DESERT FASCINATION IN XXe IN FRANCE AND EQUIVALENT EUROPEAN SCENES

Abstract

The imaginary of the desert appears in the European literary space when the European world comes in contact with the exotic countries, especially during the Great Journeys and the period of colo- nization. Prose or poetry, such as Fromentin’s and Loti’s, Saint-Exupéry’s and Le Clézio’s, Gasp- ard’s and Bonnefoy’s texts, follow the desert roads enriching European Literature with dreamy pictures, exotic landscapes and grounds of a very particular composition compared to European territories. A fundamental question is: do these texts construct or deconstruct the European space?