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Southern Mail / Night Flight
In his first novel, Saint-Exupéry pays homage to “those elemental divinities-night, day, mountain, sea, and storm,” turning an account of a routine mail flight from France to North Africa into an epic rendering of the pioneer days of commercial aviation. The book is also a poignant reminiscence of a tragic affair, in which the uncertainties of love and flight enhance the mystery of one another. Translated by Curtis Cate.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1929
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526 people want to read
About the author
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
1,547 books8,738 followersPeople best know French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry for his fairy tale
The Little Prince
(1943).
He flew for the first time at the age of 12 years in 1912 at the Ambérieu airfield and then determined to a pilot. Even after moving to a school in Switzerland and spending summer vacations at the château of the family at Saint-Maurice-de-Rémens in east, he kept that ambition. He repeatedly uses the house at Saint-Maurice.
Later, in Paris, he failed the entrance exams for the naval academy and instead enrolled at the prestigious l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In 1921, Saint-Exupéry, stationed in Strasbourg, began serving in the military. He learned and forever settled his career path as a pilot. After leaving the service in 1923, Saint-Exupéry worked in several professions but in 1926 went back and signed as a pilot for Aéropostale, a private airline that from Toulouse flew mail to Dakar, Senegal. In 1927, Saint-Exupéry accepted the position of airfield chief for Cape Juby in southern Morocco and began his first book, a memoir, called Southern Mail and published in 1929.
He then moved briefly to Buenos Aires to oversee the establishment of an Argentinean mail service, returned to Paris in 1931, and then published Night Flight , which won instant success and the prestigious Prix Femina. Always daring Saint-Exupéry tried from Paris in 1935 to break the speed record for flying to Saigon. Unfortunately, his plane crashed in the Libyan Desert, and he and his copilot trudged through the sand for three days to find help. In 1938, a second plane crash at that time, as he tried to fly between city of New York and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, seriously injured him. The crash resulted in a long convalescence in New York.
He published Wind, Sand and Stars , next novel, in 1939. This great success won the grand prize for novel of the academy and the national book award in the United States. Saint-Exupéry flew reconnaissance missions at the beginning of the Second World War but went to New York to ask the United States for help when the Germans occupied his country. He drew on his wartime experiences to publish Flight to Arras and Letter to a Hostage in 1942.
Later in 1943, Saint-Exupéry rejoined his air squadron in northern Africa. From earlier plane crashes, Saint-Exupéry still suffered physically, and people forbade him to fly, but he insisted on a mission. From Borgo, Corsica, on 31 July 1944, he set to overfly occupied region. He never returned.
He flew for the first time at the age of 12 years in 1912 at the Ambérieu airfield and then determined to a pilot. Even after moving to a school in Switzerland and spending summer vacations at the château of the family at Saint-Maurice-de-Rémens in east, he kept that ambition. He repeatedly uses the house at Saint-Maurice.
Later, in Paris, he failed the entrance exams for the naval academy and instead enrolled at the prestigious l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In 1921, Saint-Exupéry, stationed in Strasbourg, began serving in the military. He learned and forever settled his career path as a pilot. After leaving the service in 1923, Saint-Exupéry worked in several professions but in 1926 went back and signed as a pilot for Aéropostale, a private airline that from Toulouse flew mail to Dakar, Senegal. In 1927, Saint-Exupéry accepted the position of airfield chief for Cape Juby in southern Morocco and began his first book, a memoir, called Southern Mail and published in 1929.
He then moved briefly to Buenos Aires to oversee the establishment of an Argentinean mail service, returned to Paris in 1931, and then published Night Flight , which won instant success and the prestigious Prix Femina. Always daring Saint-Exupéry tried from Paris in 1935 to break the speed record for flying to Saigon. Unfortunately, his plane crashed in the Libyan Desert, and he and his copilot trudged through the sand for three days to find help. In 1938, a second plane crash at that time, as he tried to fly between city of New York and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, seriously injured him. The crash resulted in a long convalescence in New York.
