SOURCE: "Antoine de Saint-Exupéry," in From Proust to Camus: Profiles of Modern French Writers, by Andre Maurois, translated by Carl Morse and Renaud Bruce, Doubleday & Company, 1966, pp. 201-23.

An extremely versatile French writer, Maurois made his most significant contribution to literature as a biographer. In the following excerpt from an overview of Saint-Exupéry's career, he commends The Little Prince for its enigmatic blend of lucid and obscure symbolism.

I shall certainly not try to "explain" Le Petit Prince. That children's book for grownups is alive with symbols which are beautiful because they seem, at the same time, both lucid and obscure. The essential virtue of a work of art is that it has its own significance, without reference to abstract concepts. A cathedral does not require commentaries, the starry vault does not require footnotes. I believe that Le Petit Prince may be an incarnation of Tonio...