Mans, Exupery graduated from a Jesuit school, and then continued his studies at a Catholic boarding school in Switzerland. In 1917, Antoine entered the School of Fine Arts in Paris, the Faculty of Architecture.

In 1921, he was drafted into the army, and he was sent to pilot courses - this year became a turning point in the biography of Antoine Exupery. Literally a year later, Exupery received a pilot's license and decided to go live in Paris - there he began to create. But, unfortunately, at first Antoine did not achieve serious success in his writing, and he had to earn his living differently - he sold cars and traded in a bookstore. It was only in 1925 that the Aeropostal company offered Exupery to become a full-time pilot to deliver mail to Africa. In 1927, two years later, he received the appointment of the head of Cap Jubie airport on the very edge of the Sahara, and it was at that moment that Antoine finally felt and experienced what was later reflected in the literary biography of Antoine Exupery.

In 1929, Exupery became the head of the airline department where he worked in Buenos Aires, and in 1931 he returned to Europe, where he again flew on postal lines, was also a test pilot, and from the mid-1930s. He also acted as a journalist, in particular, in 1935 he visited Moscow as a correspondent and described this visit in five interesting essays. He also went to the war in Spain as a correspondent. At the beginning of World War II, Saint-Exupery made several combat missions and was nominated for the Croix de Guerre award. In June 1941, he moved to his sister in a zone not occupied by the Nazis, and later moved to the United States. He lived in New York, where, among other things, he wrote his most famous book, “The Little Prince” (1942, published 1943). In 1943 he returned to the French Air Force and served in the North African campaign.

On July 31, 1944, he set off from Borgo airfield on the island of Corsica on a reconnaissance flight - and did not return. For a long time, in the biography of Antoine Exupery, nothing was known about his death. And only in 1998, in the sea near Marseille, a fisherman discovered a bracelet. There were several inscriptions on it: “Antoine”, “Consuelo” (that was the name of the pilot’s wife) and “c/o Reynal & Hitchcock, 386 4th Ave. NYC USA." This was the address of the publishing house where Saint-Exupery's books were published. In May 2000, diver Luc Vanrel testified that at a depth of 70 meters he discovered the wreckage of an airplane that may have belonged to Saint-Exupéry. The remains of the plane were scattered over a strip one kilometer long and 400 meters wide. Almost immediately, the French government banned any searches in the area. Permission was received only in the fall of 2003. Experts recovered fragments of the plane. One of them turned out to be part of the pilot's cabin; the serial number of the aircraft was preserved: 2734-L. Using American military archives, scientists compared all the numbers of aircraft that disappeared during this period. Thus, it turned out that the onboard serial number 2734-L corresponds to the aircraft, which in the US Air Force was listed under the number 42-68223, that is, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning aircraft, a modification of the F-4 (long-range photo reconnaissance aircraft), which was flown by Exupery.

The logs of the German Air Force do not contain any records of any aircraft shot down in that area on July 31, 1944, and there are no obvious traces of shelling directly on the wreckage of the aircraft. This gave rise to many guesses and hypotheses about the crash of Exupery's plane, including the version of technical problems and even the suicide of the pilot. In 2008, the press wrote that the German Luftwaffe veteran, 88-year-old Horst Rippert, said that it was he who shot down the plane of Antoine Saint-Exupery. According to him, Horst did not know who exactly was at the controls of the enemy plane: “I did not see the pilot, only later did I find out that it was Saint-Exupery.” These data were obtained on the same days from radio interceptions of negotiations at French airfields carried out by German troops.

If you have already read the biography of Antoine Exupery, you can rate the writer at the top of the page. In addition, you can get acquainted with apt quotes from the book “The Little Prince”.

In addition, in addition to the biography of Antoine Exupery, we invite you to visit the Biography section to read about the life and work of other popular writers.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is a famous French writer, poet and essayist, and professional pilot. There were many different interesting events in Saint-Exupéry, since he devoted most of his life to aviation.