He published Wind, Sand and Stars , next novel, in 1939. This great success won the grand prize for novel of the academy and the national book award in the United States. Saint-Exupéry flew reconnaissance missions at the beginning of the Second World War but went to New York to ask the United States for help when the Germans occupied his country. He drew on his wartime experiences to publish Flight to Arras and Letter to a Hostage in 1942.
Later in 1943, Saint-Exupéry rejoined his air squadron in northern Africa. From earlier plane crashes, Saint-Exupéry still suffered physically, and people forbade him to fly, but he insisted on a mission. From Borgo, Corsica, on 31 July 1944, he set to overfly occupied region. He never returned.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
December 21, 2024
3,5 ⭐️
Um livro curto composto por duas histórias.
Ambas se centram na entrega de correio nos continentes africano e sul-americanos por via aérea, algures entre a primeira e segunda guerra mundial.
Através da narrativa, quase que conseguimos sentir o medo e solidão que Saint-Exupery tão bem descreve em ambas as histórias. Tendo ele próprio sido um piloto de combate e resgate. Na segunda história (correio do Sul) percebe-se bem o quão perigoso era este trabalho naquela altura em que a aviação era ainda tão pueril.
Gostei em ambas as histórias, da forma como nos conseguiu colocar no seu lugar de piloto, as descrições dos instrumentos de voo e da meteorologia, foi a minha parte preferida, sendo eu parte da mesma indústria e que tanto me fascina.
As duas histórias são muito tristes, falam de solidão, perigo, coragem e amor.
Não gostei tanto da parte romântica da segunda historia, mas tem a haver com o facto de não ser o meu tipo de leitura.
Reconheço a habilidade que Saint-Exupéry exibe na sua escrita, mas por vezes torna-se confusa e acabo por ter que voltar atrás.
Ainda assim penso que é um livro que se lê bem e que demonstra bem o que era a vida destes pilotos, a léguas do glamour e elitismo que surgiria nos anos 50, a época dourada da aviação.
Um livro curto composto por duas histórias.
Ambas se centram na entrega de correio nos continentes africano e sul-americanos por via aérea, algures entre a primeira e segunda guerra mundial.
Através da narrativa, quase que conseguimos sentir o medo e solidão que Saint-Exupery tão bem descreve em ambas as histórias. Tendo ele próprio sido um piloto de combate e resgate. Na segunda história (correio do Sul) percebe-se bem o quão perigoso era este trabalho naquela altura em que a aviação era ainda tão pueril.
Gostei em ambas as histórias, da forma como nos conseguiu colocar no seu lugar de piloto, as descrições dos instrumentos de voo e da meteorologia, foi a minha parte preferida, sendo eu parte da mesma indústria e que tanto me fascina.
As duas histórias são muito tristes, falam de solidão, perigo, coragem e amor.
Não gostei tanto da parte romântica da segunda historia, mas tem a haver com o facto de não ser o meu tipo de leitura.
Reconheço a habilidade que Saint-Exupéry exibe na sua escrita, mas por vezes torna-se confusa e acabo por ter que voltar atrás.
Ainda assim penso que é um livro que se lê bem e que demonstra bem o que era a vida destes pilotos, a léguas do glamour e elitismo que surgiria nos anos 50, a época dourada da aviação.
December 12, 2023
Southern Mail and Night Flight are early novellas about the early days of the French airmail service. In both books I thoroughly enjoyed it when Saint Exupery focused on the pilots and the flight but surprisingly a lot of the action takes place on the ground.
Southern Mail is surprisingly difficult to read because of the shifting points of view. Like another reader I struggled with the unnamed narrator. Was he actually on the flights with Jaques Bernis? It is hard to tell and then there is Jacques’s love affair with the tragic Genevieve, the details of this were merely disorientating. In contrast here is one of the passages that is a joy to read:
“From up there the earth had looked bare and dead; but as the plane loses altitude, it robes itself in colours. The woods spread out their quilts, the hills and valleys rise and fall in waves, like someone breathing. A mountain over which he flies swells like some recumbent giant’s breast, almost grazing his wing-tip.”
And then there is a strange section in Southern Mail where Bernis gets off at a small station on the way to Toulouse from Paris to visit what I presume is Genevieve’s childhood home.
