The “Geography of the Heart” of “The Little Prince” turned eighty years old

It is the second best-selling book after the Bible. On April 6, 1943, the New York publisher Reynal & Hitchcock published The little Princea great classic of the French adventurer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) in English and, just two weeks later, in French. It was the beginning of a great success that shows no signs of stopping. In these eighty years, The little Prince it has sold more than two hundred million copies and ships five hundred million more every year. The number of official translations has just reached 500 with the latest version, in the Sephardic Haketí dialect, according to a report by French publishing house Gallimard and collected by Efe.

It can be read in Galician since 1972, the year in which Carlos Casares He published his translation. On October 15, La Voz de Galicia reported the appearance of the piece, along with other versions of the classic ( Macbeth Shakespearean, Fernando Pérez-Barreiro, i death in the cathedralTS Elliott, translated by Isidoro Millán): «The first of these works was or the beginningof the French Saint-Exupéry, recently put up for sale, in a magnificent version by Carlos Casares».

This translation is still in the live catalog of Editorial Galaxia, which reported yesterday that the work has reached about twenty editions in Galician, including paperbacks. The translation arose from Casares’ idea that great literary works can be read in the country’s own language, but also from the fascination he felt for the story he was telling. The little Prince. However, the translation was not enough, because Casares dedicated himself to collecting copies in different languages, until he exceeded a hundred. Along with this bibliographic legacy, an exhibition was organized, A worldwide start. For the collection of Carlos Casares. It is no coincidence that the writer, translator and editor himself named this constellation around Saint-Exupéry’s book «geography of the heart».

fascination

Casares’ fascination reflects an interest shared by millions of readers, who continue to be captivated by this story that, in the form of a children’s story, raises some fundamental questions about imagination and, deep down, about life in its deepest sense. And not only Saint-Exupéry’s words are responsible for this appeal: the original illustrations, watercolors by the writer himself, captivate those who enter the unreal world that the book presents. Their naive appearance is part of the essence of the drawings, which go beyond mere graphic addition.

To celebrate the anniversary, Gallimard launched a special collector’s edition, limited to 3,000 pieces. In Spanish, Salamandra also joined the anniversary with the recent release of an interactive children’s book The Little Prince: Where are you, fox?, as well as the English-Spanish version. This is another of the great values ​​of the book, its requirement for reading for all ages – and shared reading between different generations – because as a person changes, so does the meaning of the book.