[HN Gopher] A new Little Prince museum has opened its doors in S...
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A new Little Prince museum has opened its doors in Switzerland
Author : gnabgib
Score : 102 points
Date : 2025-11-30 01:03 UTC (21 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.lepetitprince.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.lepetitprince.com)
| dudeinjapan wrote:
| There was one in Hakone, Japan which opened in 1999 and closed in
| 2023.
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_The_Little_Prince_in...
| danaris wrote:
| Oh, it closed? That's too bad! We visited it when we were in
| Hakone in 2017--it was a remarkable experience finding it in
| Japan!
| Foobar8568 wrote:
| It was one of my fondest memory of my first travel in Japan, we
| had no clue that such site was there, so when we took the bus
| from whatever train station to the onsen hotel, and we passed
| in front of it, as a French, it was jaw dropping to see such
| place. Even crazier was when we actually visited it, they
| really captured my home region. Unbelievable experience.
| KPGv2 wrote:
| I recently bought this book for my kids. Somehow I've never read
| it in forty years. What's the big deal? It's gotta be the most
| famous book I've never read.
| kijin wrote:
| It's one of those books that strike you with a completely
| different meaning when you read it as an adult, than when you
| read it as a child. Which probably contributes to its enduring
| charm across the generations. I think everyone should read it
| twice, but with at least 20 years between readings.
| scarecrowbob wrote:
| It's not a hard read, and probably would take most adults an
| hour or two. Maybe just go read it if you're curious, and if
| you don't like it then quit after a chapter or two.
|
| I like it. I got a lot out of the encounter with the fox,
| specifically, and that helped me in how I relate to a lot of my
| friends and lovers.
| ggm wrote:
| This is a sub plot in "Changing Places" by David Lodge. Hyper
| competitive professor of English wins dinner party game
| admitting major Canon work he hasn't read: gets terminated by
| head of department.
| ahartmetz wrote:
| I don't get it neither. I have learned French in school, I have
| read it in French and all... it just seems quite banal. A
| content-personality mismatch I guess, and if that wasn't so, I
| might still prefer something that feels more weighty than that
| book.
| hs586 wrote:
| Read it with or to your kids. It is an adult book just as much
| as it is a children's book. Something there for all stages of
| life.
| andrepd wrote:
| It takes less than 2 hours to read, why don't you find out
| yourself lol
| karlgkk wrote:
| How relevant is this to people under thirty? This screams "boomer
| last gasp" to me. Like snoopy
| teraflop wrote:
| Profound thoughts about the human condition don't become less
| profound when the next generation comes along. The Little
| Prince is no more "boomer" than, say, Marcus Aurelius'
| Meditations.
| derwiki wrote:
| Very well written and will be relevant for all ages for another
| 100 years. Very unsnoopy. (Although I've heard that pre-Snoopy
| Peanuts is excellent and deep)
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| As I mentioned in the thread on Peanuts two days ago, "pre-
| Snoopy Peanuts" consists of two total comic strips, which are
| neither excellent nor deep. There's not enough material for
| either to be possible.
|
| There's a lot of Peanuts. Whatever you like or don't like
| about it, you can find examples of at any point in its
| history.
| jhbadger wrote:
| When people say "pre-Snoopy Peanuts" they don"t mean before
| the character existed at all but before the strip became
| focused on Snoopy and his wacky adventures in the mid 1970s
| and later. Early Peanuts was more focused on the melancholy
| aspects of childhood and was truly brilliant. This was lost
| later on.
| shermantanktop wrote:
| Out of curiosity, what cultural artifacts do you suppose people
| under thirty will consider worth passing on to their kids?
|
| Not trying to be snarky. I think printed book culture led to
| some degree of consensus about books like The Little Prince.
| I'm not sure what replaces it.
| lwkl wrote:
| I'm thirty and my sisters and my partner are in their
| twenties and we will probably all pass on books to our
| children if we have them.
|
| Kids still interact with physical books. School libraries are
| a part of education here and the school kids visit them with
| their teacher at least once a month to borrow physical books.
| stinkbeetle wrote:
| _Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book
| rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and
| street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.
| And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute.
| History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present
| in which the Party is always right._
| ccppurcell wrote:
| The Little Prince was published before the baby boom. I am a
| millennial. We've read it to our gen alpha kid. We have it in
| three languages.
| charcircuit wrote:
| I've never heard of Little Prince before. I don't think it's as
| popular as the article claims.
| teraflop wrote:
| Based on approximate sales figures, it's one of the top-selling
| books of all time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-
| selling_books
| froh wrote:
| > I've never heard of Little Prince before.
|
| interesting. may I ask which region of the world you live in?
|
| > I don't think it's as popular as the article claims.
