Desert - Softcover
Young Nour is a North African desert tribesman. It is 1909, and as the First World War looms Nour's tribe - the Blue Men - are forced from their lands by French colonial invaders. Spurred on by thirst, hunger, suffering, they seek guidance from a great spiritual leader. The holy man sends them even further from home, on an epic journey northward, in the hope of finding a land in which they can again be free.
Decades later, an orphaned descendant of the Blue Men - a girl called Lalla - is living in a shantytown on the coast of Morocco. Lalla has inherited both the pride and the resilience of her tribe - and she will need them, as she makes a bid to escape her forced marriage to a wealthy older man. She flees to Marseilles, where she experiences both the hardships of immigrant life - as a hotel maid - and the material prosperity of those who succeed - when she becomes a successful model. And yet Lalla does not betray the legacy of her ancestors.
In these two narratives set in counterpoint, Nobel Prize-winning novelist J. M. G. Le Clézio tells - powerfully and movingly - the story of the 'last free men' and of Europe's colonial legacy - a story of war and exile and of the endurance of the human spirit.
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Review:
'A rich, sprawling, searching, poetic, provocative, broadly historic and demanding novel, which in all those ways displays the essence of Le Clézio. As a reflection on colonization and its legacy, it is painfully relevant after 30 years.' --New York Times
'Dense, highly measured, intensely imagistic... A book one must admire for its profound seriousness, for its scorched-earth poetics and for its rendering of a lost world.' --Douglas Kennedy, The Times
'[Le Clezio's] tales have epic and exotic qualities...he writes with a moral seriousness and engagement... These stories of displacement and exile are both timely and epic... This is one of Le Clezio's major works... It reveals the history of colonial France in the Arab world.'
--Andrew Hussey, Financial Times
From the Publisher:
'Dense, highly measured, intensely imagistic... A book one must admire for its profound seriousness, for its scorched-earth poetics and for its rendering of a lost world.' --Douglas Kennedy, The Times
'[Le Clezio's] tales have epic and exotic qualities...he writes with a moral seriousness and engagement... These stories of displacement and exile are both timely and epic... This is one of Le Clezio's major works... It reveals the history of colonial France in the Arab world.'
--Andrew Hussey, Financial Times
The international bestseller, by the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2008, available for the first time in English translation.
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- PublisherAtlantic Books
- Publication date2011
- ISBN 10 1848873816
- ISBN 13 9781848873810
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages368
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Desert (Paperback)
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Young Nour is a North African desert tribesman. It is 1909, and as the First World War looms Nour's tribe - the Blue Men - are forced from their lands by French colonial invaders. Spurred on by thirst, hunger, suffering, they seek guidance from a great spiritual leader. The holy man sends them even further from home, on an epic journey northward, in the hope of finding a land in which they can again be free.Decades later, an orphaned descendant of the Blue Men - a girl called Lalla - is living in a shantytown on the coast of Morocco. Lalla has inherited both the pride and the resilience of her tribe - and she will need them, as she makes a bid to escape her forced marriage to a wealthy older man. She flees to Marseilles, where she experiences both the hardships of immigrant life - as a hotel maid - and the material prosperity of those who succeed - when she becomes a successful model. And yet Lalla does not betray the legacy of her ancestors.In these two narratives set in counterpoint, Nobel Prize-winning novelist J.M.G. Le Clezio tells - powerfully and movingly - the story of the 'last free men' and of Europe's colonial legacy - a story of war and exile and of the endurance of the human spirit. The international bestseller, by the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2008, available for the first time. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781848873810
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. BRAND NEW ** SUPER FAST SHIPPING FROM UK WAREHOUSE ** 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Seller Inventory # 9781848873810-GDR
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 352 pages. 7.80x5.08x1.06 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __1848873816
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Book Description Softcover. Condition: New. Main. Avec <i>Désert</i> - prix Renaudot en 1980 - Le Clézio, écrivain discret, presque secret, accde une reconnaissance enthousiaste du public. Depuis, sa notoriété ne s'est pas démentie au fil d'une production pourtant singulire, tant par la forme qui rompt avec le formalisme du roman que par les thmes toujours en marge d'un monde qui avance irrémédiablement. Nourris au sein de la nature vierge, de la mer ou des déserts, les personnages de Le Clézio, abreuvés de légendes intimes ou porteurs de l'histoire des peuples, errent inlassablement sur les chemins du retour. La certitude de l'appartenance, le souvenir des paysages perdus, constituent les forces vitales que ne peuvent ébranler la vulgarité des hommes ou l'emprise de la ville. Telle Lalla, arrivée dans les quartiers sordides de Marseille comme un navire échoué, mais avec la lumire du désert dans les yeux et le sang des guerriers du Rio de Oro dans les veines. Alors, si la force de l'identité rend tout exil cruel, elle tient aussi lieu d'espoir. <i>--Lenac Gravis et Jocelyn Blériot</i> Seller Inventory # DADAX1848873816
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Book Description Condition: New. 2011. Main. Paperback. The international bestseller, by the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2008, available for the first time in English translation. Num Pages: 352 pages. BIC Classification: FA; FYT. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 129 x 29. Weight in Grams: 350. 352 pages. The international bestseller, by the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2008, available for the first time in English translation. Cateogry: (G) General (US: Trade). BIC Classification: FA; FYT. Dimension: 197 x 129 x 29. Weight: 350. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9781848873810
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