I can't remember the exact age during my adolescence when the first time I read Le Petite Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in Chinese. But I remember the puzzled feelings after reading it that it seemed not that brilliant as people said. At that time I blamed myself for being too young and too foolish to realize its profundity. I deeply believed there must be some misunderstanding between me and the little prince.
About a month ago, accidentally I bumped into Le Petite Prince in an English version in a second-hand bookshop. It was quite unusual for me, whose eyes are sometimes too BIG to find things in front to notice this aged, slim and wrinkled book standing at a very unnoticed corner of the bookcase. I immediately took it as a sign that the prince wanted a chance to appeal. He wanted to claim his innocence to me and regain his reputation.
Sorry to let the author down that I didn't do what he mentioned in the end of the book to inform him about my encounter with the prince. Instead, I took him home with me secretly and silently.
Honestly, after reading the book again, I feel it turned out to be proving my innocence more like. I still feel almost the same way as the first time I read it.
Even though I do envy the moments when the little prince is being romantic to his rose and I would also like to go to any pawn shop to exchange for any childlike imagination like the prince's, I think I have a problem appreciating the beauty of the could-not-be-more-obvious ideas in this parable.
It's like some mums who try to hide some very finely chopped carrots in a hamburger and persuade their kids to eat it. Carrots are still carrots which still can be seen clearly.
Besides the-finely-chopped-carrots-like metaphors to me, I also have a different feeling about some ideas the author mentioned in the book. For example, in chapter six the little prince says, "You know - one loves the sunset, when one is so sad.."
There is one very famous line from a poem by Li Shang-Yin in Tang Dynasty says, "Sunset is extremely beautiful, but night is drawing nigh." It's the same in Chines culture that sunset is usually related to some reminiscent and sadness atmosphere.
To some people, to be embraced by a nostalgic color tone of twilight might be a trigger to immerse themselves in their bitter sweet memory. But instead of keeping drowning myself in the tide of my irrecoverable beautiful past, I would rather wear a shallow smile, admire the feminine and not-so-aggressive beauty of sunset and tell myself I am just waiting for a more beautiful future to come.
Perhaps I have already become a serious adult with no imagination, just like what the prince says. Maybe the prince will want another appeal. But guess he will have to wait for quite a long time to see me again in my supreme court.
About a month ago, accidentally I bumped into Le Petite Prince in an English version in a second-hand bookshop. It was quite unusual for me, whose eyes are sometimes too BIG to find things in front to notice this aged, slim and wrinkled book standing at a very unnoticed corner of the bookcase. I immediately took it as a sign that the prince wanted a chance to appeal. He wanted to claim his innocence to me and regain his reputation.
Sorry to let the author down that I didn't do what he mentioned in the end of the book to inform him about my encounter with the prince. Instead, I took him home with me secretly and silently.
Honestly, after reading the book again, I feel it turned out to be proving my innocence more like. I still feel almost the same way as the first time I read it.
Even though I do envy the moments when the little prince is being romantic to his rose and I would also like to go to any pawn shop to exchange for any childlike imagination like the prince's, I think I have a problem appreciating the beauty of the could-not-be-more-obvious ideas in this parable.
It's like some mums who try to hide some very finely chopped carrots in a hamburger and persuade their kids to eat it. Carrots are still carrots which still can be seen clearly.
Besides the-finely-chopped-carrots-like metaphors to me, I also have a different feeling about some ideas the author mentioned in the book. For example, in chapter six the little prince says, "You know - one loves the sunset, when one is so sad.."
There is one very famous line from a poem by Li Shang-Yin in Tang Dynasty says, "Sunset is extremely beautiful, but night is drawing nigh." It's the same in Chines culture that sunset is usually related to some reminiscent and sadness atmosphere.
To some people, to be embraced by a nostalgic color tone of twilight might be a trigger to immerse themselves in their bitter sweet memory. But instead of keeping drowning myself in the tide of my irrecoverable beautiful past, I would rather wear a shallow smile, admire the feminine and not-so-aggressive beauty of sunset and tell myself I am just waiting for a more beautiful future to come.
Perhaps I have already become a serious adult with no imagination, just like what the prince says. Maybe the prince will want another appeal. But guess he will have to wait for quite a long time to see me again in my supreme court.
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