Very surprised and sad to see so many dismissive comments of the book. It's a really popular one in France for a very good reason. It's so creative, poetic and touching that I doubt you can read it and stay indifferent.
If you've never read it, do yourself a favor and do so! It's quite short, and I hope you'll like it.
I recently bought this book for my kids. Somehow I've never read it in forty years. What's the big deal? It's gotta be the most famous book I've never read.
It's not a hard read, and probably would take most adults an hour or two. Maybe just go read it if you're curious, and if you don't like it then quit after a chapter or two.
I like it. I got a lot out of the encounter with the fox, specifically, and that helped me in how I relate to a lot of my friends and lovers.
It's one of those books that strike you with a completely different meaning when you read it as an adult, than when you read it as a child. Which probably contributes to its enduring charm across the generations. I think everyone should read it twice, but with at least 20 years between readings.
This is a sub plot in "Changing Places" by David Lodge. Hyper competitive professor of English wins dinner party game admitting major Canon work he hasn't read: gets terminated by head of department.
There was one in Hakone, Japan which opened in 1999 and closed in 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_The_Little_Prince_in...
It was one of my fondest memory of my first travel in Japan, we had no clue that such site was there, so when we took the bus from whatever train station to the onsen hotel, and we passed in front of it, as a French, it was jaw dropping to see such place. Even crazier was when we actually visited it, they really captured my home region. Unbelievable experience.
Oh, it closed? That's too bad! We visited it when we were in Hakone in 2017—it was a remarkable experience finding it in Japan!
How relevant is this to people under thirty? This screams “boomer last gasp” to me. Like snoopy
Out of curiosity, what cultural artifacts do you suppose people under thirty will consider worth passing on to their kids?
Not trying to be snarky. I think printed book culture led to some degree of consensus about books like The Little Prince. I’m not sure what replaces it.
The Little Prince was published before the baby boom. I am a millennial. We've read it to our gen alpha kid. We have it in three languages.
Very well written and will be relevant for all ages for another 100 years. Very unsnoopy. (Although I’ve heard that pre-Snoopy Peanuts is excellent and deep)
As I mentioned in the thread on Peanuts two days ago, "pre-Snoopy Peanuts" consists of two total comic strips, which are neither excellent nor deep. There's not enough material for either to be possible.
There's a lot of Peanuts. Whatever you like or don't like about it, you can find examples of at any point in its history.
Profound thoughts about the human condition don't become less profound when the next generation comes along. The Little Prince is no more "boomer" than, say, Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.
Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.
I've never heard of Little Prince before. I don't think it's as popular as the article claims.
Based on approximate sales figures, it's one of the top-selling books of all time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books
> I've never heard of Little Prince before.
interesting. may I ask which region of the world you live in?
> I don't think it's as popular as the article claims.
that may be telling more about the region you live or yourself.
I suggest go to it's Wikipedia article and check the books impact.
ps: and to get a physical copy and to read it...
It was even taught in all schools in Iran!
America, could this be a European thing?
I lived in America (NJ and CA) for 25 years and plenty of people knew about The Little Prince.
I've even seen people wearing shirts with the drawing of the snake that ate the elephant.
I live in the Netherlands for almost 50 years and never heard of it either.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_literary_works_by_numb...
This is the second most translated book after the Bible