Antoine De Saint-Exupery was born in 1900 in Lyons, France. His interest for aviation, which inspired and informed many of his stories, started at a young age. After failing an exam for entrance into the Naval Academy, he decided to join the French Army Air Force where he first learned to pilot a plane. Five years later, he could leave the military in order to begin flying air mail between remote settlements in the Sahara desert.
When World War II broke out, Saint-Exupery rejoined the French Air Force. After Nazi troops overtook France in 1940, he fled to the United Stated and lived in exile in New York. He had hoped to join the US war efforts as a fighter pilot, but was dismissed because of his age. To console himself, he drew upon his experiences over the Sahara desert to write and illustrate what would become his most famous book, Le Petit Prince (1943), a book that has fascinated both children and adults for decades. Shortly after completing the book, Saint-Exupery finally got his wish. He returned to North Africa to fly warplane for his country. On July 31, 1944, Saint-Exupery took off on a mission and was sadly never heard from again.
The first translation of Le Petit Prince was made in 1943 into English by Katherine Woods. A couple years later, in 1951, the first Spanish translation would be made by Bonifacio Del Carril, an Argentinian writer. Many of the Spanish translations that would come after are derived from Del Carril’s translation.
The following website provides a chronology of the translations made of Le Petit Prince:
http://www.petit-prince-collection.com/index.php
Jacqueline Chavez is a member of Amherst College’s Class of 2016. She is an Anthropology and Spanish double major and has completed a Five College Certificate in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies. Translation has always played a big role in her life, although never in a formal sense. Coming from an immigrant family and being the only one in her family to speak English, she was often the bridge that connected her family to the English-speaking world. During her time at Amherst she has been very involved with the Spanish department and has done much translation through that, but nothing to the extent that this class has pushed her. Through the experience of being a literary translator, Jacquie feels that her mastery of both the English and Spanish language has improved.