Flight to Arras

It took more than one try for me to really get into Flight to Arras. Saint-Exupery is not the easiest of writers to follow, despite a superb writing style, because of being so deep into philosophy. And, once I did finally reach the point of being ready for this book, I was astounded. Absolutely! As always, St-Exupery taught me So Much. To anyone who likes Saint-Exupery and wants to read this, I would say: Go for it. Don't force yourself through it, though. Wait until you're really at the place where this book will take to you, on its own.

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.

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.

The book of the millenium. A theme of friendship, loneliness and war written as poetically as only Saint-Excupery can do it. Prepare for a journey into the harsh life of an emotional war pilot as he struggles to stay alive and win the war while not betraying his humanity and conscience.

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.