“He peered through the window at the countryside. It lay stretched out before him, with long leagues of country roads over which one went to pray, to hunt, to post a letter. In the distance a thresher was purring; he had to strain his ears to hear it – like an anxious audience, straining to catch an actor’s failing voice.”
It’s not a wonder this scene has stayed with me.
Night Flight is a simpler narrative with cleaner prose but I still struggled every time the plot switched to the ground – not so much with the section about the pilot Fabian and his wife but when it concerns the director of the mail operations Riviere. His part in running the airport and the mail planes is historically interesting but his attitude in pushing the pilots to extremes of endurance and docking them pay when there are mishaps because of the weather are just unbelievable. I’d rather be in the sky with Fabian:
“If only he could make it through to dawn! Fabien thought of the dawn as of a golden strand on to which they would have been cast up after this rough night. Beneath the threatened craft the plains would spread their crib. The tranquil earth would heave into view, carrying its sleeping farms and the flocks upon its hills. Night dispelled, the storm-tossed derelicts would no longer threaten rack and ruin. If he could have done so, how he would have swum towards the daylight.” 3 and a half stars.
Southern Mail is surprisingly difficult to read because of the shifting points of view. Like another reader I struggled with the unnamed narrator. Was he actually on the flights with Jaques Bernis? It is hard to tell and then there is Jacques’s love affair with the tragic Genevieve, the details of this were merely disorientating. In contrast here is one of the passages that is a joy to read:
“From up there the earth had looked bare and dead; but as the plane loses altitude, it robes itself in colours. The woods spread out their quilts, the hills and valleys rise and fall in waves, like someone breathing. A mountain over which he flies swells like some recumbent giant’s breast, almost grazing his wing-tip.”
And then there is a strange section in Southern Mail where Bernis gets off at a small station on the way to Toulouse from Paris to visit what I presume is Genevieve’s childhood home.
“He peered through the window at the countryside. It lay stretched out before him, with long leagues of country roads over which one went to pray, to hunt, to post a letter. In the distance a thresher was purring; he had to strain his ears to hear it – like an anxious audience, straining to catch an actor’s failing voice.”
It’s not a wonder this scene has stayed with me.
Night Flight is a simpler narrative with cleaner prose but I still struggled every time the plot switched to the ground – not so much with the section about the pilot Fabian and his wife but when it concerns the director of the mail operations Riviere. His part in running the airport and the mail planes is historically interesting but his attitude in pushing the pilots to extremes of endurance and docking them pay when there are mishaps because of the weather are just unbelievable. I’d rather be in the sky with Fabian:
“If only he could make it through to dawn! Fabien thought of the dawn as of a golden strand on to which they would have been cast up after this rough night. Beneath the threatened craft the plains would spread their crib. The tranquil earth would heave into view, carrying its sleeping farms and the flocks upon its hills. Night dispelled, the storm-tossed derelicts would no longer threaten rack and ruin. If he could have done so, how he would have swum towards the daylight.” 3 and a half stars.
April 23, 2022
These two novellas appear together in a single volume, and from what I learn, author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry drew heavily on personal experience making the stories unequivocally autobiographical. (Only the review for Southern Mail is shown below; the review for Night Flight will follow anon.)
I confess I struggled with Southern Mail. It reads like a loosely-structured story, which, from its earliest pages acquires a distinctly surreal air, the equivalent in print of the soft focus in film—a lot of fuzziness and blurriness. The central character is a pilot named Jacques Bernis, but at times, there is also a shadowy first-person narrator present. Bernis is employed in the postal service flying mail between France and Africa in the 1920s and 1930s. He is a competent pilot and happily internalizes the company’s mission, which is to ensure that the mail gets through at all costs, including the pilot’s life.
As a character, Bernis is hard to pin down. He comes across as ephemeral, fleeting, and impermanent, only adding to the story’s surrealism. He seems to lack certain social graces attributable—as a guess—to long periods of solo flying. So, one part of the story is about Bernis’s flying activity in performing his job.
Another part of the story is a love affair between Bernis and Geneviève, a married woman with a son and a sadistic, abusive husband. When Geneviève suffers a dreadful tragedy, she leaves her husband and attaches herself to Bernis. However, the “love” in the affair seems to be one-directional from Geneviève to Bernis.
