Night Flight (Vol de Nuit) - Antoine de St. Exupéry

books:


	• Night flight Antoine de Saint-ExupeÌry Penguin Books, 1945 - 172 pages average customer review:based on 12 reviews
	for more information click here

highly recommended

A peek back at the aviation's dangerous roots

There already exist a dozen or more excellent reviews on this early aviation piece. I humbly add my thoughts.

This novel, written 1930ish by the famous author/flyer Antoine De Saint-Exupery, in the pioneering days of aviation, encompasses two stories playing out simultaneously:

1. In the cockpit of a night mail plane, flying out of Patagonia, Chile, over the Andes and towards points north. A primitive aircraft, with primitive radio, only dead-reckoning navigation, and no radar. The plane has become enclosed in an overwhelming storm system and the pilot is flying blind in complete blackness. The situation develops and becomes summarized in the following sentence from the story, " . . . a phantom ship that, as things were, struggled no longer to win a punctuality-bonus, but only to evade a penalty . . . the penalty of death."

2. On the ground in Buenos Aries, the director of the S America air mail effort, Riviere. In his drive to establish and develop the program, he has championed the night mail flights. Now a plane and crew has become in mortal danger. Riviere weighs all factors including especially the worth of what they are doing versus the costs. His thoughts, from the story, " . . . even though human life may be the most precious thing on earth, we always behave as if there were something of higher value than human life . . . But what thing?"

A great novel. Serious introspection, and a fascinating glimpse at the nuts and bolts of early aviation. A nice prelude, by the way, to Saint-Ex's landmark work, "Wind, Sand, and Stars". A comprehensive autobiographical tale, and larger than fiction, along these same lines.

for more information click here

Night Flight (Vol de Nuit) - Antoine de St. Exupéry

St. Exupéry was an early aviator who writes from his actual experiences flying over (and through) the Andes to open up new airmail routes. I purchased this book as a gift for a friend who is a pilot. I read the book a number of years ago in the original French. The story is a fine human drama in its own right. However, most impressive for me are the beautiful and poetic descriptions of early flight in fragile aircraft over a rugged but beautiful landscape, unequaled by any other author I have read. You will fly beside and with this author through a different world which is at once both detached and linked to all humanity below. Truly a remarkable little book.

for more information click here

A most evocative book

This is an epic narrative of a single evening in the Argentine night mail service. The chief character is the air manager, with peripheral characters being pilots, pilots' wives, and other personnel. Without spoiling the plot, an unexpected crisis occurs in the way of a trans-Andean storm, and the pace quickens to unforgettable climax.
But read the book. It's short, and not so much as a phrase is excess weight. A spine-tingling thriller about men in crisis, and the women who wait alone. You may grimace at the manager's resolve, but you will never forget him or the pilot coming from far southern Argentina. A masterful insight into the days when character was a desirable thing and profit wasn't the only motive for excellence.

for more information click here

Wonderful Chronicle of the Human Condition.

I have read Exupery's "The Little Prince." I am aware of his tragic 1944 death, just two years after writing this marvelous little book, while flying a solo reconoissance mission in support of the Allies, somewhere over the Mediterranean sea. The world lost a great literary and artistic talent, as well as a hero.

This is important context, because "Night Flight" serves to enhance St. Exupery's reputation, in my opinion, as one of the 20th century's great writers of the human condition. He covers several topics in this short book that are central to understanding the human experience:

- being alone in the dark.
- being alone and lost.
- being "alone" in a villiage, or alone even while surrounded by people, or when trying to talk to your husband or wife.
- the yoke of obligation and duty
- the benefit and sacrifices of the one vs. the many
- disfunctional leadership and command
- living every day with fear and doubts

I cannot judge the impact of the transation out of the French, vs. the peculiarities of St. Exupery's writing style. But whatever it is, it works. The economy of the text reminds me of Hemingway.

He explained it as only a gifted artist could explain it, who had been there many times before. I found myself in the plane with Fabien. I could feel the engine shake, the wind blow by, the dim lights of the instrument panel. I could see the star lights in the sky above, and, as St. Exupery explained it, the star lights in the villiages below. I could feel the onset of awareness and resignation, as the pilot gradually becomes aware that he is hopelessly lost above the vast emptyness of the jungle, mountains and the sea.

for more information click here

Prelude to Citadel

Written and published when Saint-Exupery was 31 years old, this short novel holds the seed of what was to become Saint-Ex's posthumous masterpiece, Citadel. The theme is leadership in a life and death command situation.

Night Flight is the story of Mr. Rivière (pronounced ree-vee-AIR) who oversees a number of pilots carrying mail in South America. The postal service is a lucrative but competive business and keeping planes grounded at night loses the company any speed advantage flight has over trains or ships. So they fly at night.

This evening, Rivière must deal with a night flight surprised by a storm. There is no hope. When Rivière sends men into the night, they are in death's embrace. There is no margin for error. Because he loves his men, he must rise above all concerns for their feelings and think only about their welfare. He loves them but cannot, must not, show it. For one act of negligence, Riviere fires an experienced dearly loved and well respected mechanic. Because the company auditor befriended a pilot, he forces the auditor to officially reprimand the pilot. Like Riviere, the auditor must have no heart if he is to save the lives of the men he loves.

Vincent Poirier, Dublin

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

In this gripping novel, Saint-Exupéry tells about the brave men who piloted night mail planes from Patagonia, Chile, and Paraguay to Argentina in the early days of commercial aviation. Preface by André Gide. Translated by Stuart Gilbert.

hot