Saint-exupery: A Biography

by Stacy Schiff

  19. “an immense difficulty”: CARNETS, 25.

  20. “To sell a man”: ibid., 92.

  21. “Finished Le Rouge et le Noir”: Gide, Journal 1939–1949 (Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1954), 151. The entry is dated December 11, 1942.

  22. “Peace, without Tonio”: Jean Lucas in Icare II, 104.

  23. He painted a picture: Fleury, Icare II, 81.

  24. “When I read your letters”: SE’s poignant missive to Luro Cambaceres—who was to write his own account of the early days of the airline—is reproduced in Icare I, 197.

  25. “You’re not up to anything” to “It’s not much”: Jean Chitry, Icare II, 85.

  26. Generally he kept his distance: A fascinating statement to this effect is partially reproduced in Chevrier, 124: “Je ne considère point une pellicule comme mon oeuvre. Elle est, en effet, toujours oeuvre collective, issue tant bien que mal de compromis qui ne contentent jamais un auteur, et j’évite au contraire avec le plus grand soin de trop y attacher mon nom. Je ne puis empěcher les producteurs de jouer sur une signature qu’ils ont payée, mais je ne joins pas mes efforts aux leurs.” The statement may explain why the story credit for “Anne-Marie” went to one “A. de Saint-Exupéry.”

  27. “The Sahara seems”: Air France Revue, Spring 1935, 5.

  28. As the sun set: Gaudillère re-created the incident in Icare II, 113.

  29. “un artiste en souvenirs”: Jean Prévost, Les Caractères (Paris: Éditions Albin Michel, 1948), 109.

  30. SE reported a gross income: Frédéric d’Agay kindly shared his great-uncle’s tax returns of 1935 and 1937 with me.

  31. “How much do you have” and “Good. I’m leaving”: Fleury, Icare II, 82–83.

  32. In the most dramatic: Fleury, Icare II, 83. Similarly, Chevrier, 119–121. The report on SE’s cellmate was issued by Captain Pierre Bénech.

  33. “A night flight”: “Mermoz, le pilote de ligne,” Marianne, August 7, 1935, 1.

  34. “Gaston Gallimard is”: Crémieux cited in Assouline, 181.

  35. One friend was to say: Léon-Paul Fargue, “Souvenir de Saint-Exupéry,” La Revue de Paris, September 1945, 53.

  36. “to sit on chairs”: Jean-Paul Sartre, The War Diaries of Jean-Paul Sartre (New York:

  37. Pantheon, 1984), 248–49.

  38. “One couldn’t write”: Léon-Paul Fargue cited in Lottman, 36.

  39. “I the undersigned”: July 6, 1984, Drouot sale, item no. 29.

  40. “Straddling a chair”: Cendrars in Confluences, Vols. 12–14, 59–60.

  41. “A shooting star” and entire episode: André Beucler, “Quand Saint-Exupéry imaginait des contes de fées jusqu’au retour de l’aube …,” Le Figaro Littéraire, July 30, 1949, 1. Also Beucler, 20 ans avec Léon-Paul Fargue (Geneva: Éditions du Milieu du Monde, 1952), 110–13. The two accounts differ slightly.

  42. “If it was cold”: Jeanson, 70 ans, 226.

  43. The party broke up: Jean Galtier-Boissière’s account can be found in Mémoires d’un Parisien II (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1961), 297.

  44. On the lunches with Prévost, Giraudoux, Beucler: See Beucler, Les instants de Giraudoux (Geneva: Éditions du Milieu du Monde, 1948).

  45. One night he attracted: Escot, Icare I, 114.

  46. “Ça, c’est Guillaumet”: Werth, Tel Quel, 152. borrowing a domestic’s tie: Unpublished Gallimard interview, op. cit.

  47. a Fernandez-moderated panel: The account of the evening—it was June 8—can be found in Van Rysselberghe, Cahiers André Gide V, 451–52.

