Book. “Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – L’Aventure des ailes à la plume”

François Suchel, writer, photographer, filmmaker and Air France airline pilot, set himself the task of writing an illustrated biography of Saint-Exupéry. No easy task, as countless books have already been published on the aviator who disappeared in 1944. And yet…

“L’Aventure des ailes à la plume*…” The title alone is enough to summarize the life and work of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry! A world-renowned figure, born in Lyon, dazzled the first half of the 20th century like a shooting star – a bit like the “Little Prince”.

Aviator, writer, reporter, poet, man of science (he held nearly ten patents on technical inventions), but also humanist, anti-conformist… He savored every moment of his passionate, adventurous and tumultuous life. We all know the story of Saint-Exupéry more or less, hence the difficulty of writing again and again on the aviator who disappeared in 1944 off the coast of Marseille and whose plane was found only in the early 2000s.

This is the challenge that François Suchel has brilliantly taken up! By focusing on some of the most unknown aspects of the author’s personality, he has provided one of the most meticulous biographies on Saint-Ex.

For this, the airline pilot (who shares some similarities with the central character of this biography, who was also an airline pilot during the golden days of the Aéropostale), digs deep into the most recent sources on Saint-Ex, including his private correspondence with his wife, the Salvadoran Consuelo, or relies on a plethora of rare drawings and photographs.

All this comes across in a writing that is simple, yet not lacking in precision and finesse. What better style to pay tribute to the one who was nicknamed “Pique la Lune” (space cadet) during his early days as a pilot?

Book. “Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – L’Aventure des ailes à la plume” Author: François Suchel. Editions Paulsen. ISBN: 2375021258