Flight to Arras

A recollection of the shattering days during World War II when, though the fall of France was imminent, a handful of French pilots continued to fight on against the Germans. Translated by Lewis Galantière.

"An important work, composed at a pitch of feeling."—Clifton Fadiman, The New Yorker

In the first year of World War II, even when the defeat of France was imminent, a pitifully inadeqaute number of French pilots and their crews regularly risked their lives against the Germans. The action of this shattering book takes place during a single reconnaisance mission over the burning city of Arras. Saint-Exupery transcends the gripping experience of the flight itself to reflect on why men fight and how they feel in the presence of death.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944), best known as the author of The Little Prince, was also a pioneer aviator. In 1944 he flew his plane over the Mediterranean on a World War II reconnaissance mission from which he never returned.

A Harvest Book Harcourt Inc.
525 B. Street, San Diego, CA 92101
15 East 26th Street, New York, NY 10010
www.HarcourtBooks.com

ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY, the "Winged Poet," was born in Lyon, France, in 1900. He took his first flight at the age of eleven, and became a pilot at twenty-six. He was a pioneer of commercial aviation and flew in the Spanish Civil War and World War II. His writings include The Little Prince, Wind, Sand and Stars, Night Flight, Southern Mail, and Airman's Odyssey. In 1944, while serving with a French air squadron, he disappeared during a flight over the Mediterranean.