Aubrey–Maturin series
The Aubrey–Maturin series is a sequence of nautical historical novels—20 completed and one unfinished—by English author Patrick O'Brian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centring on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, a physician, natural philosopher, and intelligence agent.
Patrick O'Brian's The Golden Ocean (1956) and The Unknown Shore (1959) both depict fictional pairs of young men, loosely based on real seamen, who participate in George Anson's voyage around the world.
Jack Aubrey is a large man (both literally and figuratively) with an energetic, gregarious, cheerful, and relatively simple personality and a deep respect for naval tradition.
But while frequently "brilliant" and much respected at sea, he is less competent on land, as indiscreet liaisons, impertinent remarks, and poor financial decisions often bring him trouble.
Aubrey's professional life of daring exploits and reverses was inspired by the chequered careers of Thomas Cochrane and other notable captains of the Royal Navy from the period.
Maturin's various professional roles and personal interests allow the series to leave the sea and explore different aspects of the political and social order during the Napoleonic Era.
They also share a delight in puns and dry witticisms, and particularly memorable wordplay is sometimes repeated in subsequent novels in the series, years later in book-time.
One character in the novel, Sir Joseph Blaine, saw the two friends as romantics, in his remarks on Maturin in HMS Surprise Chapter 4: "As I was saying, strong; but not without his weaknesses.
He is himself a perfect Quixote: an enthusiastic supporter of the Revolution until '93; a United Irishman until the rising, Lord Edward's adviser ... And now Catalan independence.
One example is the opening scene of The Hundred Days, in which a gossipy conversation between anonymous sailors imparts important news and information about the main characters.
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.
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.
[14] Occasionally, O'Brian explains obscure nautical terms by placing Stephen Maturin into the tutelage of seamen, allowing the author to vicariously teach the reader about various parts and functions of a period sailing vessel without breaking from the narrative.
[8] In the first of the series, during a tour of the rigging, Maturin asks his guide if he "could not explain this maze of ropes and wood and canvas without using sea-terms" and receives the reply "No, for it is by those names alone that they are known, in nearly every case".
At times, however, O'Brian will spend a considerable portion of a volume setting up comical sequences – for example, Jack's use of rum in the "debauchery" of Maturin's pet sloth in HMS Surprise or Jack's assertion to William Babbington, while discussing nautical terminology, that "Sheep ain't poetical", supporting his statement by saying: "Remember that fellow in the play who calls out: 'My Kingdom for a horse'?
Drunk animals are a common motif through the series; for instance the following conversation between Jack and Stephen in Post Captain: "'The carrier has brought you an ape.'
Aubrey is direct and forthright while Stephen is subtle and cunning, mirroring the overall personality of each man, especially regarding warfare tactics (ships, cannons and swords compared to intelligence gathering).
O'Brian has Aubrey speaking many proverbs,[18] but usually in mangled form, such as "There's a great deal to be said for making hay while the iron is hot" (from Treason's Harbour and similarly in Desolation Island).
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.
"[25] In a Washington Post article, Ken Ringle wrote, "... the Aubrey–Maturin series is better thought of as a single multi-volume novel, that, far beyond any episodic chronicle, ebbs and flows with the timeless tide of character and the human heart.
"[27] Lucy Eyre wrote to point out the appeal of the series to women readers, mentioning the nautical detail, and how it might be viewed the same as precise medical language on the television program ER.
"[29] However, he did not 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.
[33][34][35][36] The Aubrey-Maturin series formed the basis for the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe as Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Maturin.
