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When Pierre Loti--traveler, acrobat, naval officer, celebrated writer--died in 1923, he was given a state funeral, the only French writer to have received such an honor besides Victor Hugo. This spellbinding storyteller--bohemian, exotic and fiercely romantic--spent his life escaping the constraints of bourgeois France, and in so doing redefined his age. He traveled the South Seas, Asia and the Middle East (his great obsession), he loved with intense passion and freedom, and he wrote some of the most exquisite novels and travel books of his time. As adored as he was scorned by French society, Loti led the life that most romantics only dared write about.
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Writing at first anonymously and later under the pen name Pierre Loti, French author Julien Viaud (1850-1923) produced a series of fictions that sympathetically portrayed male same-sex desire and its accompanying societal conflicts. Due to the constraints of the time, Viaud had to develop various strategies for discussing his subject covertly; his success in doing so is demonstrated by the great critical and commercial success he enjoyed during his lifetime, which included his election to the French Academy at age forty-one.

Richard Berrong presents a gay reading of the novels and novellas of Julien Viaud, chronologically tracing his development of a distinct homosexual identity and the strategies that he employed to discuss it in a way that would not be obvious to the general public. In so doing, Berrong asserts that Viaud's development of a homosexual identity undermined and realigned dominant constructions of masculinity, presented the need for gay community, and elaborated the role of literature for gay men. The first book-length gay reading of Viaud's corpus, this work will make an important contribution not only to the study of Viaud, but also to the study of gay and lesbian history, culture, and literature.

Customer Reviews (1)

Great book in hardcover
There are two hardcover editions: the 1982 UK edition (this review) and the 1983 US edition. For some reason the US hardcover edition doesn't show up in searches, but there are many cheap copies available from resellers, it can be found by searching on ISBN 978-0151719310 ... Read more

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This text traces Pierre Lotis' work from the miniature theatre of his childhood to the large stage productions of his later life. It includes an introduction focusing on the development in the French theatre around 1890. Following chapters with full notes deal with each of his plays in turn. ... Read more

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Pierre Loti, the romantic Orientalist and seductive travel writer, describes with extraordinary pictorial skill the journey from Saigon into the interior; first along the river Mekong, at the time in flood, then through the thick forest in the heart of which is buried the ruins of Angkor-Thom, with its palaces and temples. ... Read more

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There are many books on the Holy Land, but not one that has in it anything such as Loti has put into this nor one that makes Christ seem so real, and yet the author professes to be an unbeliever. It has an extraordinary charm and fascination, and believers and unbelievers alike will appreciate it. ... Read more