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Japoneries D'automne
Un recueil de neuf textes rédigé par l’auteur, décrivant la société japonaise de l’époque, à travers ses rencontres. Extrait : L’hôte, en longue robe bleue, me reçoit au perron avec des révérences infinies. A l’intérieur, tout est neuf, aéré, soigné, élégant : des boiseries blanches et légères, d’un travail parfait. Dans ma chambre on m’apporte tant d’eau claire que j’en puisse désirer pour mes ablutions ; mais cela se passe sans le moindre mystère ; porte ouverte, l’hôte, les garçons, les servantes, entrent pour m’aider et pour me voir ; de plus, les fenêtres donnent sur le jardin d’une maison voisine, et là, deux dames nippones qui se promenaient dans des allées en miniature s’arrêtent pour regarder aussi.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1889
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About the author
Pierre Loti
801 books82 followersLouis Marie-Julien Viaud was a writer, who used the pseudonym Pierre Loti.
Viaud was born in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France, to an old Protestant family. His education began in Rochefort, but at the age of seventeen, being destined for the navy, he entered the naval school in Brest and studied on Le Borda. He gradually rose in his profession, attaining the rank of captain in 1906. In January 1910 he went on the reserve list.
His pseudonym has been said to be due to his extreme shyness and reserve in early life, which made his comrades call him after "le Loti", an Indian flower which loves to blush unseen. Other explanations have been put forth by scholars. It is also said that he got the name in Tahiti where he got a sun burn and was called Roti (because he was all red like a local flower), he couldn't pronounce the r well so he stuck with Loti. He was in the habit of claiming that he never read books (when he was received at the Académie française, he said, "Loti ne sait pas lire" ("Loti doesn't know how to read"), but testimony from friends and acquaintances 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 Aziyadé, a novel which, like so many of Loti's, is part romance, part autobiography, like the work of his admirer, Marcel Proust, after him. (There is a popular cafe in current-day Istanbul dedicated to the time Loti spent in Turkey.) 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. This was followed by Le Roman d'un spahi (1881), a record of the melancholy adventures of a soldier in Senegambia.
Loti on the day of his reception at the Académie française on 7 April, 1892. 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 the wider public spotlight. First, he publish the critically acclaimed Mon frere 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 "one of his most characteristic productions".[1] Second, while taking part as a naval officer in the undeclared hostilities that preceded the outbreak of the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885), Loti wrote an article in the newspaper Le Figaro about atrocities that occurred during the French bombardment of the Thuan An forts that guarded the approaches to Hue (August 1883), and was threatened with suspension from the service, thus gaining wider public notoriety.
In 1886 he published a novel of life among the Breton fisherfolk, called Pêcheur d'Islande (Iceland Fisherman), which Edmund Gosse characterized as "the most popular and finest of all his writings."[1] It shows Loti adapting some of the Impressionist techniques of contemporary painters, especially Monet, to prose, and is a classic of French literature. In 1887 he brought out a volume "of extraordinary merit, which has not received the attention it deserves",[1] Propos d'exil, a series of short studies of exotic places, in his characteristic semi-autobiographic style. The novel of Japanese manners, Madame Chrysanthème— a precursor to Madame Butterfly and Miss Saigon and a work that is a combination of narrative and travelog— was published the same year.
During 1890 he published Au Maroc, the record of a journey to Fez in company with a French embassy, and Le Roman d'un enfant (The Story of a Child), a somewhat fictionalized recollection of Loti's childhood that would greatly influence Marcel Proust. A collection
Viaud was born in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France, to an old Protestant family. His education began in Rochefort, but at the age of seventeen, being destined for the navy, he entered the naval school in Brest and studied on Le Borda. He gradually rose in his profession, attaining the rank of captain in 1906. In January 1910 he went on the reserve list.
