4.40

5

May 02, 2010

*** For those who somehow have no idea about what happens in The Little Prince or cannot figure it out at a reasonable spot in the book, here is a warning - THERE WILL BE, as much as I hate applying this term to this incredibly famous classic that does not rely on Aha! moments to keep the readers' attention, SPOILERS! ****


-----------


'You do understand that the Little Prince died?' my mother asked as carefully and gently as only adults who know that loss of innocence can be crushing but is
*** For those who somehow have no idea about what happens in The Little Prince or cannot figure it out at a reasonable spot in the book, here is a warning - THERE WILL BE, as much as I hate applying this term to this incredibly famous classic that does not rely on Aha! moments to keep the readers' attention, SPOILERS! ****


-----------


'You do understand that the Little Prince died?' my mother asked as carefully and gently as only adults who know that loss of innocence can be crushing but is brutally necessary can do.

'No, he didn't. He went back to his home planet and that stupid rose. It says so right here,' I replied with the comforting stubbornness of an eight-year-old.

Later that night, I quietly reread the book and the sad truth clicked, and so did the belated thought that for all the gentle berating of adults in it, this strange and beautiful book was written by one of them and definitely for them, and not for me, and by luring me in with the beautiful pictures it pushed me just a bit further on the inevitable road to adulthood.

Or so I see now.

Back then, I decided to read the author's biography instead as a distraction from the thoughts that were trying to be a bit more grown-up than my heart cared for - I was the odd kid of a literature teacher mother, after all - just to learn that just after writing this book, Antoine de Saint Exupery died when flying his plane in a war to liberate his country, killed by adults who played a game of war, too dangerous and cruel. And that finally made me cry.

And then I went back to the simple security of childhood.




Then I grew up, inevitably, like most of us do. I learned to do my fair share of 'matters of consequence'. I learned the painful understanding of why certain vain but naive roses can hold such sad power over our hearts. I learned the comfort and longing of nostalgia, the fear of the crushing burden of loneliness, the understanding of fragile beauty of the world that can be so easily taken away at any moment. I became a grown-up, and I have to learn to reconcile my inner child with my outer age. "In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them." Now, reading this intensely lyrical and mesmerizing book written by an ailing middle-aged adult far away from the country he loved in the middle of war-torn years, I am confronted with emotions that ruthlessly hurt, hidden in the deceiving simplicity of a (supposedly) children's story just like an elephant was hidden inside a boa constrictor - or was it simply a hat all along? - in the opening paragraphs of this book. I sigh and tear up, and try to resist the urge to pick up the golden-haired child that never stopped until he got answers to his questions and carry him away into safety. But I can't. Because if I do so, there will never be 500 billion bells in the stars, and we will never wonder whether the rose is still alive - and it needs to be, because we are responsible for those we have tamed. "But I was not reassured. I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed." This is not a book for children. It's for adults who remember being children and feel nostalgia for the simple comfort of childhood innocence but know they can never go back to it. Because they have met their Roses, and Foxes, and drank from a well with a rusty handle in the desert, and learned that a few thorns may not stand against the claws of a tiger. Unlike the Little Prince, they can no longer go back - but they can look at the night starry sky and laugh, and imagine that they hear an answering clear laughter. "In certain more important details I shall make mistakes, also. But that is something that will not be my fault. My friend never explained anything to me. He thought, perhaps, that I was like himself. But I, alas, do not know how to see sheep through t he walls of boxes. Perhaps I am a little like the grown-ups. I have had to grow old."



'What makes the desert beautiful,' said the little prince, 'is that somewhere it hides a well.' ...more

5

Dec 20, 2008

The next asteroid the Little Prince came to was inhabited by a Quiz Addict. He sat hunched in front of his laptop, and barely looked up when the Little Prince greeted him. There was nowhere else to sit, since the whole asteroid was covered in books.

"Good morning!" said the Little Prince.

"I'm sorry, I don't have time to talk to you," said the Quiz Addict. "I am very busy. Wait. In Twilight, what color was Edward's car?"

"I don't know," said the Little Prince. "I have never read this book Twilight The next asteroid the Little Prince came to was inhabited by a Quiz Addict. He sat hunched in front of his laptop, and barely looked up when the Little Prince greeted him. There was nowhere else to sit, since the whole asteroid was covered in books.

"Good morning!" said the Little Prince.

"I'm sorry, I don't have time to talk to you," said the Quiz Addict. "I am very busy. Wait. In Twilight, what color was Edward's car?"

"I don't know," said the Little Prince. "I have never read this book Twilight."

"I think it was blue," said the man. "Damn! I was wrong. Silver. In Twilight, who joined the Cullen family first?"

"I told you," said the Little Prince, "that I haven't read this book. But it must be an interesting book if you answer questions about it all day long. I would very much like to read it."

"It is the stupidest book ever written!" said the man.

"Then why do you answer questions about it all day long?" asked the Little Prince.

"Because if I don't," sighed the man, "then my friend on asteroid B451 will get ahead of me. "He has read the whole series. Luckily, he hasn't read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

"When you have finished the Quiz," asked the Little Prince, "I hope you will be able to read some of these books you have around you? I notice that you have had Atonement on your to-read list for the last six months."

"It is a Never-Ending Quiz," answered the man. "In Twilight, what color was Edward's car?"

"I believe you said silver?" answered the Little Prince politely.

"Thank you," muttered the man. "Yes! You were right. I should have known that."

"I'm sorry, I must be going," said the Little Prince. And he went on his way, thinking that grown-ups were very, very, very strange.
...more

5

Apr 29, 2008

We are all children in adult bodies. Yes we are, don't think we aren't for one moment. The fact that we WERE, indeed, children, is a huge part of each of us. It is possible to shed a few appreciative tears on every page of this book if you entertain the thought that the pilot IS The Little Prince. Maybe you won't think that--maybe you'll have your own take on the book---that's the magic about it. This book is translated to English from French. If you understand and/or appreciate French, the We are all children in adult bodies. Yes we are, don't think we aren't for one moment. The fact that we WERE, indeed, children, is a huge part of each of us. It is possible to shed a few appreciative tears on every page of this book if you entertain the thought that the pilot IS The Little Prince. Maybe you won't think that--maybe you'll have your own take on the book---that's the magic about it. This book is translated to English from French. If you understand and/or appreciate French, the deliciousness of that fact can affect you in addition to the sweet storyline itself. The book won't even take you a whole day to read. Consider honoring the Little You that still remains, and resides within you, and read this salute to childhood, to innocence, and to you. It just takes a 'Little' imagination and bravery. ...more