  48. “I’d very much like”: Werth, Tel Quel, 157.

  49. In the front seat: Pélissier, 128.

  50. “That day, I understood”: Lamotte, Icare 1, 97.

  51. he loved to sing: Beucler, Les Instants de Giraudoux, 21.

  52. “he liked honesty”: Beucler in René Tavernier, Saint-Exupéry en procès (Paris: Belfond, 1967), 141.

  53. “He appreciated disguises”: Beucler, “Quand Saint-Exupéry imaginait des contes de fées jusqu’au retour de l’aube,” Le Figaro Littéraire, July 30, 1949, 1.

  54. a fairly constant thirst: Madame de B remembered her friend’s having been hugely—and unappealingly—“puffed up” by whiskey in the late 1930s, conversation with the author, January 18, 1994. She claimed that he lost fifteen kilos nearly overnight when she informed him that she did not like heavy men, interviews of January 7, 1991, and January 18, 1994.

  55. “Tonio, sing!” Interview with Madeleine Goisot, January 2, 1992.

  56. “Have you noticed?” and “That reminds me”: Gaudillère, Icare II, 113.

  57. “lighter than air”: Werth, Tel Quel, 166.

  58. “You’re a sorcerer”: Interview with Madame de B, December 4, 1991.

  59. “Dunno. Do you count”: Dony, 568.

  60. “He spent less time”: Prévost, Les caractères, 109.

  61. Beucler remembered: Beucler, Le Figaro Littéraire, July 30, 1949.

  62. He devised psychological: Werth, Tel Quel, 164.

  63. He liked to torment: Each of his friends retained a favorite Exupérien theory as well.

  64. Maximilian Becker never forgot an eloquent defense the writer offered of capitalism and the accumulation of great fortunes, without which the arts would languish; for Hedda Sterne SE explained the value of reactionary thinking. (It saved the world from evolving too quickly, which could be dangerous.) Another friend was struck by his intriguing argument that plants and creatures occurred in greater variation the higher one moved on the evolutionary scale.

  65. “Only with difficulty”: ANAT.

  66. “slow to take off” and “He would leave us”: Jeanson, 70 ans, 226. André Maurois left a nearly identical description in From Proust to Camus (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, 1966), 210–1.

  67. “He gestured with his left”: Cendrars, Confluences, 60.

  68. short aviation pieces to Marianne: January 25, 1933 (“Mermoz”), January 24, 1934 (“La fin de l’Emeraude”), and February 28, 1934 (“Servitude et grandeur de l’aviation”).

  69. “an outright surrender”: Paris-Soir, May 14, 1935. The translation is from A Sense of Life, 33. The Russian pieces appeared on the front page of Paris-Soir on May 3, 14, 16, 19, 20, and 22, 1935.

  70. “unified solid mass” and “like any Paris suburb”: Paris-Soir, May 3, 1935; the translation is from A Sense of Life, 32.

  71. years later he was patiently: Interview with John Phillips, December 4, 1990.

  72. “cut an unswerving path” to “lumps of clay”: Paris-Soir, May 14, 1935; translation from A Sense of Life, 38–40. SE ended WSS on this note, 204–206.

  73. Hervé Mille impatiently: Mille interview with author, January 6, 1992.

  74. “What’s wrong” and “I can’t continue”: Interview and Mille, Icare III, 56.

  75. “speak above the roar” to “My impression”: Paris-Soir, May 20, 1935.

  76. “This dedication to the métier”: Journal de Moscou, May 23, 1935.

  77. “as invisible as virtue” to “I’ll be the first”: Paris-Soir, May 22, 1935.

  78. “Theirs is a hard and bitter”: Frédéric d’Agay provided a copy of the Anne-Marie screenplay. I am grateful to Annabella for having lent me her tape of the film.

  79. “quite amazingly silly”: Graham Greene, The Pleasure Dome: The Collected Film Criticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972), 73.

