Il deserto e la letteratura di viaggio europea del XIX secolo

Europe starts its discovery of the desert at the end of XVIIIth century. This environment presents multiple aspects to the first explorers, who describe it as a various and living territory. Geopolitics is the first approach to the desert : this environment could be emproved by a wise government, different from Turkish domination. During the century, tourism develops, also as an effect of colonisation ; the experience of the desert becomes more common, and travellers seek spiritual experience as well as adventure. The desert starts then to be a projection screen for Europeans' fantasies and memories(the Bible and traditional topos still work in Western imagery), and thus only some of its components are apreciated by travellers. Then, in contemporary with the age of Realism, the desert becomes an interesting subject in itself for painters. Art helps Literature evolve towards an aesthetic appraisal of bare and waste desert. Death and mineral are the main aspects of this environment towards the end of the century ; desert gets empty, and prepare to become the "sandy desert" we all know.