5

Apr 28, 2008

574. Le Petit Prince = The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Prince (French: Le Petit Prince), first published in 1943, is a novella, the most famous work of French aristocrat, writer, poet, and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
The Little Prince is a poetic tale, with watercolour illustrations by the author, in which a pilot stranded in the desert meets a young prince visiting Earth from a tiny asteroid. The story is philosophical and includes social criticism of the 574. Le Petit Prince = The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Prince (French: Le Petit Prince), first published in 1943, is a novella, the most famous work of French aristocrat, writer, poet, and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
The Little Prince is a poetic tale, with watercolour illustrations by the author, in which a pilot stranded in the desert meets a young prince visiting Earth from a tiny asteroid. The story is philosophical and includes social criticism of the adult world. It was written during a period when Saint-Exupéry fled to North America subsequent to the Fall of France during the Second World War, witnessed first hand by the author and captured in his memoir Flight to Arras. The adult fable, according to one review, is actually "...an allegory of Saint-Exupéry's own life—his search for childhood certainties and interior peace, his mysticism, his belief in human courage and brotherhood, and his deep love for his wife Consuelo but also an allusion to the tortured nature of their relationship."
عنوانها: شازده کوچولو؛ مسافر کوچولو، شهریار کوچولو و عنوانهای دیگر - آنتوان دو سنت اگزوپری (امیرکبیر و ...) ادبیات؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: در ماه می سال 1982 میلادی، سال 1994؛ سال 2001 میلادی و ماه نوامبر سال 2006 میلادی
با این عنوانها چاپ شده است: شازاده‌ بچکۆله‌ - مهتاب حسینی در 100 ص؛ ش‍ازاده‌ چ‍ک‍ول‍ه‌ - کردی مترجم مصطفی ایلخانی زاده در 154 ص؛ با همین عنوان ترجمه آرش امجدی در 136 ص؛ با همین عنوان وهاب جیهانی در 119 ص؛ شازده وه شله - کردی با ترجمه کورش امینی در 96 ص؛ شازایه توچگه - کردی ترجمه محسن امینی در 127 ص؛ شازده چکول - کردی میلاد ملایی در 54 ص؛ شازده کوچولو مترجمها: شورا پیرزاده در 99 ص؛ محمد قاضی در 113 ص بیش از شصت چاپ دارد؛ ابوالحسن نجفی در 117 ص؛ بابک اندیشه در 106 ص؛ احمد شاملو در 103 ص بارها چاپ شده؛ فریده مهدوی دامغانی در 316 ص؛ مصطفی رحماندوست در 127 ص ده بار چاپ شده؛ اصغر رستگار در 101 ص؛ دل آرا قهرمان در 96 ص؛ حسین جاوید در 120 ص؛ ایرج انور در 140 ص؛ سحر جعفری صرافی در 160 ص؛ مهرداد انتظاری در 87 ص؛ کاوه میرعباسی در 112 ص؛ رضا خاکیانی در 110 ص؛ فرزام حبیبی اصفهانی در 112 ص؛ مرتضی سعیدی در 120 ص؛ مجتبی پایدار در 119 ص؛ رضا زارع در 120 ص؛ پرویز شهدی در 128 ص؛ محمدرضا صامتی در 112 ص؛ محمدعلی اخوان در 105 ص؛ جمشید بهرامیان در 148 ص؛ هانیه فهیمی در 120 ص؛ رامسس بصیر در 104 ص؛ سمانه رضائیان در 104 ص؛ غلامرضا یاسی پور در 96 ص؛ مریم صبوری در 192 ص؛ حسین غیوری در 170 ص؛ مهسا حمیدیان در 51 ص؛ میلاد یداللهی در 102 ص؛ مهری محمدی مقدم در 96 ص؛ زهرا تیرانی در 103 ص؛ لیلاسادات محمودی در 164 ص؛ محمدجواد انتظاری در 120 ص؛ غزاله ابراهیمی در 128 ص؛ مریم خرازیان در 120 ص؛ مدیا کاشیگر در 136 ص؛ محمدعلی عزیزی در 152 ص؛ الهام ذوالقدر در 189 ص؛ فاطمه نظرآهاری در 136 ص؛ زهره مستی در 128 ص؛ حمیدرضا غیوری در 98 ص؛ اسدالله غفوری ثانی در 116 ص؛ شادی ابطحی در 152 ص؛ محمدتقی بهرامی حران در 104 ص؛ محمدرضا صامتی در 176 ص؛ محمدرضا محمدحسینی در 112 ص؛ فهیمه شهرابی فراهانی در 131 ص؛ بهاره عزیزی در 120 ص؛ مولود محمدی در 143 ص؛ شهناز مجیدی در 184 ص؛ هانیه حق نبی مطلق در 111 ص؛ سعید هاشمی در 96 ص؛ سمانه فلاح در 96 ص؛ حمیدرضا زین الدین در 120 ص؛ شبنم اقبال زاده در 88 ص؛ رضا طاهری در 72 ص؛ فاطمه امینی در 220 ص؛ محمد مجلسی 142 ص؛ بهزاد بیگی در 112 ص؛ با عنوان: شاهزاده سرزمین عشق، چیستا یثربی در 54 ص؛ با عنوان: شاهزاده کوچک: مریم شریف در 112 ص؛ هرمز ریاحی در 99 ص؛ با عنوان: شاهزاده کوچولو؛ شاهین فولادی در 120 ص؛ علی شکرالهی در 148 ص؛ با عنوان: شهریار کوچولو: احمد شاملو در 103 ص؛ با عنوان: مسافر کوچولو: فائزه سرمدی در 58 ص؛ علی محمدپور در 12 م؛ با عنوان: نمایشنامه شازده کوچولو: عباس جوانمرد در 97 ص؛ با عنوان: شازا بووچکه‌ له‮‬‏‫: رضوان متوسل؛
موسسه انتشارات نگاه، چاپ دوم این اثر را با عنوان: «شهریار کوچولو» و برگردان روانشاد: احمد شاملو در سال 1373 هجری خورشیدی منتشر کرده است
نقل از متن: ...؛ اما سرانجام، پس از مدت­ها راه ­رفتن در میان ریگ­ها و صخره ها و برف­ها، به جاده­ ای برخورد. و هر جاده ­ای یکراست می­رود سراغ آدم­ها. گفت: سلام. و مخاطبش: گلستان پر گلی بود. گل­ها گفتند: سلام. شهریار کوچولو رفت تو بحرشان. همه ­شان عین گل خودش بودند. حیرت­زده، ازشان پرسید: شماها کی هستید؟ گفتند: ما گل سرخیم. آهی کشید و سخت احساس شوربختی کرد. گل­ش به او گفته بود که از نوع او، تو تمام عالم تنها همان یکی هست، و حالا پنج­هزارتا گل، همه مثل هم، فقط در یک گلستان. فکر کرد: اگر گل من این را می­دید، بدجوری از رو می­رفت، پشت سر هم بنا می­کرد سرفه کردن، و برای این­که از هو شدن فرار کند، خودش را به مردن می­زد. و من هم مجبور می­شدم وانمود کنم به پرستاریش، وگرنه برای سرشکسته کردن من هم که شده بود، راستی راستی می­مرد. و باز تو دلش گفت: مرا باش که با یک گل، خودم را دولتمند عالم خیال می­کردم، در صورتی­که آنچه دارم، یک گل معمولی ست. با آن گل، و آن سه تا آتشفشانی که تا سر زانوم هستند، و شاید هم یکی­شان تا ابد خاموش بماند، شهریار چندان پرشوکتی به حساب نمی­آیم. افتاد رو سبزه­ ها، و زد زیر گریه. آن وقت بود، که سر و کله ­ی روباه پیدا شد. روباه گفت: سلام. شهریار کوچولو برگشت، اما کسی را ندید. با وجود این با ادب تمام گفت: سلام. صدا گفت: من اینجام، زیر درخت سیب. شهریار کوچولو گفت: کی هستی تو؟ عجب خوشگلی. روباه گفت: یک روباهم من. شهریار کوچولو گفت: بیا با من بازی کن. نمی­دانی چقدر دلم گرفته. روباه گفت: نمی­توانم بات بازی کنم. هنوز اهلی­ ام نکرده ­اند آخر. شهریار کوچولو آهی کشید و گفت: معذرت می­خواهم. اما فکری کرد و پرسید: اهلی کردن یعنی چه؟ روباه گفت: تو اهل اینجا نیستی. پی چی می­گردی؟ شهریار کوچولو گفت: پی آدم­ها می­گردم. نگفتی اهلی کردن یعنی چه؟ روباه گفت: آدم­ها تفنگ دارند، و شکار می­کنند. اینش اسباب دلخوری است. اما مرغ و ماکیان هم پرورش می­دهند، و خیرشان فقط همین است. تو پی مرغ می­گردی؟ شهریار کوچولو گفت: نه، پی دوست می­گردم. اهلی کردن یعنی چه؟ روباه گفت: چیزیست، که پاک فراموش شده. معنی­ اش ایجاد علاقه کردن است. ایجاد علاقه کردن؟ روباه گفت: معلوم است. تو الان واسه من یک پسربچه ­ای، مثل صدهزار پسربچه ­ی دیگر. نه من، هیچ احتیاجی به تو دارم، نه تو هیچ احتیاجی به من. من هم برای تو یک روباهم، مثل صدهزار روباه دیگر. اما اگر منو اهلی کردی، هر دوتامان به هم احتیاج پیدا می­کنیم. تو برای من، میان همه­ ی عالم، موجود یگانه ­ای می­شوی، و من برای تو. شهریار کوچولو گفت: کم ­کم دارد دستگیرم می­شود. یک گلی هست، که گمانم مرا اهلی کرده باشد. روباه گفت: بعید نیست. رو این کره ی زمین، هزار جور چیز می­شود دید. شهریار کوچولو گفت: اوه نه. آن گل روی کره ی زمین نیست. روباه انگار، حسابی حیرت کرده بود، و گفت: رو یک سیاره ی دیگر است؟ _ آره. _ تو آن سیاره شکارچی هم هست؟ _ نه. _ محشر است، مرغ و ماکیان چطور؟ _نه. روباه آه کشان گفت: همیشه ی خدا یک پای بساط لنگ است. اما پی حرفش را گرفت، و گفت: زندگی یکنواختی دارم. من مرغ­ها را شکار می­کنم، آدم­ها مرا. همه ­ی مرغ­ها عین هم اند، همه ی آدم­ها هم عین هم اند. این وضع یک­خرده خلقم را تنگ می­کند. اما اگر تو منو اهلی کنی، انگار که زندگیم را چراغان کرده باشی. آنوقت صدای پایی را می­شناسم، که با هر صدای پای دیگری، فرق داشته می­کند. صدای پای دیگران مرا وادار می­کند، تو هفت تا سوراخ قایم بشوم، اما صدای پای تو، مثل نغمه­ ای مرا از لانه ­ام می­کشد بیرون. تازه، نگاه کن آنجا، گندمزار را می­بینی؟ برای من که نان نمی­خورم، گندم چیز بی­فایده ­ای است. پس گندمزار هم مرا یاد چیزی نمی­اندازد. اسباب تأسف است. اما تو، موهایت رنگ طلا است. پس وقتی اهلی­ ام کردی، محشر می­شود. گندم که طلایی رنگ است، مرا به یاد تو می­اندازد، و صدای باد را هم، که تو گندمزار می­پیچد، دوست خواهم داشت. خاموش شد، و مدت درازی شهریار کوچولو را نگاه کرد. آن وقت گفت: اگر دلت می­خواهد منو اهلی کن. شهریار کوچولو جواب داد: دلم که خیلی می­خواهد، اما وقت چندانی ندارم. باید بروم دوستانی پیدا کنم، و از کلی چیزها سر درآرم. روباه گفت: آدم فقط از چیزهایی که اهلی می­کند می­تواند سر درآرد. آدم­ها دیگر برای سر درآوردن از چیزها وقت ندارند. همه چیز را همین جوری حاضر آماده، از دکان می­خرند. اما چون دکانی نیست که دوست معامله کند، آدم­ها مانده ­اند بی دوست. تو اگر دوست می­خواهی، خب منو اهلی کن. شهریار کوچولو پرسید: راهش چیست؟ روباه جواب داد: باید خیلی خیلی صبور باشی، اولش یک­خرده دورتر از من می­گیری اینجوری میان علف­ها می­نشینی. من زیرچشمی نگاهت می­کنم، و تو لام تا کام، هیچی نمی­گویی، چون سرچشمه ی همه ی سوء ­تفاهم­ها زیر سر زبان است. عوضش می­توانی هر روز، یک خرده نزدیک­تر بنشینی. فردای آنروز دوباره شهریار کوچولو آمد پیش روباه. روباه گفت: کاش سر همان ساعت دیروز آمده بودی. اگر مثلا سر ساعت چهار بعد از ظهر بیایی، من از ساعت سه، تو دلم قند آب می­شود، و هرچه ساعت جلوتر برود، بیشتر احساس شادی و خوشبختی می­کنم. ساعت چهار که شد، دلم بنا می­کند شورزدن، و نگران شدن. آنوقت است که قدر خوشبختی را می­فهمم. اما اگر تو هر وقت­ و بی­وقت بیایی، من از کجا بدانم چه ساعتی باید دلم را برای دیدارت آماده کنم؟ هر چیزی برای خودش رسم و رسومی دارد. شهریار کوچولو گفت: رسم و رسوم یعنی چه؟ روباه گفت: این هم از آن چیزهایی است، که پاک از خاطره ها رفته. این همان چیزیست که باعث می­شود، فلان روز با باقی روزها، و فلان ساعت، با باقی ساعت­ها، فرق کند. مثلا شکارچی­های ما، میانِ خودشان رسمی دارند، و آن اینست که پنجشنبه ها را، با دخترهای ده می­روند رقص. پس پنجشنبه ها، بره کشان من است. برای خودم گردش­ کنان می­روم تا دم موستان. حالا اگر شکارچی­ها وقت و بی­وقت می­رفتند رقص، همه ی روزها شبیه هم می­شد، و من بیچاره، دیگر فرصت و فراغتی نداشتم. به این ترتیب، شهریار کوچولو روباه را اهلی کرد. لحظه ی جدایی که نزدیک شد، روباه گفت: آخ. نمی­توانم جلو اشکم را بگیرم. شهریار کوچولو گفت: تقصیر خودت است. من که بدت را نخواستم، خودت خواستی اهلیت کنم. روباه گفت: همین طور است. شهریار کوچولو گفت: آخر اشکت دارد سرازیر می­شود. روباه گفت: همین طور است. شهریار کوچولو گفت: پس این ماجرا فایده ای به حال تو نداشته. روباه گفت: چرا، برای خاطر رنگ گندم. بعد گفت: برو یکبار دیگر گل­ها را ببین، تا بفهمی که گل تو، تو عالم تک است. برگشتنا با هم وداع می­کنیم، و من به عنوان هدیه رازی را به تو می­گویم. شهریار کوچولو، بار دیگر به تماشای گل­ها رفت، و به آن­ها گفت: شما سر سوزنی به گل من نمی­مانید، و هنوز هیچی نیستید. نه کسی شما را اهلی کرده، نه شما کسی را. درست همان جوری هستید، که روباه من بود: روباهی بود مثل صدهزار روباه دیگر. او را دوست خودم کردم، و حالا تو همه ی عالم تک است. گل­ها حسابی از رو رفتند. شهریار کوچولو، دوباره درآمد که: خوشگلید، اما خالی هستید. برایتان نمی­شود مرد. گفت ­و گو ندارد، که گل مرا هم فلان رهگذر، گلی می­بیند مثل شما. اما او، به تنهایی از همه ی شما سر است، چون فقط اوست که آبش داده ام، چون فقط اوست که زیر حبابش گذاشته ام، چون فقط اوست که با تجیر برایش حفاظ درست کرده ام، چون فقط اوست که حشراتش را کشته ام (جز دو سه تایی که می­بایست پروانه بشوند)، چون فقط اوست، که پای گله گذاری­ها و خودنمایی­ها، و حتا گاهی بغ­ کردن، و هیچی نگفتن­هایش نشسته ام، چون او گل من است. و برگشت پیش روباه. گفت: خدانگهدار. روباه گفت: خدانگهدار. و اما رازی که گفتم خیلی ساده است. جز با چشم دل، هیچی را چنانکه باید نمی­شود دید. نهاد و گوهر را، چشم سر نمی­بیند. شهریار کوچولو، برای آن که یادش بماند، تکرار کرد: نهاد و گوهر را چشم سر نمی­بیند. روباه گفت: ارزش گل تو، به قدری است، که پاش صرف کرده ای. شهریار کوچولو، برای آن که یادش بماند، تکرار کرد: ... به قدر عمری است که پاش صرف کرده ام. روباه گفت: آدم­ها این حقیقت را فراموش کرده اند، اما تو نباید فراموشش کنی. تو تا زنده ای، نسبت به آنیکه اهلی کرده ای، مسئولی. تو مسئول گلتی. شهریار کوچولو برای آنکه یادش بماند، تکرار کرد: من مسئول گلمم. پایان نقل. کنایه از: سیارک کوچک اگزوپری شاید همان خانه ی ایشان باشد و کنایه از گل سرخش در سیارک، همان همسر مهربانش، که در خانه است. پایان نقل. ا. شربیانی ...more

