Be Excellent To Each Other

(Thought I'd post it here first. Is that right? Eep.)

Master & Commander Series
Patrick O'Brian


They are real to me, all of them; Aubrey, Maturin, Mowatt and Pullings, Blakeney and Sophie and Blaine and Padeen, Killick and Bonden and many more. When I think of the Napoleonic era I think of such people Patrick O’Brian created and the lives they led upon a different landscape. Not in a quaint way such as evoked in a Jane Austen television adaptation, but in a real sense of what was once rightly considered a modern age. The true aspiration of historical fiction is one not of adventure but to evoke a world and a people long gone but emminently relatable. O’Brian excels in the detail, but if that were all there was to his books, they would be a readable history and little more. Conversely, if he skimped on the detail but kept his fine eye for adventure and characterisation then we would be left with a gripping but ultimately throw-away narative that possesses no resonance or magic.

Thank God he excels in both roles, and others. Witty, charming, thrilling, moving and utterly immersive the Master & Commander novels offer the reader a window to another time, both at sea and on land. There is an element of romance to the world of Aubrey and Maturin, but also one of cruelty and chance. It is not a safe and reassuring world but it is one with a wealth of thrilling personality, much like the time itself where much was risked, everything was taken quite personally and there were no safety nets. In this epic series justice is not universal and life can be far from fair. But it is also true that the friendships on display in this epic series are more powerful than enemies, and are the stoutest anchor for those on a lee shore.

And no greater friendship has there been in the history of fiction than that between Aubrey and Maturin. Holmes and Watson were quite a pairing but the novels of Conan Doyle never dwelt much upon the development, humour and characterisation of a friendship. The Master & Commander novels are in fact more about the relationship between Maturin and Aubrey as they are about the adventures they embark upon.

Their meeting is inspired, taking place at a performance of a string quartet by Locatelli. Jack Aubrey is an officer of the navy, ashore and beating his leg vigorously in time to the music. This appalls his insular neighbour Dr. Stephen Maturin, who fractiously berates Aubrey for his distraction. Insults are traded, and then a challenge to a duel. It’s an inauspicious start to what becomes a firm friendship born of a necessity on Maturin’s part to take to sea to avoid being imprisoned for debt, and of Aubrey’s to have a doctor aboard his ship. The two friends are quite unlike, Aubrey is cunning and highly competent at sea, but as guiless and cluess as many of his naval peers by land. Maturin is a consumate land-lubber, forever missing tides and falling between boats in the calmest of seas. On land he is an intelligence agent and a clever dissembler, well versed in judging character. Both are united by a love of music, being tolerable amateur musicians of the violin and cello, and of an appreciation of each others dissimilar qualities.

The novels follow them through wealth and poverty, piousness and debauchery, of love and loss and the changing moods of a friendship in close confinement aboard the floating village that is a frigate. There is action and adventure and a staggering wealth of miscellanious information as to society, politics, naval matters and the natural world. If all of this seems confusing – and the load of freshly introduced nautical terms and slang is heavy in the first book – please persevere. After cracking the first half of the opening book, you will find yourself gradually yet utterly immersed. If you need help, why not try the rather fine Peter Weir film, that does a good job of nailing the atmosphere and characters within the books.

Most of all there is a great sense of gain in being witness to the friendship of Aubrey and Maturin and in their window to a tarnished yet golden age of great and truly irregular people. These books cannot be recommended highly enough, they are at the pinacle of achievement in English literature.

S - Super
5/5
etc.