When Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s short “conte” Le Petit Prince was published in the mid nineteen forties, many critics opined that it was a good children’s book, and a quaint distraction from the writer’s more serious writings like Courrier Sud and Terre des Hommes. Even in 1966, the French essayist Gaëtan Picon declared that Le Petit Prince was “un conte charmant” (83) and nothing more. Yet, more than seventy years after its publication, this philosophical fablehas become one of the most beloved and admired books in the French literary canon. Translated in over two hundred and fifty languages – including Latin and braille – it is placed on the list of all best-selling books ever published in
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Citation: Tirven-Gadum, Vina. "Le Petit Prince". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 August 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16832, accessed 21 November 2024.]