2

May 18, 2016

Great observations, but personally I think it's overrated. It practically begs the reader to come to the conclusion that if you don't "get it" it's your own fault because you're a "grown up, and only kids can see what matters." It's heavy handed, clumsily executed observations on what's important in life. It's not wrong by any means, but it's kind of pseudo-intellectualist.

I'm going to go with a literal interpretation of the plot, because it's more fun that way:

A man crashes his plane in the Great observations, but personally I think it's overrated. It practically begs the reader to come to the conclusion that if you don't "get it" it's your own fault because you're a "grown up, and only kids can see what matters." It's heavy handed, clumsily executed observations on what's important in life. It's not wrong by any means, but it's kind of pseudo-intellectualist.

I'm going to go with a literal interpretation of the plot, because it's more fun that way:

A man crashes his plane in the desert, hallucinates a small alien boy that teaches him philosophical lessons, invents a history for him, finds a well just in time to stave off dehydration, as he re-hydrates, his hallucinated alien friend kills himself and disappears, he fixes his plane and flies home and is sad about it, but feels blessed for the experience as it has changed him.


Ready for the moral? It's really simple:
"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important." Or in other words, spend your time developing relationships, don't worry so much about the things, they're not important, it's the time you spend and how you spend it that is.

That's a nice philosophy, I get it. ...more

5

Jul 20, 2016

'one sees clearly only with the heart.'

sometimes i fall into a mood where i am simply tired of life. where i just want to crawl under the duvet with a cup of tea, hug a book and never let go. 'the little prince' is that book for me. its a truly special treasure. its precious. its my rose.
___________________________________

«on ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur.»

parfois, je deviens fatigué de la vie. et je veux ramper sous la couette avec une tasse de thé, embrasser un livre et ne jamais lâcher. « 'one sees clearly only with the heart.'

sometimes i fall into a mood where i am simply tired of life. where i just want to crawl under the duvet with a cup of tea, hug a book and never let go. 'the little prince' is that book for me. its a truly special treasure. its precious. its my rose.
___________________________________

«on ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur.»

parfois, je deviens fatigué de la vie. et je veux ramper sous la couette avec une tasse de thé, embrasser un livre et ne jamais lâcher. «le petit prince» est ce livre pour moi. c'est un trésor spécial. c'est précieux. c'est ma rose.

↠ 5 stars ...more

5

Dec 15, 2016

So amazing. I can see many rereads of this in the years to come.

4

Jun 11, 2015

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

I remember, when I was little, I had this round CD case and it contained an audiobook. Now as a child I loved audiobooks, or someone reading stories to me. Still do today, actually. Anyway, the audiobook was titled The Little Prince, and I listened to it quite often. That, however, was at least 10 years ago, possibly more. So I decided that it was time for a reread. (I'm sorry to say that I cannot “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

I remember, when I was little, I had this round CD case and it contained an audiobook. Now as a child I loved audiobooks, or someone reading stories to me. Still do today, actually. Anyway, the audiobook was titled The Little Prince, and I listened to it quite often. That, however, was at least 10 years ago, possibly more. So I decided that it was time for a reread. (I'm sorry to say that I cannot find the CD anywhere. Maybe my mom gave it away.)

Rereading this brought up nostalgia and melancholia. This is a very cute, very sad book, and I don't like the ending very much. I don't understand why the Prince couldn't just fly back to his planet. (view spoiler)[You know, instead of dying. Or did he die? Didn't he? I think he just left his body behind and returned anyway. But still...why make it so sad when it was already sad enough? (hide spoiler)]

This is a beautiful tale of childhood, love and friendship. One that I wouldn't have wanted to miss.

Find more of my books on Instagram ...more

3

Aug 15, 2010

A "Daddy/Daughter nighttime reading hour" review

This was a toughy for me to review. I wasn't sure of the best perspective from which to provide comments so as to be of assistance to my fellow readers since this is a children's book (rather than YA which would be reviewed purely on its own merits). After a short session of "what should I do," I bravely decided to punt, figuring that there are already more than enough excellent reviews of this without my clogging up the cyber arteries with another A "Daddy/Daughter nighttime reading hour" review

This was a toughy for me to review. I wasn't sure of the best perspective from which to provide comments so as to be of assistance to my fellow readers since this is a children's book (rather than YA which would be reviewed purely on its own merits). After a short session of "what should I do," I bravely decided to punt, figuring that there are already more than enough excellent reviews of this without my clogging up the cyber arteries with another one. Therefore, I decided simply to share my experience of reading/listening to the book with my daughter along with a couple of thoughts on the concepts discussed in the story and hope that you can take something useful from it.

So as part of our nightly routine, my youngest daughter, Sydney, and I have daddy/princess read time. The other night, she and I listened to the audio version of The Little Prince while we read along with a copy of the book. As usual, it was an AMAZING experience. I am convinced that I learn more about the stories we read from her and her reactions to the narrative than she does from me...and I love it.

It's only a two hour audio (86 pages) and yet the two of us spent close to 4 hours listening and talking about the various chapters in the story (plus a brief 15 minute break for Mom to give her a bath while Dad helped big sister Kenzie with her math homework). Sydney had all kinds of questions (some just hysterically funny in how much sense they made from a kid-centric view of the world). We would stop the story after each planet or character to talk about what she thought the story meant and what messages the story was trying to deliver.
For those of you with children, you know how wonderful this can be and I was on the ninth cloud watching my little girl ponder over the book.

From this perspective, the story was perfect and deserves an easy 5 stars. However, since it's not very helpful to rate a book based on that kind of non-transferable experience, I didn't want to rely solely on that for its final rating.

After explaining to Syd the goodreads star system, she would give this 4 stars as she really liked the British accent of the narrator and the crazy adventures the Prince experiences on the various planets. BTW, from Sydney's point of view, 4 stars is the absolute ceiling for any book dealing with ickies like boys and this would easily earn 5 stars had the story been called the "The Little Princess." Princes are still second class citizens at this stage in her life...and Dad is oh, oh, OH so perfectly fine with that).

For me, looking at this sans Sydney, I liked it but was not smitten with it enough to go higher than 3 stars. The story is well written and has something to say about the human condition and how people spend too much of their lives focusing on the wrong things and not enough time enjoying where they are. A nice message and one I was happy to expose Sydney to, but I was not always enamored with the path the author took to get there.

Overall, a good read on its own and a potentially a great experience if shared with your children...as most things in life are.

3.5 stars. ...more

5

Jul 12, 2009

574. Le Petit Prince = The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Princeis a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the US by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943. The narrator begins with a discussion on the nature of grown-ups and their inability to perceive especially important things. As a test to determine if a grown-up is enlightened and like a child, he shows them a picture that he drew at the 574. Le Petit Prince = The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Princeis a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the US by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943. The narrator begins with a discussion on the nature of grown-ups and their inability to perceive especially important things. As a test to determine if a grown-up is enlightened and like a child, he shows them a picture that he drew at the age of 6 depicting a snake which has eaten an elephant. The grown-ups always reply that the picture depicts a hat, and so he knows to talk of "reasonable" things to them, rather than fanciful. The narrator becomes a pilot, and, one day, his plane crashes in the Sahara, far from civilization. He has 8 days of water supply and must fix his airplane to be saved. In the middle of the desert, the narrator is unexpectedly greeted by a young boy who is nicknamed as "the little prince". The prince has golden hair, a lovable laugh, and will repeat questions until they are answered. Upon encountering the narrator, the little prince asks him to draw a sheep. The narrator first shows him his old picture of the elephant inside the snake, which, to the narrator's surprise, the prince interprets correctly. After three failed attempts at drawing a sheep, the frustrated narrator simply draws a box (crate), claiming that the sheep the prince wants is inside the box. Again, to the narrator's surprise, the prince exclaims that this was exactly the drawing he wanted. Over the course of eight days stranded in the desert, while the narrator attempts to repair his plane, the little prince recounts the story of his life. ...

