Le Mariage de Loti

Le Mariage de Loti (1880; also known as The Marriage of Loti, Rarahu, or Tahiti) is an autobiographical novel by French author Pierre Loti. It was Loti's second novel and the first to win him great fame and a wide following. It describes Loti's romantic liaison with an exotic Tahitian girl named Rarahu. It is the basis for the 1883 opera Lakmé by Léo Delibes.

As a young boy in France, Julien Viaud (aka Pierre Loti) was introduced to Polynesia by his older brother Gustave, a naval officer who brought home stories of the exotic islands, including stories about a relationship he had with a Tahitian woman. Loti would never forget these stories and aimed to one day follow his brother's example. Loti eventually joined the navy, and at the age of twenty-two in 1872, was stationed at the town of Papeete in Tahiti for two months. It was, as he put it, "the dream of my childhood."

It was in Tahiti that the transformation of Julien Viaud into Pierre Loti began, a transformation that would come to characterize Loti's future work and life. He "went native": living among the local people, learning the language, wearing their dress, adopting their customs, loving their women, even adopting the new pseudonym of "Loti" given to him by the local natives—all the while retaining his military duties, and keeping a detailed diary which would become the source for his novel. Cavorting with natives while on active duty might appear unusual, but French military custom did not generally prevent its officers from socializing with other classes, unlike the English military, so it was easy for Loti to divide his attentions and duties between the navy and the Tahitians. Further, the admiral of the fleet had a personal interest in the history and anthropology of Tahiti and encouraged Loti to learn more.

The Marriage of Loti can be seen both as a non-fiction account of Loti's true-life experiences, and a literary work. Most of the main characters were real people, however Rarahu herself was not—Loti admitted in a letter dated 1879 that she was a composite of many women he had liaisons with during his two months in Tahiti. Loti himself goes by the name of "Harry Grant" in the novel, an English naval officer, to hide his real identity (this was before the public knew Pierre Loti/Harry Grant was actually Julien Viaud). The plot correctly follows known facts about Loti's life and generally corresponds with his diaries. Many of the details such as dialog and specific events were embellished for dramatic effect.

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