  pierre loti (pseudonym of julien viaud; 14 january 1850 â 10 june 1923) was a french novelist and naval officer. this article is derived largely from the encyclopÃ¦dia britannica eleventh edition (1911) article "pierre loti" by edmund gosse. unless otherwise referenced, it is the source used throughout, with citations made for specific quotes by gosse. ==biography== loti's education began in his birthplace, rochefort, charente-maritime. at the age of seventeen he entered the naval school in brest and studied at le borda. he gradually rose in his profession, attaining the rank of captain in 1906. in january 1910 he went on the reserve list. he was in the habit of claiming that he never read books, saying to the acadÃ©mie franÃ§aise on the day of his introduction (7 april 1892), "loti ne sait pas lire" ("loti doesn't know how to read"), but testimony from friends proves otherwise, as does his library, much of which is preserved in his house in rochefort. in 1876 fellow naval officers persuaded him to turn into a novel passages in his diary dealing with some curious experiences at istanbul. the result was the anonymously published aziyadÃ© (1879), part romance, part autobiography, like the work of his admirer, marcel proust, after him. he proceeded to the south seas as part of his naval training, and several years after leaving tahiti published the polynesian idyll originally named rarahu (1880), which was reprinted as le mariage de loti, the first book to introduce him to the wider public. his narrator explains that the name loti was bestowed on him by the natives, after a red flower. the book inspired the 1883 opera lakmÃ© by lÃ©o delibes. this was followed by le roman d'un spahi (1881), a record of the melancholy adventures of a soldier in senegal. in 1882, loti issued a collection of four shorter pieces, three stories and a travel piece, under the general title of fleurs d'ennui (flowers of boredom). in 1883 he entered a wider public spotlight. first, he published the critically acclaimed mon frÃ¨re yves (my brother yves), a novel describing the life of a french naval officer (pierre loti), and a breton sailor (yves kermadec), described by edmund gosse as
1850_births 1923_deaths 19th-century_French_writers French_Navy_officers French_essayists French_novelists French_short_story_writers French_travel_writers Grand_Croix_of_the_LA(c)gion_d\'honneur LycA(c)e_Henri-IV_alumni Members_of_the_AcadA(c)mie_franASSaise People_from_Rochefort,_Charente-Maritime Acole_Navale_alumni