Aubrey–Maturin series

The Aubrey–Maturin series is a sequence of nautical historical novels—20 completed and one unfinished—by Patrick O'Brian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also a physician, natural philosopher, and secret agent. The first novel, Master and Commander, was published in 1969 and the last finished novel in 1999.^[1] The 21st novel of the series, left unfinished by O'Brian's death in 2000, appeared in print in late 2004. The series received considerable international acclaim and most of the novels reached The New York Times Best Seller list.^[1] These novels comprised the canon of an author often compared to Jane Austen, C. S. Forester and myriad British authors central to the English literature canon.

The 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World took material from books in this series, notably Master and Commander, HMS Surprise, The Letter of Marque, The Fortune of War, and particularly The Far Side of the World. Russell Crowe played the role of Jack Aubrey, and Paul Bettany that of Stephen Maturin.

The series

A replica ship of the HMS Surprise (1796), the primary command of Jack Aubrey in many of the books

1. Master and Commander (1970)
2. Post Captain (1972)
3. HMS 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. Clarissa Oakes (1992) - (The Truelove in the USA)
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) - (21 in the USA)

Internal Chronology

O'Brian's books were written and published in the same chronological sequence as the events as they describe, beginning with Master and Commander in 1800 and carrying through to the final novels, set shortly after Waterloo.

However, they do not strictly follow history. The first six books quickly move through twelve years of the Napoleonic Wars, as established by frequent reference to historical events, with The Fortune of War ending on 1 June 1813 with the battle between the Shannon and Chesapeake. Yet the series then enters a kind of fantasy-time in which it takes another dozen novels to progress to November 1813. Much of this period is spent at sea, with little or no connection to real-world history, and the events of the novels take up substantially more time than the few months 'available'. External historical reference returns with The Yellow Admiral: towards the beginning of this novel it is stated that the British army under the Duke of Wellington has entered France from Spain, therefore in November 1813. A narrative apparently lasting several months ensues before a specific arrival at Christmas 1813; thereafter the book moves swiftly through the events of Napoleon's last defeats on land, his abdication, his exile to Elba, and it ends with his escape from Elba, which was on 26 February 1815. O'Brian wrote that he had "made use of hypothetical years, rather like those hypothetical moons used in the calculation of Easter: an 1812a as it were or even an 1812b".^[2] In effect, the period June–November 1813 is stretched out to accommodate events that ought to occupy five or six years.

Characters

Main Jack Aubrey, Stephen Maturin and Recurring characters in the Aubrey–Maturin series

The series focuses on two main characters, the naval officer Jack Aubrey and a physician and naturalist Stephen Maturin. The series begins with an express focus on Jack Aubrey's ascent from Lieutenant to Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. His is a straight forward personality whose many exploits and reverses reflect the chequered career of Thomas Cochrane and other captains of the Royal Navy.^[3]

Stephen Maturin provides a significant contrast with Aubrey, allowing the series to leave the war for the political and social aspects of the Napoleonic Wars.^[3] An Irish-Catalan, Maturin is employed beyond his role as ship's surgeon as both a naturalist and spy.^[3] Eventually Stephen upstages Aubrey in the development of characters within the book, due to the diverse situations which O'Brian can put him in while pursuing his careers.^[3] This complex development is also emphasized in Maturin's recurring and long pursuit of the beautiful but unreliable Diana Villiers.

Style

A contemporary diagram illustrating the exterior and rigging of a third-rate ship and the interior of a first-rate ship.

Patrick O'Brian once wrote "Obviously, I have lived very much out of the world: I know little of present-day Dublin or London or Paris, even less of post-modernity, post-structuralism, hard rock or rap, and I cannot write with much conviction about the contemporary scene."^[4] This becomes obvious for readers of the Aubrey-Maturin Series, as he adopts a narrative voice contemporary with their setting.^[5] Throughout the series, the author-narrator employs the same idioms and vocabulary as the characters would actually have used during their times. Richard Ollard, in examining the general reception to O'Brian's books, suggests that O'Brian's naval officers would be able to talk with and recognize Jane Austen's.^[3]

In addition to the period language, O'Brian is adept at using naval jargon with little or no translation for the "lubberly" reader. The combination of the historical-voice narration and naval terms may seem daunting at first to some readers; but most note that after a short while a "total immersion" effect results.^[6] Sometimes, O'Brian even explains to the nautically unfamiliar reader these terms, by placing Stephen Maturin into the tutelage of seaman, teaching the reader about the period vicariously.^[3]

Also, O'Brian often addresses the historical events and themes within his books indirectly, allowing a fuller immersion for his readers without flaunting his historical understanding unlike other similar nautical authors.^[3]

Humour

O'Brian's bone-dry and cutting wit is present throughout all his novels. The delivery, whether in the form of narration or dialogue, seems often so forthright that the reader (or listener) may not perceive it at first. At times, however, O'Brian will spend a considerable portion of a volume setting up comedic sequences, perhaps most notably Jack's "debauchery" of Maturin's pet sloth in HMS Surprise. Drunk animals figure often in the books, for instance in Post Captain: "'The carrier has brought you an ape.' 'What sort of an ape?' asked Stephen. 'A damned ill-conditioned sort of an ape. It had a can of ale at every pot-house on the road, and is reeling drunk. It has been offering itself to Babbington.'"^[7]

Also, puns are common throughout the novels. Aubrey delights in small witticisms and Maturin too expresses humour while exploring nautical language. One example of Maturin's humor is expressed when discussing dogwatches, he suggests they are called such because they are "curtailed" ("Cur Tailed", "cur" meaning "dog").

