Astrid Leimlehner

Sky myths retold: An exploration of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince

Abstract

Antoine De Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince (first published in 1940) is usually thought to be just a children's book teaching lessons of friendship and responsibility. Going beyond this first impression, this paper explores narrative elements in the plot like an individual's origin in the stars, space travel from one celestial object to another, the descent to earth and a later ascent and return to one's own star. The paper will suggest that these elements in the text are retold ancient sky myths passed down, for example in Plato's writings. Coming from a depth psychological approach, the term 'myth' will be used in the sense of an archetypal pattern describing experiences that many, if not all, humans make in life. Accordingly, some passages of the story will be related to Saint-Exupéry's personality and biography.

Biography

Astrid Bernadette Leimlehner, a native Austrian, studied psychology at the University of Salzburg (1990-1998). A practising astrologer since 1992, self-studies of astrology became her life-long passion. She holds a certificate in journalism (1996) and is a trained radio presenter (1998-2000; news magazines, late night talk shows at an independent local radio station in Linz). 2009-2014: Astrid studied for the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology (University of Wales Trinity Saint David). 2015: Graduation with distinction; winner of the 2016 Alumni Association MA CAA Dissertation Prize. Dissertation subject: psychological dimensions of early twentieth century astrology. Current research interest: relationships between the cultural practices cartomancy and astrology.