First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

As a boy, Loti felt the call of the unknown. "I will wander all the world over," he told himself, "and return, a grey-haired man, to the home of my fathers to muse on the strange and beautiful things I have seen." This ambition was realized. Entering the French Navy, Loti saw the world from shipboard. He spent long months among the palm groves of the South Seas; he visited the scorching coast of Senegal and the wild seas of Iceland. And every strange and exotic scene he made the background of a love story.

In this life, written with fervent sympathy, we journey with Loti from Brittany to Constantinople, from China to Morocco, from Egypt to Ispahan, breathing all the way the atmosphere and recognizing the sources of the stories which have delighted the peoples of all lands. Readers will find the biography of Pierre Loti as fascinating as the tales for which he is so deservedly renowned.