Novel
Desert
Désert
J. M. G. Le Clézio · 1980
Synopsis
Two narratives alternate. In one, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the young Nour belongs to the blue men of the desert, who leave the Saguia el-Hamra, near Smara, and travel north before the advance of the French colonial troops; along the way, he venerates the religious leader Ma el-Aïnine. In the other, decades later, Lalla, who descends from this people, grows up in a shantytown near a coastal city of Morocco, forms a bond with the Hartani, a mute young shepherd from the desert, then leaves for Marseille to escape an arranged marriage.
Context
The novel was published by Gallimard in 1980 and won the Académie française's grand prix Paul-Morand that same year. It sets two narratives in dialogue: the flight of a Saharan tribe before the French conquest, between 1909 and 1912, and, much later, the journey of a young woman of the same ancestry. In awarding him the Nobel Prize in 2008, the Swedish Academy saw in it its author's decisive breakthrough as a novelist; its ample prose contrasts with the experimental manner of his first books.
Who it is for
Two narratives in alternation, one short and historical, the other longer and contemporary, in an ample, visual prose.
Prizes and reception
Crowned by the Académie française on publication. Translated into English by C. Dickson, it appeared in 2009 from Godine under the title Desert.
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