night flight by antoine de saint exupéry

Rivière, meanwhile, is relatively helpless in Buenos Aires but does all he can to track the plane and the course of the storm, all the while worrying about getting the mail off to Europe, with a pilot who turned round on his last trip. Fabien tries to find a way out of the storms, worrying about his height (he is, of course, flying near the Andes), whether he has enough petrol, whether he can finally find the dawn which will give him some light, whether his radio operator can contact Buenos Aires or some other post for help on where the storm is and where it is moving to. What should have been a routine night run up from Patagonia goes bad as storms come in from all sides.

Saint-Exupéry sets the scene well with all of these characters and then plunges us into the story. Finally there is the pilot, Fabien, bringing the mail up from Patagonia, and recently married. He does what he is told because, frankly, he does not know any other way. Robineau is the inspector, a man of limited imagination who is the foil for Rivière’s toughness. He worries slightly about whether he is being unfair but, ultimately, accepts that he has to do it for the greater good of the company and safety. Errors are ruthlessly punished, even if the guilty person is not really to blame, e.g. Rivière, fifty years old, is the director and the consummate boss.

It tells the story of an aviation company based in Buenos Aires, which flies in mail from various parts of Latin America and then flies it onward to Europe. Saint-Exupéry’s second novel is his shortest but it is still very powerful. Home » France » Saint-Exupéry » Vol de nuit (Night Flight) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: Vol de nuit (Night Flight)

Night flight by antoine de saint exupéry