Aziyadé
1879
Pierre Loti
Paris : Calmann Lévy
French
Autobio Fiction
312pp
Gay Men
She loves me with all her soul, and does not think that I can make up my mind to ever leave her. — Samuel has also returned; both surround me with so much love that I forget the past.
Summary
Written by Pierre Loti as Anonymous. Also known as Constantinople. A sea captain falls in love with Aziyadé—a harem woman ambiguously gendered and very likely a man in disguise—in addition to a male Spanish servant.
More Info
Loti reveals in a message to Sarah Bernhardt that "The truth is that poor little Aziyade did not die. She only suffered greatly; ─ she says so at least in her letters to Loti ─ and languishes sadly in the harem of her master" (Sotheby's)
The English translation by Marjorie Laurie (London: T. Werner Laurie, 1927) removes portions concerning harems, prostitution, and homosexuality.
The character Aziyadé also appears in Fantome de Orient (1891). Translated by J. E. Gordon for T. F. Unwin as Phantom from the East (1892).
Also see:
"Portraying male same-sex desire in nineteenth-century French literature: Pierre Loti's Aziyadé" (1998) by Richard M. Berrong
In Love with a Handsome Sailor: The Emergence of Gay Identity and the Novels of Pierre Loti (2003) by Richard M. Berrong
Sex, Sailors and Colonies: Narratives of Ambiguity in the Works of Pierre Loti (2005) by Hélène de Burgh
French Orientalism: Culture, Politics, and the Imagined Other (2010) ed Desmond Hosford, Chong J. Wojtkowski
Content & Trigger Warnings
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Editions
Paris : Calmann Lévy (1879) first edition. Title page seen at Sotheby's and BnF.
London : T. Werner Laurie (1927) as Constantinople. Includes Fantome d'Orient.
Paris : Calmann-Lévy (1936) illustrated by Auguste Leroux. Seen at Edition Originale.