Did you know ? Jean Mermoz inspired his book "The Little Prince" in Saint-Exupéry

By listening to the story dedicated to Jean Mermoz, you may have wanted to know more about his friendship with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. In this bonus episode of "At the heart of history", the story specialist Jean des Cars tells how The Little Prince , the only children's book by Saint-Ex, was inspired by the unwavering friendship that united the two aviators .

Jean Mermoz and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, had met in June 1927, at Cape Juby, on the edge of the Sahara Desert. It is in this desert that the plot of the Little Prince is located. Since then, they have been found everywhere, from Buenos Aires in Argentina to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, from Santiago de Chile to Paris. Mermoz the pioneer of the Aéropostale lines and Saint-Ex the pilot, but also and above all, the writer. On December 4, 1936, in the company of their usual band, including, of course Joseph Kessel, Saint-Ex had celebrated Mermoz's 35 years with a five-day advance. In fact, the same evening, after the party, Saint-Ex accompanied Mermoz home to take his luggage. He was going to drive him to Orly because Mermoz was embarking on Dakar before yet another Atlantic crossing aboard his La Croix du Sud seaplane.

Mermoz the lion

The device disappears in the Atlantic waves on the night of December 6. Saint-Ex will not recover from the death of his friend. In June 1942, a refugee in New York, he had lunch with his American publisher and his wife. As usual, the aviator draws on a paper towel. It represents the head of Jean Mermoz as a lion. He had portrayed him like this since their first meeting. Intrigued, the editor's wife makes him talk. She offers him to tell the story of their friendship through an illustrated children's story. Mermoz with a child's heart would become The Little Prince. 

The story, sometimes unreadable, is populated with clues. Thus, the hero's asteroid is named B612. Why 612? Because Mermoz died on December 6. And when the Little Prince asked the aviator to draw a sheep for him, it was a direct allusion to their first meeting: Saint-Ex had bitten him into a lion, Mermoz had asked him: "Draw me a sheep".

A worldwide success

This book, which has enchanted millions of readers, is therefore key. Saint-Ex consoled himself for the death of his friend by telling it through this strange adventure. The work was released in 1943 and will be a worldwide success never denied. The following year, July 31, 1944, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry disappeared at sea, aboard his aircraft, off Marseille. We hope that the two aviators found each other…

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"At the heart of history" is a Europe 1 Studio podcast

Author and presentation: Jean des Cars 

Project manager: Adèle Ponticelli

Realization: Laurent Sirguy

Diffusion and edition: Clémence Olivier

Graphics: Europe 1 Studio

Bibliography: Marc Menant  The man who believed in his luck  (Ramsay, 2018)