Night Flight | Literary Precedents

Night Flight Literary Precedents

More than any other work, Night Flight shows the influence of Nietzsche, for whom Saint-Exupery claimed great admiration. The superhuman devotion to duty in Rivizere and reflected in his pilots harks back to Nietzsche's superman ideals. The inspiration for Riviere comes not only from Didier Daurat, Saint-Exupery's Operational Director, but also from a story of Jules Verne, Les Indes Noires (1877; Child of the Cavern: or, Strange Doings Underground, 1877) which he remembered from his boyhood days. The influence of Joseph Conrad, seen in all Saint-Exupery's works, is equally present here.

Sister Irma M. Kashuba, S. S. ].