Exupery's most famous work is the allegorical fairy tale "The Little Prince". .

So, in front of you short biography of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Biography of Exupery

Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint-Exupéry was born on June 29, 1900 in Lyon. He grew up in an intelligent family, descended from a noble family.

In addition to Antoine, four more children were born into the Exupery family.

When Antoine was barely 4 years old, his father died, and as a result, the family’s financial situation worsened significantly.

As a result, the mother and children were forced to move in with their aunt, whose house was located on Place Bellecour.

Childhood and youth

The early years in Exupery's biography were accompanied by various difficulties. The mother could not afford to buy her son toys or any expensive things.

However, she managed to instill in her son a love of reading and.

Soon Antoine was sent to a Christian school. After this, he continued to study at the Jesuit College of Sainte-Croix.

When Exupery turned 14 years old, he was sent to a Catholic boarding school located in.

In 1917, the young man successfully passed the exams at the Paris School of Fine Arts. Having received his diploma, he wanted to enter the Naval Lyceum, but was unable to pass the exams.

During this period of his biography, Antoine Exupery’s beloved brother Francois, with whom he had a very trusting relationship, died.

The death of his brother became a real shock for the future writer, from which he could not recover for a long time.

Pilot Exupery

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry dreamed of becoming a pilot since childhood. When he was 12 years old, he was in the sky for the first time.

The plane was flown by the famous pilot Gabriel Wroblewski, who took a great liking to the boy and decided to take him on a flight.

After this, Antoine began to literally dream of aviation.

In 1921, a significant event occurred in Exupery’s biography. He was called up for service, after which he took aerobatics courses. Soon he was assigned to an aviation regiment in Strasbourg.

Initially, he flew on civilian aircraft, and only over time he was entrusted with flying military aircraft.

Soon Antoine de Saint-Exupéry rose to the rank of junior lieutenant. In 1923, he was involved in a plane crash, resulting in a serious head injury. The commission declared the pilot unfit for further service, and therefore he was forced to leave aviation.

After this, Exupery went to. It is interesting that it was during this period of his biography that he developed a special interest in writing.

However, at first he had to earn a living in a variety of ways. The writer sold cars, worked at a tile factory, and also sold books.

In 1926, Antoine managed to get a job as a mechanic at the Aeropostal airline. He later became a mail plane pilot. At this time, the novel “Southern Postal” came out from his pen.

In 1929, Saint-Exupery was approved for the position of head of the Aeropostal branch located in the capital. A couple of years later, the company went bankrupt, as a result of which he began working as a test pilot and also working on postal airlines.

In Exupery's biography there were many cases when his life hung in the balance of death. During one of the tests, his plane crashed and fell into the water.

The writer survived only thanks to the prompt work of divers. After that, he suffered a plane crash in the desert and did not die only thanks to a lucky coincidence of circumstances. Dying of thirst, the writer was noticed by Bedouins, who saved his life.

In 1938, a new disaster occurred in Exupery’s biography: he flew from Tierra del Fuego, but crashed in. At the same time, he miraculously remained alive, although he was in a coma for several days. This time he again suffered a serious head injury.

After some time, the writer got a job as a journalist in the Paris Soir building.

During World War II (1939-1945), Antoine de Saint-Exupéry worked as a military journalist and also participated in air battles with Nazi pilots.

Works of Exupery

The first work in Saint-Exupéry’s creative biography was the fairy tale “The Odyssey of a Cylinder,” with which he won first place in a literary competition. At that time, the writer was only 14 years old.

In 1925, Exupery managed to meet various modern writers. An interesting fact is that many of them appreciated the talent of the aspiring writer and even began to help him with the publication of his works.

Thanks to this, a year later Exupery published the story “The Pilot,” which aroused great interest among readers.

In his stories, Saint-Exupéry paid special attention to aerial themes. Since during his biography he had repeatedly witnessed a variety of aviation situations, he could describe them in vivid colors.

