Saint-Exupéry, the Myth of the Pilot

Author(s): Joseph T. McKeon

Source: PMLA, Vol. 89, No. 5 (Oct., 1974), pp. 1084-1089
Published by: Modern Language Association
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/461379
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 JOSEPH T. McKEON

Saint-Exupery, The Myth of the Pilot

THROUGH THE IMAGERY of his four first novel, Courrier Sud; he is a hero akin to the
works, Courrier Sud, Vol de nuit, Terre des
conquering Caesar and the author ascribes to him
hommes, and Pilote de guerre, the first two
the attributes of a magician, an archangel, a
of which are fiction, the others essentially auto-
sorcerer, or a god. With a single exception the
biography, Antoine de Saint-Exupery fashioned
image is scarcely modified in the second novel,
such an exaggerated picture of the personVol de the
and nuit, remaining on the lofty plane of a
adventure of his heroes that it earned forprodigious
him, formessenger, a young god. But here for
a short period of time at least, the resentment
the first if
time Saint-Exupery alludes to the image of
the peasant, albeit that of a sublime and noble one.
not the animosity of many of his flying colleagues.1
It was not, of course, a myth fabricated Theout of
deification of the pilot is somewhat attenuated
whole cloth, for half a century ago the men who
in this second novel but in the final analysis his
pioneered the new frontier that was aviation
image were
remains essentially legendary in character.
for the most part daring and courageous. But the
The countenance of man gradually effaces this
myth arrived on scene in full bloom and exaggerated
offended imagery in the series of narratives that
the sensibilities of men who undoubtedly composepre-the third book, Terre des hommes. At
ferred understatement to overstatement,first the imagery retains a certain haughtiness,
particu-
notable
larly literary overstatement, when it applied toinanthe first two chapters, "La Ligne" and
occupation as deadly and as serious as their own.
"Les Camarades," which were for the most part
The mystique of that profession was, however,
composed of Saint-Exupery's recollections of his
such that Saint-Exupery little by little early
debunked
years in aviation, his remembrances of a
the myth he had himself created. Curiously heroic era in the history of flight. The imagery
enough, he did so not at the expense of his heroes, then becomes less and less pretentious without,
not because he found those heroes to be of lesser however, sacrificing anything of the pilot's essen-
stature, but rather because the myth no longer tial nobility. For it is thus that Saint-Exupery sees
conformed to or reflected the realities and the in- the pilot in the image of the harvester when he
sights that the metier had revealed to the author. speaks of Mermoz, in that of the carpenter when
The parallel one sees in the development of the he recalls Guillaumet, or in the figure of the gar-
image of the pilot is perhaps an unwitting witness dener whose death represents a true loss to
to the development of the relationship that oc- humanity, the loss of a profound and palpable
curred between the aviator and the writer in the truth. In any event, a certain majestic element sub-
person of Saint-Exupery himself. Seen through sists in these images and the author underlines it
the eyes of a fledgling aviator and neophytic in the impressions he conveys of the pilot through
novelist, the pilot was a knight in shining armor,his imagery of physicists and biologists. Finally, in
a demigod. Seen through the eyes of the veteran Pilote de guerre, the reader is struck by the change
pilot, at once poet and moralist, the aviator ap- that takes place in the underlying tone of the
pears in a more modest light, reflecting, no doubt, imagery. Though still viewed as a privileged
on one hand the inevitable effect and attrition of "voyageur," the flier is now reduced to meaner
harsh experience and the disenchantment a pilot dimensions: he is seen as "des morceaux de con-
might feel after thousands of flying hours, and on struction," or "une menagere qui fait ses courses."
the other the enriching effect that eventually re- At this point, the myth of the pilot fades and dis-
flected the moral and philosophical growth of the appears, for from then on Saint-Exupery drops the
man and the author. thread of the story of a wartime mission to encom-
pass a far broader horizon, one embracing the
The legend of the pilot is at its apogee in the very

