Take a break in the company of Marie-Christine Barrault

The Rencontres Internationales Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a three-day invitation-only event for those with a special interest in the message of Saint-Exupéry, was made up of debates, lectures and exchanges of views, interspersed with artistic presentations. After the excerpt by Nikolaus Schapfl, our next offering is a reading from Terre des Hommes (« Wind, Sand and Stars« ). Actress Marie-Christine Barrault reads the passage in which Saint-Exupéry, then a reporter for daily newspaper Paris Soir is sent on an assignment to Moscow.

He recounts his journey by train and gives a description of his fellow-passengers, Polish workers expelled from France. In this extract, Saint-Exupéry’s attention lingers on a couple as he contemplates the beauty of their sleeping child:  « I studied that smooth forehead, that gentle pout of the lips, and I said to myself here is the face of a musician, a Mozart as a child; here is a fine promise of life.«