I was completely unfamiliar with Pierre Loti before reading Barbara Hodgson's gorgeously illustrated collection of travel essays, Trading in Memories. I was intrigued by Loti just on the facts of his life: a Victorian era French naval officer who traveled widely and became especially captivated by Turkey in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. Loti (whose real name was Julien Viaud) wrote about the places he visited, the women he loved and the mysterious aspects of life in Tahiti, Turkey, and even the Basque people. He was so consumed by the Basques that after marrying a proper French woman and having two sons with her (one of whom died shortly after birth) he found a suitable Basque woman, set her up as a mistress for life and had two sons with her (he wanted to mix his blood with the noble Basque bloodline).

The guy was a fascinating piece of work, no doubt about it.

A quick look into his life revealed that a biography of Loti was written by Lesley Blanch and that made me quite happy. Blanch is one of my all time favorite writers and a perfect fit for Loti (both are undying romantics). She passed away last year at 104 - here's a bit on Blanch from her official bio:

Blanch says, “I like to travel alone, to just go, the excitement of not knowing where you will doss down for the night or what might happen next. I have never felt frightened anywhere, however dicey the situation. I feel among friends, as I do in Russia; even with wild Muslim tribesmen in the Balkans. I was never raped, and I was very rapeable then!” She wishes she could travel again, “I long, I long to go to the Sahara; I would love to go back to Oman; I yearn for Afghanistan, and ache for Central Asia — Kashgar, Turkoman, and Chinese Turkestan which is to me the most interesting still.”

Contrary to general belief, her inspiration was never Lady Hester Stanhope — she does not consider herself to be remotely similar: “Hester Stanhope had a romantic life, but she was not really a romantic in herself. A formidable lady, she came from an aristocratic family, and ended up in a castello in Lebanon draped in Arabic robes and smoking a narghile, receiving the distinguished personalities who came up the mountainside to call. She was a picturesque rather than a romantic figure.”

Note the difference: "picturesque rather than a romantic figure." Not quite fake vs authentic but something close. Thus you must truly immerse yourself in that you love to be a romantic - you must dress in the costume of the native people, leave your ship and walk the streets unescorted and live the life of a Turk in order to truly experience and appreciate Turkishness (and Islam at the time). Blanch saw Loti as truly authentic, and I'm sure he would have recognized that within in her as well.

Pierre Loti: Travels With the Legendary Romantic is a traditional biography in that it follows Loti from birth to death with much discussion not only of his romance with the Arab world, but also his French childhood and family, his navy career and his accomplishments as a professional writer. As Loti wrote so much (and kept journals) there is more than enough of him out there to fill a biography. His daughter-in-law also spoke to Blanch and contributed access to his private papers.

As Hodgson includes in her book, Loti's house with its infamous museum-like rooms (he built an entire mosque within it) is open to the public and apparently still very cool. (Do follow that link - the text is in French but the pictures alone are amazing!) I don't want to say he is a relic from another time because I don't think that is fair. We shouldn't dismiss great travelers as belonging only to history. I know everyone claims the entire world is laid bare today by the technology - there are no more hidden places. But really, that just is not true. There are places in the US that are as foreign as 19th century Tahiti - there are places all over the world that are under explored, under appreciate and far from well known. Being able to google a location from your living room does not mean that you know it. Loti wanted to know the places he saw; he wanted more than just a cursory glance from a carriage or train. He was certainly eccentric but no less an explorer than those who climb mountains. He brought the people and places he visited to life for thousands of others. He was truly one of the world's wonders, as was Lesley Blanch.

[Top pic of Pierre Loti in his home, courtesy the Pierre Loti Museum. Bottom Lesley Blanch in a Cecil Beaton photo, from her official site.]