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What We're Reading
Patrick O'Brian,
The Aubrey-Maturin Novels
 Reviewed
by
John Bigley, Smith Library Center
It is one of the bittersweet pleasures of reading: to finally reach
the end of a work which has entertained, thrilled, and edified.
It is the day you knew would come, yet hoped would not - when you
finish a book which has become a part of your life. You have seen
it coming, perhaps prolonging the inevitable by pacing yourself,
reading a bit slower, savoring every paragraph. Finally, though,
you have to face reality. It's time to find another work to whet
your interest. But before moving on, let me tell you about my latest
addiction.
I've just reached the end of Patrick O'Brian's monumental saga of
the British Navy, the widely acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series. With
the recent death of Mr. O'Brian at the age of 85, the  series
has sailed into its final port with Blue
at the Mizzen (1999). The first Aubrey-Maturin
books, published in England beginning in 1969 were not immediately
popular. Only in the last few years when an American publisher began
reissuing the older titles of the set did O'Brian began to receive
serious attention from the reading public.(The 2003 movie Master
and Commander starring Russell Crowe also
helped revive his work.)
The series follows its two protagonists through the years of the
Napoleonic wars across the oceans of the world. Although each of
the 20 books could be read as a separate entity, the series is essentially
a continuous saga and are best read in chronological order. Jack
Aubrey is a captain in the British Navy, a bluff, hearty individual
who earns the nickname of "Lucky Jack" for his exemplary
skills in frigate warfare. Jack is a man of action with a natural
ability to lead. In addition to his fighting prowess, he strives
to maintain "a happy ship" in which all  components
of the vessel-- spars, rigging, weapons, and crew-- exist in harmony
with each other, the better to survive the perils of maritime warfare.
As Jack moves steadily up the chain of command in the Navy, he is
accompanied by his friend Stephen Maturin. If Jack is properly viewed
as O'Brian's hero, then Stephen is the author's alter-ego. Employed
as ship's surgeon, Stephen is a true man of science, insatiably
curious about the world's flora and fauna, a fellow of the Royal
Society, as well as being an accomplished linguist, a skill which
often comes in handy in exotic ports of call. Stephen is also, we
learn, a secret agent working with British intelligence to topple
Napoleon at any cost.
The two men share a love of music, first meeting at a string concert
in Minorca, and frequently play violin/cello duets while at sea.
Their friendship, explored at leisure and in depth through the many
novels, is one of the high points of the series. While the two have
much in common, their differences allow each to be a foil for the
other, providing ample opportunity for philosophical debate as well
as subtle humor. It becomes a running joke, for example, when Stephen,
ever the landlubber  despite
his years at sea, is faced with the prospect of embarking or disembarking
from the ship, a manuever which time after time results in his being
plunged into the ocean with varying degrees of injury. In time,
Jack invariably calls for a "bosun's chair" to be rigged
whenever his friend must be transferred to another vessel. The chair
is a sling of sorts which safely deposits Stephen aboard with minimum
risk to his person but at considerable cost to his pride.
Jack, too, has his weaknesses. The same traits which make him successful
at sea and inspire the adulation of his crew often get him into
trouble while at his estate in England or in port. One of the novels
relates a very nasty experience with an unscrupulous estate manager
who takes advantage of his good nature and Jack is very nearly jailed
for debt. Fortunately, Stephen and new orders from the Admiralty
allow him to sail away from his landlocked problems and find vindication
on the high seas. This is a theme which recurs throughout O'Brian's
saga--the purifying ritual of life aboard ship. Consider a passage
from the tenth book, The
Far Side of the World, describing the progress
of H.M.S. Surprise as she sails southward toward the equator:
| The ship had settled down to the steady routine of blue-water
sailing: the sun, rising a little abaft the larboard beam and
a little hotter every day, dried the newly-cleaned decks the
moment it appeared and then beheld the ordered sequence of events--hammocks
piped up, hands piped to breakfast, berth-deck cleaned and aired,
the new hands piped to the great-gun exercise or reefing topsails,
the others to beautifying the ship, the altitude observed, the
ship's latitude and her progress determined, noon proclaimed,
hands piped to dinner, the ceremony of the mixing of the grog
by the master's mate--three of water, one of rum, and the due
proportions of lemon-juice and sugar--the drum-beat one hour
later for the gunroom meal, then the quieter afternoon, with
supper and more grog at six bells, and quarters somewhat later,
the ship cleared for action and all hands at their fighting
stations. |
As in the case of the "bosun's chair" the series is rich
with the jargon and traditions of the sailing British Navy. O'Brian
uses his encyclopedic knowledge of the era to completely immerse
the reader in that world. At times, you might even feel that the
author has left you to sink or swim as he rarely halts his narrative
to explain a nautical, historical, or scientific nicety. Yet, you
keep paddling along, even as you struggle to stay afloat on O'Brian's
dry intelligence, buoyed perhaps by Stephen's insightful biological
speculations, or by the incredibly vivid combat sequences (such
as the weird running battle in a stormy  Southern
Ocean gale with the Dutch ship Waakzaamheid in the series'
fifth novel, Desolation
Island ). Along the way, you soak up a wealth
of knowledge about the world of the early 19th century, not just
of military campaigns but of culture and politics as well.
In his final years, Patrick O'Brian's work received much critical
and popular acclaim. In addition to being lauded by the New
York Times as the "greatest historical fiction ever written",
several of the series' most recent novels placed highly on best
seller charts. O'Brian has been compared favorably with Jane Austen
for his ability to create a richly-rendered slice of society. He
is furthermore credited with reviving the field of historical fiction
itself, turning as one critic said "a musty genre into art."
I've certainly found few reading experiences to match it.  It
might seem daunting to begin such a long series, so perhaps it's
best to start small; read the first book or two (Master
and Commander, Post
Captain ) and see if O'Brian's prose entices you
to read more. If so, consider yourself lucky to be hooked on such
a rewarding venture. It's a long voyage on a happy ship.
What We're Reading features
reviews by members of the Southwestern University community. Some
reviews were previously published in the Library's annual Summer
Reading List.
Read
more reviews.
What We're Reading is a regular
feature of the A.
Frank Smith, Jr. Library Center.
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