An Iceland Fisherman by Pierre Loti
"An Iceland Fisherman" is a novel by Pierre Loti, first published in 1886, that captures the life and struggles of Breton fishermen in the late 19th century. Set primarily in Brittany and at sea, the story unfolds through the experiences of a young fisherman named Yann and his friend Sylvestre. The narrative intertwines themes of love, longing, and the harsh realities of a life devoted to the sea, reflecting on the emotional toll of separation and loss.
The plot follows Yann, a strong and dedicated fisherman, who is initially disinterested in love due to his commitment to the sea. His interactions with Gaud, a young woman from a wealthy family, reveal societal divides and the personal struggles caused by their differing social statuses. The novel poignantly details the rituals and communal life surrounding the fishing fleet, highlighting the deep connections among families and the perilous nature of their work, with the sea serving as both a provider and a destroyer.
As the story progresses, tragedy unfolds with the death of Sylvestre during military service and Yann's eventual disappearance at sea, leaving Gaud to grapple with her grief and loneliness. Loti's evocative prose blends realism and impressionism, offering readers a glimpse into the intimate lives of these fishermen and the relentless power of nature that shapes their destinies. The novel remains a touching exploration of love, sacrifice, and the enduring bond between humans and the sea.
An Iceland Fisherman by Pierre Loti
- FIRST PUBLISHED: Pecheur D’Islande, 1886 (English translation, 1888)
- TYPE OF WORK: Novel
- TYPE OF PLOT: Impressionistic romance
- TIME OF WORK: Nineteenth century
- LOCALE: Brittainy and at sea
The Story:
In the foc’s’l head, a hollow, pointed room like the inside of a gigantic seagull, five men were sitting around the massive table, which filled almost all the space between the bulkheads. They were waiting to take their turn on the watch as it was nearly midnight. They had cracked some biscuits with a hammer and had eaten. Now, they were drinking water and cider.
Around the room, little pigeonholes near the ceiling served as bedchambers, for these fishermen were outside so much that they seemed to need no air while they slept. A murky lamp swung back and forth with the gentle swell of the sea.
Sylvestre, who was only seventeen years old, was impatient for the appearance of Yann. They were celebrating in honor of their patron, the Virgin Mary, and Yann had to participate in the toasts. Finally, Yann opened the little hatch in the deck and came down the narrow ladder. Yann, in his late twenties and a giant of a man, was a hero to Sylvestre. The whole company brightened on his arrival.
It was midnight. The toasts were quickly drunk. Then, the watch went on deck for their turn to fish. Outside it was daylight, for in those latitudes it never got dark in summer. It was monotonous and soothing to fish in the daylight.
At the rail, Yann and Sylvestre baited their hooks and dropped their lines. William waited behind them with a sheath knife and salt. In turn, Yann and Sylvestre regularly brought up their hooks, passed the plump cod to William, and rebaited. William quickly slit the fish, cleaned them, and packed them in the salt barrel. The pile of kegs in the hold represented the income of whole Breton families for a year. Yann would bring home fifteen hundred francs to his mother for his share of the catch.
While they were fishing, Sylvestre talked of marriage. Although still a boy, he was already engaged to Yann’s sister. As he had done all summer, he did his best to talk Yann into the idea of marriage with Gaud. Yann always shook his head; he was engaged to the sea, he said, and someday he would celebrate that wedding.
Gentle and serious Gaud, Sylvestre’s cousin, was attracted to Yann. She was, however, a mademoiselle with fine hands and good clothes. Her father was rich. Yann could scarcely help knowing that Gaud liked him, but with Breton stubbornness and simplicity, he could not think of pretending seriously to a young woman of the upper class.
In September, the fishing boat returned to Paimpol in Brittainy. The return of the Iceland fleet was the signal for quickened life among these simple folk. The women, children, and older men spent the whole spring and summer raising small gardens and waiting. Then, in the fall, when the men returned, there were weddings, engagements, feasts, and pardons. Too often a ship did not return, and several families would wear black that winter.
That fall there was a big wedding with the traditional procession to the seashore and afterward a ball. Yann went to the ball and danced the whole evening with Gaud. Yann told her of his life at sea and his big family in Pors-Even. Part of the time, Yann watched his little sister, who danced with Sylvestre. The seriousness of the engaged children amused Yann. Gaud was greatly pleased, for at last Yann had unbent and his talk seemed to her too gentle for casual conversation.
Gaud waited all that winter in her rich home with its fine furniture, but Yann never came to see her. At length, overcoming her modesty, she went on a business errand for her father to Yann’s house in the hope of seeing him. She paid Yann's father a sum of money and waited longer than she should have, but Yann did not come home. Later, she knew, Yann would come to see her father to conclude the business, and she resolved to talk with him then; but when Yann came to see her father, he prepared to leave without inquiring for her. As he came into the hall, Gaud stopped him. Yann simply told her he could not court her because she was rich, and he was poor.
In the spring, Yann and Sylvestre sailed again with the Iceland fleet. During that summer, Gaud felt an occasional thrill when she wrote letters to Sylvestre for his grandmother, Yvonne. Often, the doting older woman would dictate a short message to Yann. So, Gaud was not completely out of touch with her simple, stubborn fisherman.
Events were soon to bring Gaud and Yann close together. The next winter, Sylvestre had to leave for his military service. His grandmother, Yvonne, visited him once at the barracks just before he left for French Indochina. He was to be gone five years, and Yvonne was inconsolable.
