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Night Flight
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Night Flight (1931) (edit title/settings)

by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Author) (edit contributors)

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In this gripping novel, Saint-Exupéry tells about the brave men who piloted night mail planes from Patagonia, Chile, and Paraguay to Argentina in the early days of commercial aviation. Preface by André Gide. Translated by Stuart Gilbert.

Summary edit see section history

Saint-Exupery was a remarkable person. This book--along with all his other books--exemplifies his humanity and sensitivity for mankind. His flying adventures throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America are legendary. You should also read his autobiography if you... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Saint-Exupery was a remarkable person. This book--along with all his other books--exemplifies his humanity and sensitivity for mankind. His flying adventures throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America are legendary. You should also read his autobiography if you can.

This short novel describes one night in the lives of the pilots who flight nighttime mail flights over South America. Saint-Exupery, a pilot himself, wrote Night Flight in 1931 while avaition was still relatively new and flying at night was considered too dangerous by many. Our main characters are Riviere, the supervisor on the ground whose personal goal is to prove that nighttime mail flights can be faster and more profitable than ships or trains, and Fabien, a pilot who obeys orders to take off on time even though he knows the weather may get bad. When Fabien does get trapped in a bad storm, Riviere can do nothing to help him and is left to contemplate whether the long-term goal of progress is worth the short-term costs it takes to get there.

Characters/People edit see section history

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “They think, these peasants, that their lamp shines only for that little table; but, from fifty miles away, some one has felt the summons of their light, as thought it were a desperate signal from some lonely island, flashed by shipwrecked men toward the sea.”
    Fabien
  • “"We do not pray for immortality," he thought, "but only not to see our acts and all things stripped suddenly of all their meaning; for then it is the utter emptiness of everything reveals itself."”
    Riviere
  • “He thought of those little cities of old time where men had murmured of the "Indies," built a ship and freighted it with hope. That men might see their hope outspread its wings across the sea. All of them magnified, lifted above themselves and saved--by a ship! He thought: The goal, perhaps, means nothing, it is the thing done that delivers man from death. By their ship those men will live.”
    Riviere
  • “Victory, defeat--the words were meaningless. Life lies behind these symbols and life is ever bringing new symbols into being. One nation is weakened by victory, another finds new forces in defeat."”
    Riviere
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • 'even though human life may be the most precious thing on earth we always behave as if there were something of higher value than human life But what thing?'
    Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers
  • I am especially grateful to him for bringing out a paradoxical truth which seems to me of great psychological import; that man's happiness lies not in freedom but in his acceptance of a duty.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • 'We do not pray for immortality,' he thought, 'but only not to see our acts and all things stripped suddenly of all their meaning; for then it is the utter emptiness of everything reveals itself.'
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers

First Sentence edit see section history

Already, beneath him, through the golden evening, the shadowed hills had dug their furrows and the plains grew luminous with long-enduring light.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Foreword by Andre Gide
Suggestions for Further Reading

1. Already, beneath him, through the golden evening--
2. Thus the three planes of the airmail service--
3. The sound of the distant engine swelled and thickened--
4. Riviere glanced at the pilot
5. Robineau was feeling tired tonight
6. The clerks were drowsing in the Buenos Aires office--
7. An hour later the wireless operator on the Patagonia Mail--
8. Riviere went out for a short walk--
9. As he was returning to his private office--
10. Roused by the call, the pilot's wife--
11. Riviere greeted him
12. Now the Patagonia mail was entering the storm--
13. The Asuncion mail is making good headway--
14. Fabien's wife telephoned
15. That scrap of folded paper might perhaps save him yet--
16. He climbed and it grew easier to correct the plunges--
17. One of the wireless operators at the Commodoro Rivadavia station--
18. Riviere was musing, all hope lost--
19. Robineau broke in upon his throughts
20. Commodoro Rivadavia could hear nothing now--
21. Robineau was drifting aimlessly about the office
22. The Asuncion mail signaled that it was about to land
23. In a minute he would be leaving Buenos Aires--

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Curtis Cate (Translator)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: French
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 1931
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: Add the page count.

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