Au Maroc

Loti, Pierre, 1850-1923Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.9

Word count: 405K words
Chapters: 41

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Au Maroc by Pierre LotiAuthor: Loti, Pierre, 1850-1923,Language: French, Class: DT: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Africa, Release Date: Oct 2, 2012

Editor's review

Au Maroc is a travel essay on Morocco written in French by Pierre Loti (1850–1923), offered as a free electronic edition by Project Gutenberg. A late nineteenth-century French writer known for his exotic sensibility and impressionistic style, Loti paints Morocco not as a guidebook but as a sensory canvas of cities, markets, deserts, religious rites, and everyday figures. The book's value lies in its literary observation: the author records his journey in a delicate, even melancholy tone, letting readers see how a French man of letters viewed North Africa and, through him, understand the tastes and limits of late nineteenth-century European travel writing. It suits learners of French and readers interested in Moroccan history and geography, travel literature, and cross-cultural writing. Readers should note that the book carries the Orientalist gaze of its era and should not be taken as objective ethnography or a modern travel guide.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with some French reading ability who want to read travel literature in the original
Readers interested in Moroccan life and the history and geography of North Africa
Readers studying nineteenth-century French literature and travel writing
Readers who enjoy slow, impressionistic essays rather than guidebook information

Not a good fit for

Readers who do not know French and only want a Chinese-language travel guide to Morocco
Modern travelers expecting practical transport and accommodation information
Readers sensitive to colonial-era European perspectives who prefer not to read such texts

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and opening first to gauge the narrative pace, then decide whether to read closely or select chapters on cities that interest you.
Keep a map or reference on Moroccan geography at hand to better follow the author's route.
Don't look up every unfamiliar word; grasp the overall atmosphere first and tackle language difficulties on a second reading.
After reading, note the era's biases in the author's observations and compare them with present-day accounts of Morocco.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a Morocco travel guide?

No. It is a travel essay written in French by Loti, focused on literary impressions and experiences, with no practical information such as transport, accommodation, or opening hours. For trip planning, use a modern guide; its unique value lies in showing how a European wrote about Morocco in the late nineteenth century.

Can I read it if my French is only average?

You can try, but you need some foundation. Loti's style is literary and his descriptions detailed, with sentence structures and vocabulary that challenge beginners. Use a bilingual or annotated edition for support, or read shorter chapters, focusing on atmosphere rather than word-for-word understanding.

What should I keep in mind while reading?

Be aware of the text's era-specific perspective. Loti lived in nineteenth-century France, and his view of Morocco carries exotic imagination and the sense of superiority common among Europeans of his time—both a literary feature and a historical limitation. It is safer to read it as a historical document than as an objective record.

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About the author

Loti, Pierre, 1850-1923 Author

Pierre Loti (Loti, Pierre, 1850-1923) was a French writer known for works that blend autobiography with exotic settings. His writing often draws on seafaring and travel, with a delicate, elegiac tone and a gift for evoking life in distant ports, islands, and foreign cities. The library holds thirty-seven of his works, spanning novels, travel accounts, and reminiscences, including An Iceland Fisherman (also listed as Islannin kalastajat), Madame Chrysanthème, Fantôme d'Orient, Au Maroc, Vers Ispahan, Le livre de la pitié et de la mort, and The Story of a Child. These works show him moving freely between fiction and travel writing, usually observing foreign places and human fates in the first person, with vivid visual detail. Public information about the details of his life is limited, so this note avoids speculation.