  80. to secure an airplane: Daurat says as much in Dans le vent des hélices. Madame de B and Jean-Marie Conty—who would have been more personally acquainted with SE’s financial and personal affairs—continue to think it more likely that the airplane was bestowed on the pilot for publicity purposes; Madame de B did not, as has been claimed, purchase it for her friend. The Renault archives yield no clues on this count, or at least have not done so to date.

  81. “I wanted to dazzle”: Werth, Tel Quel, 158.

  82. “Come and see me” and “I will come by air”: Conty recalled the conversation and the sub
sequent tour in two interviews, January 5, 1991, and January 18, 1992. He wrote of it as well in Icare II, 93–97.

  83. “Do you see” and “Yes, I see”: Interview of January 18, 1992.

  84. “As for Monsieur de SE”: Archives Nationales catalogue, 54.

  85. “Yes, gentlemen” and “But you must forgive”: Conty, Cahiers Saint-Exupéry I, 73.

  86. Consuelo’s address: In tracking the nomadic Saint-Exupérys through the 1930s I have relied heavily on the recollections of Jean-Marie Conty and Madeleine Goisot. André de Fonscolombe published a guide to his cousin’s addresses in Icare II, 33.

  87. “kindly caretaker”: Ernest Hemingway, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1927), 11.

  88. “Dear Lord, save”: Archives Nationales catalogue, 54.

  89. “Can you hear”: Interview with Ysatis de Saint-Simon, December 2, 1990. Similarly Hervé Mille, interview of January 6, 1992. Mille remembered SE as having been amused and greatly touched by this communication.

  90. to be a fine shepherd: To Silvia Reinhardt, in an exquisite love letter, a copy of which Silvia Reinhardt shared with me.

  91. He could speak inexhaustibly: R.-L. Bruckberger, Au diable le Père Bruck! (Paris: Plon, 1986), 171.

  92. “She’s a tough little number”: Simone de Saint-Exupéry writing as Simone de Rémens, Météores (Hanoi: Taupin & Company, 1943), 204.

  93. “He has always been”: ibid., 220.

  94. “like two kids”: Goisot interviews, January 2, 1992, and January 20, 1992.

  95. “métier d’homme” and “From the moment”.: Michel Georges-Michel, Le baiser à Consuelo (Paris: Éditions Baudinière, 1935), 125–26.

  96. “The first three, four”: Pélissier, 131.

  97. “Put your mind”: FA, 319.

  98. as his new acquaintance read: I have based this account in part on many conversations with Madame de B, especially that of January 22, 1991, and in part on the description of the meeting included by Richard Rumbold and Lady Margaret Stewart—who also interviewed Madame de B on the subject—in The Winged Life, op. cit.

  99. “his sweet Egeria”: Marcel Migeo, Saint-Ex (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960), 142.

  100. “who brought him both”: Maja Destrem, Saint-Exupéry (Paris: Éditions Paris-Match, 1974), 28. “guardian angel”: Nicole Marino, Écoute, January 1993, 28. “a charming and intelligent”: Rumbold and Stewart, 87. “la blonde”: Deschodt, 209.

  101. “perhaps there was” to “was it”: Rosalind Baker Wilson, Near the Magician (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1989), 206. I am grateful to Rosalind Wilson for having put me in touch with Eva Thoby-Marcelin.

  102. “a crisis never arises”: Gertrude Stein, Paris, France (New York: Liveright, 1970), 29. like her Zorro: Bruckberger, op. cit., 173.

  103. “sizzling letters”: Interview with Maximilian Becker, December 13, 1990.

  104. “L’une le déséquilibrait”: Conversation with a relative requesting anonymity, January 13, 1991.

  XII “TAYARA BOUM-BOUM, TAYARA BOUM-BOUM!”

  1. “Aviation unites”: Malraux cited in Selden Rodman, ed. The Poetry of Flight (Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1969), 11.

