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    Desert
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    Desert
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    Desert
    Ebook404 pages8 hours

    Desert

    By J. M. G. Le Clezio

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The Swedish Academy, in awarding J.M.G. Le Clézio the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature, praised Desert as Le Clézio's "definitive breakthrough as a novelist." Published in France in 1980, Desert received the Grand Prix Paul Morand from the Académie Française, was translated into twenty-three languages, and quickly proved to be a best-selling novel in many countries around the world.

    Available for the first time in English translation, Desert is a novel composed of two alternating narratives, set in counterpoint. The first takes place in the desert between 1909 and 1912 and evokes the migration of a young adolescent boy, Nour, and his people, the Blue Men, notorious warriors of the desert. Driven from their lands by French colonial soldiers, Nour's tribe has come to the valley of the Saguiet El Hamra to seek the aid of the great spiritual leader known as Water of the Eyes. The religious chief sends them out from the holy city of Smara into the desert to travel still further. Spurred on by thirst, hunger, and suffering, Nour's tribe and others flee northward in the hopes of finding a land that can harbor them at last.

    The second narrative relates the contemporary story of Lalla, a descendant of the Blue Men. Though she is an orphan living in a shantytown known as the Project near a coastal city in Morocco, the blood of her proud, obstinate tribe runs in her veins. All too soon, Lalla must flee to escape a forced marriage with an older, wealthy man. She travels to France, undergoing many trials there, from working as a hotel maid to becoming a highly-paid fashion model, and yet she never betrays the blood of her ancestors.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDavid R. Godine, Publisher
    Release dateDec 10, 2012
    ISBN9781567924442
    Unavailable
    Desert
    Author

    J. M. G. Le Clezio

    J.M.G. Le Clézio, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature, was born in Nice in 1940 and is one of France’s best-known contemporary writers. He has written more than 40 fiction and nonfiction books, including works for children. His works are translated into 36 languages around the world. He currently divides his time between Albuquerque, New Mexico, Mauritius, and his house on the sea in Brittany, France.

