Loti, Pierre [key], 1850–1923, French novelist, an officer in the French navy. He achieved popularity with his impressionistic romances of adventure in exotic lands, such as Aziyadé (1879), set in Constantinople, Rarahu (1880, later titled Mariage de Loti), set in Tahiti, and Madame Chrysanthème (1888), set in Japan. His most enduring novels, however, are Pêcheur d'Islande (1886; tr. An Iceland Fisherman), a tale of Breton fishermen, and Ramuntcho (1897; tr. 1897), a story of French Basque peasant life. Of his many travel books, Vers Ispahan (1904) is highly esteemed.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: French Literature: Biographies
