Aziyadé

Aziyadé, a name for Asia that has become a female name, is the title of Pierre Loti’s first novel, published in 1879 and appearing here in Italian for the first time. Aziyadé’s story is at once simple and deceptive: a man loves a woman; they are forced to separate and both die of a broken heart. The man is an English officer and the woman a Circassian harem girl; the settings are Salonica and Istanbul. The boat used by the two lovers for their outings on the Salonica waters, which becomes a “floating bed”, is a metaphor for the book’s most profound and authentic themes.