The Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Foundation announced Wednesday that the writer's timeless masterpiece, published in 1943 in New York, was translated in June into a Panamanian dialect.
On June 25, 2024, as part of the project “The Little Prince at the bedside of world languages”, the 600th translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's masterpiece was presented at the National Library of Panama, in Dulegaya , language of the indigenous Guna people, originating from northeastern Panama and Colombia. 1,500 copies of this edition in dulegaya, entitled Sagla Massi Bibbiwere printed in spring 2024 by the Panamanian publishing house El Hombre de la Mancha.
« The 600th translation confirms the cultural and social impact of Little Prince, which goes beyond borders and becomes a link between peoples. This tale is much more than just a story. It is a celebration of cultural diversity »underlines Fondation Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in a press release published on its website. On June 25, 2024, the book was officially presented in the presence of the Panamanian Minister of Culture, the president and director of the French Alliance of Panama and the French Ambassador to Panama. The 1,500 copies will be distributed to schools and libraries in the Guna Yala region from 2025.
A work preserving linguistic heritage
The author who disappeared in the Mediterranean Sea in 1944, a little more than a year after the book's publication, probably did not imagine such success. Over time, the most translated work in the world after the Bible confirms its universal dimension while participating in the preservation of many endangered languages. In April 2017, there were 300 translations of the Little Prince. « Thanks to the passion of the translators, this work has been transposed into rare languages and endangered dialects, thus contributing to the preservation of the world's linguistic heritage. »continues the foundation.
Behind Saint-Exupéry's adventure stories, there is also a deep melancholy, from which was born The Little Prince . Under the appearance of a simple children's story, the author actually speaks of the modern world which is opposed to the spirit of childhood embodied by his blond-haired character. « Saint-Exupéry shares with Malraux and Bernanos a concern : what future for man in the era that is opening ? Does progress elevate him or enslave him? ? What meaning does he give to his life? ? »wrote the journalist to Figaro, Étienne de Montety, in a column published in 2017. For its part, the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Foundation believes that “The Little Prince is much more than a book: it is a bridge between generations and cultures, and a testimony to the power of words and imagination ».
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