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    Reviews for Desert

    3.5/5

    92 ratings7 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Two parallel stories in the Western Sahara. Magnificent descriptions, profound depiction of the traditional against the invasive modern world. Two personal journeys full of humanity. I like this author.
    • 4/5
      Published in 1980, Desert was not translated into English until 2009, after its author had won the Nobel Prize for Literature. This is a highly descriptive novel, immersing the reader in the heat, cold, brilliant light and starry darkness of the Sahara, the rugged rocks and dunes of the Moroccan coast. I have never been in the desert (if you don't count Las Vegas and Red Rock Canyon, which you can't, in this context) but I now feel as though I have escaped from it. Although there are two stories interlaced here, there is very little in the way of Story in Desert. It is almost exclusively about Place. In the first segment, set in the early 20th century, we meet Nour, a young boy of the Tuareg tribe of "Blue Men", Saharan nomads traveling in caravan searching for a new home after failing to resist the French Colonial takeover of their home territories. The contrapuntal segments are contemporary with the writing, and show us Lalla, a descendant of the Blue Men, an orphan living in a shanty town outside a coastal city, perhaps Tangier. Her days are often spent wandering into the hills and along the rocky coast, with no particular aim. Occasionally, she has visions of a Blue Man, with whom she feels a spiritual connection. She also connects, in a more earthly way, with a young man known as the Hartani, a mute shepherd. Lalla is as free as can be, until she begins to be pressured by her Aunt to marry an old man; she retreats to the hills with the Hartani, and eventually travels to France, where she survives as a hotel maid, and again spends her free time roaming, now through the streets, suburbs and environs of Marseille. The prose of Desert is often rhythmic, repetitive in a musical way, with many recurring metaphors and images. There is harsh beauty in it, as well as an homage to the traditional primitive way of life of the desert dwellers. It could have been a 5 star read for me, if only the characters had been a bit more multi-dimensional.Review written in April 2014
    • 2/5
      I was curious about Le Clezio because he won the Nobel Prize. The prose was lovely and lyrical, but I do love a good plot. Two stories intertwine - a young man is part of an ill-fated army headed across the desert to fight the Christians in the early part of the 20th century. In the later part of the century, a young woman lives in squalor on the coast of North Africa. She seems to be a conduit for a lot of marvelous description of nature and then later of city life - but to not have much of a life of her own. Finishing it was a bit of a struggle. I hope the next in line at the library enjoys it more!
    • 4/5
      Two linked stories about tradition and progress and what we as a civilisation have come to sacrifice to get where we are.Beginning of the twentieth century, Nour, one of the last of a disappearing tribe who have to start a migration through the desert to find their homeland. Lalla, the descendant of that now disappeared tribe, who has to take her own journey to find what's lacking in her life.Prose which should be read as poetry, through the senses. I think that if you try to read this novel in the traditional sense, you won't be very satisfied with the experience.There's a plot to follow, but sometimes great important facts seem to be omitted whereas details such as the smell of the sand or the texture of some clothes or the warm and salty water of a particular beach are described for pages and pages.You have to feel more than to read this novel.It reminded me of Woolf's writing style, dense, subtle, elegant and poetic.Not for everybody.
    • 5/5
      On being named last year's Nobel laureate for literature J. M. G. Le Clezio's 'Desert' was the book most often cited as his magnum opus. Unfortunately though despite a number of his previous works having been translated into English 'Desert' did not number among them. At the same time contrary to the fact of all those translations Le Clezio was pretty much an obscure literary figure on this side of the Atlantic--though much better recieved elsewhere. Though French or French/Mauritanian as he would have it Le Clezio is a world author and though some of his works are set in France particularly around the city of Nice where he grew up--others are set in South America or in Africa. 'Desert' is set mostly in North Africa--in Morocco. There are two basic threads--the one informing the other. Seen through the eyes of a young boy Nour the first thread follows a gathering of Moroccan tribes in rebellion against their French and christian colonizers. Their way of life alien to the future the colonizers would bring--they trek across the desert looking for sustenance and support from the various small towns and cities along their path. The sense of running out of space and time juxtaposed against a background of vastness and timelessness. Nour's father is a warrior--a Blue man--the man they follow a charismatic shiek named Ma al-Ainine (Water of the eyes). Alternating with that the second thread is set in present time revolving around a young orphan girl named Lalla--a descendant of the Blue Men in the first thread--she lives in a ramshackle Moroccan village