عنوانها: شازده کوچولو؛ مسافر کوچولو، شهریار کوچولو و عنوانهای دیگر - آنتوان دو سنت اگزوپری (امیرکبیر و ...) ادبیات، تاریخ نخستین خوانش: سال 1982 میلادی، تاریخ خوانش این نسخه: ماه نوامبر سال 2006 میلادی

با این عنوانها چاپ شده است: شازاده‌ بچکۆله‌ - مهتاب حسینی در 100 ص؛ ش‍ازاده‌ چ‍ک‍ول‍ه‌ - کردی مترجم مصطفی ایلخانی زاده در 154 ص؛ با همین عنوان ترجمه آرش امجدی در 136 ص؛ با همین عنوان وهاب جیهانی در 119 ص؛ شازده وه شله - کردی با ترجمه کورش امینی در 96 ص؛ شازایه توچگه - کردی ترجمه محسن امینی در 127 ص؛ شازده چکول - کردی میلاد ملایی در 54 ص؛ شازده کوچولو مترجم ها: شورا پیرزاده در 99 ص؛ محمد قاضی در 113 ص بیش از شصت چاپ دارد؛ ترجمه ابوالحسن نجفی در 117 ص؛ بابک اندیشه در 106 ص؛ احمد شاملو در 103 ص بارها چاپ شده؛ فریده مهدوی دامغانی در 316 ص؛ مصطفی رحماندوست در 127 ص ده بار چاپ شده؛ اصغر رستگار در 101 ص؛ دل آرا قهرمان در 96 ص؛ حسین جاوید در 120 ص؛ ایرج انور در 140 ص؛ سحر جعفری صرافی در 160 ص؛ مهرداد انتظاری در 87 ص؛ کاوه میرعباسی در 112 ص؛ رضا خاکیانی در 110 ص؛ فرزام حبیبی اصفهانی در 112 ص؛ مرتضی سعیدی در 120 ص؛ مجتبی پایدار در 119 ص؛ رضا زارع در 120 ص؛ پرویز شهدی در 128 ص؛ محمدرضا صامتی در 112 ص؛ محمدعلی اخوان در 105 ص؛ جمشید بهرامیان در 148 ص؛ هانیه فهیمی در 120 ص؛ رامسس بصیر در 104 ص؛ سمانه رضائیان در 104 ص؛ غلامرضا یاسی پور در 96 ص؛ مریم صبوری در 192 ص؛ حسین غیوری در 170 ص؛ مهسا حمیدیان در 51 ص؛ میلاد یداللهی در 102 ص؛ مهری محمدی مقدم در 96 ص؛ زهرا تیرانی در 103 ص؛ لیلاسادات محمودی در 164 ص؛ محمدجواد انتظاری در 120 ص؛ غزاله ابراهیمی در 128 ص؛ مریم خرازیان در 120 ص؛ مدیا کاشیگر در 136 ص؛ محمدعلی عزیزی در 152 ص؛ الهام ذوالقدر در 189 ص؛ فاطمه نظرآهاری در 136 ص؛ زهره مستی در 128 ص؛ حمیدرضا غیوری در 98 ص؛ اسدالله غفوری ثانی در 116 ص؛ شادی ابطحی در 152 ص؛ محمدتقی بهرامی حران در 104 ص؛ محمدرضا صامتی در 176 ص؛ محمدرضا محمدحسینی در 112 ص؛ فهیمه شهرابی فراهانی در 131 ص؛ بهاره عزیزی در 120 ص؛ مولود محمدی در 143 ص؛ شهناز مجیدی در 184 ص؛ هانیه حق نبی مطلق در 111 ص؛ سعید هاشمی در 96 ص؛ سمانه فلاح در 96 ص؛ حمیدرضا زین الدین در 120 ص؛ شبنم اقبال زاده در 88 ص؛ رضا طاهری در 72 ص؛ فاطمه امینی در 220 ص؛ محمد مجلسی 142 ص؛ بهزاد بیگی در 112 ص؛ با عنوان: شاهزاده سرزمین عشق، چیستا یثربی در 54 ص؛ با عنوان: شاهزاده کوچک: مریم شریف در 112 ص؛ هرمز ریاحی در 99 ص؛ با عنوان: شاهزاده کوچولو؛ شاهین فولادی در 120 ص؛ علی شکرالهی در 148 ص؛ با عنوان: شهریار کوچولو: احمد شاملو در 103 ص؛ با عنوان: مسافر کوچولو: فائزه سرمدی در 58 ص؛ علی محمدپور در 12 م؛ با عنوان نمایشنامه شازده کوچولو: عباس جوانمرد در 97 ص؛ با عنوان : شازا بووچکه‌له‮‬‏‫: رضوان متوسل؛

موسسه انتشارات نگاه، چاپ دوم این اثر را با نام «شهریار کوچولو» و برگردان روانشاد «احمد شاملو» در سال 1373 هجری خورشیدی منتشر کرده است
متن: ...؛ اما سرانجام، پس از مدت­ها راه ­رفتن از میان ریگ­ها و صخره ها و برف­ها به جاده­ ای برخورد و هر جاده ­ای یکراست می­رود سراغ آدم­ها. گفت: سلام. و مخاطبش گلستان پر گلی بود. گل­ها گفتند: سلام. شهریار کوچولو رفت تو بحرشان. همه ­شان عین گل خودش بودند. حیرت­زده، ازشان پرسید: شماها کی هستید؟ گفتند: ما گل سرخیم. آهی کشید و سخت احساس شوربختی کرد. گل­ش به او گفته بود که از نوع او، تو تمام عالم فقط همان یکی هست، و حالا پنج­هزارتا گل، همه مثل هم، فقط تو یک گلستان. فکر کرد: اگر گل من این را می­دید بدجوری از رو می­رفت. پشت سر هم بنا می­کرد سرفه کردن، و برای این­که از هوشدن فرار کند، خودش را به مردن می­زد، و من هم مجبور می­شدم وانمود کنم به پرستاریش، وگرنه برای سرشکسته کردن من هم شده بود راستی راستی می­مرد. و باز تو دلش گفت: مرا باش که فقط با یک گل، خودم را دولتمند عالم خیال می­کردم، در صورتی­که آنچه دارم فقط یک گل معمولی است. با آن گل و آن سه تا آتشفشانی که تا سر زانومند و شاید هم یکی­شان تا ابد خاموش بماند، شهریار چندان پرشوکتی به حساب نمی­آیم. افتاد رو سبزه­ ها و زد زیر گریه. آن وقت بود که سر و کله ­ی روباه پیدا شد. روباه گفت: سلام. شهریار کوچولو برگشت، اما کسی را ندید. با وجود این با ادب تمام گفت: سلام. صدا گفت: من اینجام، زیر درخت سیب. شهریار کوچولو گفت: کی هستی تو؟ عجب خوشگلی. روباه گفت: یک روباهم من. شهریار کوچولو گفت: بیا با من بازی کن. نمی­دانی چه قدر دلم گرفته. روباه گفت: نمی­توانم بات بازی کنم. هنوز اهلی­ ام نکرده ­اند آخر. شهریار کوچولو آهی کشید و گفت: معذرت می­خواهم. اما فکری کرد و پرسید: اهلی کردن یعنی چه؟ روباه گفت: تو اهل اینجا نیستی. پی چی می­گردی؟ شهریار کوچولو گفت: پی آدم­ها می­گردم. نگفتی اهلی کردن یعنی چه؟ روباه گفت: آدم­ها تفنگ دارند و شکار می­کنند. اینش اسباب دلخوری است. اما مرغ و ماکیان هم پرورش می­دهند و خیرشان فقط همین است. تو پی مرغ می­گردی؟ شهریار کوچولو گفت: نه، پی دوست می­گردم. اهلی کردن یعنی چه؟ روباه گفت: چیزی است که پاک فراموش شده. معنی­ اش ایجاد علاقه کردن است. ایجاد علاقه کردن؟ روباه گفت: معلوم است. تو الان واسه من یک پسربچه ­ای مثل صدهزار پسربچه ­ی دیگر. نه من هیچ احتیاجی به تو دارم نه تو هیچ احتیاجی به من. من هم برای تو یک روباهم مثل صدهزار روباه دیگر. اما اگر منو اهلی کردی هردوتامان به هم احتیاج پیدا می­کنیم. تو برای من میان همه­ ی عالم موجود یگانه ­ای می­شوی و من برای تو. شهریار کوچولو گفت: کم ­کم دارد دستگیرم می­شود. یک گلی هست که گمانم مرا اهلی کرده باشد. روباه گفت: بعید نیست. رو این کره زمین هزار جور چیز می­شود دید. شهریار کوچولو گفت: اوه نه. آن روی کره زمین نیست. روباه انگار حسابی حیرت کرده بود و گفت: رو یک سیاره دیگر است؟ _ آره. _ تو آن سیاره شکارچی هم هست؟ _ نه. _ محشر است مرغ و ماکیان چطور؟ _نه. روباه آه کشان گفت: همیشه خدا یک پای بساط لنگ است. اما پی حرفش را گرفت و گفت: زندگی یکنواختی دارم. من مرغ­ها را شکار می­کنم، آدم­ها مرا. همه ­ی مرغ­ها عین هم اند، همه ی آدم­ها هم عین هم اند . این وضع یک­خرده خلقم را تنگ می­کند. اما اگر تو منو اهلی کنی، انگار که زندگیم را چراغان کرده باشی. آن وقت صدای پایی را می­شناسم که با هر صدای پای دیگری فرق داشته می­کند. صدای پای دیگران مرا وادار می­کند تو هفت تا سوراخ قایم بشوم، اما صدای پای تو، مثل نغمه­ ای مرا از لانه ­ام می­کشد بیرون. تازه، نگاه کن آنجا، گندمزار را می­بینی؟ برای من که نان نمی­خورم گندم چیز بی ­فایده ­ای است. پس گندمزار هم مرا یاد چیزی نمی­اندازد. اسباب تأسف است. اما تو، موهایت رنگ طلا است. پس وقتی اهلی­ ام کردی محشر می­شود. گندم که طلایی رنگ است، مرا به یاد تو می­اندازد، و صدای باد را هم که تو گندمزار می­پیچد دوست خواهم داشت. خاموش شد و مدت درازی شهریار کوچولو را نگاه کرد. آن وقت گفت: اگر دلت می­خواهد منو اهلی کن. شهریار کوچولو جواب داد: دلم که خیلی می­خواهد، اما وقت چندانی ندارم. باید بروم دوستانی پیدا کنم و از کلی چیزها سر درآرم. روباه گفت: آدم فقط از چیزهایی که اهلی می­کند می­تواند سر درآرد. آدم­ها دیگر برای سر درآوردن از چیزها وقت ندارند. همه چیز را همین جوری حاضر آماده از دکان می­خرند. اما چون دکانی نیست که دوست معامله کند، آدم­ها مانده ­اند بی دوست. تو اگر دوست می­خواهی خب منو اهلی کن. شهریار کوچولو پرسید: راهش چیست؟ روباه جواب داد: باید خیلی خیلی صبور باشی، اولش یک­خرده دورتر از من می­گیری این جوری میان علف­ها می­نشینی. من زیرچشمی نگاهت می­کنم و تو لام تا کام هیچی نمی­گویی، چون سرچشمه همه ی سوء­تفاهم­ها زیر سر زبان است. عوضش می­توانی هر روز یک خرده نزدیک­تر بنشینی. فردای آن روز دوباره شهریار کوچولو آمد پیش روباه. روباه گفت: کاش سر همان ساعت دیروز آمده بودی. اگر مثلا سر ساعت چهار بعد از ظهر بیایی، من از ساعت سه تو دلم قند آب می­شود، و هرچه ساعت جلوتر برود بیشتر احساس شادی و خوشبختی می­کنم. ساعت چهار که شد دلم بنا می­کند شورزدن و نگران شدن. آن وقت است که قدر خوشبختی را می­فهمم. اما اگر تو هر وقت­ و بی­وقت بیایی من از کجا بدانم چه ساعتی باید دلم را برای دیدارت آماده کنم؟ هر چیزی برای خودش رسم و رسومی دارد. شهریار کوچولو گفت: رسم و رسوم یعنی چه؟ روباه گفت: این هم از آن چیزهایی است که پاک از خاطره ها رفته. این همان چیزی است که باعث می­شود فلان روز با باقی روزها و فلان ساعت با باقی ساعت­ها فرق کند. مثلا شکارچی­های ما میانِ خودشان رسمی دارند و آن اینست که پنجشنبه ها را با دخترهای ده می­روند رقص. پس پنجشنبه ها بره کشان من است. برای خودم گردش­ کنان می­روم تا دم موستان. حالا اگر شکارچی­ها وقت و بی­وقت می­رفتند رقص، همه ی روزهای شبیه هم می­شد و من بیچاره دیگر فرصت و فراغتی نداشتم. به این ترتیب شهریار کوچولو روباه را اهلی کرد. لحظه ی جدایی که نزدیک شد روباه گفت: آخ. نمی­توانم جلو اشکم را بگیرم. شهریار کوچولو گفت: تقصیر خودت است. من که بدت را نخواستم، خودت خواستی اهلی ات کنم. روباه گفت: همین طور است. شهریار کوچولو گفت: آخر اشکت دارد سرازیر می­شود. روباه گفت: همین طور است. شهریار کوچولو گفت: پس این ماجرا فایده ای به حال تو نداشته. روباه گفت: چرا، برای خاطر رنگ گندم. بعد گفت: برو یک بار دیگر گل­ها را ببین تا بفهمی که گل تو، تو عالم تک است. برگشتنا با هم وداع می­کنیم، و من به عنوان هدیه رازی را به تو می­گویم. شهریار کوچولو بار دیگر به تماشای گل­ها رفت و به آن­ها گفت: شما سر سوزنی به گل من نمی­مانید و هنوز هیچی نیستید. نه کسی شما را اهلی کرده، نه شما کسی را. درست همان جوری هستید که روباه من بود: روباهی بود مثل صدهزار روباه دیگر. او را دوست خودم کردم و حالا تو همه ی عالم تک است. گل­ها حسابی از رو رفتند. شهریار کوچولو دوباره درآمد که: خوشگلید اما خالی هستید. برایتان نمی­شود مرد. گفت ­و گو ندارد که گل مرا هم فلان رهگذر، گلی می­بیند مثل شما. اما او به تنهایی از همه ی شما سر است، چون فقط اوست که آبش داده ام، چون فقط اوست که زیر حبابش گذاشته ام، چون فقط اوست که با تجیر برایش حفاظ درست کرده ام، چون فقط اوست که حشراتش را کشته ام (جز دو سه تایی که می­بایست پروانه بشوند)، چون فقط اوست که پای گله گذاری­ها و خودنمایی­ها و حتا گاهی بغ­ کردن و هیچی نگفتن­هایش نشسته ام، چون او گل من است. و برگشت پیش روباه. گفت : خدانگهدار. روباه گفت: خدانگهدار. و اما رازی که گفتم خیلی ساده است. جز با چشم دل هیچی را چنان که باید نمی­شود دید. نهاد و گوهر را چشم سر نمی­بیند. شهریار کوچولو برای آن که یادش بماند، تکرار کرد: نهاد و گوهر را چشم سر نمی­بیند. روباه گفت: ارزش گل تو به قدری است که پاش صرف کرده ای. شهریار کوچولو برای آن که یادش بماند، تکرار کرد: ... به قدر عمری است که پاش صرف کرده ام. روباه گفت: آدم­ها این حقیقت را فراموش کرده اند، اما تو نباید فراموشش کنی. تو تا زنده ای نسبت به آنی که اهلی کرده ای، مسئولی. تو مسئول گلتی. شهریار کوچولو برای آن که یادش بماند، تکرار کرد: من مسئول گلمم. ا. شربیانی ...more

