The Concepts of the Desert in Five Works by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Abstract
This paper attempts to depict Saint-Exupery's image of
the desert as it is seen in reference to five of his major
works: Courrier Sud (1929), Vol de Huit (1931), Terre des
Hommes (1939), La Petit Prince (1943), and Citadelle (1948).
Each time the desert is mentioned the reader gains a further
insight into Saint-Exupery's concept of it. His works taken as a whole give a definitive picture of his attitude toward
the desert, which is decisively positive, and his attitude
toward the interplay between the desert and the men who inhabit
it, which is that they are mutually beneficial.