I tend to admire books where the protagonist is in situations where he or she is alone for extended periods, with ample opportunity for reflection—thoughts of the past, present, or the future. Those parts of the story, given the author’s authentic experience, are well done. But in the end, I admit to a little confusion between narrator and Bernis, a confusion that impacts interpretation of the story’s ending.
I confess I struggled with Southern Mail. It reads like a loosely-structured story, which, from its earliest pages acquires a distinctly surreal air, the equivalent in print of the soft focus in film—a lot of fuzziness and blurriness. The central character is a pilot named Jacques Bernis, but at times, there is also a shadowy first-person narrator present. Bernis is employed in the postal service flying mail between France and Africa in the 1920s and 1930s. He is a competent pilot and happily internalizes the company’s mission, which is to ensure that the mail gets through at all costs, including the pilot’s life.
As a character, Bernis is hard to pin down. He comes across as ephemeral, fleeting, and impermanent, only adding to the story’s surrealism. He seems to lack certain social graces attributable—as a guess—to long periods of solo flying. So, one part of the story is about Bernis’s flying activity in performing his job.
Another part of the story is a love affair between Bernis and Geneviève, a married woman with a son and a sadistic, abusive husband. When Geneviève suffers a dreadful tragedy, she leaves her husband and attaches herself to Bernis. However, the “love” in the affair seems to be one-directional from Geneviève to Bernis.
I tend to admire books where the protagonist is in situations where he or she is alone for extended periods, with ample opportunity for reflection—thoughts of the past, present, or the future. Those parts of the story, given the author’s authentic experience, are well done. But in the end, I admit to a little confusion between narrator and Bernis, a confusion that impacts interpretation of the story’s ending.
June 19, 2015
Two utterly remarkable novels in one volume.
I read Southern Mail when I went to Macedonia earlier this year. A friend of mine, the wonderful Brankica Bozinovska is a flight traffic controller in Skopje Airport, and I had travelled to her country to visit her, so the theme of this novel seemed totally appropriate. It's a wonderful piece of writing.
I read Night Flight a few months later. Southern Mail is very good but this second novel is absolutely stunning, one of the best books I've ever read. A 1930s French novel set in Argentina about aeroplanes. What could be better? The style is intensely poetic but also muscular. Its epigrammatic insights are lyrical but they are also crystalline and precise. That's a very difficult technique for any writer to manage successfully.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is one of my heroes. I want to be like him! I want to be not only a brilliant writer but also to have incredible adventures!
I read Southern Mail when I went to Macedonia earlier this year. A friend of mine, the wonderful Brankica Bozinovska is a flight traffic controller in Skopje Airport, and I had travelled to her country to visit her, so the theme of this novel seemed totally appropriate. It's a wonderful piece of writing.
I read Night Flight a few months later. Southern Mail is very good but this second novel is absolutely stunning, one of the best books I've ever read. A 1930s French novel set in Argentina about aeroplanes. What could be better? The style is intensely poetic but also muscular. Its epigrammatic insights are lyrical but they are also crystalline and precise. That's a very difficult technique for any writer to manage successfully.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is one of my heroes. I want to be like him! I want to be not only a brilliant writer but also to have incredible adventures!
July 8, 2017
"O principezinho " é um dos meus livros favoritos. Adoro o modo como Saint Exupéry narra os acontecimentos. Por isso foi com imensa alegria que descobri este livro no Continente e o devorei num instante.
"Voo Noturno" descreve a vida de um piloto que tem uma grande responsabilidade entre mãos. É nele que várias vidas se encontram e sobrevivem. É impressionante a descrição detalhada que o autor faz do modo de vida da viação. Como as mulheres sofriam sem notícias dos seus maridos. E o modo como o correiro era transportado podendo demorar messes a chegar o seu destino.
" Correio do Sul" centra-se no drama de Guiuvene que vive um casamento frutrado e tenta encontrar a felicidade com o amante Jacques.
Ao contrário do que alguns dizem, não considero o livro seja de difícil entendimento nem de difícil compreensão. Serviu-me para compreender que este autor pode escrever livros mais adultos e magistrais.
