‘What are you doing here?’ he said to the drunkard whom he found sitting silently in front of a collection of bottles, some empty and some full.
‘I am drinking,’ answered the drunkard lugubriously.
‘Why are you drinking?’ the little prince asked.
‘In order to forget,’ replied the drunkard.
‘To forget what?’ enquired the little prince, who was already feeling sorry for him.
‘To forget that I am ashamed,’ the drunkard confessed, hanging his head.
‘Ashamed of what?’ asked the little prince who wanted to help him.
‘Ashamed of drinking!’ concluded the drunkard, withdrawing into total silence.
And the little prince went away, puzzled.
‘Grown-ups really are very, very odd,’ he said to himself as he continued his journey.
When Antoine de Saint-Exupéry put pen to paper to write the 1943 novella for which he became famous, this French aristocrat, writer, poet and pioneering aviator crafted a tender tale of love and loss in the form of a young prince fallen to Earth. Translated since into more than 200 languages and dialects and declared the greatest French book of the 20th century, this poetic imagining of loneliness and friendship is today one of the most coveted books of all time, selling more than 140 million copies worldwide.
Just ask Vincent Nguyen, the correspondent, filmmaker, photographer and pilot who covered international news for more than 15 years for one of France’s main TV stations. It was while reading Saint-Exupéry’s books that Nguyen discovered the incredible epic of Aéropostale, a pioneering aviation company and French first transatlantic airmail company, and caught the aviation bug. In 2003, he took his first flying lesson and was awarded his pilot’s licence four years later.
Every time he takes the controls in the cockpit of his aircraft, Nguyen first ensures that he has with him his favourite book, Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, and a small figurine of that same little prince, which he photographs whenever he gets the chance, he says, “in all kinds of situations, from Icelandic fjords to the dunes of the Sahara, from Scottish lochs to the Rock of Gibraltar”.
As homage to the extraordinary skills – both literary and aviation – of his favourite author, Nguyen joined forces with the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation to create a touring art exhibition, The Little Prince’s Journey, which features 39 illustrations as charming as they are geographically disparate. Enjoy.
WHO: Aristocrats, aviators and armchair adventurers
WHAT: The Little Prince’s Journey photo exhibition
WHERE: Sofitel, #26 Old August Site, Sothearos Blvd.
WHEN: Until July 31
WHY: “All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince