Terre des hommes

In January 1938, Saint-Exupéry arrived in the United States for the first time, intending to attempt the New York–Tierra del Fuego raid. He already enjoyed a solid reputation there thanks to the translations of Night Flight (Vol de nuit) in 1932 and Southern Mail (Courrier Sud) in 1933. He already had in mind a new book, then provisionally titled “Étoiles par grand vent,” a collection of scattered texts previously published in the weekly and daily press — in Marianne (1932–1934), La NRF (1933), Air France Revue (1935), Minotaure (1935), L’Intransigeant (1936–37) and Paris-Soir (1936–1938) — which he decided to bring together in full. This unusual genesis says much about the changing status of the writer between the wars, and about the evolving media through which even reportage could reach readers.

Maximilien Becker became his literary agent and had him sign a contract. His American publishers had also engaged Lewis Galantière to translate the forthcoming book: a lengthy correspondence ensued between the two men over the making of what would become Terre des hommes / Wind, Sand and Stars, the French and American versions being composed almost simultaneously.

The French edition was published in February 1939, the American edition in June. As for the New York title, Saint-Exupéry left the decision to his publishers, suggesting the two titles he had abandoned for Terre des hommes: “Étoiles par grand vent” and “Grand vent sous les étoiles.” Galantière chose Wind, Sand and Stars, taken from a passage in the book. The American edition also contains an additional chapter, “Les Éléments.”

Our manuscript, which must date from the first weeks of 1939, contains the final corrections Saint-Exupéry wished to make to his book — corrections to the galley proofs produced by the Grévin printing house of Lagny-sur-Marne in December 1938. It was at this stage that Saint-Exupéry changed the working title, “Étoile par grand vent,” to Terre des hommes, a title suggested to him by his cousin André de Fonscolombe.

Only two typescripts are known: one at the BnF, the other given to the printer and later presented to Jean Artur (Aristophil, 35, November 2020, no. 426). These final corrections were faithfully followed, down to those on galley 10, where Saint-Exupéry queries the two occurrences of the word “Méhara”: “méharas being the plural of méharis, does it take an s? I removed the s in column 2, line 3, and left it in column 3, page 1, line 16. I beg you not to overlook anything… I apologize for all this fussing and thank you most sincerely for your help. Saint-Exupéry.”

Terre des hommes won the Grand Prix du roman of the Académie française and the National Book Award in the United States — a success that has never waned. Yet despite these prestigious honors, Saint-Exupéry considered the finest tribute to be the gift made by the workers of the Lagny-sur-Marne printing house: a unique copy printed on airplane fabric.