"Voo Noturno" descreve a vida de um piloto que tem uma grande responsabilidade entre mãos. É nele que várias vidas se encontram e sobrevivem. É impressionante a descrição detalhada que o autor faz do modo de vida da viação. Como as mulheres sofriam sem notícias dos seus maridos. E o modo como o correiro era transportado podendo demorar messes a chegar o seu destino.
" Correio do Sul" centra-se no drama de Guiuvene que vive um casamento frutrado e tenta encontrar a felicidade com o amante Jacques.
Ao contrário do que alguns dizem, não considero o livro seja de difícil entendimento nem de difícil compreensão. Serviu-me para compreender que este autor pode escrever livros mais adultos e magistrais.
July 30, 2020
This is a thought-provoking and quite deep immersion into the emotional experience of the pioneers of nighttime airmail delivery. It's difficult for most people to imagine just how dangerous flying was back in the first few decades following the Wright Brothers. No accurate weather forecasts, and mostly just a set of reports from from ground stations en route. No radio navigation aids whasoever, a radio that wasn't much use, and an airframe and engine that were less than reliable. From personal experience I know how difficult it is to fly visually in quite decent conditions even now. But in the pitch dark with no true guidance of the upper winds but just a best estimate to do some dead-reckoning... well, these were brave people to the point of careless. I've flown on days when the wind at ground level has given no indication at all of the picture at 2,000 feet, never mind at 10,000 feet.
Even now, if you meet a pilot who said he's never been in a tight spot on their own when they've been terrified, then you're either talking to a liar, or a pilot so bad that they had no true appreciation of their situation. I take my hat off to these pioneers - I wouldn't have had the guts to have flown at night over the nothingness they navigated.
What marks this story out as different is that it focuses a great deal on the internal dialogue and emotions of the staff on the ground who had a commercial service to run, and who had to send these men out to risk their lives, no matter what. And on the women they left behind on the ground. As Milton said: "They also serve who only stand and wait." I think it's this focus that enables the non-pilot to appreciate the terrifying lives these pioneers led.
Even now, if you meet a pilot who said he's never been in a tight spot on their own when they've been terrified, then you're either talking to a liar, or a pilot so bad that they had no true appreciation of their situation. I take my hat off to these pioneers - I wouldn't have had the guts to have flown at night over the nothingness they navigated.
What marks this story out as different is that it focuses a great deal on the internal dialogue and emotions of the staff on the ground who had a commercial service to run, and who had to send these men out to risk their lives, no matter what. And on the women they left behind on the ground. As Milton said: "They also serve who only stand and wait." I think it's this focus that enables the non-pilot to appreciate the terrifying lives these pioneers led.
January 26, 2021
ok pt cei cărora le plac simbolurile poetice și figurile de stil.
Read
February 20, 2024Pensé que iba a ser un buen 📖 de aventuras y ha resultado ser un bodrio de novela romántica mala ☠️
June 2, 2025
Bello volo di notte, brutto corriere del sud
July 11, 2021
Wonderful...the writing draws you into a period where life was quite different. Technology was new, but not so new that individuals had the opportunity to build experience from years of work and effort. They knew what was expected of them, what the risks were and the consequences of failure...the heavy burden of victory.
Saint-Exupery's writings come from the experience of a working man, and the typewriter of a poet; his descriptive skills can make technological detail come alive with possibility. His understanding of human nature and behaviour signposts his most famous work, but it is these stories (all of them) that demonstrate his greatness in my opinion.
For the record, Night Flight is the better of the two tales here, a full 5 stars.
Saint-Exupery's writings come from the experience of a working man, and the typewriter of a poet; his descriptive skills can make technological detail come alive with possibility. His understanding of human nature and behaviour signposts his most famous work, but it is these stories (all of them) that demonstrate his greatness in my opinion.
For the record, Night Flight is the better of the two tales here, a full 5 stars.
March 3, 2024
Letto solo "Volo di notte", Molto bello.
August 10, 2019
'Southern Mail' is a maddening fever, in which the narrator shifts too often from new certainty to fresh uncertainty. Peaks when Bernis visits his lover and realises something meaningful about how we can be blind to the distance between ourselves and others, when we reduce them to imaginary fragments of our past. Whereas 'Night Flight' is riveting throughout - and in fact, I'd recommend reading that first.