Thus, he managed to rivet readers to his works, filled with deep meaning, interesting facts and philosophical reflections.

In 1931, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was awarded the Femina Prize for his novel Night Flight. He then published the book “Land of Men,” in which he masterfully described his wanderings through the Libyan desert after his plane crash.

In 1963, the autobiographical novel “Military Pilot” was published from the pen of Exupery. In it, he shared with readers the horrors of World War II, which he had to face personally.

An interesting fact is that this work was banned in the writer’s homeland, while in America it gained enormous popularity.

Personal life

When Antoine de Saint-Exupéry turned 18, he fell in love with Louise Villemorne, who came from a wealthy family. However, no matter how the young man tried to win over the girl, he was rejected by her every time.

Even when he becomes a successful writer in the future, he will never be able to win Louise's heart.

While working in Buenos Aires, Saint-Exupéry met Consuelo Sunsin, with whom he began a serious relationship. In 1931 they decided to get married, having a magnificent wedding among close people.

It is worth noting that family life was not easy for Exupery, since his wife had a very hot temper. She often caused scandals and scenes for her husband.

However, despite this, Antoine Exupery adored his wife and tolerated her difficult character.

Death

The death of Saint-Exupéry still arouses interest among his biographers and admirers. At the height of World War II, the writer volunteered to go to the front as a military pilot.

Thanks to his connections, he ended up in a reconnaissance detachment.

On July 31, 1944, Antoine went on his next mission, but never returned. In this regard, he ended up on the list of missing persons.

In 1988, the writer’s bracelet, which he wore on his hand, was discovered nearby. In 2000, parts of his plane were found.

After this, a group of experts established that Saint-Exupery died during an air battle with a German pilot. An interesting fact is that later the German pilot publicly admitted that it was he who shot down the military plane in which Exupery was.

Photo of Exupery

There are not many photographs of Antoine Exupery. However, you can see what we managed to find below.

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The article is devoted to a short biography of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a French military and civilian pilot and writer. He became famous for his fairy tale "The Little Prince".

Brief biography of Exupery before the start of the war

Exupery was born in 1900 in Lyon. His family belonged to the petty provincial aristocracy. Lost my father early. The mother raised five children alone. Despite the difficult financial situation, the future writer fondly recalled his childhood years. The picturesque surroundings of the ancestral castle were a favorite place for children to play. The mother tried to hide a significant reduction in income from the children and instilled in them a noble upbringing. He received his primary and secondary education at a Christian school and college.
In 1921 he was drafted into the French army and ended up in an aviation regiment. He served as a mechanic for some time, then passed the civil pilot exam.
In 1922, a misfortune befalls Exupery - he suffers the first plane crash in his life. As a result, the pilot was commissioned and settled in Paris. Finding himself without work, Antoine tries to engage in literary activities, but this does not bring him serious income. What follows in his life is a chain of failures and disappointments. Failure in the exams at the Maritime Academy leads to Exupery being deprived of the right to receive higher education. His mother can no longer support him, and his aristocratic upbringing is not suitable for physical work. Antoine lives with friends and does odd jobs. He doesn’t stay at work for long because he can’t overcome his noble habits.
The turning point in Antoine's fate is a letter from his mother, informing her that she is forced to sell the family castle. The future writer decides to finally get down to business.
From 1925 to 1931 Exupéry works in the field of civil aviation: first as a pilot, then as an airport manager and finally as an airline department manager. The emergence of a stable source of income and free time allows him to engage more seriously in literary activities. He publishes his first story - "The Pilot". For the story "Night Flight" Exupery was awarded a prize for literature. He enters into lucrative contracts for the publishing of his new books.
From ser. 30s Exupery is engaged in journalism. He makes a trip to the USSR, after which he writes several essays. The journalist tried to objectively examine the essence of Stalin's policies and, in general, his reviews were quite favorable. Exupery became a military journalist after making a working trip to Spain, where the Civil War was going on. The writer spoke out sharply against fascism.
He also continued his writing activity. At the end of the 30s. His novel "Land of Men" was published. Antoine was awarded prestigious literary prizes in France and the USA.

