Saint-Exupéry

Summary

Dominique Pagani returns to Saint-Exupéry for a few scenes and phrases that he uses as examples. Above all, he draws on the episode of the breakdown in the desert: close to dying of thirst, the aviator says that for the first time he felt the need to drink, whereas until then he had only known the desire. He uses it to distinguish need from desire1. In the same interview, he cites Flight to Arras: between two dangerous missions, one has never enjoyed life so much2. He links the phrase "man is a knot of relationships" to Pascal: once the knot is undone, nothing remains at the centre3. From The Little Prince, he takes up the fox and the colour of the wheat, an image of the gold of shared happiness4, as well as the drunkard who drinks to forget that he is ashamed of drinking5. He also presents the author as anti-communist and anti-Gaullist. He reads the first sentence of Citadelle as a description of how compassion gets exploited6.

1. 1Michel Clouscard and the betrayal of May 687 Feb 2025 · 1:05:03
2. 2Michel Clouscard and the betrayal of May 687 Feb 2025 · 1:04:40
3. 3L'île du Peuple: the debate23 Jun 2015 · 57:23
4. 4Worldliness in Clouscard, or privileges for all18 May 2023 · 1:52:27
5. 5#5 Benefits and harms of amnesia…19 Nov 2020 · 1:16:29
6. 6#11 Ukraine: mathematics unites men, politics divides them (Aristotle)24 Mar 2022 · 49:23

Summary produced automatically from 9 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.