His pseudonym has been said to be due to his extreme shyness and reserve in early life, which made his comrades call him after "le Loti", an Indian flower which loves to blush unseen. Other explanations have been put forth by scholars. It is also said that he got the name in Tahiti where he got a sun burn and was called Roti (because he was all red like a local flower), he couldn't pronounce the r well so he stuck with Loti. He was in the habit of claiming that he never read books (when he was received at the Académie française, he said, "Loti ne sait pas lire" ("Loti doesn't know how to read"), but testimony from friends and acquaintances 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 Aziyadé, a novel which, like so many of Loti's, is part romance, part autobiography, like the work of his admirer, Marcel Proust, after him. (There is a popular cafe in current-day Istanbul dedicated to the time Loti spent in Turkey.) 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. This was followed by Le Roman d'un spahi (1881), a record of the melancholy adventures of a soldier in Senegambia.
Loti on the day of his reception at the Académie française on 7 April, 1892. 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 the wider public spotlight. First, he publish the critically acclaimed Mon frere 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 "one of his most characteristic productions".[1] Second, while taking part as a naval officer in the undeclared hostilities that preceded the outbreak of the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885), Loti wrote an article in the newspaper Le Figaro about atrocities that occurred during the French bombardment of the Thuan An forts that guarded the approaches to Hue (August 1883), and was threatened with suspension from the service, thus gaining wider public notoriety.
In 1886 he published a novel of life among the Breton fisherfolk, called Pêcheur d'Islande (Iceland Fisherman), which Edmund Gosse characterized as "the most popular and finest of all his writings."[1] It shows Loti adapting some of the Impressionist techniques of contemporary painters, especially Monet, to prose, and is a classic of French literature. In 1887 he brought out a volume "of extraordinary merit, which has not received the attention it deserves",[1] Propos d'exil, a series of short studies of exotic places, in his characteristic semi-autobiographic style. The novel of Japanese manners, Madame Chrysanthème— a precursor to Madame Butterfly and Miss Saigon and a work that is a combination of narrative and travelog— was published the same year.
During 1890 he published Au Maroc, the record of a journey to Fez in company with a French embassy, and Le Roman d'un enfant (The Story of a Child), a somewhat fictionalized recollection of Loti's childhood that would greatly influence Marcel Proust. A collection
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 20, 2020
Je me suis arrêtée vers la page 50. Je n'ai pas du tout accroché. Ce style d'écriture ne m'a pas du tout permis de me plonger dans ces scènes japonaises. Je perdais sans cesse le fil... Et parfois, je me sentais mal à l'aise avec certaines descriptions.
March 8, 2024
I am surprised more people don't know about this book; although with inherent comments from an outsider plunged into a new country, Pierre is a superb narrator who describes so well the beauty of Japan of late XIX century and his remarks stand true to this day about the modernity vs tradition. He bothered to learn the language well in his year (?) there. He visited out of regular sites like Kyoto and Edo, and went to Nikko, wanting to see an antient robe of an empress or the tombs of former rulers. He was interested, if at times prejudiced at least in his remarks. He tells and important and historic account of this japan close to war, mentioning the simplicity of their ways, their tea houses, ryokans, temples, shrines, onsens (which were mixed) and its people.
October 19, 2021
Un ouvrage inégal qui a mal vieilli car malheureusement teinté d'un peu trop de racisme à mon goût. Pierre Loti est un nom qui inspire à l'exotisme, aux voyages vers de contrées lointaines. Je m'attendais donc à un peu plus de profondeur dans ses observations de la société japonaise. J'ai trouvé déplorable et assez perturbant qu'il se borne à réduire toute une civilisation à des considérations purement esthétiques et superficielles. Ses remarques incessantes sur l'apparence des Japonais qu'il croise au cours de son séjour sont lassantes. Quel intérêt y a-t-il à constamment décrire les hommes et les femmes qu'il rencontre comme "laids" et à les comparer à des "singes" et des "guenons" ? Rien ne trouve grâce à ces yeux, tout est affreux, sombre, lugubre et sinistre.