|
| that may be telling more about the region you live or yourself.
|
| I suggest go to it's Wikipedia article and check the books
| impact.
|
| ps: and to get a physical copy and to read it...
| charcircuit wrote:
| America, could this be a European thing?
| rkomorn wrote:
| I lived in America (NJ and CA) for 25 years and plenty of
| people knew about The Little Prince.
|
| I've even seen people wearing shirts with the drawing of
| the snake that ate the elephant.
| jvdvegt wrote:
| I live in the Netherlands for almost 50 years and never
| heard of it either.
| gonzus wrote:
| I am also American (born and raised in Chile). The Little
| Prince is extremely well-known over there. I am personally
| very fond of it.
| astrod wrote:
| Apparently James Dean loved the book from an early age, so
| guessing it must have had some popularity in the USA.
| QuesnayJr wrote:
| It's not that obscure, even in the US. Anyone who takes
| French in US high school has probably read it in French
| (it's very easy to read), and even in English it's one of
| the most common classic children's books.
| froh wrote:
| I think it's rather a kind-of- schooling-and-education
| thing.
|
| for schools in a "humanistic" tradition I dare to bet it's
| canon.
|
| it's a very beautiful read and when you have time, go and
| grab a sweet illustrated full text paper copy in your
| language of choice, it has been translated in all languages
| of the world, and there are wonderful editions of the book.
| I treasure a large pop up one.
|
| At first glance it looks and feels like a childrens book,
| but really, is it? Antoine de Saint-Exupery offers a very
| unique and poetic look at humankind and a truly timeless
| masterpiece, touching not so children topic's like
| different types of vanity, several perspectives on the rat
| race, addiction, love of course, both "caritas" and "amor"
| and at an idealistic level also "eros", responsibility for
| nature, it even touches on assisted suicide, but all of
| these little essays which are woven into a story arc are
| told with deep love and tenderness and clarity.
|
| fine dining, if you wish, a gourmet story, really.
|
| you can tell I like it :-D
| emilsedgh wrote:
| It was even taught in all schools in Iran!
| azepoi wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_literary_works_by_numb...
|
| This is the second most translated book after the Bible
| dkga wrote:
| And the Bible had quite a head start!
| aweb wrote:
| Very surprised and sad to see so many dismissive comments of the
| book. It's a really popular one in France for a very good reason.
| It's so creative, poetic and touching that I doubt you can read
| it and stay indifferent.
|
| If you've never read it, do yourself a favor and do so! It's
| quite short, and I hope you'll like it.
| soulofmischief wrote:
| The book has been extremely transformative for me at multiple
| points in my life as I've aged. If I could only recommend a
| single piece of fiction, it would probably be The Little
| Prince.
|
| I also _highly_ recommend the 2015 animated film adaptation. It
| has a rock-solid cast, and presents the classic story within
| entirely new layers of interpretation that speak to multiple
| generations at once. It 's a real tearjerker that only gets
| more potent with age.
|
| I'm also not sure why so many commenters here seem confused or
| negative towards The Little Prince. It is a timeless, culture-
| invariant treatise on the most precious and important facets of
| human existence.
| zppln wrote:
| I my case, it is precisly said animated film. I don't
| remember why, but I found it incredibly off-putting for some
| reason. I think back on it every time someone brings up The
| Little Prince.
| soulofmischief wrote:
| I'm curious what you found off-putting about it, if you
| don't mind elaborating :)
| dvh wrote:
| You want each emotion with assigned numerical value from
| 0 to 10, I presume...
| soulofmischief wrote:
| I'm not sure how I am supposed to interpret your comment,
| what did you mean by that?
|
| My aim was to start a positive dialogue with zppln about
| why the book didn't land with him or why it was off-
| putting. I'm happy to discuss it with you as well, but if
| your comment was just meant to be negative then I'll
| pass.
| forinti wrote:
| This book got a bad reputation in Brazil because a famous
| actress (who supposedly isn't very bright) once said it was her
| favourite book.
|
| When I finally decided to give it a try, I found it to be a
| very interesting read.
|
| So, you can bet people who show disdain for it probably haven't
| read it. Or they have weak character and are afraid to be
| considered dumb by association.
| kijin wrote:
| There are probably more people around the world who know
| about The Little Prince from the distinctive illustrations
| that show up everywhere, than there are people who have
| actually read the book. It's like Peter Rabbit. Everyone
| instantly recognizes the illustrations, but often has a hard
| time explaining what the book was about.
| kikoreis wrote:
| Your comment made me think of Charli XCX's recent post
| https://itscharlibb.substack.com/p/the-realities-of-
| being-a-...
|
| Who was the actress?
