Le Mariage de Loti

[1] Most of the main characters were real people, however Rarahu herself was not[2]—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.

"[1] The public found its exotic and lyric prose a sharp and welcome contrast from the in-vogue French realist school that included such authors as Émile Zola.

The novel reflected prevailing imperialistic attitudes towards the colonies, seeing the natives as innocent and wild children of the forest exposed to the fearsome and old paternal European culture.

[1] This was during a period (1880s to 1900s) when European imperialism had reached its height and the genre of "romantic exoticism", of which this work is one of the finest examples, struck a popular chord.

As biographer Lesley Blanch says, "Loti's works helps to sustain [the] gratifying image of cultural superiority among his European readers.