1084

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 Joseph T. McKeon 1085

meaning of life to one man, his destiny, and In the same vein but on a more exalted plane,
through him the meaning of life itself and the Saint-Exupery wreathes the pilot with a celestial
destiny of mankind. aura: angel, archangel, heavenly emissary, such
Such is, in broad outline, the metamorphosis of are some of the images that project the figure of
the myth of the pilot as revealed in the four novels the pilot in all of the novels with the exception of
under discussion. But so broad an outline would Pilote de guerre. The return of Bernis to Paris is
be of relatively small interest without examining the occasion of a contrast between an immediate
that metamorphosis in more detail. and a distant past: that of the flier he had become
Undoubtedly, a pilot at the time of Saint- and that of the collegian he had been. The con-
Exupery was a young man who assumed, in the trast is emphasized by the impressions Bernis ex-
eyes of the uninitiated, an impressive posture pe- perienced on returning to France after a long
culiar to those who practiced a profession to absence in Africa, fearful that everything might be
which few seemed called, and fewer chosen, but allchanged, saddened to find that nothing had
of whom seemed wreathed in an aura of glory. Itchanged: "apres deux ans d'Afrique et de paysages
is not surprising that the pen of the young writermouvants et toujours changeants comme la face
would express in heroic and legendary terms the de la mer, mais qui, un a un derobes, laissaient nu
qualities of so select a group to which he now be-le vieux paysage, le seul, l'eternel, celui dont il
longed. These qualities permeate the early imageryetait sorti, il prend pied sur un vrai sol, archange
triste" (pp. 39-40).
of Saint-Exupery. It is he who, in the person of the
narrator, accompanies Bernis, the young hero of The ethereal quality, the freedom from earthly
Courrier Sud, on a visit to their old school. ties that seemed to set apart those for whom the
Initiates of a new cult, it was now Bernis and theskies were fields of labor, is implicit in the passage
narrator's turn "d'expliquer Lucrece ou 1'Eccle- in which Bernis, forced to land at a desert outpost
siaste et de conseiller," to leap out as it were from
on the Sahara, is greeted by the old sergeant sta-
the pages of history to dazzle their old professors: tioned there: "Le sergent contemple unjeune dieu,
"les heros qu'ils celebraient depuis toujours, ils les venu de nulle part, pour s'envoler.... Venu lui
touchaient enfin du doigt et les ayant enfin connus, rappeler une chanson, Tunis, lui-meme. De quel
pouvaient mourir. Ils parlerent de Jules Cesar."2 paradis au-dela des sables, descendent sans bruit
Heroic historicity then gives way to a sorcerous ces beaux messagers?" (pp. 171-72).
mood. Back in Paris on several days' leave, Bernis The theme of the extraordinary hero of Courrier
cannot help but contrast his life with the monoto- Sud is seen once again in the very first pages of
nous life of his friends where each day seems like Vol de nuit, as the reader meets Fabien, the pilot,
every other day: "Tous etaient prisonniers d'eux- letting down over San Julian. Saint-Exupery sees
memes, limites par ce frein obscur et non comme in the aviator a conqueror returning fresh from his
lui, ce fugitif, cet enfant pauvre, ce magicien" conquests, looking over his empire and discovering
(pp. 37-38). Evasion is one element of a double the simple happiness of men. Each flight is a soli-
leitmotif that orchestrates the story of Courrier tary combat, each landing a victory and the author
Sud and sounds the counterpoint of a compulsive underlines this idea in the image of the pilot: "II
nameless search on the part of its hapless hero. It etait semblable a un conquerant au soir de ses
would seem to presage an unfulfilled spiritual conquetes, qui se penche sur les terres de l'empire,
search that was to mark Saint-Exupery's own life. et decouvre l'humble bonheur des hommes."3 The
For the moment, the magical power that lies images of angelic messengers reappear in the
within the grasp of the aviator derives from a pro- thought of Riviere, the operations chief, watching
fession that permits him to escape the ordinary and one of his pilots, Pellerin, at the end of a flight:
vulgar, to search for life's treasure. It is thus that "II y a dans toute foule . . . des hommes que l'on
Bernis, in a letter to the narrator, characterizes ne distingue pas, et qui sont des prodigieux mes-
himself, "tu me connais, cette hate de repartir, de sagers" (p. 24). However, a more modest note be-
chercher plus loin ce que je pressentais et ne gins to balance the exaggeration so evident in the
comprenais pas, car j'etais ce sorcier dont le previous novel, as Riviere, reflecting on the sacred
coudrier tremble et qu'il promene sur le monde character of their mission, approves Pellerin's dis-
jusqu'au tresor" (p. 43). dain for the congratulations of certain admirers