Biography of Exupery during World War II

During World War II, Exupéry fought against fascism both as a writer and a military pilot. After the occupation of France, he hid from the Nazis for some time, and then moved to the United States.
In 1942, his book “Military Pilot” was published, which immediately gained enormous popularity. During this period, he wrote his most popular work, “The Little Prince.” This tale was not very successful at first. Exupery was already a famous author, primarily of serious works. The deep philosophical content of The Little Prince became clear later. The book reflected the writer’s inner worldview, as recalled by his colleagues and colleagues. Being a very bright personality, Exupery knew how to instill joy in the hearts of the people around him, but he himself remained deeply unhappy. From 1943 he fought in North Africa. Many believe that in Africa the writer deliberately sought death, constantly going on combat and reconnaissance missions.
In the summer of 1944, Exupery did not return from another reconnaissance flight. For a long time he was considered missing. Only in 1998 were personal belongings allegedly belonging to the writer discovered. And in 2003, aircraft debris was raised from the bottom of the sea. After checking the number of the downed plane with archive data, it was established that it was on it that the writer made his last flight.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is familiar to the whole world, mainly thanks to his philosophical work “The Little Prince”. But what kind of person was Exupery? The biography of this writer-pilot is very little known to many, despite the fact that his fate is full of interesting twists and turns. There was dramatic love, great friendship, and adventures, many of which were reflected in his books.

The de Saint-Exupéry family

The biography of the future writer begins in the French city of Lyon, where he was born on June 29, 1900. He was the third child of Comte de Saint-Exupéry and his wife. In just 4 years of marriage, the couple managed to acquire two daughters, Marie-Madeleine and Simone, and a son. Soon after Antoine his brother Francois was born, and two years later his younger sister Gabrielle de Saint-Exupery was born.

The biography of the future writer soon became darker. Immediately after the birth of his youngest daughter, Jean de Saint-Exupéry, whom George Sand herself dubbed a real French chevalier, died, leaving his wife alone with five children and without a livelihood.

Antoine Exupery: short biography. Childhood

After the death of their father and husband, the family settles with Aunt Marie in Lyon on Place Bellecour, but often the children visit their grandmother’s castle, where Queen Margot herself once visited.

Despite the poverty, the family is very friendly, and all the children get along well with each other. Of course, Antoine is attached to his sisters, but his true friendship is with his younger brother Francois. She adores her little son and his mother; she calls him the Sun King for his blond curls, upturned nose and easy-going character, which remained with Exupery throughout his life.

His biography is full of memories from his contemporaries and family that the boy grew up very cheerful and inquisitive, adored animals, and also loved to tinker with engines; perhaps this is where his love for aviation came from, which would develop much later.

Education

At the age of 8, Antoine entered a Christian school in Lyon, and then he and his brother continued their education at the Jesuit college in Montreux. The next stage is college in Switzerland, where the boy entered at the age of 14. Having received a bachelor's degree three years later, the young man plans to enter the Naval Lyceum in Paris, even attends preparatory courses, but does not pass the competition.

When Antoine turns 17, his brother François unexpectedly dies of articular rheumatism. The young man has a hard time experiencing the loss of someone close to him; he withdraws into himself.

After failing the exams for the military lyceum, Saint-Exupéry was forced to content himself with attending lectures on architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts.

Getting to know the sky. Pilot

Exupery, whose biography is inextricably linked with the sky, dreamed of it since childhood. The first flight happened in his life when he was only 12 years old. The famous pilot Gabriel Wroblewski, despite the prohibitions of Antoine's mother, took him with him to the aviation field in Amberier. This short flight impressed the boy so much that it left a mark on his entire life.

