Abstract
This article looks at Loti’s notorious love of practical joking and his love of dressing up, conduct which in a naval officer and Academician was highly visible and a source of often open ridicule. It uses theories of performativity as set out by Judith Butler, and developed by Emily Apter and Laurence Senelick, to analyse Loti’s theatrical portrayal of a stereotypical Orient and explore related themes of camp and bisexuality. The aggressively narcissistic nature of this theatricality is also explored with reference to Freud’s ‘Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious’ and Henri Bergson’s work Le Rire, suggesting a reinterpretation of the seemingly ‘tragic’ scenario of love and departure that is repeated throughout Loti’s work in terms of farce.
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