5

Jul 24, 2018

[Original review, Jul 24 2018]

This month, three plotlines in my life collided. I know Swedish and Norwegian well, and I'd thought vaguely from time to time that I'd like to learn Icelandic too; I've always been a great admirer of Tolkien, and I knew he had been interested in Icelandic; and I have a couple of Icelandic friends. But none of this had ever come to anything. Last week, however, Jupiter aligned with Mars and I entered the Age of Aquarius. I'd just finished reading Tolkien: Maker of [Original review, Jul 24 2018]

This month, three plotlines in my life collided. I know Swedish and Norwegian well, and I'd thought vaguely from time to time that I'd like to learn Icelandic too; I've always been a great admirer of Tolkien, and I knew he had been interested in Icelandic; and I have a couple of Icelandic friends. But none of this had ever come to anything. Last week, however, Jupiter aligned with Mars and I entered the Age of Aquarius. I'd just finished reading Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth , which has many striking passages in Icelandic, Old Norse and Old English, and our friend K happened to be on Iceland. Fired with enthusiasm by Tolkien's love of these obscure but wonderfully poetic languages, I asked K if she could possibly get me one or two Icelandic children's books. I just don't know how to thank her: she turned up with not one or two but half a dozen books, including my favorite, Le petit prince. I spent the next few days carrying it with me everywhere, snatching all opportunities to try to make sense out of it.

For people who don't know anything about Icelandic, it has the same ancestor as Swedish, Danish and Norwegian. A thousand years ago they were the same language. But the mainland languages have evolved at a normal rate, while Icelandic, on its faraway island, has changed relatively little; so if you speak Swedish or Norwegian, it's like trying to read a language which for an English-speaker would be somewhere between Chaucer and Beowulf. You recognise a few of the words at once, others are more or less mangled, and still others are completely unfamiliar. The first impression is that it makes no sense at all. But I know Le petit prince, and I started trying to guess what word was what, just reading without looking anything up.

It was amazing to see how well this worked. For example, let me show you the following sentence:Þar sem ég hafði adrei teiknað kind dró ég upp fyrir hann aðra af þeim tveimur myndum sem ég var fær að gera: myndina af kyrkislöngunni utanverði.The first time I saw this, there were only a couple of words I felt at all sure about. Upp and var must be the same words as in Swedish ("up" and "was"). I soon figured out that ég was "I" (it is the same word in some Norwegian dialects), að was att ("that"), and hann was han ("he/him"). The words mynd and kind weren't like anything I recognised, but they were common, and having already come across them I realised they must be "drawing" and "sheep". As I read the book for the second time, the other words gradually fell into place too, and after a while I could read it as sort-of-Swedish:Då som jag hadde aldrig tecknad får drog jag upp för honom den-andra av dem två teckningarna som jag var för att göra: teckningen av pytonormen utifrån.which I might render into sort-of-English as:Then as I had never drawn sheep pulled I up for him the-second of the two drawings which I was able-to make: the-drawing of the-python from-outside.I recalled that there was a sentence something like this near the beginning of the story: it all made sense.

How does it work? I've been reading deep learning theory, and it's tempting to conceptualise it in terms of strengthening of neural pathways. I see a word I don't know, and I think of some words it could be: aðra to a Swedish-speaker first looks like ådra, "vein", and you only later think of andra, "second". This word occurs quite often. "Vein" never makes any sense, but "second" often makes good sense. So the pathway for ådra never gets strengthened but the one for andra does, and after a while my eyes just start seeing it as andra. The same thing happened with numerous other words. As I'm sure many language geeks will attest, it is such a weird and interesting feeling to find the sense emerging from words which initially looked like gibberish! I'm sorry if I've gone into too much detail here, but I wanted to explain what I mean when I say it's like doing drugs. You actually feel the text changing your state of consciousness.

Well, I'm hooked. Though so far, I've just barely started: the grammar is still a mystery to me. All the same, on my latest read-through I notice that the endings of nouns and verbs, which are first looked quite random, now seem to be displaying some recurrent patterns...
_________________________
[Update, Aug 6 2018]

I have been making efforts to understand in more quantitative terms what I've been doing here. First, I thought it would be a good exercise to try copying out the text of Litli prinsinn: this would force me to look carefully at every letter, and also give me a machine-readable version that I could analyse. I'm now about three-quarters of the way through (he has just said goodbye to the fox). I tried running my incomplete corpus, which contains about ten thousand words, through a script that Not and I developed last year.

The script is simple but quite useful. It counts frequencies for all the words in the corpus, then builds a hyperlinked concordance which shows me up to ten examples for each word. Every word is clickable, so I can take a word I'm unsure of in a sentence and see examples of that word in other contexts. There is a master index which lists all the words in descending frequency order. Here are the first 50 lines. The 'Freq' column gives the number of times the word occurs, and the 'Cumul' column gives the cumulative frequency:




All of these 50 words (to be exact, some of them are punctuation marks) are now very familiar to me, and as you can see they make up more than 50% of the text. I tried walking down the list to see when I stopped feeling confident. I can go as far as words with four or five occurrences, and I think I know what nearly all of them mean; that brings me up to about 400 words, and 75% of the total. When I look at words occurring two or three times, I start to feel uncertain, but I still think I know the majority of them. That gets me to 900 words and 86%. The 1600 words which only occur once are of course the hardest; but even here I feel I can guess a lot, perhaps a third to a half of them.

Copying out the text has sharpened my understanding of the grammar a good deal, and now I recognise quite a few endings. Though I'm still pretty hazy about the nouns. With multiple genders, multiple cases and marking for definiteness, there are many combinations, and I only know the most common ones.

It's surprising that one can extract so much information from a tiny sample of just ten thousand words. I'll see if I have the patience to finish this and then do Ævintýri Lísu í Undralandi as well...
___________________________________
[Update, Aug 8 2018]

I have finished copying out the text of Litli prins; the file now contains about 14,200 words and about 3,050 unique words. I made a small improvement to our script, so that it now creates an alphabetical index as well. This is very useful for finding copying errors: if I see two words close together which are almost the same, that often means that one of them is an error. Tidying up my copied text is not as tedious as I thought it would be. It's forcing me to look very carefully at everything and consolidate my extremely sketchy vocabulary.

I am sure there are still many errors left, but after this initial cleaning up pass I can look at my alphabetical index and get further on trying to understand the grammar. Here's a section showing forms of the word stjarna, "star", which occurs often in Litli prins.



Some of these are compound nouns: for example, stjörnufræðingur, literally "star-ologist" is "astronomer", and stjarnfræðiþingi, "star-ology-thing" is "astronomical congress". But what are all the others, most of which look like inflected forms? I can click on any of them and get a hyperlinked page of examples. For example, let's look at the page for stjörnu, which occurs 15 times:



I see that occurrences of stjörnu usually come after a preposition. For example, we have Hann hefir aldrei horft á stjörnu, "He has never looked at stjörnu", or En þú ert hreinn og þú kemur frá stjörnu, "But you are pure and you come from stjörnu". Most of the others are similar. Hm, looks like this is a dative singular? My suspicions are reinforced by the fact that Swedish used to have a dative; it disappeared long ago, but still survives in a couple of fixed expressions like till salu, "for sale", which has this -u ending.

Still a great deal more grammar to figure out! There are some improvements to the script that I hope to add soon, and which might help...
___________________________________
[Update, Aug 12 2018]

I have added another little improvement to our script. It now creates a hyperlinked version of the original text, with the words colour-marked to show how frequently they occurred in the text you've read so far. The initial version uses four colours. Words are in black if they occur more than five times, blue if they occur four or five times, green if they occur two or three times, and red if they occur once. Here's an example, the start of the visit to the Drunkard:



The colours let you see at a glance approximately how well I now understand the text. Look at the first paragraph:Á þriðja hnettinum bjó drykkjumaður. Heimsóknin þangað var mjög stutt, en hún fyllti litla prinsinn miklu þunglyndi.

