"The Aviator" is the 1965 English translation of a short story, '' L'Aviateur'', by the French aristocrat writer, poet and pioneering aviator,

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...

(29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944, ''

Mort pour la France ''Mort pour la France'' ( French for "died for France") is a legal expression in France and an honor awarded to people who died during a conflict, usually in service of the country. Definition The term is defined in L.488 to L.492 (bis) of the ...

''). The original story (''L'Aviateur'') upon which the translation was based was Saint-Exupéry's first published work. ''L'Aviateur'' was excerpted from a longer unpublished manuscript, ''L'Évasion de Jacques Bernis'' (The Escape of Jacques Bernis). ''L'Aviateur'' was released in April 1926 in its excerpted form by editor Jean Prévost. It was published by

Adrienne Monnier Adrienne Monnier (26 April 1892 – 19 June 1955) was a French bookseller, writer, and publisher, and an influential figure in the modernist writing scene in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. Formative years Monnier was born in Paris on 26 April 18 ...

in the eleventh issue of the short-lived

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

Le Navire d'Argent ''Le Navire d'Argent'' (''The Silver Ship'') was a short lived but influential literary review, published monthly in Paris from June 1925 until May 1926. It was "French in language, but international in spirit". Founded by Adrienne Monnier, with ...

'' (The Silver Ship), after Saint-Exupéry rewrote ''L'Évasion de Jacques Bernis'' from memory, having lost his original manuscript.M.A.K
Book Reviews: A Sense Of Life

Flying Magazine ''Flying'', sometimes styled ''FLYING'', is an aviation magazine published since 1927 and called Ziff Davis#Popular Aviation, ''Popular Aviation'' prior to 1942, as well as ''Aeronautics'' for a brief period. It is read by pilots, aircraft owners ...

, January 1966, pg.114. Saint-Exupéry was killed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

while flying with the

Free French Air Force The Free French Air Forces (french: Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres, FAFL) were the air arm of the Free French Forces in the Second World War, created by Charles de Gaulle in 1940. The designation ceased to exist in 1943 when the Free Frenc ...

. The work's editor,

Jean Prévost Jean Prévost (13 June 1901 – 1 August 1944) was a French writer, journalist, and Maquis (World War II), Resistance fighter. Biography Born in Saint-Pierre-lès-Nemours, Prévost was educated (from 1907 to 1911) at the primary school in ...

, was killed only one day after Saint-Exupéry, while serving in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. ''The Aviator'' appears as the first chapter in the Saint-Exupéry anthology, ''Un Sens à la Vie'' ('' A Sense of Life''). The original French compilation was published posthumously in 1956 by

Editions Gallimard Edition may refer to: * Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies * Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run * Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text * Edition Recor ...

, and translated into English by Adrienne Foulke. The story recounts various episodes in the life of the fictional French flyer, Jacques Bernis, from his early experiences as an

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

to his work as a

flying instructor A flight instructor is a person who teaches others to operate aircraft. Specific privileges granted to holders of a flight instructor qualification vary from country to country, but very generally, a flight instructor serves to enhance or evaluate ...

, to his last flight when the wing of his

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

shatters during an

aerobatic maneuver Aerobatic maneuvers are flight paths putting aircraft in unusual attitudes, in air shows, dogfights or competition aerobatics. Aerobatics can be performed by a single aircraft or in formation with several others. Nearly all aircraft are capab ...

. The work is an example of Saint-Exupéry's formative writing style which would evolve into the more evocative, winning form he would later become famous for. In his short work the author uses picturesque

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

s, for example comparing the propeller wash flowing backwards like a river in his description of the movements of the grass behind an airplane: "''Battue par le vent de l'hélice, l'herbe jusqu'à vingt mètres en arrière semble couler''", as well as his descriptions of the physical sensation of the air becoming solid: "''Il regarde le capot noir appuyé sur le ciel''". In a short foreword to the story, Jean Prévost wrote: "I met aint-Exupéryat the home of friends and greatly admired his vigor and finesse in describing his impressions as a pilot.... He has a gift for directness and truth that seems to me amazing in a beginning writer".

References

; Footnotes ; Citations ; Bibliography * Commire, Anne;

Gale Research Company Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gro ...

Something about the Author (Volume 20 of Something about the Author: Facts and Pictures about Contemporary Authors and Illustrators of Books for Young People)
Gale Research, 1980, , * Saint-Exupéry, Antoine; Foulke, Adrienne (trans.) (1965) ''A Sense of Life'',

Funk & Wagnalls Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including ''A Standard Dictionary of the English Language'' (1st ed. 1893–5), and the ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' (25 volumes, 1st ed. 1912).Funk & Wagnalls N ...

, 1956. Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 65-15319 * * Severson, Marilyn S. (2004). "Masterpieces of French Literature: Greenwood Introduces Literary Masterpieces", Greenwood Publishing Group, , . {{DEFAULTSORT:Aviator Works by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1926 short stories French short stories Short stories about aviation Works originally published in French magazines Works originally published in literary magazines