However, the next chance to get closer to heaven presented itself only at the age of 21, when he joined the army and became a soldier of Exupery. From this moment on, his biography is full of flights. He first enlisted in an aviation regiment in Strasbourg, where he was assigned as a non-flying soldier in a repair shop. However, the sky beckoned him, and de Saint-Exupéry decided to take the civil pilot exam. In parallel with his service, he learns to fly, and at the end of the year he is transferred to Casablanca, where he takes an exam and receives the rank of officer.

During this period, he writes in his diaries that he experiences an irresistible desire to fly. Soon after gaining the opportunity to be a civilian pilot, he also received the right to fly a military aircraft, and then, having received the rank of junior lieutenant in the reserve, he was transferred to serve in an aviation regiment near Paris.

In 23, Exupery had his first accident, received severe injuries and temporarily gave up aviation. He works in a tile factory, selling trucks, until fate finally gives him the chance to realize the young man's second passion and talent - writing.

First attempts at writing

Antoine began writing quite early and was immediately successful - his first work, the fairy tale “The Odyssey of a Cylinder,” which he wrote in college in 1914, received first prize at a literary competition.

However, the door to serious literature will open for him much later. In 1925, Antoine, at the invitation of his cousin, comes to her salon, where he meets writers and publishers. They are literally fascinated by the young man and his works and offer to publish his stories. And already in April of the following year, his story “The Pilot” was published in the magazine “Silver Ship”.

Return to the sky

His first public success brings Exupery together with the wealthy businessman de Massima, who introduces him to the management of the Aeropostal airline. At first, Exupery works only as a mechanic, and then as a pilot of a mail plane. Moreover, he began to fly not just anywhere, but to Africa. He soon becomes the head of a small airport in the city of Cap Jubi in the heart of the Sahara Desert. To the surprised questions of his relatives about his fate and career as a writer, he always answered that in order to write, you first need to live. And his life here is amazing. In addition to his main work, Saint-Ex, as his friends decided to call him, uses all his diplomatic talents and either reconciles warring African tribes, pacifies the warlike Moors, rescues crashed pilots from their captivity, or even tames a wild fox.

This work and travel to new amazing places did not change the character of Exupery. His big, kind heart was ready to give everything to people. He spent money and time helping his friends and family, helping solve their problems and believed that hatred can only be overcome by love. Thanks to this work, Antoine makes his closest friends - Jean Mermoz and Henri Guillaumet. Together they will make a significant contribution to the development of aviation not only in Europe, but also in Africa and even South America.

New points on the map

After Africa, Exupery returns briefly to France, where he begins to collaborate with book publishers and also improves his piloting skills. And soon a new assignment - a branch of the Aeropostal airline in South America, in Buenos Aires. Regular night flights over Casablanca are the main work that Antoine Exupery does.

A brief biography of the further period of his life is marked by the financial collapse of his native airline in 31, after which Exupery leaves it. Subsequently, he works on the postal lines connecting Dakar, Marseille and Algeria, tests new seaplanes and again gets into a serious accident. He miraculously survives, and divers have difficulty finding him. And his next accident happened soon in Saigon, in the Mekong Valley.

In 1933, Exupéry joined the Paris-Soir newspaper, where he became a correspondent. Among other countries, he visits the USSR, where he meets Bulgakov. Exupery's essays on the Soviet Union are a great success among readers. Soon he organizes a large air tour over the Mediterranean Sea to promote aviation.

Crash of plans

Being not only a pilot, but also an inventor, he borrowed money, bought a plane and participated in the development of a project for a high-speed flight from Paris to Saigon. He is in a hurry, because in order to receive money for the task, he must complete it by December 31st. On the night of December 30, Exupery, together with his mechanic, crashed in the Libyan desert, miraculously did not die and tried to survive for several more days without food and water. They are rescued by nomadic Bedouins.

The last serious accident occurs on a flight from New York to Tierra del Fuego. For several days after the accident, the pilot was in a coma, he had serious head injuries and other injuries, so he could no longer put on a parachute on his own due to a shoulder injury. The short biography of de Saint-Exupéry is literally full of such accidents.

Literary success

While still working in the hot desert of Cap Jubi, Antoine writes his first major work at night, the book “Southern Postal”. In 29, returning to France, Exupery signed an agreement with the publishing house of Gaston Gallimard for the release of seven of his novels. The second work is “Night Flight” written in Argentina. In 1931, Exupery received the prestigious Femina Prize for this novel, and a year later, American filmmakers made a full-length film based on it.

The adventures and travels that befell Exupery were always reflected in his works. Thus, an accident in the Libyan desert and subsequent wanderings through it formed the basis of the novel “Land of Men.” The work was also influenced by the trip to the USSR made by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

The biography is short, but full of experiences, and is included in the novel “Military Pilot”. It is inspired by the Second World War. Taking direct part in it and doing everything in his power, Exupery puts all his confusion, all his mental anguish into the book. In the USA it is a huge success, but in its native France it is banned by censorship. On the wave of popularity, an order for a children's fairy tale comes from America. In the course of his work, the writer creates his most famous work - “The Little Prince” with the author’s illustrations.

Personal life

Exupery, whose (short) biography would not have been revealed without personal relationships, truly loved only two women. Despite his fine spiritual organization and, undoubtedly, lyrical character, Antoine was not too lucky with girls. At the age of 18, he first met the one he fell in love with. Her name was Louise, and she was the sister of his comrade. Louise came from a noble, wealthy family and had a very quarrelsome and capricious character. Antoine, having fallen madly in love with her, proposed, but did not receive a definite answer. Some time later, when the young man was in the hospital with his first injury, he learned of the final break in the engagement. It was a big blow for him. And Louise only considered him a loser; even the literary success that Antoine de Exupery received did not change her opinion.

The biography of the tall, stately, handsome and charming French pilot, however, could not do without the attention of women, but he himself, having once experienced disappointment, was in no hurry to start affairs. At the same time, he was also worried that he was wasting his youth and life. In letters to his mother, he complained that he could not meet a woman who could calm his anxiety.

However, Antoine Exupery soon met such a woman. His biography at that time continues in Buenos Aires, where the writer meets Consuelo Carrilo. It is not known exactly how they met, but it must be assumed that they were introduced by a mutual friend, writer Benjamin Crepier. Consuelo was the widow of the writer Gomez Carrilo and had a rather complex character. The short, dark, not very beautiful woman was nevertheless the center of attention. She carried herself proudly and arrogantly, like a queen, she was well educated, well-read and intelligent. She brought confusion into Exupery's life, pestering him with violent scandals and hysterics, but it seemed that this was all he lacked.

The difficult love of a writer

The memoirs of Ksenia Kuprina, the daughter of the Russian writer A. Kuprin, are interesting. She met Consuelo in Paris and was fascinated by her intelligence and grace. One day, an Argentinean woman called Ksenia in the middle of the night and begged her to come. She told a 19-year-old girl a story about how she met an amazing man whom she fell incredibly in love with. But they are not destined to be together, since he was shot by the revolutionaries right before her eyes. Shocked, Kuprina took Consuelo to her country house and consoled her friend for several days, literally pulling her out of the lake in which she obsessively wanted to drown herself.

Imagine Kuprina’s indignation when it turned out that the shot lover was Exupery, alive and unharmed. Consuelo was so angry with him and wanted to break up that she made up the idea that he was dead and made those around her believe it.

They got married just a few months after they met, but pretty soon their life together ceased to be joyful and happy. Consuelo literally went crazy, torturing her husband with her antics. She either started a fight and threw dishes in front of guests, or went to bars until the morning and told vile, lying stories about her husband. However, he endured everything with a smile and calmness. Perhaps only he knew what she really was like, and saw the other side of her intolerable character. Be that as it may, this love was as devoted and passionate as the first day they met.