(At the-third planet lived drunkard. The-visit there was very ?short, but it filled the-little prince much ?depression)Black words like hnettinum ("planet", I think in the dative) and mjög ("very") are quite familiar, and I am reasonably confident that I've guessed the green and blue ones correctly. Only two words, stutt ("short"?) and þunglyndi ("depression"?) are in red, and these are indeed the ones I feel least certain about. I'm pretty much guessing stutt from context. I'm more confident about þunglyndi, since I know from other examples that þung, cognate to Swedish tung, is "heavy", lyndi is probably something related to Swedish lynne, "spirit", and there is a Swedish word tungsint, "heavy-spirited/depressed".

This was an easier passage than average, and usually there is more red. But it feels motivating to think that, as I copy out more text and process it through the script, the red tide should start to recede...

[To Ævintýri Lísu í Undralandi ] ...more

4

Oct 30, 2014

Beautiful reading!


WHEN A ROSE IS NOT A ROSE

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

I plan to read The Little Prince since many time ago, and I was aware that it was a quick reading, but still I hadn’t do it yet, until now.

I went to the cinema theaters and I watched the new animated film about it, and while I hadn’t read the book, I watched the film and I loved it. I was aware that it wasn’t an exact adaptation per se, and then I knew Beautiful reading!


WHEN A ROSE IS NOT A ROSE

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

I plan to read The Little Prince since many time ago, and I was aware that it was a quick reading, but still I hadn’t do it yet, until now.

I went to the cinema theaters and I watched the new animated film about it, and while I hadn’t read the book, I watched the film and I loved it. I was aware that it wasn’t an exact adaptation per se, and then I knew that it was about time to read the book.

It was a quick reading, it took me like a couple of hours. Wonderful book.
The Little Prince is a metaphorical and surrealist journey where a rose isn’t necessarily a rose, a fox isn’t always a fox, a small planet isn’t a small planet all the time...

All those things and more that you can find in the book, they will be whatever you need to be. You just need to recognize what will be the rose, what will be the fox, what will be the small planet...

And then, and only then you will be able to realice the power behind of this cute little book.


HIDDEN THINGS

What makes the desert beautiful,... ...,is that somewhere it hides a well...

Also, a hidden wonder about this book is that you not only need to realice what things in your own life to interchange with the ones in the Little Prince’s journey, but moreover, you need to “see” with your heart and being able to find the “well” in every “desert”.

Sometimes isn’t easy, and I guess that there will be moments when those deserts are truly dry, maybe there was a well some time ago, but it’s long gone. But only you, if you are careful and “observant” with your heart, you will be able to make the difference.

At plain sight, your eyes can deceive you about what it’s in front of you, but if you learn to “watch” with your heart, rarely you will be fooled about it.

So, not matter if you are in a desert or a little planet (most likely an asteroid), be prepared to take flight and be ready with paper and a pencil, since who knows? Maybe the Little Prince will need you to draw something beyond the evident...








