PIERRE LOTI
Pierre Loti, whose real name is Julien Viaud, is an officer in the French navy. He has lately become a member of the French Academy. He does not belong to any literary school. His success began with the publication of Le Mariage de Loti, and from that day his famé has been increasing year by year. Among his novels we shall name : Le Roman d'un Spahi, Mon Frère Yves, Pécheurs d'Islande, Madame Chrysanthème, faponeries d'Automne, Aziyadé, and Voyage en Orient.
Page 93. — z. Sous . . . amolissant : in a debUitating climate.
a. Et . . . gros : and my heart is filled with.
Page 94. — z. Ils . . . sentimental: they strike at the same time the extrême cords ofthe sentimental key-board, if I may say so.
Page 96. — z. Lara, Manfred, le Corsaire. Nàmes of Byron's poems.
a. Et . . . Pierre Loti : and it was luckyfor Pierre Loti.
Page 97. — z. Nous . . . clapier: we should stay at home; lit. we should shut ourselves up in our burrows, as rabbits do.
Page 98. — z. Se révéla d'emblée : revealed himself at once. D'emblée, directly, without opposition : // a été élu d 'emblée.
Page 99. — z. Et . . . douter: they seem scarcely to be aware of the fret. Se douter de : to suspect, to surmise, to foresee. Douter de : to doubt, to question.
a. Bernardin de Saint Pierre. A writer of the end of the eighteenth century. He led a very adventurous life. He is the author of the famous novel Paul et Virginie, and of Études de la Nature, Harmonies de la Nature. His love for nature made him the disciple of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Thèse two writers were the first to speak of nature for it*
own sake, and to inspire a love for its real beauties. They may be called the fathers of the Romantic school.
3. Chateaubriand. A distinguished writer and politician, born at Saint-Malo in 1768. In 1791 he sailed for North America, and told of his impressions in Voyage en Amérique. He joined the army of the émigrés on his return to Europe, then went to England, where he stayed a few years. From there he published his Essai sur les Révolutions. He returned to France and rapidly came to famé with the story of Atala and the Génie du Christianisme. His prose epic, Les Martyrs, is full of beauties and, at the same time, of awkwardness and exaggeration. Les A'atchez, René, Le Dernier des Abencérages are also among his best-known works.
4. Il . . . verroterie : it /ails into the commonplace, into the description of vulgar knickknacks and gaudery; that is to say, instead of giving us a true idea of the customs and manners of the Middle Ages, romanticism stoops to describing exterior things of little importance.
5. Les Orientales. Title of one of Victor Hugo 's books of poems.
6. Notre-Dame de Paris. Title of one of Victor Hugo's best novels. Page 100. — 1 . Salammbô. One of Flaubert's novels. For Flaubert,
see below, page 1 10, note 4.
2. Tahiti. One of the small islands scattered about through the Pacific Océan.
3. Le Sénégal. Situated in the western part of Africa. It belongs to the French ; the English also possess a few places along its coast.
Page 102. — 1. Comment . . . près: how can we get at it closelyf how can one hâve a hold on it?
