“I read novels with the utmost pertinacity. I look upon them-I look upon good novels-as a very valuable part of literature, conveying more exact and finely-distinguished knowledge of the human heart and mind than almost any other, with greater depth and fewer constraints.”
Patrick O’Brian places these words into the mouth of one of his great “heroes” Stephen Maturin, surgeon, naturalist, philosopher, and sometime spy. The statement can be related to and is most certainly true of O’Brian’s own great series of naval tales. It might be considered that these really began with the two earlier, stand-alone naval novels, set in the time of George Anson’s 1740-1744 circumnavigation voyage of the globe. These are The Golden Ocean of 1956 and The Unknown Shore of 1959. Perhaps rather surprisingly these were initially designated for “younger readers”, however they can most certainly be read and enjoyed by readers of any age. They tell of adventure and friendship and are the foretaste of things to come with the Roman à clef of the Aubrey/Maturin novels set during the period of the Napoleonic War.
These comprise twenty volumes with a fragmentary twenty-first and are so admirably written that they can be read and re-read without growing stale and can be explored for the infinitely displayed detail and humour. They tell of the escapades and adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and his particular friend Stephen Maturin. They perfectly capture the style and feel of the Georgian period and the comparison with the writings of Jane Austen is not hyperbole. This period feel is made possible through the result of an exquisite and extensive reading of contemporary literature by O’Brian, providing an authentic sense of place within the early nineteenth century, augmented by the use of correct period reference works. In the reading of them one can discover an infinity of minute detail as well as the joy of two “particular” friends.
These naval tales (as they were called by O’Brian) were initially edited for the publisher Collins by Richard Ollard, himself a writer of history and a biographer. The Aubrey/ Maturin series commenced publication in 1969, with Master and Commander, although the germ of the idea was apparently set much earlier by O’Brian. Originally commissioned by the American publisher Lippincott and first published in the USA in 1969 it was officially released in the United Kingdom in 1970. However, as indicated by Arthur Cunningham in his bibliography and confirmed by the letter of Richard Ollard accompanying a finished volume, copies of the UK edition were available in December of 1969. The British Library acquisition is dated 12th December 1969 and this is confirmed by the date of the Ollard letter of five days later 17th December 1969, that was sent to the Daily Express with the book.
The final published volume in the series Blue at the Mizzen appeared in 1999, shortly before O’Brian’s death in 2000. A small fragment of a twenty-first book was later to appear in print posthumously.
The Aubrey/Maturin novels were principally written at the O’Brians’ home in Collioure situated on the coast in the very south of France and first read and typed by his beloved second wife, Mary. Indeed, a number of the volumes bear various printed dedications to Mary, as in the first, Master and Commander, “Mariae lembi nostril duci et magistrae do dedico”.
The Aubrey/Maturin tales have been acclaimed by many and certainly outstrip the majority of his predecessor writers of naval stories, they indeed stand comparison with the works of Melville and Conrad and will surely live on as great literature forever.
As so beautifully written by Emily Dickinson;
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
This is most certainly true of the novels of Patrick O’Brian and I rather envy those who have yet to board a voyage of reading them for the very first time.
References;
O’Brian, Patrick, Master and Commander, William Collins, 1969
Cunningham A.E. (ed.), Patrick O’Brian Critical Appreciations and a Bibliography, British Library, 1994.
Tolstoy, Nikolai, Patrick O’Brian, A Very Private Life, Harper Collins, 2019.
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