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Bezig met laden... Patrick O'Brian: The Making of the Novelist (2004)door Nikolai Tolstoy
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. A brave but ultimately doomed attempt to describe O'Brian's early years in such a way as to explain what he became. Written by a step-son biased in the subject's favour, the book adds some centrally important details to the still-sketchy story of the novelist's early life, most crucially the fact that he left his first wife because of the affair he was already conducting with his soon-to be second wife (the author's mother, Mary). But Tolstoi's account relies too heavily on speculation based on O'Brian's fiction, and in the end calls to be skimmed through to get to the nub of what it has to say.
[...] it is almost funny how, the harder Tolstoy tries to find cuddlesome chinks in O'Brian's tetchy armour, the more unpleasant he seems. The author insists that he was close to his difficult, 'hypersensitive' stepfather, yet not even he can render him likable.
The definitive account of the early life of the revered author of the Aubrey-Maturin novels including Master and Commander. The defintive account of the early life of the revered author of the Aubrey-Maturin novels including Master and Commander. To many, Patrick O'Brian was the greatest British novelist of the Twentieth Century. The twenty volumes of the series set in the Royal Navy of the beginning of the Nineteenth Century and featuring Aubrey and Maturin have been hailed as 'the best historical novels ever written' by the New York Times.Nikolai Tolstoy was O'Brian's stepson and his acquaintanceship with him lasted forty-five years during most of O'Brian's marriage to Mary Tolstoy, Nikolai's mother. Tolstoy stayed with the couple regularly at their French home and was a frequent correspondent with the reclusive and secretive author, discovering facets of his character and creative genius that he showed to no one else.He has unique access to letters, notebooks and photographs, which will appear in this book. This volume tells the story of O'Brian's life up to his decision to move to Collioure in the South of France. His oppressed childhood, his precocious writing success, his first visit to Ireland, his sailing experiences as a young man, and the truth behind his first marriage, divorce and name change are all dealt with.This is the first part of the definitive biography of one of our literary geniuses. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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Obviously, not many readers will really want to get involved in a squalid fight between two children still busily slinging mud sixty years after their parents' divorces, so there's no need to go into all the questions of who slept with whom when, or who paid or didn't pay their maintenance. We all know how vindictive even the nicest people can be when they're talking about their exes. I don't think it really changes our appreciation of O'Brian as a novelist either way.
There are some more pertinent differences, though: King is very good when he's discussing O'Brian's naval fiction, a subject that Tolstoy's book scarcely touches (presumably it will be in Volume 2, if and when). Tolstoy on the other hand has the advantage of access to many of O'Brian's private papers, and of knowing O'Brian very well (although they did not meet during the period covered by this book). He can speak authoritatively in places where King is just guessing. However, both rely heavily on finding autobiographical elements in O'Brian's fiction. Tolstoy is a rather better writer than King, and has the advantage of going second where King can't answer back. Unlike King, he also has the rare habit of proofreading his text (or has a competent editor), so his book is an altogether more agreeable experience for the reader than King's.
Some of Tolstoy's psychological speculation is probably every bit as fanciful as King's, but there are some things that ring true: his suggestion that O'Brian's difficult relationship with his father (more difficult in Tolstoy than in King) was at the root of his touchy personality and anxiety about social class is very telling. He probably over-rates the latter, though: in mid-20th century England, the only people who didn't suffer from some sort of class anxiety were either public-school-types like Tolstoy or manual workers. The idea that O'Brian got his image of leadership and command from the Master of the Ynysfor fox-hunt is interesting, too. Certainly more plausible than the spell on a mythical windjammer or the putative secret service behind enemy lines that King puts forward.
Ultimately, I think dazzyj is probably right that trying to make sense of O'Brian through biography is pretty futile. Even in Tolstoy's account, there's just so much we will never know. Better to read the novels again. If you do read either biography, you should probably read the other as well, otherwise you will end up with a rather distorted view. ( )