April 8, 2008
Not easy to follow sometimes, but the unique style is commendable.
June 30, 2023
Saint-Exupery, known for his children's book The Little Prince, was a pilot himself in the 1920s, and this short novel demonstrates his style of writing, paired with his favourite subject matter.
The novel chiefly concerns Fabien who is flying the mail up to Santiago from the southern tip of Chile, Punta Arenas.
I must declare an interest here. I have, albeit a lot more recently and in an economy seat, flown this route many times; Punta Arenas, Balmaceda, Puerto Montt for many memorable adventures in Patagonia. I do recall one incredibly bumpy flight on a Sunday afternoon in a storm returning from Punta Arenas, stopping on route with terrifying landings at Balmaceda and Valdivia. Even the soccer team travelling the first section were concerned, and for them it was regular trip.
The story takes place over just one night, when Fabien and his wireless operator are lost in a storm. The narrative shifts perspective, switching between the imperilled flight and the boss, Riviere, who keeps the night mail flights going. Riviere sees himself as an unsung hero, but the reader sees him as a battle-weary general without any sympathy for his pilots as they guide their planes across the Andes and the treacherous air currents over Patagonia. The pilots themselves certainly see him like that, but at the time the book was published, and in some reveiws since, it is clear that to some, Riviere is actually the hero.
However one approaches this, and it is a fascinating cornerstone of the novel, this is a beautiful book that in 1931 opened up the mystery of human flight..
The novel chiefly concerns Fabien who is flying the mail up to Santiago from the southern tip of Chile, Punta Arenas.
I must declare an interest here. I have, albeit a lot more recently and in an economy seat, flown this route many times; Punta Arenas, Balmaceda, Puerto Montt for many memorable adventures in Patagonia. I do recall one incredibly bumpy flight on a Sunday afternoon in a storm returning from Punta Arenas, stopping on route with terrifying landings at Balmaceda and Valdivia. Even the soccer team travelling the first section were concerned, and for them it was regular trip.
The story takes place over just one night, when Fabien and his wireless operator are lost in a storm. The narrative shifts perspective, switching between the imperilled flight and the boss, Riviere, who keeps the night mail flights going. Riviere sees himself as an unsung hero, but the reader sees him as a battle-weary general without any sympathy for his pilots as they guide their planes across the Andes and the treacherous air currents over Patagonia. The pilots themselves certainly see him like that, but at the time the book was published, and in some reveiws since, it is clear that to some, Riviere is actually the hero.
However one approaches this, and it is a fascinating cornerstone of the novel, this is a beautiful book that in 1931 opened up the mystery of human flight..
The engine's five-hundred horse-power bred in its texture a very gentle current, fraying its ice-cold rind into a velvety bloom. Once again the pilot in full flight experienced neither giddiness nor any thrill; only the mystery of metal turned to living flesh.
Now all grew luminous, his hands, his clothes, the wings, and Fabien thought that he was in a limbo of strange magic; for the light did not come down from the stars but welled up from below, from all that snowy whiteness.
March 9, 2024
«Південний поштовий»
Дуже рання робота Екзюпері написана у 1929 році. Що досить помітно, є однією з перших робіт. Достатньо важкий текст складений шматочками історій у повноцінний твір.
Насправді, мені було важка читати. Розповідь наповнена життєвими роздумами і іноді перемежовується з сюжетом-подіями історії.
Лінія кохання описана не цільно і не часто зрозумілі дії та емоції персонажів.
Це моє перше знайомство з Екзюпері не як письменником, що пише дитячу фантастичну казку з моральним і філософським уклоном. І я дуже здивована тим, що всі твори окрім «Маленького принца» є реалістично-автобіографічними.
