''Désert'' is a 1980 novel written by French Nobel laureate writer

J. M. G. Le Clézio Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (; 13 April 1940), usually identified as J. M. G. Le Clézio, of French and Mauritian nationality, is a writer and professor. The author of over forty works, he was awarded the 1963 Prix Renaudot for his novel '' Le ...

, considered to be one of his breakthrough novels. It won the Académie française's Grand Prix Paul Morand in 1980.

Plot summary

Two stories are interwoven. The shorter, which begins and ends the book, is specifically set in 1909–1910 and later 1912, and tells of the wanderings of North African desert tribes chased from their lands by French colonial invaders, mostly as observed by a small boy, Nour. The beginning is set in the

Saguia el-Hamra Saguia el-Hamra ( es, Saguía el Hamra, ar, الساقية الحمراء, lit=Red Canal, translit=al-Saqiyah al-Hamra'a) was, with Río de Oro, one of the two territories that formed the Spanish province of Spanish Sahara after 1969. Its name ...

region in the

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the ...

, around the town of

Smara Smara ( ar, السمارة ''as-Samāra'', also romanized ''Semara''; es, Esmara) is a city in the Moroccan-controlled part of Western Sahara, with a population of 57,035 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census. It is served by Smara Airport and Sm ...

, and the story follows the tribe on their gruelling journey across the desert to

Tiznit Tiznit or Tiznet ( ar, تزنيت, Tiznīt; ber, ⵜⵉⵣⵏⵉⵜ, Tiznit) is a town in the west coast of the Moroccan region of Souss-Massa, founded in 1881 by the Sultan Hassan I. It is the capital of Tiznit Province and recorded a populat ...

. The story tells of Nour’s encounter with the religious leader

Ma al-'Aynayn Mohamed Mustafa Ma al-'Aynayn (; c. 1830–31 in Oualata, present-day Mauritania – 1910 in Tiznit, Morocco; complete name Mohamad Mustafa ben Mohamad Fadel Maa al-'Aynayn ash-Shanguiti ar, محمد مصطفى بن محمد فاضل ماء ...

, whom he worships and follows. The longer, the story of Lalla, is set in an unspecified contemporary time. It describes her early life in a shanty town on the edge of an unnamed Moroccan coastal town, and particularly her friendship with a young mute Hartani shepherd who, like her, originates from the desert tribes. It narrates the time she spends in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

while already pregnant with the Hartani’s child. In France she encounters great poverty before becoming a photo model, but she eventually returns to her native town in Morocco, where she gives birth to the Hartani's child.

Publication history

;First French edition * ;Second French edition * ;First English translated edition * ;First Malayalam translated edition *

Reviews

;Review taken from

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

, India ;Review taken from the TLS ;Review taken from kirjasto.sci.fi ;Review taken from ''Deseret News'' (Salt Lake City) ;Review taken from World Literature Today ;Review taken from Western Sahara information ;Review taken from the web-page of The Hindu Group;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desert, The 1980 French novels Novels by J. M. G. Le Clézio French historical novels Novels set in Marseille Novels set in Morocco Novels set in the Sahara Novels set in the 1910s Novels set in the 1920s Novels set in the French colonial empire Works by J. M. G. Le Clézio Éditions Gallimard books