by Duane Spurlock
I’ve come late to the delights of C.S. Forester’s Hornblower novels. I say late, although it’s true that one encounters a writer’s work at whatever time he finally picks it up and reads it, no matter when that may be. But I say “late” because of my interest in pulps, and Hornblower has his sea legs well placed in the pulps, and because I enjoy Napoleonic War-era nautical fiction.
I’ve only recently started reading the series of 11 books. I put off starting the series because I started reading Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey books a few years ago, and I didn’t want to get the two series confused in my tiny mind. (I’m only about halfway through the 20-volume Aubrey series.) But I was in the mood for reading something Napoleonic and nautical, but didn’t have the time or psychic energy to devote to one of O’Brian’s densely detailed but wonderful stories. And I’d seen and enjoyed a couple of the Hornblower films that had been broadcast on the A&E cable channel. So I thought I’d try Hornblower.
Oh, joyful day! Forester’s prose, like that of the finest pulp writers, is smooth, flashingly paced, and marvelous to read. Not so densely packed with period detail as O’Brian’s work, the Hornblower stories I’ve read so far still marvelously capture the period and flavor of the life of an officer on and off a Royal Navy ship.
Granted, as I’ve started at the chronological beginning of the series (with Midshipman Hornblower) rather than the bibliographic beginning (Beat to Quarters), so Forester’s writing style may have changed from the series’ beginning (1932 in Argosy) to when he was writing the earlier entries in Hornblower’s life (1962).
Now don’t get me wrong — I don’t intend to demean O’Brian’s series. It’s a wonderful run of stories with great writing. But the Aubrey series and the Hornblower series are — despite sharing a time period and setting — essentially apples and oranges, even though O’Brian mentioned somewhere that he was inspired by the Hornblower books. The focus of O’Brian’s work is more consciously literary, I think, with a clearly visible effort to more completely recreate a period 200 years gone. Meanwhile, Forester gives us details and some vocabulary that -- like a stage show -- stand as backdrops to help the reader suspend his disbelief. O’Brian comes across as a Cecil B. DeMille of the novel, recreating a panorama with an eye for the most minute details – slang, songs, customs, and meals -- to show the reader an age, to build an epic. Forester, with no slight to him, focuses on his story and its plot, not the entire world.
Review: Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester
Chronologically for the series, this is the first book. Chronologically for publication dates, this is pretty far down the road, since this was originally published in 1950, and the first Horatio Hornblower tale (Beat to Quarters) appeared in Argosy in 1937.
This book compiles ten stories that originally appeared in Argosy and Saturday Evening Post (and maybe some other magazines) in 1948, ’49, and ’50. It marks the first Hornblower I’ve read -- as I mention above, I’ve resisted reading Forester’s most famous creation because I’ve been reading (rather slowly, perhaps only one volume a year) Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey series, and I didn’t want to get the two confused in my head. But I broke down and read this book anyway -- I was hankering for some nautical fiction, and I’ve enjoyed the A&E Hornblower movies, but I didn’t feel up to devoting brainpower to an Aubrey novel at the moment.
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower -- a collection of short stories -- filled the bill excellently. And, some of these stories were the basis of the A&E films. Lots of action -- a credit to Forester’s pacing; for example, one story includes a two-year stay in a Spanish prison by Hornblower, but the flow of the story does not bog down at all, even though the author successfully captures our hero’s feelings of restlessness and depression.
LINKS:
A good, friendly email discussion group for all sorts of nautical fiction (movies and more) is Hornblower-L at this URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hornblower-L/
For a list of C.S. Forester's nautical books that you can browse and purchase, check out Amazon.com's Horatio Hornblower page by clicking here.
For a list of Patrick O'Brian's nautical books that you can browse and purchase, check out Amazon.com's Aubrey-Maturin page by clicking here.
Posted by ds at March 22, 2005 10:45 AM
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