Mutiny on the Bounty (novel)

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Mutiny on the "Bounty"
First edition dustcover
Author Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
Country United States
Language English
Series The Bounty Trilogy
Genre(s) Historical, Novel
Publisher Little Brown and Company
Publication date 1932
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN ISBN
Followed by Men Against the Sea

For the actual event described in this book, see Mutiny on the Bounty.

Mutiny on the "Bounty" is the title of the 1932 novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, based on the mutiny against Lieutenant William Bligh, commanding officer of the Bounty in 1789. It has been made into several films and a musical. It was the first of what became "The Bounty Trilogy", which continues with Men Against the Sea, and concludes with Pitcairn's Island.

Contents

[edit] Plot introduction

The novel tells the story through a fictional first-person narrator by the name of Roger Byam, based on actual crew member Peter Heywood. Byam, although not one of the mutineers, remains with the Bounty after the mutiny. He subsequently returns to Tahiti, and is eventually arrested and taken back to England to face a court-martial. He, and several other members of the crew, are eventually acquitted.

[edit] Characters in "Mutiny on the Bounty"

  • Roger Byam – main protagonist, on actual crew member Peter Heywood
  • William Bligh – Lieutenant and commander of the Bounty
  • Fletcher Christian – eventual mutineer

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

A musical based on the same story appeared in the West End during the 1980s. It was written by and starred David Essex.

title page to the first edition
title page to the first edition

[edit] Further reading

  • Caroline Alexander, The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, Viking Penguin, 2003, hardcover, 512 pages, ISBN 0-670-03133-X
  • William Bligh, Meuterei auf der Bounty, Erdmann Verlag Tübingen. Description of actual travel logs by W. Bligh, published 1791 and 1793 by Georg Forster and his father in Berlin as "Magazin von merkwürdigen neuen Reisebeschreibungen".

[edit] Other

A first Novel Les Révoltés de la Bounty (The Mutineers of the Bounty) was published by Jules Verne in 1879.

[edit] External links

  • Hollywood history[1] Commentary on the novel and how it influenced the film(s) and popular perception of the actual events; comparison between three of the films.