A semi-autobiographical novel of Loti's time as a French naval officer. The character of the alcoholic Breton sailor, Yves Kermade, was based on Pierre le Cor, a man with whom Loti sailed in the 1870s.

My Brother Yves in English.

Several key passages in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past/In Search of Lost Time were inspired by Mon Frere Yves.

Wikipedia cites that the book is not homoerotic but Loti, who has written several other homoerotic books such as Aziyadé (1879), claimed otherwise.

Editions

• Paris : Calmann Lévy (1883) 20 copies on Holland paper, one seen at Sothebys.
• London : Vizetelly & Company (1887) as My Brother Yves. English tr. Mary P. Fletcher. 240pp.
• New York : Frederick A. Stokes (1900) as A Tale of Brittany. English tr. W.P. Baines. 301pp. DJ cover seen at Columbia Books on Abebooks.
• London : T. Werner Laurie, Ltd (1928) as A Tale of Brittany. 301pp. with colored plates by Mortimer Menpes. DJ cover seen at Boundless Bookstore on Abebooks.
• Rosedog Press (2004) as My Brother Yves. English tr. John LeVay. 236pp.

Also see:

• "Portraying male same-sex desire in nineteenth-century French literature: Pierre Loti's Aziyadé" (1998) by Richard M. Berrong
• In Love with a Handsome Sailor: The Emergence of Gay Identity and the Novels of Pierre Loti (2003) by Richard M. Berrong
• Sex, Sailors and Colonies: Narratives of Ambiguity in the Works of Pierre Loti (2005) by Hélène de Burgh