De son propre aveu, le Japon est un pays mystérieux et fascinant mais l'on est en droit de se demander pour quelles raisons l'auteur s'est-il donné la peine de partir si loin. En effet, au cours des différents recits réunis dans ce livre, il ne fait montre d'aucune envie manifeste de percer ces secrets et ces mystères. Au contraire, il semble que Pierre Loti arrive en terre conquise, sûr de sa supériorité d'Européen venu se divertir en se gaussant de ces sauvages primitifs d'extrême-Orient.
Malgré cela, ce témoignage reste néanmoins précieux. Je suis satisfait d'avoir pu remonter le temps et observer ce Japon que j'affectionne tant à une époque charnière de son histoire. Le style de l'auteur, quoiqu'un peu pompeux, est parvenu à me transporter grâce à ses descriptions riches et fouillées des nombreux temples visités ainsi que de la nature luxuriante du pays.
En somme, je suis vraiment déçu de cet ouvrage qui avait tant à offrir. Je suis conscient du fait qu'il est dangereux de juger une œuvre de 1889 avec des yeux contemporains mais le ton négatif du recueil laisse un très mauvais goût en bouche une fois la lecture terminée.
De son propre aveu, le Japon est un pays mystérieux et fascinant mais l'on est en droit de se demander pour quelles raisons l'auteur s'est-il donné la peine de partir si loin. En effet, au cours des différents recits réunis dans ce livre, il ne fait montre d'aucune envie manifeste de percer ces secrets et ces mystères. Au contraire, il semble que Pierre Loti arrive en terre conquise, sûr de sa supériorité d'Européen venu se divertir en se gaussant de ces sauvages primitifs d'extrême-Orient.
Malgré cela, ce témoignage reste néanmoins précieux. Je suis satisfait d'avoir pu remonter le temps et observer ce Japon que j'affectionne tant à une époque charnière de son histoire. Le style de l'auteur, quoiqu'un peu pompeux, est parvenu à me transporter grâce à ses descriptions riches et fouillées des nombreux temples visités ainsi que de la nature luxuriante du pays.
En somme, je suis vraiment déçu de cet ouvrage qui avait tant à offrir. Je suis conscient du fait qu'il est dangereux de juger une œuvre de 1889 avec des yeux contemporains mais le ton négatif du recueil laisse un très mauvais goût en bouche une fois la lecture terminée.
November 16, 2021
Incredibly interesting as there aren't many accounts of Japan during that time and as seen by an European. Touchy 1890s topics, though.
November 29, 2016
Après le récit de Madame Chrysanthème, Loti visite d'autres villes et d'autres régions du Japon. Ces récits, toujours aussi passionants, sont moins marqués par le racisme qui prenait une tournure parfois embarassante dans Madame Chrysanthème. On découvre ici un Loti qui ose se montrer réellement fasciné par la culture japonaise.
La visite du mausolée du Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu est un chapitre passionant qui suscite une envie irrépressible de découvrir ces montagnes, ces forêts de cèdre du Japon et des temples Shintoïstes.
Mais il y a aussi Kyoto, Edo, un bal à la cour et bien d'autres régions de ce Japon ancestral disparaissant au profit de la modernité qui font l'objet de visites. Sans oublier sa rencontre avec l'impératrice du Japon dans la dernière année avant la modification du protocole de la cour et l'européanisation des tenues officielles.
La visite du mausolée du Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu est un chapitre passionant qui suscite une envie irrépressible de découvrir ces montagnes, ces forêts de cèdre du Japon et des temples Shintoïstes.
Mais il y a aussi Kyoto, Edo, un bal à la cour et bien d'autres régions de ce Japon ancestral disparaissant au profit de la modernité qui font l'objet de visites. Sans oublier sa rencontre avec l'impératrice du Japon dans la dernière année avant la modification du protocole de la cour et l'européanisation des tenues officielles.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews