pessimism
is softened to a musical melancholy; the style is direct; the vocabulary
exquisite; the moral situations familiar; the characters not complex. In
short, his place is unique, apart from the normal lines of novelistic
development.

The vein of Loti is not absolutely new, but is certainly novel. In him it
first revealed itself in a receptive sympathy for the rare flood of
experiences that his naval life brought on him, experiences which had not
fallen to the lot of Bernardin de St. Pierre or Chateaubriand, both of
whom he resembles. But neither of those writers possessed Loti's delicate
sensitiveness to exotic nature as it is reflected in the foreign mind and
heart. Strange but real worlds he has conjured up for us in most of his
works and with means that are, as with all great artists, extremely
simple. He may be compared to Kipling and to Stevenson: to Kipling,
because he has done for the French seaman something that the Englishman
has done for "Tommy Atkins," although their methods are often more
opposed than similar; like Stevenson, he has gone searching for romance
in the ends of the earth; like Stevenson, too, he has put into all of his
works a style that is never less than dominant and often irresistible.
Charm, indeed, is the one fine quality that all his critics, whether
friendly or not, acknowledge, and it is one well able to cover, if need
be, a multitude of literary sins.

Pierre Loti was elected a member of the French Academy in 1891,
succeeding to the chair of Octave Feuillet. Some of his writings are:
'Aziyade,' written in 1879; the scene is laid in Constantinople. This was
followed by 'Rarahu,' a Polynesian idyl (1880; again published under the
title Le Mariage de Loti, 1882). 'Roman d'un Spahi (1881) deals with
Algiers. Taton-gaye is a true 'bete-humaine', sunk in moral slumber or
quivering with ferocious joys. It is in this book that Loti has eclipsed
Zola. One of his masterpieces is 'Mon Freye Yves' (ocean and Brittany),
together with 'Pecheur d'Islande' (1886); both translated into German by
Elizabeth, Queen of Roumania (Carmen Sylva). In 1884 was published 'Les
trois Dames de la Kasbah,' relating also to Algiers, and then came
'Madame Chrysantheme' (1887), crowned by the Academy. 'Japoneries
d'automne' (1889), Japanese scenes; then 'Au Maroc' (Morocco; 1890).
Partly autobiographical are 'Le Roman d'un Enfant' (1890) and 'Le Livre
de la Pitie et de la Mort' (1891). Then followed 'Fantomes d'