Avast!

john begley
#1. April 14th, 2008, at 5:51 PM.

ahem….jack was the man of action….maturin was the sardonic dry wit….i think they were meant to mirror greater society…the ‘having become’ and the ‘new becoming’….same construct john fowles used….and the same emphasis by both writers on the overall structure texture ‘feel’ of the time.

some of the earlier books in the series when obrian found his stride are very 19th century in style and emotion…very insightful of the human heart and it’s joys and agonies…..the later books when the muse was adrift were basically ripping yarns but where every single incident in the books was simply transcribed from actual HMS logbooks….only changing the names.
will we ever return to a time where the notions of duty and honour have currency again?

WL Mackenzie Redux
#2. April 14th, 2008, at 6:50 PM.

It will be interesting to see if Glob readership gravitate towards great story telling for sheer entertainment or tacky political messaging impersonating as literary art.

Tom
#3. April 14th, 2008, at 9:37 PM.

I’m with you. I’ve read both series (the Aubrey series, three times through from “Master and Commander” to “Blue at the Mizen.” I can’t bring myself to buy and read the final, half-finished, novel.) Forester has absolutely nothing on O’Brian!!

Rose
#4. April 14th, 2008, at 11:06 PM.

Shake Hands with the Devil should be mandatory reading in High School, it will give our youth a glance into what Peace Keeping is really like instead of the image they have of Pink Fuzzy bunnies wearing blue berets.

andrew burton
#5. April 14th, 2008, at 11:13 PM.

Jay, You know I agree with you most of the time on mosts subjects BUT. You are way off base with O’Brian; the fellow hadn’t a clue about sailing and it irritated me to read his mistakes every time I attempted to get through one of his books.

And as for Aubrey being a man of his times, what English sea captain would say to one of his lieutenants word like “I’m sorry Fred, I shouldn’t have said that, it was insensitive of me” (or words to that effect)? Hell your father wouldn’t even have said anything that politically correct, let alone a man of the late 18th century. It’d be a stretch to get me to say it for that matter!

Hornblower was far more an example of a man of his times and Forester’s dialogue rang far truer in my ears. As did his description of Hornblower’s internal struggles and the fact that since his closest friend was a subordinate he couldn’t share the burden with him.

I fart in the general direct of your O’Brian.

And it’s a LEE shore. We’re going to have to go sailing again…

john begley
#7. April 15th, 2008, at 1:32 AM.

well…yer quite in error….i’ve sailed many many places…the Atlantic twice…the Bay…all the Med…Sea of Marmara and i’m one of the few to have sailed the Black Sea(altho i did power up the Bosporus but after all that IS a 6 knot current)…and that was before the Ceausescus arrived on the scene…ah what memories of Varna and Constanta !…wolf salami…the finest crispest fruitiest white wines….all the rest sucked major majorely of course altho i did do a brisk black market business in american dollars mind….now where was i ?

oh yes…and yer quite wrong about the sailing thing…there ain’t a man alive could parse square rig today…altho obrian actually did go to sea in a four master which neither of US have done ….yet.

and as a final rejoinder my matleau surely matrosen friend…I myself have squatted down on the very ground in humble surroundings indeed and dined with mon cher philosophe du mer Bernard Moitessier…and chatted about inconsequential sailing matters…and if he were alive today he would praise obrian as much as you don’t.

andrew burton
#8. April 15th, 2008, at 8:12 AM.

O’Brian sailed with a friend of mine who is captain of a rather large ketch. My friend tells me that O’Brian hadn’t a clue about how the boat worked and couldn’t steer to save his life.
[And just by way of rubbing it in, my fellow matlow; Next week I set off on my 5th transatlantic as skipper, this time on a Swan 65. (Jay, if ever you want to go…)]
I suspect the Hornblower and Aubrey camps are as likely to come together as the Clintons and Bushes. But at least we can have more fun arguing about the relative merits of our heroes, don’t you think?

andrew burton
#9. April 15th, 2008, at 8:16 AM.

I don’t think we’re too old to race dinghies, Jay. I sail my Laser most Sundays during the winter. I’ve lost your address, BTW, please drop me a line, I may be out there on business this summer and it’d be great to get out on a boat together again.

john begley
#11. April 15th, 2008, at 7:31 PM.

5th crossing ?…still haven’t got it right eh skip?
and a Swan !…oh dear me..aren’t THEY the shiny plastic ones chock full of wires and little television screens and aerials and satellite dishes and so on that take all the skill(guesswork)out of the pastime?…i’m sure I’D be as ‘at sea’ (if you’ll pardon the expression)as obrian if i ever “sailed’ in one of those ‘yachts’…..mine were wood you see…with bowsprits and old fashioned reliable tackle….same idea as had Moitessier with his telegraph pole masts and his voyaging was …well….it was ne plus ultra was it not ?

sigh…bernard and also believed in building our own boats…which gives the actual voyaging in them a certain je ne sais quoi …actually i’m just finishing my last one…a modern interpretation of a baltic trader(those piratey looking things one used to see in the Med… reworking of the bow stern and house within aluminum’s capabilities has to my mind created a masterpiece (it’s true…i’ve done it yet again!)

btw skip i put in 6 of 1/2″ Al. breast hooks …one at each stringer….behind a rolled 1/4 inch stempiece…so cross my bow whinging about the right of way at your peril.

andrew burton
#12. April 15th, 2008, at 9:47 PM.

My tarry-handed friend, I think that when you describe the Swan the term you’re looking for is “non-biodegradable.”
Good luck with the Baltic Trader; to my eye it’s one of the prettiest forms on the water. You just have to have plenty of time to get anywhere on one…

john begley
#13. April 16th, 2008, at 1:24 AM.

very kind of you skipper….so kind of you i won’t mention that EVERYONE knows w f buckley’s ideation and power of expression were pronouncedly diminished when he sold his old wooden bowsprited Cyrano and bought the petroleum byproduct Patate…

actually truth to tell as you can probably guess i’d give a kidney to own of those big beautiful Swans…..especially with all those wonderful electronic doodads…but i’m afraid it won’t be in THIS lifetime.

so you have a good crossing….how i envy you getting that big thing up and charging like a locomotive day after day after day…..