...more

5

Jul 01, 2009

574. Le Petit Prince = The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Prince (French: Le Petit Prince), first published in 1943, is a novella, the most famous work of French aristocrat, writer, poet, and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The novella is one of the most-translated books in the world and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France. Translated into 300 languages and dialects, selling nearly two million copies annually, and with year-to-date sales of over 574. Le Petit Prince = The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Prince (French: Le Petit Prince), first published in 1943, is a novella, the most famous work of French aristocrat, writer, poet, and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The novella is one of the most-translated books in the world and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France. Translated into 300 languages and dialects, selling nearly two million copies annually, and with year-to-date sales of over 140 million copies worldwide, it has become one of the best-selling books ever published.
The Little Prince is a poetic tale, with watercolour illustrations by the author, in which a pilot stranded in the desert meets a young prince visiting Earth from a tiny asteroid. The story is philosophical and includes social criticism of the adult world. It was written during a period when Saint-Exupéry fled to North America subsequent to the Fall of France during the Second World War, witnessed first hand by the author and captured in his memoir Flight to Arras. The adult fable, according to one review, is actually "...an allegory of Saint-Exupéry's own life—his search for childhood certainties and interior peace, his mysticism, his belief in human courage and brotherhood, and his deep love for his wife Consuelo but also an allusion to the tortured nature of their relationship." ...
تاریخهای خوانش: ماه 1982 میلادی؛ ژانویه سال 1994 میلادی؛ فوریه سال 2001 میلادی، و ماه نوامبر سال 2006 میلادی
عنوانها: شازده کوچولو؛ مسافر کوچولو، شهریار کوچولو و عنوانهای دیگر - آنتوان دو سنت اگزوپری (امیرکبیر و ...) ادبیات
با این عنوانها در ایران چاپ شده است: شازاده‌ بچکۆله‌ - مهتاب حسینی در 100 ص؛ ش‍ازاده‌ چ‍ک‍ول‍ه‌ - کردی مترجم مصطفی ایلخانی زاده در 154 ص؛ با همین عنوان ترجمه آرش امجدی در 136 ص؛ با همین عنوان وهاب جیهانی در 119 ص؛ شازده وه شله - کردی با ترجمه کورش امینی در 96 ص؛ شازایه توچگه - کردی ترجمه محسن امینی در 127 ص؛ شازده چکول - کردی میلاد ملایی در 54 ص؛ شازده کوچولو مترجمها: شورا پیرزاده در 99 ص؛ محمد قاضی در 113 ص بیش از شصت چاپ دارد؛ ابوالحسن نجفی در 117 ص؛ بابک اندیشه در 106 ص؛ احمد شاملو در 103 ص بارها چاپ شده؛ فریده مهدوی دامغانی در 316 ص؛ مصطفی رحماندوست در 127 ص ده بار چاپ شده؛ اصغر رستگار در 101 ص؛ دل آرا قهرمان در 96 ص؛ حسین جاوید در 120 ص؛ ایرج انور در 140 ص؛ سحر جعفری صرافی در 160 ص؛ مهرداد انتظاری در 87 ص؛ کاوه میرعباسی در 112 ص؛ رضا خاکیانی در 110 ص؛ فرزام حبیبی اصفهانی در 112 ص؛ مرتضی سعیدی در 120 ص؛ مجتبی پایدار در 119 ص؛ رضا زارع در 120 ص؛ پرویز شهدی در 128 ص؛ محمدرضا صامتی در 112 ص؛ محمدعلی اخوان در 105 ص؛ جمشید بهرامیان در 148 ص؛ هانیه فهیمی در 120 ص؛ رامسس بصیر در 104 ص؛ سمانه رضائیان در 104 ص؛ غلامرضا یاسی پور در 96 ص؛ مریم صبوری در 192 ص؛ حسین غیوری در 170 ص؛ مهسا حمیدیان در 51 ص؛ میلاد یداللهی در 102 ص؛ مهری محمدی مقدم در 96 ص؛ زهرا تیرانی در 103 ص؛ لیلاسادات محمودی در 164 ص؛ محمدجواد انتظاری در 120 ص؛ غزاله ابراهیمی در 128 ص؛ مریم خرازیان در 120 ص؛ مدیا کاشیگر در 136 ص؛ محمدعلی عزیزی در 152 ص؛ الهام ذوالقدر در 189 ص؛ فاطمه نظرآهاری در 136 ص؛ زهره مستی در 128 ص؛ حمیدرضا غیوری در 98 ص؛ اسدالله غفوری ثانی در 116 ص؛ شادی ابطحی در 152 ص؛ محمدتقی بهرامی حران در 104 ص؛ محمدرضا صامتی در 176 ص؛ محمدرضا محمدحسینی در 112 ص؛ فهیمه شهرابی فراهانی در 131 ص؛ بهاره عزیزی در 120 ص؛ مولود محمدی در 143 ص؛ شهناز مجیدی در 184 ص؛ هانیه حق نبی مطلق در 111 ص؛ سعید هاشمی در 96 ص؛ سمانه فلاح در 96 ص؛ حمیدرضا زین الدین در 120 ص؛ شبنم اقبال زاده در 88 ص؛ رضا طاهری در 72 ص؛ فاطمه امینی در 220 ص؛ محمد مجلسی 142 ص؛ بهزاد بیگی در 112 ص؛ با عنوان: شاهزاده سرزمین عشق، چیستا یثربی در 54 ص؛ با عنوان: شاهزاده کوچک: مریم شریف در 112 ص؛ هرمز ریاحی در 99 ص؛ با عنوان: شاهزاده کوچولو؛ شاهین فولادی در 120 ص؛ علی شکرالهی در 148 ص؛ با عنوان: شهریار کوچولو: احمد شاملو در 103 ص؛ با عنوان: مسافر کوچولو: فائزه سرمدی در 58 ص؛ علی محمدپور در 12 م؛ با عنوان نمایشنامه شازده کوچولو: عباس جوانمرد در 97 ص؛ با عنوان : شازا بووچکه‌له‮‬‏‫: رضوان متوسل؛
موسسه انتشارات نگاه، چاپ دوم این اثر را با نام «شهریار کوچولو» و برگردان «احمد شاملو» در سال 1373 هجری خورشیدی منتشر کرده است
نقل از متن: ...؛ اما سرانجام، پس از مدت­ها راه ­رفتن از میان ریگ­ها و صخره ها و برف­ها به جاده­ ای برخورد، و هر جاده ­ای یکراست می­رود سراغ آدم­ها. گفت: سلام. و مخاطبش گلستان پر گلی بود. گل­ها گفتند: سلام. شهریار کوچولو رفت تو بحرشان. همه ­شان عین گل خودش بودند. حیرت­زده، ازشان پرسید: شماها کی هستید؟ گفتند: ما گل سرخیم. آهی کشید و سخت احساس شوربختی کرد. گل­ش به او گفته بود، که از نوع او، تو تمام عالم تنها همان یکی هست، و حالا پنج­هزارتا گل، همه مثل هم، فقط تو یک گلستان. فکر کرد: اگر گل من این را می­دید، بدجوری از رو می­رفت. پشت سر هم بنا می­کرد سرفه کردن، و برای این­که از هو شدن فرار کند، خودش را به مردن می­زد، و من هم مجبور می­شدم، وانمود کنم به پرستاریش، وگرنه برای سرشکسته کردن من هم شده بود راستی راستی می­مرد. و باز تو دلش گفت: مرا باش که فقط با یک گل، خودم را دولتمند عالم، خیال می­کردم، در صورتی­که آنچه دارم، فقط یک گل معمولی است. با آن گل، و آن سه تا آتشفشانی که تا سر زانومند، و شاید هم یکی­شان تا ابد، خاموش بماند، شهریار چندان پرشوکتی به حساب نمی­آیم. افتاد رو سبزه­ ها، و زد زیر گریه. آن وقت بود که سر و کله ­ی روباه پیدا شد. روباه گفت: سلام. شهریار کوچولو برگشت، اما کسی را ندید. با وجود این با ادب تمام گفت: سلام. صدا گفت: من اینجام، زیر درخت سیب. شهریار کوچولو گفت: کی هستی تو؟ عجب خوشگلی. روباه گفت: یک روباهم من. شهریار کوچولو گفت: بیا با من بازی کن. نمی­دانی چه قدر دلم گرفته. روباه گفت: نمی­توانم بات بازی کنم. هنوز اهلی­ ام نکرده ­اند آخر. شهریار کوچولو آهی کشید و گفت: معذرت می­خواهم. اما فکری کرد و پرسید: اهلی کردن یعنی چه؟ روباه گفت: تو اهل اینجا نیستی. پی چی می­گردی؟ شهریار کوچولو گفت: پی آدم­ها می­گردم. نگفتی اهلی کردن یعنی چه؟ روباه گفت: آدم­ها تفنگ دارند و شکار می­کنند. اینش اسباب دلخوری است. اما مرغ و ماکیان هم پرورش می­دهند و خیرشان فقط همین است. تو پی مرغ می­گردی؟ شهریار کوچولو گفت: نه، پی دوست می­گردم. اهلی کردن یعنی چه؟ روباه گفت: چیزی است که پاک فراموش شده. معنی­ اش ایجاد علاقه کردن است. ایجاد علاقه کردن؟ روباه گفت: معلوم است. تو الان واسه من یک پسربچه ­ای مثل صدهزار پسربچه ­ی دیگر. نه من هیچ احتیاجی به تو دارم نه تو هیچ احتیاجی به من. من هم برای تو یک روباهم مثل صدهزار روباه دیگر. اما اگر منو اهلی کردی هردوتامان به هم احتیاج پیدا می­کنیم. تو برای من میان همه­ ی عالم موجود یگانه ­ای می­شوی و من برای تو. شهریار کوچولو گفت: کم ­کم دارد دستگیرم می­شود. یک گلی هست که گمانم مرا اهلی کرده باشد. روباه گفت: بعید نیست. رو این کره زمین هزار جور چیز می­شود دید. شهریار کوچولو گفت: اوه نه. آن روی کره زمین نیست. روباه انگار حسابی حیرت کرده بود و گفت: رو یک سیاره دیگر است؟ _ آره. _ تو آن سیاره شکارچی هم هست؟ _ نه. _ محشر است مرغ و ماکیان چطور؟ _نه. روباه آه کشان گفت: همیشه خدا یک پای بساط لنگ است. اما پی حرفش را گرفت و گفت: زندگی یکنواختی دارم. من مرغ­ها را شکار می­کنم، آدم­ها مرا. همه ­ی مرغ­ها عین هم اند، همه ی آدم­ها هم عین هم اند . این وضع یک­خرده خلقم را تنگ می­کند. اما اگر تو منو اهلی کنی، انگار که زندگیم را چراغان کرده باشی. آن وقت صدای پایی را می­شناسم که با هر صدای پای دیگری فرق داشته می­کند. صدای پای دیگران مرا وادار می­کند تو هفت تا سوراخ قایم بشوم، اما صدای پای تو، مثل نغمه­ ای مرا از لانه ­ام می­کشد بیرون. تازه، نگاه کن آنجا، گندمزار را می­بینی؟ برای من که نان نمی­خورم گندم چیز بی ­فایده ­ای است. پس گندمزار هم مرا یاد چیزی نمی­اندازد. اسباب تأسف است. اما تو، موهایت رنگ طلا است. پس وقتی اهلی­ ام کردی محشر می­شود. گندم که طلایی رنگ است، مرا به یاد تو می­اندازد، و صدای باد را هم که تو گندمزار می­پیچد دوست خواهم داشت. خاموش شد و مدت درازی شهریار کوچولو را نگاه کرد. آن وقت گفت: اگر دلت می­خواهد منو اهلی کن. شهریار کوچولو جواب داد: دلم که خیلی می­خواهد، اما وقت چندانی ندارم. باید بروم دوستانی پیدا کنم و از کلی چیزها سر درآرم. روباه گفت: آدم فقط از چیزهایی که اهلی می­کند می­تواند سر درآرد. آدم­ها دیگر برای سر درآوردن از چیزها وقت ندارند. همه چیز را همین جوری حاضر آماده از دکان می­خرند. اما چون دکانی نیست که دوست معامله کند، آدم­ها مانده ­اند بی دوست. تو اگر دوست می­خواهی خب منو اهلی کن. شهریار کوچولو پرسید: راهش چیست؟ روباه جواب داد: باید خیلی خیلی صبور باشی، اولش یک­خرده دورتر از من می­گیری این جوری میان علف­ها می­نشینی. من زیرچشمی نگاهت می­کنم و تو لام تا کام هیچی نمی­گویی، چون سرچشمه همه ی سوء­تفاهم­ها زیر سر زبان است. عوضش می­توانی هر روز یک خرده نزدیک­تر بنشینی. فردای آن روز دوباره شهریار کوچولو آمد پیش روباه. روباه گفت: کاش سر همان ساعت دیروز آمده بودی. اگر مثلا سر ساعت چهار بعد از ظهر بیایی، من از ساعت سه تو دلم قند آب می­شود، و هرچه ساعت جلوتر برود بیشتر احساس شادی و خوشبختی می­کنم. ساعت چهار که شد دلم بنا می­کند شورزدن و نگران شدن. آن وقت است که قدر خوشبختی را می­فهمم. اما اگر تو هر وقت­ و بی­وقت بیایی من از کجا بدانم چه ساعتی باید دلم را برای دیدارت آماده کنم؟ هر چیزی برای خودش رسم و رسومی دارد. شهریار کوچولو گفت: رسم و رسوم یعنی چه؟ روباه گفت: این هم از آن چیزهایی است که پاک از خاطره ها رفته. این همان چیزی است که باعث می­شود فلان روز با باقی روزها و فلان ساعت با باقی ساعت­ها فرق کند. مثلا شکارچی­های ما میانِ خودشان رسمی دارند و آن اینست که پنجشنبه ها را با دخترهای ده می­روند رقص. پس پنجشنبه ها بره کشان من است. برای خودم گردش­ کنان می­روم تا دم موستان. حالا اگر شکارچی­ها وقت و بی­وقت می­رفتند رقص، همه ی روزهای شبیه هم می­شد و من بیچاره دیگر فرصت و فراغتی نداشتم. به این ترتیب شهریار کوچولو روباه را اهلی کرد. لحظه ی جدایی که نزدیک شد روباه گفت: آخ. نمی­توانم جلو اشکم را بگیرم. شهریار کوچولو گفت: تقصیر خودت است. من که بدت را نخواستم، خودت خواستی اهلی ات کنم. روباه گفت: همین طور است. شهریار کوچولو گفت: آخر اشکت دارد سرازیر می­شود. روباه گفت: همین طور است. شهریار کوچولو گفت: پس این ماجرا فایده ای به حال تو نداشته. روباه گفت: چرا، برای خاطر رنگ گندم. بعد گفت: برو یک بار دیگر گل­ها را ببین تا بفهمی که گل تو، تو عالم تک است. برگشتنا با هم وداع می­کنیم، و من به عنوان هدیه رازی را به تو می­گویم. شهریار کوچولو بار دیگر به تماشای گل­ها رفت و به آن­ها گفت: شما سر سوزنی به گل من نمی­مانید و هنوز هیچی نیستید. نه کسی شما را اهلی کرده، نه شما کسی را. درست همان جوری هستید که روباه من بود: روباهی بود مثل صدهزار روباه دیگر. او را دوست خودم کردم و حالا تو همه ی عالم تک است. گل­ها حسابی از رو رفتند. شهریار کوچولو دوباره درآمد که: خوشگلید اما خالی هستید. برایتان نمی­شود مرد. گفت ­و گو ندارد که گل مرا هم فلان رهگذر، گلی می­بیند مثل شما. اما او به تنهایی از همه ی شما سر است، چون فقط اوست که آبش داده ام، چون فقط اوست که زیر حبابش گذاشته ام، چون فقط اوست که با تجیر برایش حفاظ درست کرده ام، چون فقط اوست که حشراتش را کشته ام (جز دو سه تایی که می­بایست پروانه بشوند)، چون فقط اوست که پای گله گذاری­ها و خودنمایی­ها و حتا گاهی بغ­ کردن و هیچی نگفتن­هایش نشسته ام، چون او گل من است. و برگشت پیش روباه. گفت : خدانگهدار. روباه گفت: خدانگهدار. و اما رازی که گفتم خیلی ساده است. جز با چشم دل هیچی را چنان که باید نمی­شود دید. نهاد و گوهر را چشم سر نمی­بیند. شهریار کوچولو برای آن که یادش بماند، تکرار کرد: نهاد و گوهر را چشم سر نمی­بیند. روباه گفت: ارزش گل تو به قدری است که پاش صرف کرده ای. شهریار کوچولو برای آن که یادش بماند، تکرار کرد: ... به قدر عمری است که پاش صرف کرده ام. روباه گفت: آدم­ها این حقیقت را فراموش کرده اند، اما تو نباید فراموشش کنی. تو تا زنده ای نسبت به آنی که اهلی کرده ای، مسئولی. تو مسئول گلتی. شهریار کوچولو برای آن که یادش بماند، تکرار کرد: من مسئول گلمم. پایان نقل. ا. شربیانی ...more

4

Jan 11, 2011

For a kid's story, this one has rather heavy-handed intentions embedded into quite a sophisticated system of symbols that exists to produce a strong & emotional effect. Like Voltaire in "Micromegas", Antoine de Saint-Exupery plays with sizes & scales, meddles with the allegorical and even plays with time. He knew, like an astute psychoanalyst, precisely which images to use to convey the mere representation of Mortality. Le Petit Prince is the Everyman who has a deep passion somewhere For a kid's story, this one has rather heavy-handed intentions embedded into quite a sophisticated system of symbols that exists to produce a strong & emotional effect. Like Voltaire in "Micromegas", Antoine de Saint-Exupery plays with sizes & scales, meddles with the allegorical and even plays with time. He knew, like an astute psychoanalyst, precisely which images to use to convey the mere representation of Mortality. Le Petit Prince is the Everyman who has a deep passion somewhere inside of him and only with childlike wonder and awe (he asks questions on top of questions: no matter the degree of absurdity) is he able to show us glimpses of it. Externalizing feelings like only a child can. I find the golden-tressed titular child a very peculiar emblem in the middle of the Saharan desert... an eerie, living monolith (almost an oxymoron when one comes to think of it.) So, kids, let me ask you this one: Are we just placed on this planet so as to remain forever... ALONE?! ...more

5

Apr 01, 2019

The Little Prince is the one book of my childhood that truly wrecked me. Wrecked me, irrevocably.

It is the one story that I swore I'd never read again.

I didn't. I hadn't. I never read it to my son, either.

Then, last week, my middle child, my oldest daughter, discovered the 2015 film of it, and came to me, sobbing, and said, “Mommy, you've just got to watch this movie. It's so beautiful.”

I did. I watched it. It was a good movie, but, as usual, they added parts, they took away parts, they created The Little Prince is the one book of my childhood that truly wrecked me. Wrecked me, irrevocably.

It is the one story that I swore I'd never read again.

I didn't. I hadn't. I never read it to my son, either.

