Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in Château-Gaillard (01), Ain (01)

In the middle of a traffic island near Château-Gaillard just at the junction with the A42 autoroute stands this representation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince, one of the most loved books in France as well as many other countries. The disc (made from local Villebois calcareous stone) shows Saint-Exupéry in flight, with Le Petit Prince and the fox in bronze on top of it. It is the work of Stéphane Paret from St-Rambert-en-Bugey.

Mural of Writers, Saint-Amour (39), Jura (39)

This fresco in the centre of Saint-Amour celebrates notable writers associated with the town. At the top is Guillaume de Saint-Amour (1202-72), who was a theologian who was born and who died in the town. More prominently placed on the bottom left is Lucien Febvre (1878-19), a historian and literary critic who founded L'École des Annales with Marc Bloch: he is buried in the local cemetery. Léon Werth is well-known for fleeing Paris in the June 1940 exodus, which he wrote about in 33 Jours (1992), although he's more famous for the staunchly anti-military novel Clavel Soldat (1919), which is represented in the mural. The significance of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince is that Saint-Exup was Werth's friend, and he dedicated the book to him.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in Québec city

'Je me souviens' ('I remember') is the province of Québec's motto, and I believe that all number plates bear it. Clearly, this motto is the inspiration behind the title of the series of commemorative plaques 'Les Gens de Québec se souviennent' ('The People of Québec Remember') in Québec city, and I'll be posting a number of the ones that caught my interest. A few are a little blurred because of the distance I had to shoot them from.

This one is on 25 de la rue Sainte-Geneviève and records Saint-Exupéry's stay. Inevitably, Le Petit Prince is mentioned, although it's unfortunate that this is his only book mentioned:

'ICI SÉJOURNA

EN 1942, DANS LA FAMILLE DE KONINCK,

Antoine de

SAINT-EXUPÉRY

(1900–1944)

AUTEUR DU PETIT PRINCE'

Léon Werth: Père Lachaise Columbarium #3

Léon Werth (1878–1955) was a close friend of Octave Mirbeau, which probably says quite a lot. He was anti-bourgeois, anti-military, anti-clerical, libertarian, etc. In 1913 his novel La Maison Blanche (with a Preface by Mirbeau) got through to the third Goncourt selection but failed to win. Fifteen months in the trenches had convinced him of the folly of war, and the anger it caused in him was translated into Clavel Soldat (1919), which caused a scandal.

Saint-Exupéry was a great friend of Werth's after they met in 1931, and the aviator-writer dedicates Le Petit Prince to him, calling him the best friend he has in the world.