Themes

One of the more important themes throughout the books is friendship of Aubrey and Maturin.^[5] Their personalities have "nothing in common but their love for music."^[5] In one review they were compared to the mismatched duos that drive books like Don Quixote and the Sherlock Holmes canon.^[5] His construction of contrasting period forms of masculinity in the novels, is very strongly expressed in these two characters. The straight forward and militaristic Aubrey often is presented with his foil Stephen Maturin, whose interests lie in the academia and is constantly troubled with ideas of identity and self understanding.^[8]

Publication history

Master and Commander was first published in Great Britain and Ireland in 1969, and continued to be modest successes throughout the British Isles.^[1] However, in 1989 Starling Lawrence of W.W. Norton discovered the novels on a plane flight between London and New York.^[1] W.W. Norton began printing the books, and they became more seriously taken by critics and a publishing success.^[1] His novels sold over 400,000 copies in the next two years and continued to be a success, selling over 2 million copies by 2000.^[1]

Literary significance and criticism

Though sometimes compared to Trollope, Melville, Conrad and even Proust, the Aubrey Maturin series has most often been compared to the works of Jane Austen, one of O'Brian's greatest inspirations in English literature.^[1] In a cover-story in The New York Times Book Review published on January 6, 1991, Richard Snow characterised Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin naval adventure novels as "the best historical novels ever written. On every page Mr. O'Brian reminds us with subtle artistry of the most important of all historical lessons: that times change but people don't, that the griefs and follies and victories of the men and women who were here before us are in fact the maps of our own lives."^[9] And in a Washington Post article published August 2, 1992, Ken Ringle wrote, "The Aubrey/Maturin series far beyond any episodic chronicle, ebbs and flows with the timeless tide of character and the human heart."

Even critics uninterested in the Aubrey Maturin series have praised the intricacy and character development of the books. When reviewing The Wine Dark Sea in the Hudson Review, Gary Krist is very critical of the plot of the books, suggesting that the books are full of elements of "pop fiction" and O'Brian's excessive "delight in the sheer specificity of seafaring mechanics."^[10] However, he didn't deny the qualities that "push it close to that great, fuzzy art-entertainment meridian" including, character development and at times, "the sense of being in the presence of an active, complex, and compassionate intelligence."^[10]

Numerous authors have been inspired by the Aubrey-Mautrin series, including Iris Murdoch, Eudora Welty and Tom Stoppard.^[1] Even science fiction author David Drake has stated that his RCN Series was inspired by the Aubrey/Maturin books.^[11]

See also

• Frederick Marryat, a 19th-century pioneer of the nautical novel, who wrote under the name "Captain Marryat" — a real-life successful naval officer in the Napoleonic Wars, and thus a contemporary of Aubrey and Maturin.
• C. S. Forester, 20th-century novelist whose Horatio Hornblower series in many ways prefigured O'Brian's sea-tales.
• Thomas Cochrane, dashing and controversial captain in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars whose exploits and reverses inspired many events in the fictional careers of both Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower.

Footnotes

Bibliography

• Richard O'Neill (2003). Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World. Running Press. ISBN 0762415401. 
• Dean King (2001). A Sea of Words: Lexicon and Companion for Patrick O'Brian's Seafaring Tales. ISBN 0805066152. 
• Dean King (2001). Harbors and High Seas: Map Book and Geographical Guide to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels of Patrick O'Brian. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0805066144. 
• Brian Lavery (2003). Jack Aubrey Commands: An Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O'Brian. Conway Maritime. ISBN 0851779468. 
• Anne Chotzinoff Grossman, Lisa Grossman Thomas (2000). Lobscouse and Spotted Dog: Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels. W W Norton & Co Ltd. ISBN 0393320944. 
• David Miller (2003). The World of Jack Aubrey: Twelve-Pounders, Frigates, Cutlasses, and Insignia of His Majesty's Royal Navy. Running Press Book Publishers. ISBN 0762416521. 
• A.E. Cunningham (Editor) (1994). Patrick O'Brian: A Bibliography and Critical Appreciation. British Library Publishing Division. ISBN 0712310711. 
• Anthony Gary Brown (2006). The Patrick O'Brian Muster Book: Persons, Animals, Ships and Cannon in the Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0786424826. 

External links

• The Gunroom, a web-site and e-mail list devoted to the series. Many resources appear here.
• "Patrick O'Brian's Last"
• Patrick O'Brian Mapping Project - A Google Maps mashup project to chart the course of ships and track the movements of the main characters in all 21 books in the series.