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Pierre Loti
(January 14, 1850 - June 10, 1923) France

Pierre Loti

Writer

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Born Louis Marie Julien Viaud, at Rochefort-sur-Mer. In 1866 Loti went to sea. Loti's many years of traveling with the navy took him all around the world: to Tahiti, Turkey, Africa, the Americas and Japan. He drew upon his adventures - especially his amorous ones - to write stories of intrigue and romance that became wildly popular with French readers.

Loti's success as a writer earned him the Legion of Honor in 1887 and election to the Pierre LotiAcadémie Française in 1892. On becoming famous, he was known for his elaborate theme-based costume parties and for traveling in Parisian society , in make-up and elevate heels, in company of a group of handsome young sailors.

Loti seemed to have formed relationships with both men and women. It seems that Loti's first significant relationship was with a fellow sailor, Joseph Bernard. The two were inseparable for many years, traveling to Tahiti and Senegal together, sharing their finances and acting in many ways as a married couple. Loti died in Hendaye.

Loti's works include: Mon frère Yves (My brother Yves, 1883), Pécheurs d'Islande (Iceland Fishermen, 1886), Madame Chrisanthème (Madam Chrisanthemum, 1887), Ramuntcho (1887), and Les désenchantées (The Disillusioned Ladies, 1906), as well as Le desert, Aziyade, Le roman d'un enfant, Prime Jeunesse.

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Source: excerpts from: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, from Antiquity to WWII, Routledge, London, 2001 - et alii

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