  2. Under no circumstances: General René Davet contributed his recollections to Icare III, 87–95. His preface to Daniel Anet, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, poète, romancier, moraliste (Paris: Corrěa, 1946) is also informative.

  3. nothing was more boring: Maggie Guiral, “Saint-Ex,” Voilà, n.d., Saint-Exupéry file (1P 6678) at SHAA.

  4. Mermoz was to say: Mes vols, 13.

  5. “a combination tea party”: Marcel Migeo, Saint-Ex, 168. Jean-Marie Conty more than confirmed this report, interview of January 5, 1991, and reported that Mermoz had no faith at all that his former colleague would succeed with the raid.

  6. “l’aviation sportive”: Le Figaro, December 30, 1935, 1.

  7. he assumed he had already: SE’s initial account of the crash—and of the reasoning that preceded it—was delivered to reporters in Marseilles on his return and reproduced in La Nef, February-March 1951, 114–16.

  8. “I was sure”: WSS, 125.

  9. “Our situation was”: Cited in Chevrier, 132.

  10. “vague foreboding,” “in a confused way,” and all quotations regarding the crash except where noted: WSS, 129–57. SE’s original account of the crash appeared on the front page of Paris-Soir between January 30 and February 4 under the general title “Prison de Sable.” The six pieces bore an inspired series of subtitles: “Un avertissement du Destin,” “Soudain, un formidable craquement,” “La soif,” “Le délire,” “Le supplice du 3ème jour,” and “Résurrection.”

  11. “Oh, because of that”: Madame de B, writing as Hélène Froment, Confluences, 279.

  12. “I ask my wife’s”: Paris-Soir, January 5, 1936, 1. “WE HAVE HEADED”: Paris-Soir, January 8, 1936, 3.

  13. A number of journalists: Marianne, January 8, 1936. Nearly everyone present either wrote up his memories of the vigil or shared them with a journalist or biographer who did.

  14. He paid a call: Ségogne, Icare III, 67.

  15. “Ah, Saint-Exupéry, he’s gotten”: Conty interview, January 5, 1991.

  16. “Have no fear”: Fleury, “Saint-Exupéry, l’aviateur du désert,” Candide, January 9, 1936.

  17. One of Saint-Exupéry’s editors: Hervé Mille interview, January 6, 1992.

  18. “reprendre le flambeau“. Conty, January 5, 1991.

  19. When she sat down: The interview appeared in Le Figaro, December 31, 1935, lf.

  20. where she claimed: Madeleine Goisot, letter to author, February 6, 1992.

  21. Madame Vidi swore: The report of the visit with the clairvoyant appeared as “Votre mari est vivant,” L’Intransigeant, January 11, 1936, 2.

  22. “Held up by two”: Marcellin Cazes, “Derrière Thorez, je vois entrer Léon Daudet,” Paris Presse L’Intransigeant, October 29, 1965.

  23. At the same time: Lucas, Icare II, 104.

  24. ring forever in his ears: Suzanne Raccaud, Cahiers 1, 57. Madame Raccaud’s recollections provide a magnificent counterpoint to SE’s account of the crash.

  25. The other Madame de SE: Paris-Soir’s reporter published his account of the early-morning visit to the Pont-Royal on the third in the January 4 paper, 3. For Gide’s reaction, see Cahiers André Gide V, 509–10.

  26. entirely disoriented: Marseille-Matin, January 4, 1936, 1–4.

  27. “canoeing in mid-ocean”: WSS, 135.

  28. “After three days of walking”: Jacques Baratier, “Retour d’Amérique, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry nous dit …,” Les Nouvelles Littéraires, March 18, 1939, 1.

  29. “that caravan swaying”: WSS, 154.

  30. “Tayara boum-boum!”: Raccaud, Cahiers I, 56.

  31. “like young calves”: WSS, 155.

  32. “Could you pay my guide”: Raccaud, Cahiers I, 50.

