Flight to Arras [Paperback]

Antoine de Saint-Exupiry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2003

A recollection of the shattering days during World War II when, though the fall of France was imminent, a handful of French pilots continued to fight on against the Germans. Translated by Lewis Galantière.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books (July 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 015602831X
• ISBN-13: 978-0156028318
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,743,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating account of flight by a superb author, January 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Flight to Arras (Paperback)

I bought this book on a wet Cornish holiday in '63 because it had a crude scrawl of an aeroplane on the cover, and I like flight. I little dreamed that by pure chance I had picked up a masterpiece, but I had. St. Exupery was one of those superb freaks that - all too infrequently - nature can produce: a man of action with the mind of a philospher and the soul of a poet, with the ability to express them all with lucid clarity.

He was said to be a terrible pilot, and intellectuals will pooh-pooh his 'metaphysics'. Forget that. When he disappeared, flying reconnaisance over the Med. during the war, we more normal mortals lost a marvellous example of how fine humans can be when given the chance, and humanity lost one of its graces. He was only forty or so, and had he lived he would have been recognised as one of the greats both of literature and of cultivated thought. As it is we have only these few little jewels of books by which we can appreciate his qualities and perhaps realise that we, too, can be so much better than we are.

'Flight to Arrass' is an account of a reconnaisance flight over occupied France, probably based on his personal experience, first at high altitude, then lethally low. In this extraordinary pilot-writer's mind, potential sudden death becomes transmuted into a magical account of memories which provide beauty, humour and wisdom, and his extraordinary ability as a writer puts you in the pilot's seat as you have never been before. You live with him the peril of being there, and you enter the wonderful world of his mentality in his detached response to terror and imminent abrupt extinction. All his books give you immediate access to a world of experiences which you otherwise will never meet, seen through eyes of unique maturity and intelligence.

Listen, in the same way that flowers are their own best advertisement, St. Ex's books are their own best recommendation. For me, 'Flight to Arrass' is one of his best, and it will cost you less than a cheap lunch. You owe yourself contact with this better example of humanity. The work of the translator in the case of St. Ex. is also as near perfection as you will find - A pleasure to read. If you have not read any of his books, then lucky you, in that this magical world as seen through his eyes is waiting all fresh for your discovery. Don't wait. Buy it now. I recommend it to you.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Written with great style..., April 29, 2001

By 

Franz Noel Isler "britelites77" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flight to Arras (Paperback)

This is an intellectually emotional musing of a pilot while on a reconnaisance mission in the midst of the hopeless Battle of France in the summer of 1940. Do not expect graphic descriptions of air combat, for only one eventful, though dangerous mission was told, interspersed by Saint-Ex's recollection of the human virtues and the war itself.

In this work he delves with clear logic about life and the meaning of life, of loyalty, love of country, the meaning and feeling of facing mortal danger while looking through his life in one slow kaleidoscope.

It is easy to see the prevailing athmosphere of defeatism that have enveloped France, and his writing was no exception, though justified. France cannot go it alone, with its 40 million against the 80 million (population) across the Rhine, and how the way of life that predominate in his country differs from its more industrial neighbor.

One of the great modern French stylist, Saint-Ex must have given headaches to the translator, for he wrote in a lyric poetic fashion difficult to translate (this is the Lewis Galantiere translation). One must pose occasionally to savor his prose. Here in colorful intensity he lays down in vivid detail his humanity and shows what made his writing different from other aviation literature. His popularity is such that people sometimes stresses the "Saint" in his name in order to prop him higher than the rank of hero worship. But his life does not fit that image. A man of many talents---cardplayer, mathematician, caricaturist, chess player, poet, writer and of course, aviator---he was however a baffling personality who defied straight description: A gifted mathematician, he rejected that intellectual circle; a man who likes action, he hated to exercise; one of the great writers of France, he did not wish to be a professional writer; a skeptic, he wanted to believe in God.

There are critics who described his writing as sentimental hogwash, the harbinger of hollow ideas, the man who can "replace the human brain with an aeroplane engine", et al..but his writings displayed (in this reviewer's modest opinion) a noble image, and for good or bad, he must be judged in the end by what he wrote. The sale of his books speaks for itself.

This is a highly recommended reading experience.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent philosophy and a look at a slice of history, September 5, 2004

By 

gcon (colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flight to Arras (Paperback)

the book is st.-ex's thoughts and reflections as he flies a suicide recon mission during WW2. it is not an action novel, but does have some exiting parts to it. it is a thoughtful look at life. the book is not just an interesting look into the mind of someone on a doomed mission, but is motivating, thougth provoking and insightful, and has some great lines to live by. i liked it better than his other book wind, sand and stars, and my copy is all marked up and highlighted and i refer back to it often. i would reccommend this book without hesitation.