Sylvestre made a brave sailor in the French navy. On shore in the East, he was sent with an armed patrol to reconnoiter. When the small band was surprised and surrounded by a large detachment of Tonkinese, Sylvestre led a spirited counterattack until a sharpshooter cut him down. He was buried far from the rocky Breton coast in a green, strange land. An efficient, soulless government sent back his poor effects to Yvonne. She was now really alone, with only a memory growing dimmer as time passed.
Gaud’s father committed one folly after another and lost more money trying to recoup earlier losses. Finally, at his death, he was a ruined man. Gaud, the rich man’s daughter, became a seamstress. With quick sympathy, she went to live with Yvonne, so that the two bereft women could comfort each other.
Infirm of limb and mind, Yvonne was unmercifully teased by a group of small boys who thought she was drunk. Falling into the mud, she vainly tried to regain her footing. Gaud came along to set the older woman on her feet again and brush the mud from her clothes. Just then, Yann happened on the scene and chased the tormentors away. He escorted the two women home.
Yann was slowly changing his mind. Now that Gaud was poor, he felt that a barrier between them had been removed. He also felt a great bond of sympathy for Yvonne because of her grandson, and Gaud was part of that sympathy. At the urging of his relatives and Yvonne, he proposed to Gaud. The couple sat by the fire for much of that winter in Yvonne’s poor hut while the older woman slept. Gaud and Yann were married six days before the fleet was to leave in March.
When the fishermen departed on their summer cruise, Gaud was part of the busy, weeping crowd for the first time. Yann’s ship was towed into the harbor to await favorable winds. During the delay, Yann came ashore again for a final three hours. Gaud watched the ship disappear in the twilight.
The summer passed uneventfully enough. Gaud made fair wages from her sewing, enough to refurnish Yvonne’s poor cottage. In September, the fishing fleet came straggling back. Yann’s ship was not among them. At the end of the month, Gaud still had hope. Each masculine step along the path sent her scurrying to the window. Yann’s father was also worried and called to comfort her. He told her many stories of ships delayed by fog until December. The fall and early winter came and went, and still Gaud waited.
She never saw Yann again. In August, his ship had become separated from the others and was blown north. Somewhere off Iceland, Yann had kept a tryst, his wedding with the sea.
Critical Evaluation:
The great popularity of Pierre Loti’s exotic works at the close of the nineteenth century and in the early years of the twentieth was in part the result of a reaction to the literary naturalism of Emile Zola, Edmund and Jules Goncourt, and other novelists in France and elsewhere. In his wide-ranging voyages as a French naval officer, Loti had himself seen the people and places he described in his fiction. His works are set in Republic of Türkiye, Tahiti, Africa, Japan, and the Middle East.
The number of translations and editions of An Iceland Fisherman indicates the warmth created by reading this beautiful story. Loti, of the French Academy, exemplified in this unadorned tale the virtues of French literature: clarity, simplicity, and power. The exotic always appealed to Loti, and An Iceland Fisherman reflects this appeal in the descriptions of the fishing fleet in Iceland waters. The love interest is well presented and well within bounds. The characters of little Sylvestre, big Yann, and serious Gaud are those of real people whose fortunes are of genuine concern to the reader.
In the novel, Loti combines realism and impressionism in a simple tale of primitive people living in an elemental world filled with occasional beauty and many natural dangers. The story’s theme of love and separation is one frequently repeated by Loti who, in his years at sea, had learned how often a sailor’s farewell to his loved ones is final, though he does not wish it so. The sea dominates most of the scenes in the novel, whether the action is on shipboard or land. The sea is called “the foster mother and destroyer” of generations of Breton fishermen. It shows a “dark and sinister” look before a storm, and when some drunken sailors drown their cares in mirthful song, the sea, “their grave of tomorrow,” sings a booming, dirgelike accompaniment. Such poetic language stems from the author’s own nautical impressions, an aspect of the novel that heightens the reader’s enjoyment of the story.
Loti’s characters are realistic but somehow sentimentalized. Because the author seems to care so much for these doomed people (he mentions that he conducted the sad funeral in Singapore of the valiant young Sylvestre), the reader does as well. One is touched by the handsome young sailor’s death far from home, by the deep grief of his grandmother, and by the desperate, vain longing of Gaud for her drowned husband, taken from her by her cruel rival, the sea, after Yann and Gaud had spent only one week of happiness together.
Principal Characters:
- Sylvestrea young Breton
- Yvonnehis grandmother
- Gaudhis cousin
- Yanna fisherman
Bibliography
Berrong, Richard M. "The Trials of Love and Art for an Impressionist Painter: Monet and Pierre Loti’s Iceland Fisherman." Nineteenth-Century Contexts, vol. 35, no. 4, Sept. 2013, pp. 343–62. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=90244085&site=ehost-live. Accessed 22 Oct. 2024.
"An Iceland Fisherman." Cyclopedia of Literary Characters, 4th ed., May 2015, p. 1159. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=102942727&site=ehost-live. Accessed 22 Oct. 2024.
Matsuda, Matt. K. "Pierre Loti and the Empire of Love." Raritan, vol. 22, no. 2, fall 2002, p. 1. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=8551468&site=ehost-live. Accessed 22 Oct. 2024.