This research studies 'space' in Paul Bowles's North African fiction, namely The Sheltering Sky (1949), Let It Come Down (1952) and The Spider's House (1955). It shows the author's quest for a third space through his ambivalent discourse on the East. As an expatriate American author who settled in Morocco for more than half a century, Bowles sets his narratives in the localities he visited. The fact of making of Tangier a homeland for him until his death and devoting most of his fictional repertoire to North Africa opened a debate on his attitude towards the Eastern world. The Orient fascinates Bowles, but this does not prevent him from being an orientalist. This is well-revealed by his equivocal tone, which oscillates between feelings of delight and disgust about the space. Our concern in this research is to go beyond the author's ambivalence to situate him in a specific space that we consider as a space of in-between-ness. The issue of space in this thesis is discussed in the light of Edward Soja's theory Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places (1996), which is based on many other spatial theorizations, such as those of Gaston Bachelard, Michel Foucault, Henri Lefebvre, Edward Said and HomiBhabha. In fact, all these theorists will also be referenced in order to explain the 'thirdness' of space in Bowles's novels. Soja revolutionizes human spatiality through his conception of 'Thirdspace', whichpromotes'inclusion' and 'difference' rather than 'exclusion' and 'rejection'. In his space theory, he claims that 'Thirdspace' is produced by the fusion of'Firstspace', which is 'real' and 'Secondspace', which is 'mental'. Soja's theory enlightened our path to locate Bowles in a 'Thirdspace' that is shaped by both his personal encounter with the East and the preconceived ideas he had on the Oriental space. Thus, throughout our analysis, we conclude that the author's ambivalence prevails due to his narration that swings from reality to imagination, and his alteration in discoursein itself is a call for another space. First, in The Sheltering Sky, Bowles portrays a 'Firstspace' by highlighting the customs, traditions and the daily lifestyles of the Muslims. Second, in Let It Come Down, the author depicts a 'Secondspace' through his exploration of the Westerners' imaginary and the way they perceive the Orient. Thus, his search for 'Thirdspace'at this level is achieved through two different works. In The Spider's House, however, the writer creates a 'Thirdspace' by correlating theoriental reality with the western imaginary within the same novel. The author's use of western protagonists who interact with the 'natives' of the Muslim world in his North African novels reflects his request fora 'Thirdspace' of inclusion which Soja qualifies as a space of all humanity.