  33. “When you have nothing”: Paris-Soir, January 6, 1936, 5.

  34. “Yes, tea—and whiskey”: Raccaud, Cahiers I, 51.

  35. “Don’t forget, sir”: Cited in Deschodt, 225.

  36. the Continental’s porter: L’Intransigeant, January 4, 1936, 1.

  37. Evidently at this moment to “Tell them for me”: Gabriel Dardaud’s account—which sounds a bit overexuberant in the original—is from 30 ans au bord du Nil (Paris: Lieu Commun, 1987), 60–65. He offered a shorter but no less dramatic version of the activity on the Continental’s steps in Le Point, January 27, 1986, 135–39.

  38. “ARE SO HAPPY”: WSS, 157 (translation mine).

  39. “SAFE AND SOUND”: ANAT.

  40. “A few hours’ sleep”: Le Figaro, January 4, 1936, 1.

  41. Breakfasts in the desert: L’Intransigeant, January 4, 1936, 5.

  42. Marseille-Matin went so far: “Saint-Ex,” Marseille-Matin, January 8, 1936, 1.

  43. “I cried reading”: LSM, 214–15.

  44. The order Witasse had placed: Dar
daud, 63.

  45. doubtless remembering the words: SE quoted Le Brix in his preface to José Le Boucher, Le Destin de Joseph-Made Le Brix (Paris: Nouvelle Librairie Française, 1932) years before his stay in the Libyan desert: “’Buvez,’ me répétait Le Brix, ‘sans quoi vous le regretteriez un jour: j’ai vu défiler, dans mon délire, tous les bocks bien glacés que j’avais refusés dans ma vie.’ Plus tard, il ajouta: ‘Et ça—il me désignait le mirage où les dunes se reflétaient dans une eau pure—vous croyez que c’est drôle, ça, quand on crève de soif!’ ”

  46. “I started a sentence”: I am grateful to Paul Barthe-Dejean for sharing his dedication, and for his crystal-clear recollections of the Garden City luncheon and the days that followed, outlined in letters of February 8 and March 17, 1993.

  47. Not having seen each other: The return to Wadi-Natroun was written up in Paris-Soir, January 8, 1936.

  48. “tour de force”: A portion of SE’s December 23, 1936, letter to his insurers is reproduced in the auction catalogue from a Drouot sale, Paris, June 16 and 17, 1990, item 29.

  49. taken off in haste: Le Figaro, January 3, 1936, 1.

  50. “la véritable grandeur”: The La Bruyère comparison is invoked in Le Figaro, January 4, 1936, 5.

  51. implying that no pilot: Les Ailes, January 9, 1936.

  52. “Finally you’ve come!”: Le Radical (Marseilles), January 21, 1936, 1. See also Marseille-Matin, January 22, 1926, 3, for a fine account of SE’s return to France.

  53. The Lipp proprietor: Cazes, Paris Presse L’Intransigeant, October 29, 1965.

  54. “I suffered such thirst”: Algérie-Soir, August 13, 1944.

  55. “She’s going to throw” to “If I had appealed”: Jeanson, 70 ans, 236–37.

  56. Consuelo burst instantly: Raymond Bernard, Icare III, 28.

  57. proved equally impressed: René Davet, in his preface to Daniel Anet, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, poète, romancier, moraliste (Paris: Editions Corrěa, 1946).

  58. not all of the hotel bills: Madame de B, interview of January 8, 1992.

  59. “refresh one’s wardrobe”: Quoted in Françoise Giroud, Si je mens … (Paris: Éditions Stock, 1972), 38.

  60. “I am going to write”: Pélissier, 157.

  61. “I feel like a prisoner”: The letter has been reproduced several times but is perhaps most available as “Métier et vocation d’écrivain,” Preuves, October 1957, 20–21. Françoise Giroud remembered SE complaining of same, letter to author, April 1992.