Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Exiled in New York. From the Empire of Citadelle to the Empire State Building

Résumé En

To further explore the ordinary, intimate at shoulders’ height life during World War II and the industrial mobilization, another unlikely guest is invited to this second chapter of my book. Surprisingly, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was in New York during WWII. At that time, the exile wrote the famous Little Prince including a discussion about the “businessman”. Saint-Exupéry, his life and thoughts, are a very interesting points of exploration to the encounter between management and digitality. His stress on accounting, calculating and his vision of businessmen and their obsessions are used to reflect upon this period through a very affective and poetic stance. Beyond the Little Prince, other contemporary writings such as Citadelle are also used to further understand what appears as a broader conceptualization of work, the value and temporalities, but also the responsibilities at stake within it.