Aubrey/Maturin views please

By strange co-incidence I have just started reading them - in chronological order and am on my third already. Can't put them down and who ever said they are turgid needs (in the words of my daughter) to 'get a life'...

Yes they can be hard work at times, but well worth the effort. Should that be, 'your efforts are rewarded handsomely'.

Or perhaps, I might venture, to all on board this forum, I wish you joy...

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
authenticity...

PO'B tries very hard to make not only the politics and seamanship details accurate but also the dialogue, to an extent that makes forrester, kent, pope etc. seem modern. once in a while he makes a minor slip (use of 'thames tonnage' was mentioned on this forum recently).

no author is going to avoid a little slip occasionally but some pedants will rant about it spoiling the book. i recently read an alexander kent from the library, a previous borrower had gone through the whole book crossing out every reference to bosuns 'pipes' and replacing it by 'calls'. by the time i got to the end i would cheerfully have strangled him!

on the other hand a film of a storm scene where the full mainsail can be seen flapping idly in the background does lose something!

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Sorry Pragmatist, did not intend to sound sarcastic, I should perhaps have put it like this:
I am no literary genious and so cannot really comment on whether they are turgid or not. However I personally really enjoyed reading the half dozen or so I have read, though not in chronological order, it did not spoil my enjoyment of them.
Occasionally I found the odd one difficult to get into though after a little perseverence I was not dissapointed.
As for their historical accuracy, well I really have no idea, it is nice to believe that they are accurate and it certainly gives me the impression that I have a window into the past.
They are however fiction, treat them as such, read them and form your own opinion.

If I was to read them again I would do it in chronological order

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Re: Not for me.

I stand corrected Steve - on checking, the cover of the book says "Far Side of the World". Like I said, I'm enjoying the book, but get very little time to read for pleasure these days.

Jon

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
If you want a historical perspective on Aubrey, get hold of the biographies of Thomas Cochrane and William Hoste, upon whom O'B loosely based his Aubrey: Cochrane for the life, Hoste for some of the Mediterranean (and especially Adriatic) escapades.
As for the 'chumminess' of Aubrey and Maturin, I think we do history (and even historical fiction) a great disservice to impose our own mores on the past. It is a very late-20th-century thing to assume that if two or more people are closeted together for a time then something is 'happening'. One must remember that people in the past had different mindsets, biological urges notwithstanding. And I find that O'B has painted Aubrey and Maturin perfectly in tune with their times: bloodthirsty but troubled by seeing people suffer, sentimental (people cried a lot more then) and even ingenuous.


<hr width=100% size=1>Adriatic links here: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html>http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html</A>
 
No probs, StevieT - the "turgid" bit was from YW (I was mistaken when I said the article about O'Brian was in YM - it was last month's YW, hence the letter). I merely thought it would be fun to start at the beginning with the series since I don't think I have read any at all - sometimes it doesn't matter but often the author uses things from previous books and if you haven't read them you can miss out.

I shall look forward to them anyway - with what the weather's doing outside (torrential rain flying past the window, forecast of up to F9 tonight) a good book seems the best option !

<hr width=100% size=1>a pragmatist is an optimist with a boat in the UK - but serious about not being in the UK !
 
Re: authenticity...

Wondered why you hadn't posted since I know you're a fan (heard about SWMBO being reduced to O'Brian and Forresterer on your return from WIndies !).

As you say, the odd inaccuracy doesn't normally grate too much unless repeated - after all some people can't even get the proper number of hulls right !!

<hr width=100% size=1>a pragmatist is an optimist with a boat in the UK - but serious about not being in the UK !
 
Re: Not for me.

Stick with the book and if you enjoy it, as I'm sure you will, settle down and read the series in chronological order. I do feel that they are books that you need to "treat yourself to" and read when time allows, rather than snatching ten minutes every night before your eyes close.

Steve.

Oh yes, make sure that you don't give in to the temptation to take French yachts as prizes, I'm told that it is no longer legal.

<hr width=100% size=1>Think I'll draw some little rabbits on my head, from a distance they might be mistaken for hairs.
 
Give them a go..

I have read all of them, and most of them a few times. O'Brian's writing is brilliant - cannot imagine anybody thinking it is turgid!?!?
I agree with opinions about the film - does not do justice to the book. Is this not so often the case though? I would much rather read the book than see the film. Another fabulous book that was made into a cr@p film was Annie Proulx's Shipping News......

John

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.john-lana.com>http://www.john-lana.com</A> Mainly about boats, but also a bit about my other toy, my Caterham 7
 
I would also recommend <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0805066144/qid=1095008593/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_18_1/202-9803902-6529404>this</A> as a companion book as you read the series. It has helped my enjoyment of the books.

<hr width=100% size=1>
smallsnail.gif
 
I've often thought that I would not let myself be drawn into these fictionalised lives, I suppose I have a fear of the waste of time that hobgoblins can bring, but this series has me wondering. Is there a book wth which I should start and is there a sequence thereafter? Please advise.
Allan

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Re: Not for me.

Oh yes, make sure that you don't give in to the temptation to take French yachts as prizes, I'm told that it is no longer legal.

LOL. I've already got one, but it wasn't a prize!

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
1. Master And Commander (1970)
2. Post Captain (1972)
3. H.M.S. Surprise (1973)
4. The Mauritius Command (1977)
5. Desolation Island (1978)
6. The Fortune Of War (1979)
7. The Surgeon's Mate (1980)
8. The Ionian Mission (1981)
9. Treason's Harbour (1983)
10. The Far Side Of The World (1984)
11. The Reverse Of The Medal (1986)
12. The Letter Of Marque (1988)
13. The Thirteen Gun Salute (1989)
14. The Nutmeg Of Consolation (1991)
15. The Truelove (1992)
aka Clarissa Oakes
16. The Wine-Dark Sea (1993)
17. The Commodore (1995)
18. The Yellow Admiral (1996)
19. The Hundred Days (1998)
20. Blue At The Mizzen (1999)
21. The Final, Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (2004)

More information <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.nauticalfiction.co.uk/author_bibliography.php?id=3>here</A>. Links at the bottom of the page.


<hr width=100% size=1>
smallsnail.gif
 
Totally agree that all should read about Cochrane - the book Sea Wolf is a good introduction and his autobiography is great if you can finish it!. His exploits are far more fantastic (in its proper sense) that Aubreys. He was vilified by the government of the day, stripped of his Order of the Bath and forced abroard. He is still revered in Brazil and Chile - every year the Chileans lay a wreath on his grave in Westminster Abbey. He was a great inventor and lived to 80. He had hoped for command of the fleet during the Crimean War but was thought too old by the Admirality. I could go on but wont as you will all have gone to sleep.
I have to say I was brought up on Forester and still prefer Hornblower (also based on Cochrane) to Aubrey but one mans poison.....
Enjoy the reading.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Thank you for that. I 'm often of the sort that will discover these things long after everyone else, and then rail upon all to discover the same. You have now given me a list to follow.
Tom Perkins account of his friendship with O'Brien was quite endearing, I'm not sure about the seamanship of the man himself, but then, Richmal Crompton didn't have to climb trees.
Allan

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top