Written by Michael Lankton Thursday, 17 September 2009 14:33
No matter how far away we move from traditional media for our sources of entertainment and information, nothing, nothing will ever replace the written word. Books are vitamins for your head. Take your brain out for some exercise and read a book. If you can't come up with the time to sit down with a book, start listening to audiobooks in the car. I have a two hour a day commute, and I actually look forward to getting behind the wheel so I can get back to the book I'm working on.
The 19th century British Royal Navy has always fascinated me, and the stories the revolve around the events at sea during the Napoleonic wars have the same appeal to me that the American western holds for others. The hard life, long spells of mind-numbing boredom and routine, punctuated by fierce life and death struggles against both nature and fellow man make for stories that create vibrant vistas of imagination.
I have long been a fan of C.S. Forester's excellent Hornblower series. I was aware of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, but I had only seen the movie Master and Commander until this year when I set about reading the twenty one book series the characters in the movie are taken from.
Wow. Sorry Forester, O'Brian delivers the iconic British naval tale. The things that separate Hornblower and Aubrey-Maturin are many. For one, as good as the Hornblower books are, the title character is kind of an ass. While portrayed as a sympathetic protagonist in the excellent BBC television series Hornblower, in the books the man is much more flawed and much less sympathetic.
The Aubrey-Maturin series revolves around two men. Jack Aubrey, who we first meet as a newly promoted Commander in the first book of the series, Master and Commander. Stephen Maturin, Irish Catholic and Catalonian expat, surgeon, natural philosopher, and intelligence agent for the British Royal Navy. Jack is a creature of the flesh, and a bit out of his element when on land, but on the water he is both the consummate seaman and leader. Maturin is an extraordinarily complex character, yet simple in a way that all men are. Stephen would be happy to spend his days cataloging wildlife and is very preoccupied with his intellectual endeavors. He is also a brilliant spy against Napoleon, and sympathetic if not passionate about Irish and Catalan independence.
What makes the Aubrey-Maturin series deliver in a way that is so satisfying is O'Brian's beautiful use of the english language as a medium, and the extraordinary way in which even peripheral characters are fleshed out and made three dimensional. I have never read an author that creates such convincing personalities. Those of us who are ardent fans of the series are as enthusiastic as we are because the characters are practically like people we know, intimately. The day to day life of these men is illustrated in a way that puts you in the pages.
Aubrey-Maturin delivers high adventure, humor, and realistic interaction of characters who personify all the flaws and all the virtues of man. I can't recommend it highly enough. If this material even remotely interests you, Master and Commander needs to leave the bookstore with you on your next trip. It's my all time favorite series of books, and if you read the first and like it, I have a strong feeling that you will read the next twenty.
