Book Blog #259: The Little Prince 75th Anniversary Edition by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Title: The Little Prince (75th Anniversary Edition)
Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupery
# of Pages: 224 (hardback)
Genre: Childrens, Fantasy, Classics
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: With a timeless charm it tells the story of a little boy who leaves the safety of his own tiny planet to travel the universe, learning the vagaries of adult behaviour through a series of extraordinary encounters. His personal odyssey culminates in a voyage to Earth and further adventures.
Review:
“It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, it’s because you are truly a wise man.”

I've heard so many people reference this book that I just had to read it for myself.

When I learned this book was categorized as "children's," I was shocked. I was even more shocked when I learned that there was a debate on whether this book is meant for children or adults. After reading, I think this story is best appreciated by adults who may have lost touch with the child within all of us. This does not mean children cannot read and enjoy this book too; there is just a difference in appreciation.

I checked this book out at the library, and it just so happened that the only available copy was the 75th anniversary edition. This version is much longer than the actual story because of all the bonus content. The beginning of the 75th anniversary edition has a lot of information on the author and those he knew, which might be useful for those doing a research project. I ended up reading The Little Prince story first (which appears in the middle of this book) and then went back to the beginning to read about the author. The real content is what comes after The Little Prince story: an analysis of The Little Prince by researcher and historian Delphine Lacroix. Her analysis of the story is almost more beautiful than the story itself.

The following is an excerpt from Lacroix’s analysis that particularly touched my heart.

“When you tame something, the fox teaches, you create a bond of affection with it: ‘But if you tame me, we’ll need each other. You’ll be the only boy in the world for me. I’ll be the only fox in the world for you…” Things become special to us when we’ve invested in them, when we’ve take the time to single them out, rescued them from the anonymity that comes of being one of the large number. And this is how something leaves its mark on us, beaks up the monotony of time, and gives meaning to our existence. To learn about friendship is to learn a sort of slow, choreographed dance. Finally, the fox delivers its biggest secret: ‘Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.’ And anyone able to see through this invisibility to the underlying bond that gives meaning to things will be the richer.” - 177

I recently found myself in a difficult situation with a friend of a couple months. I was advised by many others to cut this person out of my life, but despite what happened, I found this task to be very difficult. When I read this passage, I now believe it is because we have “tamed” each other. Although what happened will forever change our relationship, the investment into our friendship keeps me from cutting this friend completely from my life.

In The Little Prince, the fox knew that he would not be able to be with the little prince forever, yet he still insisted that he be tamed by the prince. He believes that that although he will be sad when the prince is gone, he would rather find meaning in the world when he is reminded of the prince than to not have those experiences at all. Although in my situation with my friend, I cannot say that I am glad what happened did happen, I know these experiences with this person have helped me learn and grow and changed how I view certain aspects of the world, just like the fox when he was tamed.

The story itself would earn 5 stars from me. However, the bonus content, while enlightening, was sometimes superfluous. I would recommend the story to EVERYONE.