What is The Little Prince?
This brief tale, the most famous of all Antoine Saint-Exupéry’s work, was published in 1943. Although it takes the form of a children’s book, it is a philosophical tale with just as much to say to “grown-ups”. The Little Prince is travelling the world in search of a friend; he meets the author in the middle of the desert and tells him of his travels, every stage of which is a lesson in life. Since it was first published, the book has been translated into some 180 languages and dialects, and has sold over 80 million copies. It has been turned into countless audio and video recordings on every kind of medium, adapted times beyond number for the theatre, cinema, ballet or opera, been depicted in any number of cartoons and comic strips, and it has inspired an infinite number of songs and pieces of music. The Little Prince appears on school syllabuses, and is often used in adult literacy classes because of its humanist message, its clear style of writing and its powerful images.
