‘Rien que le désert’: Desert and nothingness in André Gide’s El Hadj

This article examines André Gide’s short narrative El Hadj (1896) by looking at the symbolic and metaphysical role of the desert. I explore how Gide uses the desert as a backdrop to delve into themes of spiritual disillusionment, intellectual emancipation and the critique of religious and literary discourses. I show how the barren landscape of the desert symbolizes emptiness and deception, encouraging readers to question the origins of religious myths, the nature of faith and reality and the authority of both religious and literary figures.