«Нічний політ»
Для мене цікавіша історія за попередню. Тут є повноцінний сюжет із чітко визначеним початком і кінцівкою. Достатньо цікаво і інтригуючи описаний персонаж на імʼя Рівʼєр. Він неначе одночасно для себе і антагоніст і протагоніст. Він переживає за безпеку пілотів, а тому будь-яке порушення правил від пілотів, інженерів розцінюється як погані вчинки, і винних обовʼязково треба покарати штрафом. А з іншого боку, не зважаючи на величезну небезпеку і велику ймовірність аварії, Рівʼєр всеодно відправляє пілотів у політ в погану погоду. Бо як не зробить цього, то буде доказом того, що альтернативні способи доставки пошти (залізниця, судноплавство) є вигіднішими. Швидкість в повітрі - це найголовніше.
Читала, що реальні співробітники поштових авіакомпаній були вкрай незадоволені те яким зробили персонажа Рівʼєра, посилались, що надто завищують моральність героя і його реальний прототип Дідьє Дора не був таким моралістом. Пілоти дійсно жалілись на надмірне навантаження та високу небезпеку, а керівництво не зважало на них.
Дуже рання робота Екзюпері написана у 1929 році. Що досить помітно, є однією з перших робіт. Достатньо важкий текст складений шматочками історій у повноцінний твір.
Насправді, мені було важка читати. Розповідь наповнена життєвими роздумами і іноді перемежовується з сюжетом-подіями історії.
Лінія кохання описана не цільно і не часто зрозумілі дії та емоції персонажів.
Це моє перше знайомство з Екзюпері не як письменником, що пише дитячу фантастичну казку з моральним і філософським уклоном. І я дуже здивована тим, що всі твори окрім «Маленького принца» є реалістично-автобіографічними.
«Нічний політ»
Для мене цікавіша історія за попередню. Тут є повноцінний сюжет із чітко визначеним початком і кінцівкою. Достатньо цікаво і інтригуючи описаний персонаж на імʼя Рівʼєр. Він неначе одночасно для себе і антагоніст і протагоніст. Він переживає за безпеку пілотів, а тому будь-яке порушення правил від пілотів, інженерів розцінюється як погані вчинки, і винних обовʼязково треба покарати штрафом. А з іншого боку, не зважаючи на величезну небезпеку і велику ймовірність аварії, Рівʼєр всеодно відправляє пілотів у політ в погану погоду. Бо як не зробить цього, то буде доказом того, що альтернативні способи доставки пошти (залізниця, судноплавство) є вигіднішими. Швидкість в повітрі - це найголовніше.
Читала, що реальні співробітники поштових авіакомпаній були вкрай незадоволені те яким зробили персонажа Рівʼєра, посилались, що надто завищують моральність героя і його реальний прототип Дідьє Дора не був таким моралістом. Пілоти дійсно жалілись на надмірне навантаження та високу небезпеку, а керівництво не зважало на них.
September 20, 2025
These two short stories or novellas are from the early days of flight and involve French aviators of the postal air service. They are very evocative of the drama, danger and excitement of the early pilots, there is a also a sense of a lost colonial world of the far fling French Empire, second only in size to Britains, the experience of the aviator or colonial official / soldier returning home after years overseas and feeling adrift in the metropolis is now consigned to history somewhat.
The novellas are translated from the French but there is a poetry and beauty about the prose, as stories they actually don`t hang together terribly well and the prose seems to outweigh storytelling but then maybe that is the point here.
Some of the description of a plane alone against the stars is quite beautiful and it is more for the feel and flow of the text that this is recommended rather than what actually boil down to two pretty odd stories.
The novellas are translated from the French but there is a poetry and beauty about the prose, as stories they actually don`t hang together terribly well and the prose seems to outweigh storytelling but then maybe that is the point here.
Some of the description of a plane alone against the stars is quite beautiful and it is more for the feel and flow of the text that this is recommended rather than what actually boil down to two pretty odd stories.
May 10, 2017
На свершения человека толкают неблагоприятные обстоятельства. У сытого и всем довольного не возникнет желания изменить жизнь, ему не захочется делать сверх имеющегося. Так и Экзюпери стал пробовал себя в беллетристике из-за случавшихся с окружающими его людьми катастроф. Антуан старался примерить на себя жизни других, ему казалось, что это у него получалось. Если верить сторонним источникам, то современники горячо приветствовали его литературные пробы, хотя читатель знает, сам Экзюпери продолжал бороться с критиками, порицавшими стремление молодого автора к чрезмерному привнесению в сюжеты рабочих моментов.
