The Concept of "Escape" in Desert, A Novel by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio

The heroes of Le Clezio novels escape from themselves and the unfavorable conditions around them each in some way; an escape not for reaching the pleasant materialistic and living conditions rather they wish wholeheartedly to return to their own essence & origin – to their source and first home i.e. their own "self". And by this excuse they wish again to find refugee in the origins from which they had escaped. The identity crisis is one of the main axis of all Le Clezio's novels. The heroes of his novels hate their alien identity and the mask which wear on their face and are looking for their real identity each in some way. In the present paper, we try to fall in step with "Lalla", the hero of "Desert"; and we enter her world with herself. She who is annoyed, sick and tired of living amidst the stone, steel and asphalt, busy streets, high buildings and skyscrapers finds the only way of freedom and peace in returning to the desert. By studying the feelings, memories and loneliness of the hero and other characters and their sorrow in exile, we understand the concept of "escape from oneself" for them. It's noteworthy that today returning to the self is one of the important issues for the thinkers and researchers. In this query we try to examine different aspects of "Escape" for Le Clezio especially in his novel "Desert".