Then, last week, my middle child, my oldest daughter, discovered the 2015 film of it, and came to me, sobbing, and said, “Mommy, you've just got to watch this movie. It's so beautiful.”

I did. I watched it. It was a good movie, but, as usual, they added parts, they took away parts, they created violence where it wasn't necessary, etc. So, purist that I am, I marched into the library, checked out the book and told my girls, “If you're going to know a story, then learn the original version.”

My hands were shaking this weekend, as I cracked the cover to read it, and the first thing I did was read the backflap, where I was reminded that the author himself went missing a year after the book was published in 1943. I immediately pictured Antoine De Saint-Exupery in his little airplane, crashing somewhere, alone, in the Mediterranean Sea. Pretty disturbing, if you know the premise of this fictional story. The tears started early.

I don't know what it is about these desert stories, but they wreck me, every time. I have never cried harder than after watching Ralph Fiennes in that red airplane, flying over the desert in The English Patient, or after meeting Claudia, in Moon Tiger, and realizing what she has lost, what she will never find again, in those desert sands.

The desert seems to magnify desolation, naturally, by its isolation. It can be a setting for great reflection, great stories, and even greater loss. And, it is here in this desert setting that our crashed pilot meets the little prince, whose life experiences illuminate almost every important lesson we could learn in a lifetime.

Of course I was crying again, but in a good way.

I could just sit here, adding quote after quote from this book on this review. I could advise all men that everything they need to know about women is available to them in the passages between the little prince and the rose. I could advise all parents of young children that this is one of those rare books that reminds you how precious and fleeting your time is with your kids.

But, “language is the source of misunderstandings,” and I'd be better served to invite you to crash in the desert yourself. See if the little prince shows up to speak to you. See what he has to say. ...more

5

Apr 11, 2019

I'm still waiting for The Little Prince to return. I'm still waiting for The Little Prince to return. ???? ...more

5

May 10, 2007

There's a huge place in my heart for this little world-in-a-book; I read it first when I was wee, again many times since. A review won't do it justice, so I'll quote one of my favorite passages and risk sentimentality:
---
"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.
But he came back to his idea.
"My life's very monotonous," he said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me.
All chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike.
And in consequence, I am a little bored.
But if you tame me, it'll be as if the sun There's a huge place in my heart for this little world-in-a-book; I read it first when I was wee, again many times since. A review won't do it justice, so I'll quote one of my favorite passages and risk sentimentality:
---
"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.
But he came back to his idea.
"My life's very monotonous," he said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me.
All chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike.
And in consequence, I am a little bored.
But if you tame me, it'll be as if the sun came to shine on my life.
I shall know the sound of a step that'll be different from all the others.
Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground.
Yours will call me, like music out of my burrow.
And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder?
I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me.
The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad.
But you have hair that is the color of gold.
Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me!
The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you.
And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat…"
---

...more

4

Dec 20, 2011

Written as a children's book, I find myself unable to pin down firmly as to what makes The Little Prince such a universally likeable book, be it children or grown-ups. What makes it the Hotel California of literature?

Is it because most grown-ups secretly love being treated like kids? I think as a grown-up you ought to know better than that. Grown-ups like to be petted around now and then in jest, but that's the end of it. Often, when grown-ups are indeed treated like kids and they're not in the Written as a children's book, I find myself unable to pin down firmly as to what makes The Little Prince such a universally likeable book, be it children or grown-ups. What makes it the Hotel California of literature?

Is it because most grown-ups secretly love being treated like kids? I think as a grown-up you ought to know better than that. Grown-ups like to be petted around now and then in jest, but that's the end of it. Often, when grown-ups are indeed treated like kids and they're not in the mood, there is a tiny matchstick inside each one of them, an insecure ego which flares up angrily like it has been wildly struck against a matchbox. In my experience, grown ups like to be taken very seriously. Very very seriously.

Is it the clear, simple language? No, it can't be just that. There have been books that have been written with clarity and have been criticized by pedants and pontificating bores for their simplicity. Grown ups like to feel wise and learned by having claimed to read complicated texts that engaged them at an 'intellectual' level. They don't like important things being pointed out to them in simple language, after all they're the know-it-all grown-ups and don't need anybody patronizing them.

Is it because the book is so short and grown-ups are always keen on finishing books real quick? No, it can't be just that either. I know grown-ups who believe that a good book, like a well-mixed drink, must be held between the fingers and tended to lovingly at length to let it get to your head.

Is it the timeless lessons that the book cushions behind layers of delightful story-telling? Is it the sense of wonder that the book inspires in the most cynical, world-weary adult, if not for posterity then for a day or an hour? I don't know, could be, could be. Worthy contenders they are, but I think I'm not still not home.

If I had to lay a bet on it, I'd say everyone adores The Little Prince because we are tired of meeting people from Earth everyday who speak the same dry language of numbers and would love to encounter a sunset-loving, wise prince from the room-sized planet of Asteroid B-612 who talks animatedly about butterflies, baobabs and volcanoes to the child inside us that we've buried long ago underneath the grey tomb of grown-up babble.

Kurt Vonnegut once expressed how laughable a critic taking himself too seriously is in these memorable words,
"Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.”

That is exactly how ridiculous critics who despise The Little Prince are. For The Little Prince is that hot fudge sundae garnished with generous toppings of lost innocence, shared loneliness, deliciously recycled perspective and lessons worth repeating to yourself to keep from succumbing to the unsavoury, contagious disease of adulthood.

To make your job easier, here are some lessons from the book worth remembering and repeating:

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."

"People have forgotten this truth," the fox said. "But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed."

"One only understands the things that one tames,' said the fox. 'Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me."

"“Grown-ups love figures... When you tell them you've made a new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies? " Instead they demand "How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make? " Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.” ...more

2

Jul 30, 2018

2 Stars

I know this is a much loved, much published, children's classic that has been published in pretty much every language there is. As such, I'm not pretentious enough to think my thoughts on it matter, so I'll keep this short.

I have challenged myself to read one classic a month this year, and so far, I am failing miserably. MISERABLY, you guys. It's July (almost August, but I'm throwing myself a bone so I feel like less of a loser) and I have only read two. This one and Peter Pan (of which 2 Stars

I know this is a much loved, much published, children's classic that has been published in pretty much every language there is. As such, I'm not pretentious enough to think my thoughts on it matter, so I'll keep this short.

I have challenged myself to read one classic a month this year, and so far, I am failing miserably. MISERABLY, you guys. It's July (almost August, but I'm throwing myself a bone so I feel like less of a loser) and I have only read two. This one and Peter Pan (of which I also completely missed the plot). And yes, I chose both of them because they are short. And geared for children. So I figured they would be easy to read.

Wrong.

I finished Alice in Wonderland on December 28th of 2017 (which I ALSO didn't love), after reading it over the course of almost a full month. If only I had really let my loser truly shine and work for me for once and waited three more days to finish it. Then I would at least be three for seven.

But I digress.

I'm starting to think children's classics might not be for me. At least not these whimsical, nonsensical, fable/allegory-style classics for which I am obviously too uncouth and unintelligent. Or whatever the case may be. Regardless, I am just finding them to be very boring and I just can't get into them.

I'm gonna try Dorian Gray next though. NOT a children's classic. So hopefully I have more luck.

Fingers crossed.
...more

5

Sep 14, 2011

I have read only three books which I felt were magical: One Hundred Years of Solitude, To Kill a Mockingbird and this one. However, what separates this from the other two is that this is a book for all ages.

There was a magazine called "Imprint" (now defunct) during my childhood, in India. It used to publish literary articles and stories. My father got official copies and he brought them home regularly. One issue contained this story, and he gave it to me for reading. I was maybe 10-12 at that I have read only three books which I felt were magical: One Hundred Years of Solitude, To Kill a Mockingbird and this one. However, what separates this from the other two is that this is a book for all ages.

There was a magazine called "Imprint" (now defunct) during my childhood, in India. It used to publish literary articles and stories. My father got official copies and he brought them home regularly. One issue contained this story, and he gave it to me for reading. I was maybe 10-12 at that time.

It left an indelible impression on my mind: I was sad for the little prince and his proud rose, and constantly worried whether the goat would eat it. I chuckled at the silly grownups on the various planets, following their inane pursuits. I was sad when the fox and the prince had to separate, after he had tamed it. And I broke down and cried at the end.

I read this book again after a long time... and suddenly realised that I had become one of those adults on the asteroids. I was still sad after reading it-but now the sorrow had a deeper meaning. It was the death of childhood that I was reading about.

This book is an absolute treasure.

Postscript

July 22, 2015 - I gave this book to my son a couple of days back. Hopefully he'll read it - he has yet to fully transform into a silly grown-up. ...more

5

Nov 25, 2014

this book was just as lovely the second time as it was the first. (and almost as great in english as in french.)

not sure if i can write extensively on this book. it's just so lovely and wonderful, and it really seems like one of those books that reveals another facet with every reading.

lovelovelove this one.

full review: https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...

2

Oct 09, 2007

In a grimy underground locked public toilet The Little Prince wakes slowly, he’s been out cold for hours. He’s bleeding from a gash on his upper arm. He finds he is chained by leg irons to the wall. There is another person sharing his predicament. It’s a bear, also chained to the opposite wall. In the center of the floor is the corpse of what appears to be donkey in a pool of blood. Near the corpse are a gun, a tape recorder and a saw.

“Grownups are very strange,” said the Little Prince to In a grimy underground locked public toilet The Little Prince wakes slowly, he’s been out cold for hours. He’s bleeding from a gash on his upper arm. He finds he is chained by leg irons to the wall. There is another person sharing his predicament. It’s a bear, also chained to the opposite wall. In the center of the floor is the corpse of what appears to be donkey in a pool of blood. Near the corpse are a gun, a tape recorder and a saw.

“Grownups are very strange,” said the Little Prince to himself, sadly.
...more

5

Nov 14, 2019

This book so quite perfectly profound that I love it. Because this is the end of the line and I quite feel no other children's book will not get to this level, I am going to happily retire this category for good.

2

Feb 05, 2017

I'm having one of those awkward moments where I, um...I just don't get it. Look, I've never been good with metaphors and absurdism books. I just get left in a small puddle of confusion. I think this book just wanted to say that adults suck because they don't listen to children. Which can be true. But being an adult doesn't always mean you've lost your imagination. (Hello?? Artists!!) So I don't know. It's either an allegory or a big metaphor or just one of those whimsy classics that are talking I'm having one of those awkward moments where I, um...I just don't get it. Look, I've never been good with metaphors and absurdism books. I just get left in a small puddle of confusion. I think this book just wanted to say that adults suck because they don't listen to children. Which can be true. But being an adult doesn't always mean you've lost your imagination. (Hello?? Artists!!) So I don't know. It's either an allegory or a big metaphor or just one of those whimsy classics that are talking about beautiful flowers but REALLY talking about something else. #helpme ...more

3

Oct 31, 2016

A little review for little prince:

Once you get over the hyped mystique and granduer too often hitched to this little book, I think it's not a stretch to look at it for what it is. The more appropriate title should be: How To Train A Little Fascist. Aside from being obviously sentimental it was also a bit boring. I refuse to let my kid read it.