Towards a transcultural reading of ‘Le retour au désert’ by Bernard-Marie Koltès

Abstract

The aim of the following work is trying to read a play like Le retour au désert, written by Bernard-Marie Koltès, through the prism of a transcultural perspective that takes into account not only the interconnection and multiplicity of cultures, but above all their vital - and sometimes painful - crossing, allowing us to enlighten the significance of the ramification between space and otherness, as well as between memory and identity, and their problematic relationship. Therefore, we will attempt to investigate and underline the importance of the exploitation of structural oppositions in the play, which is a characteristic of Koltesian drama, and the use of myth to reverse the many aporias of Western culture.