The Little Prince (1944) - Reviewing the novel through a MODERNIST lens. (This is a 10/10, get on it!)

Cover from the official website for the book.

You know, I really love the modernist perspective; it was the literary force from 1910 to 1950. You'll know its dominant voices: Ezra Pound, TS Eliot, WB Yeats and so on. It was a movement which looked at the world and moaned: what have we become?

One of the great writers then, that also fit in this movement is Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. He is a French writer and in the middle of WW2, with France having been knocked out of the war early, he penned his masterpiece, 'The Little Prince'. There's a bit of pretense with this one, as it is a children's book, and a young person would enjoy it (it takes about 2 hours to read), but of course they would be reading it without the modernist lens. I have just knocked this over again (I have read this little one now countless times, and count it amongst my favourite books).

The story in a nutshell (spoilers ahead):

1. The Little Prince lives on his own planet, with a flower with four thorns and three extinct volcanoes - he uses these as a stool. It's obviously a tiny planet, and he has a concern that the Baobab trees would grow and the roots would completely destroy it! He is, however, lonely. He goes off exploring in search of a friend.

2. He visits six planets, meeting six individuals, each of whom shows the worst qualities of humanity.

3. He arrives on Earth, and meets the narrator, an unnamed fellow explorer, who he develops a relationship with. Ultimately though, The Little Prince still has a sense of loneliness about him in his quest for connection, and he feels a responsibility to his flower and the need to return to his planet.

4. The Little Prince, who we have come to love and adore, finds the yellow snake who had promised him that he could return him to his own planet - with a single bite. Of course, we don't believe the snake, which is why we as the audience end up bawling our eyes out.

Of course the modernist ideas are quite confronting - The Little Prince, a symbol of innocence and joy and so forth, dies. He can't possibly stay in our world. It drives him to leave, and that leaving is death. We are also incredibly sad for his flower, also a symbol of beauty and vitality, will also wither. Such is the human condition.

I didn't say it earlier, but The Little Prince encounters the narrator in the middle of the African deserts; all alone having had his plane go down. It speaks about the social disconnect that we each experience. I guess the desert really is a metaphor in that sense.

But where the modernist threads really hit home, are in the visits that The Little Prince takes to the other planets, and that's where I'd like to spend some time.

1. He initially visits a small planet with a self-proclaimed Great King. Yet, the King has no subjects, and he only pretends to rule over the stars around him. He understands that he is in control because they obey his orders. During the meeting, he give such commands at only the right time: commanding the sun to rise, the stars to shine and so forth.

It's all a bit absurd, and speaks about the facades in our own existence.

1. He visits a planet with a drunkard. The drunkard tells us that he feels shame because of his drinking, but drinks because he feels shame. It's a cyclical existence and he cries himself to sleep. A mirror of broken humanity.

2. He visits the conceited man on his own planet. The man is all alone, yet he brags about being the most intelligent and beautiful on his planet. When The Little Prince offers that the man is the only occupant on the planet, even this doesn't prompt some self-reflection, but spurs on greater vanity. Again, emphasizing the way in which we construct our own identities and play roles; we wear masks, we participate in the masquerades before us, to attempt to give our life meaning.

3. He visits another planet with a businessman on it. He is counting, 500 million and so forth - he is interrupted by The Little Prince, who wants to know what he is counting. With annoyance in his voice, he spits that he is doing important work - the same work he has been doing for 54 years. He is counting the stars, and therefore, claims that he owns them. He explains that is how the world works, if you have an idea, you own it. He considers himself the richest man in existence; but his wealth isn't real, and his life is a repetitive pattern of counting. It is pretense of a life, but it has no real meaning and there is no real wealth.

4. He then visits the Geographer, whose planet The Little Prince admires as the most beautiful he has ever seen. But the Geographer has not gone outside to see it; instead, focusing on his books and the mountains and rivers that they depict, rather than the physical outside his window. This is a sad moment, as the Geographer wants information about other planets from the explorer; The Little Prince offers that his planet has a beautiful flower - but the Geographer doesn't care; he labels it 'ephemeral', and has to explain to The Little Prince that flower is only temporary, and it will die.

5. I've got the order wrong, but The Little Prince also visits another very small planet occupied by a street lamp and a lamp lighter. The size of the planet is such that you could walk around it in a matter of steps, therefore leading to very, very short days. Every minute, as night descends on the planet, the lamplighter must light the lamp, a minute later, douse the flame, before a minute later lighting the lamp.

His life seems to have purpose, but again, it is repetitive and stuck in the mundane. There is no life or hope for his future, just bleak acceptance of the futility of his own existence.

Finally then, The Little Prince visits Earth; where he understands the planet is full of drunkards, conceited people, false kings, businessman, geographers and lamplighters. It is a condemnation of our world - we laughed at the individuals we met with the Prince on those small planets. How confronting then to be told that these are the archetypes that our world is full of.

Evaluation:
This is a must-read book. It is beautiful in just the right places, and the language is powerful - it will impact you greatly as the images that The Little Prince offers are beautiful simple and innocent; a reminder of everything that we're not. I didn't encounter this book until my 30s, and I only wish I had found it sooner. It will change your perception of the world - as the final question in the book wonders about the existence of the flower. Is it still up in the stars; is The Little Prince returned to his own planet? The answer, you might argue, is fiction based, but the answer you offer when you look at the stars is important, because it will tell you how you see the world.

I can't give this any less than a 10/10. I recommend this regularly to my peers, and no one has ever not felt compelled by it. You need to read it.