Books: An Inveterate Soloist Wartime Writings: 1939-1944

by Antoine de Saint-Exupery Translated by Norah Purcell; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; 237 pages; $12.95

He was an intrepid pilot of the silk scarf and goggles school, the kind of man who could (and did) attempt to set a new speed record between Paris and Saigon, who could crash in the Sahara and survive, rescued by Bedouins. He was also the acclaimed author of such international best sellers as the novel Night Flight (1931) and the children's tale The Little Prince (1943). As if these achievements did not generate sufficient glamour, Antoine de Saint- Exupery also managed a death that was both heroic and mysterious. At 44, he had won permission to fly photoreconnaissance missions over...

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