| forinti wrote:
| Vera Fischer.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Fischer_%28actress%29
| dkga wrote:
| I grew up in Brazil and never heard that the Little Prince
| had a bad reputation there. Quite the contrary, at least in
| my circle of people.
| hs586 wrote:
| And outside France too!
|
| I would add that there is something in it for all ages. I have
| read it many times, between ages 6 and 25 and in different
| languages. The later readings were for language learning
| without any expectations but each time I finished it, I was
| deeply touched.
|
| With that it's also a great one to read with kids.
| polotics wrote:
| Well... enough bad memory of some teacher wanting us all to
| read and ponder this thing in class, seemingly with the
| confused notion that this would be some kind of lesson in
| psychology.
|
| I think the author would be very surprised if he'd been there
| to see what amount of fluff has been generated around his nice
| and simple quasi-autobiographical codebook.
| kijin wrote:
| This problem plagues so many well-known works of literature.
| Modern American classics like _The Catcher in the Rye_ and
| _To Kill a Mockingbird_ have also been forever tainted with
| unpleasant memories of high school classes.
| ffuxlpff wrote:
| We were read parts of it in kindergarten. I was fascinated by
| the desert, at the time I loved deserts, even if I saw one only
| as an adult. Two years later I borrowed it from the school
| library. My friends teased me because they thought it is girly.
| I read it and found a bit confusing and boring.
|
| Later it got more popular and adults found all kinds of deep
| things. It was so sentimental I've never got back to the book
| if I hadn't read it first as a children's book. In my mid
| twenties I got my own copy from a girlfriend who saw me as a
| little prince.
|
| Now about a week ago I reread it again. Well, you can find all
| kinds of things in it but I think you should read it as a kid
| first time.
|
| Children need to learn a lot of things they understand only as
| adults. It builds a real connection to the stories and ideas.
| Adults cannot absorb new thoughts anymore. They try but it's
| too late.
|
| Like if you haven't read Nietzsche and Dostoevsky first time at
| the age of say 16 or 18 you will never be an intellectual. You
| didn't get the right impulses at the time. You cannot built on
| shallow experiences you can have after the childhood and youth.
| elric wrote:
| > Adults cannot absorb new thoughts anymore. They try but
| it's too late.
|
| That's just a load of hogwash, and anyone who believes it is
| doing themselves a disservice.
| ares623 wrote:
| It has one of my favorite quotes of all time. For those who
| haven't read it yet, if the quote below resonates with you, the
| rest of the book surely will too.
|
| "Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add.
| But when there is nothing left to take away."
|
| It is relevant in so many contexts in life.
| kryptonomist wrote:
| One of the best pieces of advice about software engineering as
| well.
| trvz wrote:
| Pseudointellectuality. It sounds profound at first, but it's
| wrong.
|
| You may not be able to remove anything, but that doesn't mean
| nothing needs to be added, ergo it's not perfection.
| ares623 wrote:
| I disagree on it not being profound. The intended audience
| for the book are young children, and parents reading to
| their children.
|
| It is not unlikely that a decent number of the intended
| audience will have grown up that "perfection" is equated to
| having everything, with nothing left to want. New parents
| especially would have feelings of inadequacy when they are
| trying to be "perfect" for their kids.
| aryonoco wrote:
| I make sure I read the little prince once every 10 years.
|
| Every time I do so, I learn something new.
| NiloCK wrote:
| And what do you do here?
|
| - I scroll
|
| Why do you scroll?
|
| - To forget
|
| To forget what?
|
| - That I am boring and bored
|
| Why are you boring and bored?
|
| - Because I scroll!
| mactavish88 wrote:
| There's something both beautiful/enchanting and deeply tragic
| about the story.
|
| If anyone's interested in an analysis of Saint-Exupery's
| psychology via the symbolism of The Little Prince, the book "The
| Problem of the Puer Aeternus" by Marie-Louise von Franz [1] is
| absolutely fascinating.
|
| [1]:
| https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1404609.The_Problem_of_t...
| kkoncevicius wrote:
| Yes! I didn't understand why I always found the Little Prince
| story (and by extension "alchemist") so repulsive, until I read
| that book. Little prince is aimed at people who have lost their
| idealistic youth qualities and seek to get back in touch with
| that part of themselves. I had the opposite problem - I never
| fully left that place.
| kensai wrote:
| This book and its cartoon adaptations have been amazing. I am not
| French, still it touches amongst cultures.
| bane wrote:
| As an American, we grow up almost entirely without this gem of
| children's literature. I'm so thankful that PBS aired this story
| when I was a small child. The imagery was so strong that it has
| forever stuck in my head. When I see other stories like "The
| Fountain" or Super Mario Galaxy, I immediately think of the
| Little Prince.
|
| I've yet to revisit it as an adult, but I think maybe it's time?
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