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Biography |
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Pierre Loti:
b. Jan. 14, 1850, Rochefort, Fr.
d. June 10, 1923, Hendaye
pseudonym
of LOUIS-MARIE-JULIEN VIAUD novelist whose exoticism made him popular
in his time and whose themes anticipated some of the central
preoccupations of French literature between World Wars.
Loti's career as a naval officer took him to the
Middle and Far East, thus providing him with the exotic settings of
his novels and reminiscences. Following his naval schooling and
training, he was promoted ship's lieutenant in 1881 and during 1885-91
saw service in Chinese waters. His subsequent promotions led to an
appointment as ship's captain in 1906.
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Pierre Loti in naval officier uniform (about 1880-1890) Coll. part.
© AKG Paris |
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After the publication of his
first novel, Aziyadé (1879), he rapidly developed a parallel literary
career, winning the respect of critics and the devotion of a large
public. With such successes as Pêcheur d'Islande (1886) and Madame
Chrysanthème (1887) to his credit and with the approval of such
exacting critics as Ferdinand Brunetière, Anatole France, Paul
Bourget, and Jules Lemaître, the way was made smooth for his reception
into the Académie Française in 1891.
Each year there was a new book, sometimes a novel--Ramuntcho (1897),
Les Désenchantées (1906)--often treating objectively the love affairs
with which he tried to satisfy his dreams and melancholy at every
landfall, and sometimes a volume in which he himself figured--Le Roman
d'un enfant (1890), Prime Jeunesse (1919), Un Jeune Officier pauvre
(1923)--which reflected most fully his passionate nature.
An exceptionally gifted observer, he was able to return from his
voyages with a rich store of pictorial images and embody them in
simple, musical prose. But this literary impressionism served a deeper
strain in his nature; death, as much as love, lies at the heart of his
work, revealing a profound despair at the passing of sensuous life.
This despair was tempered by his tenderness and compassion for the
human condition, and such books as Le Livre de la pitié et de la mort
(1890) and Reflets sur la sombre route (1889) are perfect examples of
his candid art--an art so simple that Lemaître asserted that it was
impossible to discover "how it was done." |
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