Wind, Sand and Stars - The Craft

The opinions expressed here are mine and are not the be-all and end-all. If you have other opinions or questions, leave them at the bottom of this entry so that all of us can read them. These opinions are not meant to substitute your lessons or contradict what your teacher may have to say in class. Their intention is to jump-start an interesting discussion. The quotes used have been taken from the Harbrace edition published in 1967, translated by Lewis Galantiere,

 

An aviator who loved his occupation, his 'comrades' and life on Earth - this was the man of passion that was Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Wind, Sand and Stars (Terre des Hommes), a picturesque memoir, is De Saint-Exupery's tribute to the flying profession and the mysteries of life. Abstract, at times deeply philosophical, this is a book that requires the reader to think along with its author.

The opening chapter, 'The Craft', immediately sets the prideful tone that will echo throughout the rest of the memoir. De Saint-Exupery was clearly a man who took pride in his profession, one which was beset by mortal dangers. He writes that some of the pilots would sometimes "fail to come back" and they would then be eternally revered. This is because up in the air nature is unpredictable. What may seem peaceful to someone on the ground may turn out to be a pitfall for a pilot. This is further proved by the author's summary of Mermoz's experience and mention of Lecrivain, who "had not landed at Casablanca [and] would never again land anywhere."

The perilous nature of the profession meant one thing for De Saint-Exupery: that what he was doing was of a noble nature: "If, some day, the crew are hooked by a cliff it will not have been in the interest of tradespeople that they will have died, but in obedience to orders which ennoble the sacks of mail..." The author also writes these critical words about the "tradespeople" or bureaucrats: "You, like a termite, built your peace by blocking up with cement every chink and cranny through which the light might pierce ... You have chosen not to be perturbed by great problems." He is scornful of bureaucrats because he thinks they are "hardened clay", incapable of realising their potential. De Saint-Exupery was a man appreciative of nature's mysteries. This is expressed in a cryptic paragraph about coffee-drinking: "Amidst all these stars there was but one that could make itself significant for us by composing this aromatic bowl that was its daily gift at dawn. And from that earth of men ... our ship was separated by astronomical distances. All the treasures of the world were summed up in a grain of dust now blown far out of our path..." He mourns the fact that humans are no longer capable of understanding their significance in the universe. The joy of living, he says, lies in "the remembered sensation of that first burning and aromatic swallow." He is speaking of the beauty of simple things. Even a simple act like drinking coffee with one's friends at dawn should inspire one to "hold communion with the earth."

De Saint-Exupery stresses how important it is for a pilot to stay connected with the elements of nature, as he "looks to them to tell him the direction of the wind or the progress of the storm, and the quality of the night to come." He is far from romanticisng nature. In fact, he says the pilot's problems are "set him by the mountain, the sea, the wind." In order for the pilot to survive, he must learn to read nature's signs.