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1086 Saint-Exupery, The Myth of the Pilot
and his preference "de parler simplement metier, nite metamorphosis that begins to take place in
de parler de son vol comme un forgeron de son the myth of the pilot. Here, too, we see him in the
enclume" (p. 24). figure of the peasant, lost in the middle of the
If Saint-Exupery permits a certain understate- desert, desperately seeking some sign of man.
ment particularly appropriate to the character of Saint-Exupery reflects on his destiny and finds he
Riviere to be expressed, he reemphasizes the has no regret for having chosen a profession whose
grandeur of the aviator and his profession as seenrisks may now cost him his life: "Mais je suis
through the eyes of a wife keeping a lonely vigilheureux dans mon metier. Je me sens paysan des
before her husband's nightly departure. Contem-escales. Dans le train de banlieue, je me sens mon
plating the sleeping city of Buenos Aires from agonie bien autrement qu'ici. . . . Je ne regrette
their apartment window, she meditates on the rien. J'ai joue, j'ai perdu. C'est dans l'ordre de
unique and solitary nature of his vocation: "Cette mon metier, mais tout de meme je l'ai respire, le
ville endormie ne le protegeait pas: ses lumieres vent de la mer!"4
lui sembleraient vaines, lorsqu'il se leverait, jeune Charles Lindbergh expressed, perhaps less po-
dieu, de leur poussiere" (pp. 71-72). This theme isetically, the same idea: "In flying, I tasted the wine
subsequently transfigured into one of sacrifice, and of the gods. ... I decided that if I could fly for ten
the pilot assumes an almost charismatic nature: years before I was killed in a crash, it would be a
"Elle regardait ces bras solides qui . . . porteraient worthwhile trade for an ordinary lifetime."5
le sort du courrier d'Europe, responsables de But whether the pilot was but a simple "paysan
d'escales" or part of a mythical projection in
quelque chose de grand, comme du sort d'une ville.
Et elle fut troublee. Cet homme au milieu de ces which "etranges paysans descendent de leurs
millions d'hommes, etait prepare seul pour cet montagnes," the image dissolves into that of the
etrange sacrifice" (pp. 71-72). savant: "Semblable au paysan qui fait sa tournee
As if to give a sharper contrast to the grandeur dans son domaine et qui prevoit a mille signes, la
of the imagery of Vol de nuit, Saint-Exupery em- marche du printemps, la menace du gel, l'annonce
ploys for the first time the image of the peasant, an de la pluie, le pilote de metier, lui aussi dechiffre
image that will assume a different orientation in des signes de neige, des signes de brume, des signes
the subsequent novel Terre des hommes, but which de nuit bien heureuse" (Terre des hommes, p. 35).
for the moment is still surrounded by an aureole of A final remark should be made on the mytho-
glory in Saint-Exupery's description of the three logical theme so dominant in the first two novels
pilots from Patagonia, Chile, and Paraguay as before considering this new light in which the pilot
they descend from the darkened skies upon is projected. As was noted, Terre des hommes is
Buenos Aires: "Trois pilotes . . . meditaient leur comprised of experiences taken from different
vol, et vers la ville immense, descendraient lente- periods in the author's life, and, as might be sur-
ment de leur ciel d'orage ou de paix, comme mised, the mythological imagery is inevitably re-
d'etranges paysans descendent de leurs mon- lated to the earlier periods. It is then that he would
tagnes" (p. 11). One must note in any case that have us see the pilot emerging, transfigured, from
the image "d'etranges paysans" is far removed the multitude, thanks to a kind of miraculous
from its usual connotation. They are strange metamorphosis: "Le pilote de ligne, mele aux
peasants in the sense of being otherworldly, and fonctionnaires, ne le distinguait d'abord guere
they seem to quit the heights they normally inhabit d'eux . . . mais les reverberes defilaient, mais be
with a certain reluctance if not condescension, to terrain se rapprochait, mais ce vieil omnibus bran-
live but a while amongst men. Thus, in place of lant n'etait plus qu'une chrysalide grise dont
introducing in Vol de nuit a new tone thanks to a l'homme sortirait transfigure" (p. 19).
new image, one more subdued and more moderate Recollections of earlier days inevitably evince
such as might be expected in the image of the the nostalgia of the author, reveal the spirit of
peasant, Saint-Exupery sustains the myth of the high adventure that marked that part of his life,
pilot on its original idealistic plane. and are almost all clothed in the imagery of the
If in Terre des hommes the element of the fabu- fantastic: "La magie du metier m'ouvre un mode
lous does not entirely disappear it is remarkably ou j'affronterai . . . les dragons noirs et les cretes
attenuated and is indicative of the subtle but defi- couronnees d'une chevelure d'eclairs bleus, oui la

