Wind, Sand and Stars
S.l.n.d. [January 1939]
1 page on 1 f. (210 x 270 mm) on Guérimand Voiron paper. Black ink.
Autograph page for ‘Terre des hommes’: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry makes final corrections to the text, based on the printing plates.
We apologize for the imperfect translation generated by Deepl for the purposes of the show.
Autograph page for Terre des hommes: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry makes final corrections to the text, based on the printing plates.
Saint-Exupéry first arrived in the United States in January 1938 to attempt the New York – Tierra del Fuego raid. He already had a good reputation thanks to the translation of Night Flight in 1932 and Southern Mail in 1933. He already has his new book in mind, the title of which is, for the time being, ‘Étoiles par grand vent’ (Stars in High Wind): a collection of scattered texts previously published in the weekly and daily press, from 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 take over in its entirety. This unique genesis speaks volumes about the upheaval in the status of the writer during the interwar period and the evolution of the media available to him to bring his work, even if it was reporting, to the attention of his readers. Maximilien Becker became his literary agent and the latter got him to sign a contract. His American publishers also hired Lewis Galantière to translate his forthcoming book: a long correspondence began between the two men for the elaboration of the future Terre des hommes / Wind, Sand and Stars, both versions of which were composed almost simultaneously.
The French version was published in February 1939, the American edition in June: Saint-Exupéry let the publishers decide on the New York publication, suggesting the one he had abandoned for Wind, Sand and Stars: ‘Stars in a Strong Wind’ and ‘Strong Wind under the Stars’. Galantière chose the one in Wind, Sand and Stars, based on a passage in the book. It should be noted that the American edition contains an additional chapter, ‘The Elements’.
Our manuscript, which must date from the first weeks of 1939, contains the final corrections that Saint-Exupéry wished to make to his book: corrections for the placards produced by the Grévin printing house in Lagny-Sur-Marne in December 1938. Saint-Exupéry changed the original title, ‘Starboard to Gales’, 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 offered to Jean Artur (Aristophil, 35, November 2020, No. 426). These final corrections will be respected, right up to those in box 10, where Saint-Exupéry wonders about the two occurrences of the word ‘Méhara’: ‘does méharas, being the plural of méharis, take an s? I have deleted this S in column 2, line 3 and left it in column 3 page 1 line 16. I beg you not to forget anything… I apologise for any indiscretion and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your assistance. Saint-Exupéry’.
Terre de Hommes won the French Academy’s Grand Prix du Roman and the National Book Award in the United States: an unrivalled success. But despite these prestigious awards, Saint-Exupéry considered the gift made by the workers at the Lagny-sur-Marne printing works to be the most beautiful: a unique copy printed on aircraft canvas.
