Preview of Night Flight Summary:

Less clear and definite in his hu manistic convictions than in his later works, Saint-Exupery in this early novella presents the conflict between the value of a human life and progress in society. Illustrated in the person of Riviere, the general director of the mail-carriers in Buenos Aires, the dilemma occurs when Fabien, one of his best pilots, does not return from a mission. He faces Fabien's desolate wife of six weeks, Simone, and at the same time knows that it is his duty to keep the mail service going. He compares it to the loss of life in the construction of a bridge. People would at first reject the bridge, but they continue to build bridges. In the same way, human beings experience a compulsion toward progress, discovery, exploration. Yet the question remains, "Is it worth the risk?"

Riviere is the model of...