''Désert'' is a 1980 novel written by French

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

writer J. M. G. Le Clézio, considered to be one of his breakthrough novels. It won the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

'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 ( , ) is the northern geographic region of Western Sahara. It was, with Río de Oro, one of the two territories that formed the Spanish province of Spanish Sahara after 1969. Its name comes from a waterway that goes through the ca ...

region in the

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

, around the town of

Smara Smāra (also romanized Semara, , ; ) 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 Smara bus station. History The largest city in ...

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

Tiznit Tiznit or Tiznet (, ) is a town in the west coast of the Moroccan region of Souss-Massa, founded in 1881 by Alawi Sultan Hassan I. It is the capital of Tiznit Province and recorded a population of 74,699 in the 2014 Moroccan census. Internati ...

. The story tells of Nour’s encounter with the religious leader Ma al-'Aynayn, 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 A shanty town, squatter area, squatter settlement, or squatter camp is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or shacks, typically made of materials such as mud and wood, or from cheap building materials such as corrugated iron s ...

on the edge of an unnamed Moroccan coastal town, and particularly her friendship with a young mute Hartani

shepherd A shepherd is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations; it exists in many parts of the globe, and it is an important part of Pastoralism, pastoralist animal husbandry. ...

who, like her, originates from the desert tribes. It narrates the time she spends in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

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. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

, 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