LOTI ON THE EAST.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1587, 2 November 1912, Page 9

LOTI ON THE EAST.

The presence of Pierre Loti in this city (says tho Now York "Post") must liav'o reminded many that in almost all our general thinking and discussion we leave out of consideration fully half of mankind—the half that lives in the Orient. How often, for example, does the writer or the lecturer on the drama or oil poetry illustrate.his thesis from Oriental literature? We decide that this'or that school' of literature has this or that meaning, but we forget to ask whether the meaning \vould be the same in the East, or whether it : would' have any meaning whatever: or even whether the East has,,

any use for literature at all. Tho place of literature in the Orient of to-day seemed a promising theme, so the interviewer betook himself with it to Pierre' Loti, the' interpreter of the Orient to the Occident. M. Loti has. the; small, .neat iiguro of tho Frenchman with the strong and rather heavy features of the.Turk, with whom ho finds. himself- in such deep accord. A heavy, nose, somewhat aquiline, "a rather largo mouth, and squarely modelled face belie the merely dreamy nature which Loti says is his, and which makes him avow himself an Oriental. A constant stream j>{ interviews, since ho has set foot in New York has given him •an alert and almost nervous manner that must be foreign to his real,' contemplative self. To counteract tho onslaught of ■Yankee hustle about him, M. Loti has managed to Orientalise even; his room at the Hotel Mario Antoinette by a simple arrangement of mellow, half-lighting, heavy carpets, and the odor-of-Oriental incense. ' "' . ' - "The role, of literature in tho Orient? First of all,. you must remember, that thero is the Orient of Turkey and Persia and.lndia, and the Orient of China and Japau. And the two. differ, very, ranch from each other. But almost throughout all tho Orient/ literature is little more than a luxury, limited to'a comparative few. In Turkey and in Persia only the women read what we call literatnre. The: men don't read at all—or little else than religious writings. • And even among' the' .women : it is only those of the aristocracy who read. But these read chiefly French •and/English, writings—and the influence these writings exert on them is very bad." .'"ln what way?""Well, if fills their heads with all sorts of new, modern ideas."- It must be remembered that M. Loti is profoundly Oriental. "In. China," ho went on, "the great, masses cannot read, at all—only the lettered jelass,. which. is small". In Japan a "much larger proportion of the people read. But .their reading is confined to'- their own literature—almost exclusively ■ poetry, and ancient niyths." ■ . "There' is, then, no realistic literature in;the Orient?"' • "Almost none. Your Oriental is a dreamer, absorbed with inward visions, enamoured with nature, a mystic in love -with contemplation of the hidden and tho mysterious, a worshipper of the deeds of .the;ancient heroes-of his race. . This makes him; and his literature essentially, romantic in character." And it is'these qualities in him that make his life more 'readily transmutable into the stuff of literature ' than. tho lifo of Western peoples." '-•-.••': . "Is- the.drama a factor to any extent in'.the-Orient?" •"Not very much. The. Japanese, .are fond of it in a measure, and have,had something of a native drama. Within the last few years, however, they have taken to importing, and ; acting plays from the .Western world. But, their actors look ■ absurd in - the' theatrical costumes required for., these. plays'.. Imagine a Japanjse in the costume of tho period of Louis.XV! .-" ... "The Turks, too, are fond of drama, with farce as- their favourite form. They, .top,; have something of a native drama. But they make use to a great extent of modern- European plays, and, of course, are niore at home in them than the Jap-, anese.. But in the main, tho literature of the West has brought very little of value to- the Oriental." : "Has.Oriental literature anything of .value to the West?" : .: •■ '"Yes, '•• indeed.. Persian,' and Arabic ..■poetry, and even Japanese, poetry, is marvellous in richness-and melody, and has inspired Western." .writers, particularly the French, often - and .greatly;" . : "Is there any. of.this literature that has not yet teen made accessible to the West?", . - .• ■■-. - "Very little—and that little i 6 being translated by Gautier,'who is my collaborator, in-, the. dramatisation of 'Daughter or Heaven.'" ■" "Which of the English interpreters of the East has succeeded : best, in your opinion?": .-■;■•■ "Kipling, by,far. He has caught and passed on the spirit of the East in his writings marvellously, it seems" to; me., And after him, Lafcadio ;Hearn has done'' .admirably.":. *'.';;.;,!■>:./,,-.•;■! ': " •' ; The interviewer • remembered- M. Loti's' own portrayal, of the-Japanese in his "Madame, Chrysantheme,' .the.'<-6toiy' of the author's own life-in and 'the talo oh which John Luther Long built his Madame Butterfly." It will be remembered, however, that while in "Madame Butterfly'' the little Geisha girl kills herself because her one-time lover had forgotten hia lovo, in "Madaim, Chrysantheme" it -is the man who returns to find: himself forgotten : by the Geisha girl. , ■■• "How' do you characterise the two endings, "il. Lotif" he asked.--The author of- "Madame .Chrysantheme" answered wdth a slight shrug and a smile:.' . ,•'•. •...•' ."Mr. Long's conclusion is very pathetic I am afraid that mine ,iS; nearer; to'the'character bf the Japanese. And,: by s -the -way/';he added, ."while it ,us:ed';to be the/regular thing-for foreign ■ naval offibers:.to enter into'-these'te'mpor-" ary. marriages 'with', the Japanese Geisha giris, and while it/used to''be considered a/perfectly respectable relation, there'has . come a complete, change in"; the' last fifteen years.* The.-Japanese have come to.regard the' matter ;in>an entirely;' different light, and no longer tolerate the practice." : "You have seeh : ' the different peoples M. Loti. Which has struck | you the more forcibly—the differences be'tiveen them or the similarities?" • ■ 'Again -M. Xoti shrugged his shoulders, a sign with hiin of some mild deprecation impending. '.'■•;''" ."Those people who find the peoples of the earth alike, travel like their trunks —without seeing. One ,Oriental people, for example, is'as different from Another as'either is from the American people. To learn' that one needs but'observe, to'enter tb; the' least extent into the lives of the people he is studying, to live but a little of .it, himself.", . ■'■-~ ... "Arid you find it easy to enter into the life-and spirit of the Orientals?" - "Into that of' most of. them—yes. Of course, one can never penetrate the reserve and'mystery of some-of them. One cannot get to the bottom of a Chinaman's soul, for Maihple. But for the rest, I am deeply in sympathy with the Oriental. Dreamy, contemplative, mystic, lovdng : to brood on" the, infinities of life arid death, ; alien"—with a quiet little smile—"to all .this bustle arid turmoil, there is that in me'which tells me that" I;belong to them—that their -. spirit is my "spirit.".