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 Joseph T. McKeon 1087

nuit venue, delivre, je lirai mon chemin dans les stories of Terre des hommes, the meeting of Saint-
astres" (pp. 23-24). Exupery with the young girls who tame snakes.7
Like Bernis of Courrier Sud, Saint-Exupery ex- However, the real merit of the pilot and the
periences the occasional forced landing either in grandeur of his profession are clothed in humbler
the desert or at the intermediate landing fields imagery, the forms of which are simpler in line,
where the pilots are received "comme des envoyes more modest in proportion. The most poignant of
du ciel," or "des beaux messagers." Like the old these refers to the death of Mermoz, lost over the
sergeant of the first novel, the sergeant that Saint- middle of the South Atlantic: "I1 nous a bien fallu
Exupery himself meets regards pilots as "des dieux comprendre que nos camarades ne rentreraient
perpetuellement en marche." These constitute the plus, qu'ils reposaient dans cet Atlantique-Sud
last allusion made in this vein in the ever-changing dont ils avaient si souvent laboure le ciel. Mermoz,
myth of the pilot. A new element in both tone and decidement, s'etait retranche derriere son ouvrage,
imagery is introduced. pareil au moissonneur qui, ayant bien lie sa gerbe,
The tone remains intense if more somber and se couche dans son champ" (pp. 39-40).
muted, the imagery, if less grandiose, no less The same thought is expressed in the person of
singular. In placing the pilot in a new context im- his friend Guillaumet whose greatest quality is
plied by the image of the savant, it is clear that revealed in the image "du charpentier qui s'installe
Saint-Exupery is perfectly aware of certain possi- d'egal en face de sa piece de bois . . . et, loin de la
bilities inherent in the nature of flight. It is inter- traiter a la legere rassemble a son propos toutes ses
esting to note that these possibilities have been vertus" (p. 46). Thus in the final analysis the true
realized in a manner that is as practicable as it is merit of the pilot is revealed not in the extraordi-
spectacular.6 Saint-Exupery's foresight is revealed nary qualities that the risks and exigencies of his
in his discussion on "l'avion et la planete" in work would seem to demand but rather in the
most fundamental quality any work demands of
which he indicates to what extent the airplane has
enlarged our knowledge of the earth. For the first all men, to be first and last a man: "etre un
time man, freed to move in another dimension in homme, c'est precisement etre responsable." It is
space, can see the true face of the earth: "Nous in the same vein that Saint-Exupery employs the
voila changes en physiciens, en biologistes, exami- image of the tree when he alludes to his friendship
nant ces civilisations qui ornent des fonds de with Guillaumet, "il fait partie des etres larges qui
vallees, et, parfois par miracles, s'epanouissent acceptent de couvrir de larges horizons de leur
comme des parcs la ou le climat les favorise" feuillage" (p. 59).
(Terre des hommes, p. 69). The humble image of the laborer reinforces the
It is not only our physical and spatial vantage impression the author gives us of an emotion
point that has been changed; our moral and his- stripped now of its former pretentiousness. And in
torical appreciation of man undergoes a significant order to underline and emphasize this rapproche-
modification: "Nous voila donc jugeant l'homme ment of the innate dignity of man and that of his
a l'echelle cosmique, l'observant a travers nos work, whatever form that work may take, Saint-
hublots, comme a travers des instruments d'etude, Exupery speaks of the death of a gardener as of an
nous voila relisant notre histoire" (p. 69). But be- irreplaceable loss: "C'est sentir, en posant sa
hind the detached image of the biologist studying pierre, que l'on contribue a batir le monde" (p. 59).
his slide under the microscope hovers the pilot And it is by the same care and devotion that the
ever aware of the terrible possibilities of the role gardener brings in spading the earth, in trimming
he plays. The character of flight apparently so de- the trees, that the pilot realizes the greatest fulfill-
tached in its perspective of the earth can change ment in his vocation. At this point, the thoughts of
brutally and abruptly. It is then that the tranquil- Saint-Exupery are such that the myth of the pilot
lity of the imagery is shattered. What was moments begins to fade before the image of man, for in the
before but a simple play of microbes can become last novel, Pilote de guerre, the pilot, in spite of the
by the sheer force of fate an environment into plot, is present only as an intermediary to plead
which the pilot is suddenly plunged and from the cause of mankind.
which there is no escape. It is to that kind of Thus, it is not surprising that4 the imagery
through which the myth of the pilot can be traced
eventuality that we owe one of the most charming