World War II period

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, whose biography dates back to the war years, ended up in Nazi Germany at 37. He was unpleasantly surprised by what Nazism did to people. When England and France declare war on Germany, Exupery is assigned to serve on the ground for health reasons, but he connected all his connections and was assigned to an aviation reconnaissance group.

After living and working in the USA in 1944, Exupery returned to his homeland again, but was not allowed to engage in intelligence activities, as he was already in the reserves. And again we have to connect connections. Despite serious health problems, he is allowed to make 5 more flights to obtain images of the area. On July 31, a plane piloted by Antoine Saint-Exupéry took off on a mission. The writer’s biography ends at this moment, since the plane did not return at the appointed time. Only 60 years later, in 2004, the remains of the kindest writer on the planet were raised and identified from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

(estimates: 4 , average: 4,25 out of 5)

Name: Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint-Exupéry
Birthday: June 29, 1900
Place of Birth: Lyon, France
Date of death: July 31, 1944
A place of death: Mediterranean Sea

Biography of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The famous French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born in Leon. His father died when the boy was 4 years old, so his mother took care of his education. First, the future writer studied in Mansa, at the Jesuit College of Sainte-Croix. After that, in Sweden in Friburg at a Catholic boarding school. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in the department of architecture.

The year 1921 had a great influence on the future fate of Saint-Exupéry. At this time he goes to the army. He ended up in a fighter aviation regiment in Strasbourg. At first he was just doing repairs. After special courses he becomes a civilian pilot. After this, he is sent to Morocco, where Saint-Exupéry becomes a military pilot.

In 1922, Antoine was sent to an aviation regiment near Paris, where he had his first plane crash. It is worth noting that he will have to endure a lot of such disasters in his life.

After this, Saint-Exupery stops in Paris and for the first time tries to earn money through his writing. However, this idea turns out to be a failure, so out of despair, Antoine works as a bookseller and also sells cars.

In 1925, Saint-Exupéry got a job as a pilot for the Aeropostal company, which was engaged in delivering correspondence to North Africa. From 1927 to 1929 he worked as the head of the airport.

At this very time, Saint-Exupéry wrote and published his first story entitled “The Pilot”. In 1931 he was awarded the Femina Prize for his story “Night Flight”.

From the mid-30s, Saint-Exupéry began working as a journalist. In 1935, he visited the USSR and wrote several sketches, in one of which he even tried to show the essence of Stalin's rule.

In 1939, Saint-Exupery received the French Academy Prize for his book “The Planet of Men”, and for the book “Wind, Sand and Stars” he was awarded the US National Book Award.

When the Second World War began, St. Exupery immediately went to serve. He was in the German-free region of France when the latter occupied it, and later left for the United States. In 1943, he again ends up in North Africa and serves as a military pilot there. It was here that his world-famous work “The Little Prince” was created.

In July 1944, Antoine de Saint-Exupery went on reconnaissance from the island of Corsica, and after that his plane disappeared. For a very long time no one knew anything about the death of the writer. Only in 1998, a fisherman near Marseille caught a bracelet that belonged to the pilot, and in 2000 his crashed plane was found.

The investigation showed that there was no obvious damage to the body of the aircraft, so the crash could have happened due to equipment malfunction or due to the suicide of the pilot. Later, it became known that the plane was shot down by a German military man, who admitted this only in 2008.

In 1948, the book “Citadel” was published, which contains parables and aphorisms of the pilot-writer, which remained unfinished.

Documentary

We bring to your attention a documentary film, a biography of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Bibliography of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Main works:

• Southern Postal (1929)
• Mail - South (1931)
• Night Flight (1938)
• Land of Men (1942)
• Military pilot (1943)
• Letter to a Hostage (1943)
• (1948)
• Citadel

Post-war editions:

• Letters from Youth (1953)
• Notebooks (1953)
• Letters to Mother (1954)
• Give life meaning. Unpublished texts collected by Claude Raynal. (1956)
• War notes. 1939-1944 (1982)
• Memories of some books. Essay