French writer insults Bulgaria – Work
Our officer announced a duel to him in 1913
Pierre Lotti pleads that we committed “shocking atrocities” in the Balkan war
A glove made of the skin of our lamb was given to the French writer Pierre Loti. In 1913 he slandered Bulgaria with his pen and was called upon to defend himself with himself in hand. Second Lieutenant Artag Torkom of our army announced a duel to him. The officer goes all the way to Paris to wash the soiled honor of his country with blood.
Artag Torcom. The photo is published for the first time.
France was dumbfounded by a dramatic clash. The two Dumas, Hugo and Maupassant are now dead, will literature be orphaned by another great name?
In modern times, Pierre Loti (1850-1923) is among the most widely read authors in the world. He is one of the 40 “immortals” of the French Academy. As a naval officer voyages from the East and the Orient. He was in Turkey, Morocco, India, China, Japan. The student of the Goncourt brothers, the writer became famous with his first novel “Aziade” (1879). A “horribly touching” love story of a French lieutenant, behind whom Lotti himself is hiding.
The exotic style of the narrator appeals to the Bulgarian reader, although not everyone likes it. “I found him terribly monotonous,” says Ivan Vazov about him. Most, however, leaf through his books with fascination. “Icelandic fisherman”, “Far from home”, “Disappointed” are selling well.
The translator of “Far from Homeland” is Dr. Krastut Krastev, who gives the volume as a premium to his magazine “Misl”. In 1913, an original and special edition of “Icelandic Fisherman” was printed. According to it, the Ministry of Education recommends that high school students learn the French language.
Educators do not suspect that the novelist is bisexual. When they put the essay in their schoolbags, they don’t realize Lottie’s scandalous life. In “Asiade”, for example, the hero’s passion is divided between a beautiful Turkish woman and a charming Turkish man. At different times, the writer has intimate relationships with an underage Basque girl, with a smuggler, and then with a belot player.
“Lottie’s bisexuality becomes a metaphor for an impossible choice between European progress and oriental tradition, between integrity and freedom,” his biographer points out.
In this year 1913, Pierre Loti slapped the Ministry of Education with a furious campaign against Bulgaria. At that time, the Balkan War was raging, our weapons captured one redoubt after another. The Ottoman Empire is about to collapse and the writer decides to “save” the Orient.
He published a book with the heart-rending title Agonizing Turkey, and the French press was flooded with his articles in defense of the empire. Loti pleaded for the exclusion of the Bulgarians from the family of civilized nations. Circulates facts about “shocking atrocities” of our army. In the magazine “Ilustration” he describes a well in the village of Havsa:
“A foul stench emanates from it, there are the top bodies of the women, previously raped by the soldiers, and on top of them, in order to stuff them deeper into the well, are piled tombstones, torn from the cemeteries.”
The author also includes photos in which our Francophone Dimitar Mikov discovers a clear hoax. “They don’t in the least look like Turkish prisoners drowned by the Bulgarian soldiers, who stayed for a month at the bottom of some well”, Mikov stares at the photos and argues: “Their perfectly healthy uniforms, properly buttoned, without us the slightest trace of mud – everything makes the attentive observer think that before him lie healthy and whole soldiers with the task of pretending to be drowned dead. One of them even forgot to remove his fez.”
“It is inexplicable how these unfortunate Bulgarians do not feel that after so many horrors committed by them a thousand times it would be better to bow their heads and remain silent,” replied Lotti from Paris.
This line pours the bitter in the cup of Lt. Artag Torkom. Armenian blood flows in his dwellings – he remembers the Turkish massacres of his compatriots at the end of the 19th century. On October 25, 1912, Torkom telegraphed asking the Assistant Commander-in-Chief to be sent to the front. As a company commander, lead the boys through whirlwind attacks. Revenge for both the five-century yoke of Bulgaria and the Armenian genocide.
Wounded in the fighting, by order of September 14, 1913, the Torkom received a two-month leave for medical treatment abroad. The document says Austria, but the officer says otherwise. He sends a letter to Pierre Loti announcing a duel. Then he takes the train to Switzerland, from where he can jump to Paris to cross swords with the writer. Torkom puts a glove in the suitcase. According to the rules of chivalry, the offended must throw it at the feet of the opponent.
On receiving Sophia’s letter, Lottie appeared in front of the Figaro newspaper: “From the very beginning I suspected that my conduct, of which I was proud, would one day bring me either a dagger thrust or a Browning bullet.”
The author of “Asiade” hopes that the exalted foreigner will give up his decision. However, he soon found out that Torkom was already in the French capital. Lottie then blurts out that “the one with the glove” probably isn’t with everyone. “I cannot believe that a body of officers of this nation could be so blinded as to elect such a man as their proxy,” he remarked.
It is said in the Parisian cafes that Artag Torkom has been sent to duel on behalf of the entire Bulgarian army. Diplomatic complications are expected and our legation will quickly refute the rumour. The second lieutenant arrived as a private person, declared Minister Plenipotentiary Dimitar Stanchov.
Pierre Lotti pulls away, but Artag Torkom insists that they duel at all costs. The insult is too big to be swallowed, the Bulgarian officer insisted. The choice of weapon he generously leaves to the novelist. Saber or pishtov – as the master likes, Torkom tells his second-in-command.
However, they are grasping at the narrator’s age. Lotti is already 63, it is not fair for the graying Frenchman to compete with a Balkan subject in the prime of his powers. The rules of the duel allow, in old age, that the satisfaction be taken by a relative of the respondent.
Who will fight the Bulgarian officer? Among Lottie’s many admirers, the draw was drawn by Georges Brettmeier. The choice is not random, because Georges is a skilled swordsman. Subtly knows the art of swinging the sword and has behind him several won duels.
The match will be at sunrise on November 9, 1913, at the Manor of Montmerassie, the seconds decide. As dawn breaks, the men face each other. They raise swords. Artag Torkom – for Bulgarian and Armenian valor. Georges Bretmeier – for Pierre Loti.
The fight is extremely fierce. It is immediately clear that Georges is several classes above Artag. The lieutenant receives a wound in the arm, but continues to duel. Then the Frenchman’s blade pierced his chest. Our officer dabs the blood with his palm and again wants to continue. The seconds, however, are categorical: they stop the match!
After the duel, Pierre Lotti was overwhelmed with letters from Bulgaria. He does not even open them, because it is awkward for a naval officer to entrust the other with the defense of his own honor.