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 1088 Saint-Exupery, T he Myth of the Pilot
irez au
undergoes a radical change. The coin de lain
world premiere
which rue a droite,
he et m'ache-
now moves is transformed as is also the role he is terez des allumettes....' Ma conscience est en
now called upon to play. It is a cataclysmic world paix. J'ai les allumettes dans ma poche. Ou, plus
that threatens to destroy every value, efface everyexactement, elles se trouvent dans la poche de mon
purpose by which a "paysan des escales" could camarade Dutertre" (p. 182). And so ends the
justify his raison d'etre. He is no longer an arch-myth of the pilot.
angel, a god, a magician, neither is he a physician What can one perceive at this point beyond this
nor a biologist who can afford a detached and myth? In the first place, it must be noted that in
professional air, no longer is he a carpenter or the first two novels the image of the pilot is pro-
gardener, and even less a harvester. He might be ajected on a level inaccessible to ordinary man.
Pasteur, bent over his microscope, examining a This may in large measure be accounted for by the
world in microcosm, moved by the pathetic dramaprobability that Saint-Exupery felt fewer inhibi-
he knows is being played out below (Courrier Sud, tions in a purely fictitious narrative setting. In the
p. 176). He may be counted among those privilegedtwo subsequent works, the author himself is one of
few who meet a death worthy of their humanity, the chief characters and here his well-known and
far removed from the sordid squalor in which it isalmost excessive modesty would operate to reduce
enveloping men on earth: the grandiloquent imagery of the aviator to a
purely human level.9 Essentially mythological in
Cette descente ressemble a une ruine. II nous faudra
Courrier Sud, the imagery of the pilot is modified
patauger dans leur boue. ... Nous sommes semblables
only to show him in the guise of the superman of
a de riches voyageurs qui, ayant vecu longtemps dans
Vol de nuit. Descending to less rarefied levels in
des pays a corail et a palmes, reviennent, une fois
the narratives of Terre des hommes, the imagery
ruines partager, dans la mediocrite natale, les plats
comes to earth on the disenchanted terrain of
graisseux d'une famille avare, l'aigreur des querelles
intestines, les huissiers, la mauvaise conscience des Pilote de guerre. Insofar as the hero is found in
soucis d'argent, les faux espoirs, les demenagements settings peculiar to flying, the imagery retains a
honteux, les arrogances d'hotelier, la misere et la mortcharacter relatively obscure; Bernis, in effect,
puante a l'hopital. Elle est propre ici au moins la seems as ephemeral as the nameless treasure he
mort! Une mort de glace et de feu. Mais, la-bas, cette searches; Fabien disappears into the night like a
digestion par la glaise!8 phantom; it is only when the pilot moves in the
society of men that his features begin to become
The pilot is once again, but oh, how tenuously, recognizable. Hero, conqueror, sorcerer, arch-
the conqueror descending from on high passing angel, the pilot of Courrier Sud is a proud and
safely through treacherous skies now filled with courageous being, prizing his liberty above all else,
sinister, blackened puffs of clouds rising ominously yet suffering nevertheless from the solitude pe-
and menacingly about him: "I1 est inconcevable culiar to his profession. Angel, god, or extraordi-
que nous soyons encore entiers. Et cependant je nary messenger, he belongs in Vol de nuit to a
me decouvre invulnerable. Je me sens comme class of men apart, a class not unlike the "ge-
vainqueur! Je suis, dans chaque seconde, vain- nereux," those of whom Descartes remarked,
queur!" (p. 181). "Ceux qui sont genereux sont naturellement portes
But the combat pilot is, above all, for Saint- a faire de grandes choses et toutefois a ne rien
Exupery, a being sacrificed to the building of an entreprendre dont ils ne se sentent capables."
edifice the meaning and purpose of which he can- "Genereux" the pilot voluntarily accepts the chal-
not, for the moment, understand; he is the unpre- lenges and the risks of his profession. In Terre des
tentious messenger who goes about fulfilling thehommes, the role of the pilot imperceptibly recedes
most thankless tasks. His plane set once more on a before that of the physician and the biologist who
heading for home base, the pilot imagines himself newly discover an earth upon which is traced the
to be "une menagere qui, ayant acheve ses courses, witness of civilizations long gone. Nostalgically
prend le chemin de la maison." The author de- recalling past adventures, Saint-Exupery nonethe-
velops the image further: "Malgre le ventre du less finds renewed recompense in the work well
nuage je reviens quand meme du marche. Elle done of the carpenter or the harvester. Put to the
avait bien raison, la voix du Commandant: 'Vous severest of tests in Pilote de guerre and having ac-