with her aunt. Her life revolving around her aunt's home--an old sailor named Naman, a young goatherder Hartani and al-Ser--known only to her as 'The secret'--a kind of ghostly presence of the tribe of Blue Men from the past. This presence comes to her only at certain times and at a specific place--a rocky hillside. Naman tells her about his travels especially those concerning the European side of the Mediterranean. Hartani (though Lalla's aunt disapproves of him) is more or less her own age and gives her life a sense of adventure and freedom. As she gets older--a suitor comes along who gives Lalla's adopted family gifts--the idea being to marry Lalla. He is a much older man and Lalla is not interested and runs off to be with Hartani. Eventually she becomes pregnant but in the meantime her aunt has crossed the Mediterranean and is now living in Marseille. The pregnant Lalla follows her across to Marseille and eventually finds her own apartment and work. She lives in a seedy and poverty stricken area and becomes friends with a younger boy Radicz an Eastern European immingrant who makes his living by begging and small time theiving. Discovered by a photographer she then has a short career as a model. She's not interested in money or glamour however--she feels constantly called back home and eventually returns there to have her child.To go back briefly to the first thread which is set in the early part of the 20th century--Le Clezio intersperses short segments of their history between telling Lalla's tale. They continue to shuttle across the desert from one place to another. These rebellious tribes are finding they are no longer welcome in most places as the noose continues to tighten around them. There are some skirmishes with French colonial infantry that ends disastrously for them. Eventually their army is destroyed--many of the survivors disperse across the desert and their Sheik Ma al-Ainine dies a broken man. It is an excellent book and exceptionally well told. It certainly fits into Le Clezio's ouevre. The outsider or underdog struggling against human forces beyond his/her control. A tradition of life at the mercy of brute force and the increasing strength of a techonlogy and civilization which it has no real concept of and easily overwhelms it. That past though is always there for Lalla though and is the something she continually draws her strength and happiness from.As far as ranking it amongst his other works--to be honest I think there are several others that are equal to it. That being said he's written some great book and this one as well as The Prospector, Wandering Star, Onitsha orThe Giants (if you're feeling in an experimental mood) or The round and other cold hard facts if you want to read a short story collection are all good places to start.
    • 4/5
      Geen simpele lectuur, dit boekje: de stijl is nogal dromerig-po?tisch, met soms magisch-realistische elementen, en het perspectief wipt over en weer tussen 1910 en het heden. In het ene geval staat de jonge Nour centraal, die met zijn familie op de vlucht is voor de oprukkende christenen (Franse koloniale troepen) in het woestijngebied tussen Mauretani?, de Westelijke Sahara en Marokko. In het andere (het heden) draait het rond het meisje Lalla, ergens aan de zuid-Marokkaanse kust. Er zijn heel wat parallellen tussen de twee, in zoverre dat Lalla zelfs verwant blijkt aan Nour. Maar het verbindend element is vooral de magie van de woestijn die in tegenstelling tot wat wij denken door Le Clezio wordt voorgesteld als levenscheppend is, vol van licht en zuiverheid. Een kort verblijf van Lalla in Marseille toont aan dat de menselijke woestenij (zoals wij dat begrijpen) net in de Westerse grootsteden te vinden is. Le Clezio dweept naar mijn gevoel iets te veel met de typerende mythe van de nobele wilde (in dit geval de woestijn-nomade), en de tegenstelling is zeker eenzijdig zwart-wit, maar hij heeft wel een punt. Dit is een heel mooi boek, geschreven in prachtig Frans, met een sprekende beeldtaal, en een heel andere, diepergaande blik op de werkelijkheid. Het bijwijlen zeer trage ritme, met uitgesponnen beschrijven is soms wel even doorbijten.
    • 4/5
      Geen simpele lectuur, dit boekje: de stijl is nogal dromerig-poëtisch, met soms magisch-realistische elementen, en het perspectief wipt over en weer tussen 1910 en het heden. In het ene geval staat de jonge Nour centraal, die met zijn familie op de vlucht is voor de oprukkende christenen (Franse koloniale troepen) in het woestijngebied tussen Mauretanië, de Westelijke Sahara en Marokko. In het andere (het heden) draait het rond het meisje Lalla, ergens aan de zuid-Marokkaanse kust. Er zijn heel wat parallellen tussen de twee, in zoverre dat Lalla zelfs verwant blijkt aan Nour. Maar het verbindend element is vooral de magie van de woestijn die in tegenstelling tot wat wij denken door Le Clezio wordt voorgesteld als levenscheppend is, vol van licht en zuiverheid. Een kort verblijf van Lalla in Marseille toont aan dat de menselijke woestenij (zoals wij dat begrijpen) net in de Westerse grootsteden te vinden is. Le Clezio dweept naar mijn gevoel iets te veel met de typerende mythe van de nobele wilde (in dit geval de woestijn-nomade), en de tegenstelling is zeker eenzijdig zwart-wit, maar hij heeft wel een punt. Dit is een heel mooi boek, geschreven in prachtig Frans, met een sprekende beeldtaal, en een heel andere, diepergaande blik op de werkelijkheid. Het bijwijlen zeer trage ritme, met uitgesponnen beschrijven is soms wel even doorbijten.