(c) Trounin
(c) Trounin
June 30, 2018
This book is made up of two stories that are to Antoine de Saint-Exupery's sentimental style, and I've enjoyed both of them (Night Flight slightly more than Southern Mail). The stories have rich imagery largely due to the author's personal experiences in aviation, and cover themes of love, risk, adventure, tragedy, and death. Offers a nice glimpse into the work of the team behind the airmail service, and particularly into the life of airmail pilots. And the simultaneous nobility of the job and the futility of it.
September 17, 2020
Quem melhor para contar as estórias de pilotos de correio noturno do que um deles? Saint-Exupéry foi um desses pilotos nos finais dos anos 20 e inicio dos anos 30, no inicio desse serviço postal, nada melhor que ele para contar as dificuldades e os perigos destes homens que arriscam a vida nos céus, a preocupação dos que ficam em terra, mas também a maneira como que é capaz de descrever o silêncio do deserto e a solidão do céu. A escrita de Saint-Exupéry tem um tom quase de sonho que eu gosto.
August 7, 2017
The stars are really more for Night Flight (which blends adventure with a thoughtful look at why we risk people's lives for trivial things (like mail)) than for the softer, gooier Southern Mail. Helps you rethink/recognize the sacrifices behind the world which the past built for us. Still might like Wind, Sand, Stars better, though.
November 6, 2018
Short and easy book, but very cool history. You can tell that Saint-Exupéry used to be a pilot because of the personal descriptions of the sentiments around flying at nights at that time. I bought it because I love “The Little Prince” and I wanted to read something else from Saint-Exupéry and I was not disappointed
September 6, 2021
It was a nice read, but by no means an easy one. Specially when it comes to Correio do Sul (Southern Mail). Very difficult and fragmented, albeit with a very nice story. The book is very short though, so it isn't too overwhelming. Night flight (Voo noturno, is much easier to understand, but the author doesn't ease you into the narrative, so it can be hard to follow at times.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2025
Southern Mail is occasionally disorienting with its changing perspectives. However, there are some beautifully wrought passages which more than compensate for any other technical failings. Night Flight is much sparser and more technically precise.
Both novellas offer excellent glimpses into a great author honing his craft.
Both novellas offer excellent glimpses into a great author honing his craft.
February 24, 2019
A soft, yet emotional story (Night Flight) in which de Saint-Exupéry shares the loneliness of the air station, the beauty of the night skies, the life of some apparently ordinary men but whose work (sometimes really dull) and appreciation of small things make them quite extraordinary.
February 23, 2021
I didn't find it as eye-opening and magical as his
other works but there was still a healthy amount of gold nuggets to keep me turning the pages. SE has a great grasp of not certain humans work and interact and the prose is beautiful as always
other works but there was still a healthy amount of gold nuggets to keep me turning the pages. SE has a great grasp of not certain humans work and interact and the prose is beautiful as always
October 13, 2022
Southern Mail 2 stars
Night Flight 4 stars
I'll focus on Night flight, and say that it was a very interesting read, which made me wonder if maybe I liked it more because by then I knew what style of writing to expect. I will keep this book on my shelves and try it again in a couple of years.
Night Flight 4 stars
I'll focus on Night flight, and say that it was a very interesting read, which made me wonder if maybe I liked it more because by then I knew what style of writing to expect. I will keep this book on my shelves and try it again in a couple of years.
May 21, 2025
The first story Southern Mail is ok, probably only 3 stars. The second story Night Flight is a lot better; more engaging, easier to follow and blends numerous different individuals and their perspectives' into a well-defined and dramatic story.
September 17, 2020
the adult prince...
July 10, 2021
Jak i w 2013 roku, kiedy czytałam pierwszy raz, tak i teraz - bardzo dobra książka. Jak tak opisywać przestrzeń w ruchu, w czasie, to ja nie wiem. Bardzo ładnie, mocno lubkam Exupery
March 21, 2022
Southern Mail var favoritten, men dens kvælende romantiske stil var heldigvis pillet ud af den stringente Night Flight.
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