Pierre Loti (1850–1923)

It is in 1902 that Pierre Loti at the very end of his naval career writes his account of a visit to Beijing after the battles of the Boxer War that led to the fall of the Qing dinasty whose Emperors had ruled the Chinese Empire since 1644.

Loti's vision of China is an extraordinary depiction seemingly made through a cloud of opium while languorously lounging on the yellow silk cushions of Empress Dowager Cixi.
It is not absent of the biases of his time but leaves a lasting impression as Loti's sensitivity makes him perceive as this journey progresses, the true nature of Chinese art while making him face his own ignorance.

While flesh eating dogs roam the chilly and dusty streets, Loti shivers at the scenes of so much destruction and barbarism and you shiver with the author accompanying him through this apocalyptic journey narrative as a member of the Eight-Nation Alliance that included Japan, Russia, the British Empire, France, the United States, Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary. The objective was to relieve the Siege of the Foreign Legations.
Like Arthur Judson Brown, Loti meets with the survivors of the Siege of the Beitang including Lazarite Vicar Apostolic of Northern Chi-Li: Favier-Duperron.

The main character of the book is Loti himself on a naval and diplomatic liaison mission which gives him a wonderful pretext to hauntingly describe the forbidden city.… (more)

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The Saloniki Incident of 1876 triggered a major diplomatic crisis in Europe: a Bulgarian girl had converted to Islam, was later kidnapped by a Christian mob when she came to Saloniki and this enraged the fury of the local Muslim community. When the French and German consuls tried to calm down the tension by negotiating with the angry Muslims, they were assaulted and bludgeoned to death by the crowd. The countries that had a diplomatic presence in the Ottoman Empire protested and threatened with serious consequences. The Ottoman Government, in a constitutional crisis and amid the clouds of a coming war with Russia and with a bad press regarding the treatment of the Balkan Christians, complied and got the ringleaders arrested and executed - under the watchful eye of a contingent of French and British soldiers that had arrived on board of several warships in the port of Saloniki.

One of the French officers on board was a 26-year old Julien Viaud, who was soon enchanted by the Orient as he experienced it in Saloniki (then a multi-cultural city with only a small Greek population that was outnumbered by its Turkish, Albanian, Bulgarian and Jewish inhabitants) and later in Constantinople. He kept a diary in which he wrote down his experiences, impressions and general remarks. This diary is the basis of the book he later published anonymously under the title Aziyadé. The alleged diarist of the book is a British marine officer called Pierre Loti. It was the name under which his author came to great fame - Viaud/Loti became one of the most popular authors of his times and he had a deep impact on Marcel Proust.

Aziyadé consists of many short chapters. Loti is describing how he got acquainted with the Circassian girl Aziyadé who is married with a much older wealthy Turk who is most of the time away on business, while his harem is looking for distractions elsewhere. (Although moral was very strict and affairs of married women were very risky for them, they seem to have been a quite frequent occurrence, according to Loti). The seemingly impossible happens, Aziyadé becomes Loti's mistress and is living with him part of the time in a house he has rented in the district of Eyoub. Together with his two loyal servants Samuel and Achmet, who become his close friends, and a cat, the lovebirds live for some time a perfectly happy life, which is permanently threatened by the possible departure of Loti, who as an officer has to follow the orders of his superiors. The diary form of the book is loosened by the letters Loti is exchanging with his sister and a few friends.

What makes the book interesting beside the romantic love story of Loti and Aziyadé is the fact that Loti who "goes local" (he learns Turkish, wears Turkish dress and spends his days like a true Ottoman), has a very attentive eye and a language to express the many interesting details he shares with us.

Observations about politics, for example how his neighbors react to the news that the Ottoman Empire has adopted a modern constitution, or about the brewing crisis with Russia, are followed by interesting insights on the domestic life of the locals or the organization of a Turkish household. We learn why the inhabitants of Constantinople had to go out with a lamp, about life in the harem, about the different religious groups, about cemeteries, and even about Aziyadé's shoes - no thing is too small for Loti as not to use it for interesting reflections. His language - as far as I can judge from the translation - is refined and elegant and pleasant to read.

If Viaud/Loti describes a really autobiographical experience is not sure. Edmond de Goncourt, known for his malicious tongue, wrote that the mistress of the author was indeed a "mister", and Gide and Cocteau made later similar remarks. But for the reader it doesn't really matter.

Loti is not widely read anymore and he got labeled an "Orientalist" by Edward Said. But I found this book a very pleasant surprise. It is remarkably fresh, interesting and easy to read. You might give it a try yourself.… (more)

When life has something else stored for you, why do we wrestle the present and strive for its betterment? If dreams are not meant to be fulfilled, then why do we keep on creating new ones? They say, rough seas make skilled sailors. What if one succumbs to the callousness of the blue depth? Is he not man enough? A new land, a new vision, we pursue valiantly, only if we knew what the future stored in for us? Except then life would not be such a dream.

Ramuntcho, the bastard child of Franchita was a fine pelota player by day and an astute smuggler (contraband runners) by night. A simple mountaineer, Ramuntcho loved his Basque terrain, where a threatening autumn lashed a caution of a bitter winter soothing the flora to resist its callousness lured by the charm of a vibrant, affectionate spring. His only bashful love, Gracieuse, for who he would ardently wait for an exclusive dance immersing in all its sovereignty at the All-Saints’ day festivities. Ramuntcho was an average individual with unusual pain.

When Loti sketched Ramuntcho a teenager from the humble abode of Basque community, he reflected on the gravity of emotional upheaval an individual carries when encumbered by sin and ignominy. The cost of freedom, living without any remorse coming through the annihilation of painful memories, does it really brings tranquility within the abyss of disdain. When dreams die young and happiness is no longer a friend; sadness embraces you with a corpse-like aura numbing every inhibition you have ever conceived. Franchita’s death brought an unusual serenity in Ramuntcho’s life but his destiny was fixed forever. Now, he was the bastard son of Franchita whose dreams were viciously uprooted from his beloved Basque soil and would eventually fade away in a new land called ‘America’.

This is certainly not Loti’s finest when considering his other works like [b:Madame Chrysantheme Complete|1320877|Madame Chrysantheme Complete|Pierre Loti|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1182736347s/1320877.jpg|1310225] (my favourite amongst all) and [b:The Story of a Child|1320869|The Story of a Child|Pierre Loti|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1182736342s/1320869.jpg|1310217]. If one chooses to read Ramuntcho, it is unfruitful to go overboard with the plot revolving one man’s endurance of disenchantment and heartbreak. Pierre Loti’s excellence shines through the portrayal of solely Ramuntcho- the protagonist and the poetic serenading of the illustrious Basque landscapes the narration serpentines through various seasons .The visualization of the main character and his progression from a childlike ignorance to a deadened, poignant fugitive seeking an refuge in a strange new world unaware of the hard labors of destiny awaiting his arrival,tells a metaphorical tale of million immigrants who leave their adored homeland due to wide-ranging unfavorable circumstances and while reconstructing a prolific hope carry a proverbial void in their hearts which may never be filled.
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