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 Joseph T. McKeon 1089

cepted the thankless role of a "menagere" the
image of the pilot emerges, the dross of all exag-
geration burned completely away, a man thankful
to be able once more to rejoin his own in "l'homme
commune mesure des peuples et des races," in a
fraternity safe from all depreciation in which the
myth of the pilot finds its true fulfillment.
University of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky

Notes

1 Leon Werth, La Vie de Saint-Exupe'ry mental (Paris:pictures

de Seuil, 1948), p. 59:
Ce qui est intolerable, c'est que les camarades de la ligne,
du moins le croit-il, le rejettent de leur communaute. II
ecrit a Guillaumet: "Guillaumet il parait que tu arrives et
j'en ai le coeur un peu battant. Si tu savais quelle terrible
vie j'ai menee depuis ton depart et quel immense degout de
la vie j'ai peu a peu appris a ressentir. Parce que j'avais ecrit
ce malheureux livre [Vol de nuit] j'ai ete condamne a la
misere et a l'inimitie de mes camarades. Mermoz te dira
quelle reputation ceux qui ne m'ont plus vu et que j'aimais
tant m'ont peu a peu faite. On te dira combien je suis
pretentieux."
2 Courrier Sud (Paris: Gallimard, 1964), p. 26.
3 Vol de nuit (Paris: Gallimard, 1956), p. 4.
4 Terre des hommes (Paris: Gallimard, 1966), p. 199.
5 Walter S. Ross, The Last Hero (New York: Harper,
1968), p. 52. "At that time [c. 1922] the life span of an
aviator was about nine hundred flying hours."
6 New York Times, 7 Dec. 1968, p. 61: "Color photo-
graphs taken from an aircraft cruising at heights of 4,500final works of Saint-Exupery were written under the pall
and 9,000 feet above Canadian bean fields are showing
scientists certain blight-infection patterns that cannot be disaster that overwhelmed his country at the very outset of
seen by people walking through the fields. . . . The experi-
Editions. . . showed that aerial photography could
be used to survey disease infections . . . and should provide
a clear picture of nationwide losses of crops to diseases."
7 P. 6: "C'etait pres de Concordia, en Argentine, mais
c'eut pu etre partout ailleurs: le mystere est ainsi repandu.
. . . J'avais atterri dans un champ, et je ne savais point que
j'allais vivre un conte de fees."
8 Pilote de guerre (Paris: Gallimard, 1954), p. 108.
9 Other factors to which allusion has already been made
and which could very well also account for the nature of
Saint-Exupery's metaphorical presentation of pilots from
Courrier Sud to Pilote de guerre are: (1) a chronological
factor-Courrier Sud, published in 1928, was the work of an
idealistic and enthusiastic young man on the threshold not
only of a literary career but also of a profession still in its
infancy, and practiced by only a select coterie of men.
Pilote de guerre, which appeared in 1942, was the work of a
man disabused and fatigued by the physical and emotional
stresses of time, a relatively long career in aviation, and the
effects of several aircraft accidents, more than one of which
nearly cost him his life; and (2) a historical factor-the
of the ominous events preceding World War Ji and the
that cataclysm.

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